Leaving aside the significant humanitarian and geopolitical consequences of a war on the Korean Peninsula, such a conflagration would also catastrophically damage the global supply chain for the electronic gadgets we've come to rely on for work and play.

According to a report from the research firm iSuppli, a war in Korea would deal a major blow to components, such as NAND flash memory and DRAM, that are vital for manufacturing PCs, tablets and smartphones.

South Korea is home to many leading technology firms such as Samsung, LG and SK Hynix -- two of which (Samsung and Hynix) are headquartered in Seoul. Aside from being name brands, these firms hold significant market share in major product categories. Samsung and LG alone represent 30 percent of the worldwide market for cellphones and smartphones, iSuppli noted. Samsung is also the top TV maker worldwide.

Were a war to break out, we'd see massive supply chain disruptions, product shortages and sky-rocketing prices across the entire IT and consumer electronics industry.

While the research firm thinks it's unlikely that we'll see a war, it did warn "forward thinking tech companies" to begin planning for the worse.

Just in case.

(AP Photo)

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Rahm Emanuel once said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." The Chinese government should take heed of that advice.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are getting worse every day. North Korea's apparent plan to conduct a large-scale military drill is just the latest in a series of bizarre provocations by the regime of Kim Jong-un. Because it helps finance the regime, the only country with any real influence over them is China.

China, deservedly, has a poor reputation in America and in much of the world. A list of grievances would include: human rights abuses, brazenly stealing intellectual property, conducting cyberattacks, selling missiles to Iran, a willingness to escalate tensions over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, and manipulating their currency to create an uneven playing field in the global marketplace (though many other countries also manipulate their currencies). In general, China acts less like a responsible actor on the world stage and more like a greedy, regional bully with global ambitions.

Is there something they could do to start repairing their reputation? Yes. Endorse regime change in North Korea. But, would they do that? Probably not.

While China has issued vague warnings about regional "troublemakers" and has shown signs of changing sentiments, it has taken no substantive action toward reigning in the pariah in its backyard. In fact, Deng Yuwen, who edits a prominent Communist Party journal, was suspended from his job for writing an opinion piece in which he suggested that China should abandon the North and support Korean unification.

Why is China maintaining allegiance to the North? As Andrei Lankov explains in the New York Times, there are two main reasons: (1) Regime change could result in chaos, meaning thousands or millions of refugees swarming into China, not to mention the possibility of the North's weapons getting into the wrong hands; and (2) A unified Korea would be a U.S. ally. China doesn't like either of those outcomes, so it prefers to maintain the status quo. Lankov concludes:

China faces a choice between two evils: a nuclear North Korea or a collapsing North Korea. And a collapsing North Korea clearly represents a greater evil.

Still, China should recognize that a unified Korea is in its long-term interests. A richer and more stable Korea would be a boon to the regional economy. And perhaps best of all, China would earn admiration around the globe for doing the right thing.

The unfolding drama on the Korean peninsula has given China a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the world that it can act like a responsible power. Let's hope they don't let this crisis go to waste.

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Many climbers have endured dire risks attempting to conquer the forbidding peaks of Mount Everest, but it's usually risks of the natural variety. Three climbers from Europe encountered a different challenge: a mob of 100 angry, stone-throwing Sherpas at 24,750 feet.

The reports of the incident are somewhat confused, but it appears the three climbers (who were all experienced), were asked to wait as their Sherpas rigged some ropes. They ignored the Sherpas and climbed ahead, kicking ice down on top of them. This lead to an angry confrontation at base camp where 100 Sherpas attacked the climbers, in some cases lobbing rocks at them. The climbers were rescued by other nearby mountaineers.

Nepalese officials are still trying to sort out what happened, but one of the climbers, Jonathan Griffith, attributed the Sherpa's rage to "a far more deep rooted and long term problem, which is the way that Nepalis feel treated by Westerners on the mountain."

(AP Photo)

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The use of dashboard cameras in Russia helped us see the amazing meteorite that exploded over Siberia in February. These dash cams have now brought us 'drug user' Sergei Kornev's joy ride in a stolen police car through the streets of Moscow.

The video ends with Kornev colliding into another car and then exiting the cruiser. What you don't see is that, seconds later, he was hit by an oncoming car. According to the Moscow Times, he was left with a "gaping head wound" and snarled traffic for four hours.

A cautionary tale if ever there was one.

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Whether or not you accept the scientific data on climate change (you should!), it is common sense that pumping more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere isn't the best idea in the world. Since scientists are unsure how much the temperature will change in response to CO₂ levels, the "conservative" thing to do is to be cautious. After all, simple physics tells us that, over time, more carbon dioxide will lead to a warmer planet.

Therefore, finding ways to reduce our carbon emissions is good policy. Generally, there are two ways proposed to do it: A smart way and a dumb way. You can probably guess which one the European Union implemented.

First, the smart way: A corrective tax (a.k.a. Pigovian tax) applied on fossil fuels would be an easy, straightforward method to reduce carbon emissions. Dirtier fuels (e.g., coal and oil) would pay the highest tax, while cleaner fuels (e.g., natural gas) would pay less. Nuclear, solar, wind and other clean energy sources would pay none at all. The size of the tax would always be known, so companies could plan accordingly.

