[Reaganite Republican]

*** PING ***

Any who’d like to be added to the RR ping-list, pls FReepmail me at ‘Reaganite Republican’ -TIA

[count-your-change]

One NK Airline official explained that getting off the ground was the most difficult part of flying since coming down was easy.

[Joe Boucher]

So ya gots to wonder if Russia or China send in a jet will the norks keep it and refuse to send it back like they do trains???

[muir_redwoods]

I’m obviously pretty ignorant about such things but what’s in it for any country to have anything to do with NoKo? They have nothing much to export, don’t import much, don’t have a convertible currency and are monstrous to deal with.

[lurk]

Two weeks in the North Korean countryside ought to be required for every US university freshman.

[JoeProBono]

[BobL]

I’d laugh at that article, until I remember that we will soon be going through what NK is going through, given our debt. In their case, they were a (relatively) advanced and highly industrialized country, but then the cheap oil from the Soviet Union / Russia stopped, and the lights started to flicker, and then they went out for good, and then the people starved. Sure, Communism didn’t help, but they depended on cheap imports, did not have a strategic reserve (or at least a large enough one), and were powerless to respond once they were cut off.

It’s only a matter of time before China gets tired of giving away their wealth to us, and does the same. They don’t give us oil, but they do give us the spark plugs and circuit cards that make our tractors run. Once that flow stops, our machines, slowly, stop too.

[Psalm 73]

On the other hand - (relatively) Free-Market capitalism of South Korea gives us Asiana - one of the finest airlines in the world (the service was spectacular).

[Mr. Jeeves]

I shot these TU-154s when leaving Beijing last July. Stark contrast between the gleaming, modern international terminal, the brand new Boeing and Airbus planes used by the Chinese domestic carriers, and these two junkers. Although from the descriptions I've read, Air Koryo is still better than many African or Latin American airlines - the flight attendants are pretty, the food is somewhat palatable, and they operate (sort of) on time.

But I suppose if they had a domestic flight crash every day, we would never hear about it...