Then, there's the dumb way: Cap-and-trade. It's not that it can't be successful; cap-and-trade helped mitigate the scourge of acid rain. But, as Hank Campbell and I wrote, it suffers from considerable drawbacks, such as unpredictable price fluctuations and the creation of an inefficient, complex bureaucracy which can lead to corruption. This fosters a chaotic atmosphere that is not only bad for business, but undermines public confidence in governments' ability to reduce CO₂ emissions.

Back in 2005, the European Union launched its Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), and as the New York Times reported on Sunday, it is failing spectacularly. Why? Because of "serious flaws in the design of the system," as The Times writes. It goes on to say:

This year has been stomach-churning for the people who make their living in the arcane world of trading emissions permits. The most recent volatility comes on top of years of uncertainty during which prices have fluctuated from $40 to nearly zero for the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide.

There's that pesky price fluctuation we warned about. Too high of prices will hurt business, but too low of prices will undermine the entire point of the scheme. It's supposed to cost money to emit CO₂, but if carbon is cheap, then there is no incentive to reduce emissions. And that's exactly what happened.

[A]t current levels, [prices] are far too low to change companies' behaviors, analysts say. Emitting a ton of carbon dioxide costs about the same as a hamburger.

To increase prices, carbon emission permits are supposed to be withdrawn from the market, decreasing the supply and increasing the price. But, given the poor state of Europe's economy, the European Parliament didn't want to do that. Thus:

[O]ver time, the declining prices for the credits have sapped the European market of value, legitimacy and liquidity — the ease with which the allowances can be traded — making it less attractive for financial professionals.

Furthermore, the EU Observer reported in 2009 that the ETS is "a magnet for tax fraud on a grand scale, costing government coffers around €5 billion euros." And to add insult to injury:

Europol, Europe's criminal intelligence agency, said that as much as 90 percent of the entire market volume on emissions exchanges was caused by fraudulent activity, undermining the very viability of the ETS just as the EU is touting a similar scheme for the rest of the world. [Emphasis added]

Unpredictable price fluctuations? Check. Inefficient bureaucracy? Check. Corruption? Check. Undermining public confidence? Check.

I'm not the sort of a person who does an "I told you so" dance, but, well ... I told you so.

(Image: AP photo)

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We were frequently warned during his confirmation hearing that Chuck Hagel harbored an animus toward Israel. Now that he is in a position of some power, Hagel has wasted no time making good on his ill will:

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced new U.S. arms sales to Israel on Monday, amid fears of war over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

"The Obama administration has made not just maintaining, but enhancing and improving Israel's qualitative military edge a top priority," Hagel said in Tel Aviv, after meeting Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon.

The weapons include missiles and radar systems for fighter jets and re-fueling planes, which could be used in any Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Left unsaid but almost certainly true, was the fact that Hagel made the speech through gritted teeth, while rolling his eyes.

The re-fueling planes are a particularly egregious example of Secretary Hagel's appeasement of Iran since those planes impede Israel's ability to fly deeper into Iranian territory. Or something.

(AP Photo)

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So help me, I almost agree with Jennifer Rubin on the Obama administration's evasions on whether the Assad regime has used chemical weapons (which Obama vowed would be a 'game changer' in terms of U.S. policy). Now, with evidence mounting that the Assad regime did indeed deploy chemical agents, the administration is back-peddling. Rubin sounds off:

This is as foolhardy as it is shameful. The president was definitive, and if he really didn’t mean what he said, then he shouldn’t have said it. The U.S. dodging now signals to Tehran and Pyongyang that even when we draw a “red line,” we may not really mean it. That imperils our ability to force Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program and to contain Kim Jong Un. It is symptomatic of this administration in which every line is apparently written in sand.

It would have been better if the administration had just kept quiet. Of course, that would have likely infuriated Rubin even more, but enduring the tantrums of American pundits is a lesser-price than squandering American credibility just to appease them.

(AP Photo)

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China is infamous for its "Great Firewall" and extensive cyber-censorship, but a new NGO called the "Safety Alliance" isn't concerned with political speech. It's looking to hire workers to surf the web in search of porn (not exactly a needle-in-a-haystack assignment).

Lest you think this is some kind of joke, it's not (or at least, it doesn't appear to be). As you can see from the translated job requirements, you'll need a college degree to perform the required tasks of the Chief Porn Identification Officer:

1. Research and study pornographic videos and images, formulate criteria for determining obscenity.
2. Deploy courseware on the standards of obscenity determination, and study materials such as educational videos on pornography.
3. Manage and rate pornographic resources (including BT seeds, images, and online videos).

Job Requirements:
1. Familiarity with the different standards of determination of pornographic content of different countries;
2. Familiarity with the standards of determination and express regulations concerning pornography in China’s law;
3. Familiarity with the standards of pornography identification used by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) and various major internet providers;
4. A bachelor’s degree or above; age between 20-35; all genders;
5. Possesses good teamwork skills, and a strong sense of responsibility.

The job pays about (U.S.) $32,000, although virtue is its own reward.

(AP Photo)

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Saudi Arabia engages in all manner of dubious practices: restricting a woman's ability to drive, crucifying people convicted of "sorcery" and so on. But here's something I just might stand behind: according to a report in the Arabic press, three officials from the UAE were booted out of the country "because authorities thought their looks may corrupt young women."

The handsome gentlemen in question claimed they were ejected not on the basis of their stunning looks but because Saudi authorities were concerned with a female artist they were travelling with.

Take it with a grain of salt, of course, but speaking as someone unlikely to be ejected from anywhere on the basis of my good looks, I can't work up that much outrage.

(AP Photo)

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Events are very fluid following the gruesome terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon, but speculation is already swirling as to motive and responsible parties. As I spoke with friends and neighbors yesterday, several people asked me if I thought North Korea was behind it. That possibility never even crossed my mind (and for the record, I think it's wildly implausible) but it did get me thinking about the potential geopolitical fallout of this event if it can be traced to international sources.

In fact, there's only one plausible scenario* I can think of that would carry significant geopolitical consequences: If Iran's Revolutionary Guard or Hezbollah (or both) were behind it.

In response to the assassination of Iranian scientists, Iran has launched a wave of largely unsuccessful global terrorist attacks against Israel and the U.S. While many plots were bungled, Iran (via Hezbollah) did manage to kill Israeli civilians in Bulgaria and attempted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. in Washington.

If Iran's hand is in this act of terror, it would galvanize proponents of military action against Iran's nuclear program to push the administration for immediate action. The Obama administration would be under enormous pressure to act in some overt manner to punish Tehran. Yet unlike al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, there's no simple method of punishing Iran militarily that doesn't open the door to a much broader conflict. Retaliatory attacks aimed at the Revolutionary Guard or Iran's nuclear facilities could invite Iranian counter-moves and runs the well-established risk of a direct military engagement with Iran. Standing pat, however, will be politically difficult (if not impossible).

So, of all the potential scenarios associated with the Boston attacks, linkage to Iran carries the most significant geopolitical consequences.

Why not al-Qaeda?

The most likely global culprit is also the one least likely to spur any fundamental change to American security strategy or foreign policy. Three of al-Qaeda's main groupings -- in Pakistan, in the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa (the "Islamic Maghreb") -- are already the focus of intense counter-terrorism campaigns, drone strikes and covert action. If any of these groups are linked to the Boston attack it may lead to a stepped up campaign of drone strikes and covert action, but it's unlikely to radically reorient the Obama administration's current policy (it will, however, likely lead to a sharp debate over the drone strikes and whether they're a cause of, or solution to, incidents such as these).

*There are plenty of implausible scenarios which would have far-reaching consequences as well: just pick your favorite rogue or adversarial state and make them the culprit.

(AP Photo)

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Almost nothing is known about the Boston Marathon terrorist attack. So far, there has been some irresponsible speculation about right-wing extremists, but at this point, there isn't even agreement on how sophisticated the attack was. American law enforcement is world-class, and most assuredly, over the next few days, they will piece together who did this, how and why.

Still, there are a few points worth commenting on.

Ever since 9/11, terrorism has been a part of the American psyche. That traumatic event forever changed how we perceive the world. But while terrorism feels like a relatively new phenomenon, in reality, it has been around for a very long time.

Obviously, Israelis and others in the Middle East are quite familiar with terrorism. But so are Europeans, who for nearly 30 years watched the Provisional Irish Republican Army conduct attacks inside the United Kingdom. Similarly, the Tamil Tigers took suicide bombing to a new level in their 26-year-long conflict with the Sri Lankan government.

In many parts of the world, terrorism is simply a fact of life. One wonders whether or not that will ever be the case inside the United States. When one considers how many "soft targets" are available -- from buses and subways to schools and office buildings -- it is astonishing that massive attacks don't happen more often. What prevents someone from planting a bomb in or shooting up a crowded mall on Christmas Eve? Well ... nothing, really.

And that's what makes terrorism so scary. Simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time can be a death sentence. People don't like feeling powerless, and terrorism plays precisely on that fear.

Thankfully, there are relatively few people in the world who are willing to kill innocent people minding their own business. That's why terrorism mortality remains vanishingly small; indeed, Americans are far likelier to die from car accidents or suicide than by terrorism.

As we learn more about the Boston attacks in the days ahead, let's hope that the national media keeps this tragic event in its proper context.

(Image: AP)

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Daniel Larison highlights this from Matt Duss:

In a 2009 article for the Brown Journal of World Affairs, national security analyst Andrew Grotto probed the question “Is Iran a Martyr State?” and found that such claims are unsupported by anything like evidence, but rather have achieved the status of conventional wisdom simply by repetition.”The martyr state view rests on bold, even radical claims about Iran’s goals and behavior that defy conventional expectations of states’ actions,” wrote Grotto, “but no government in recorded history has willfully pursued policies it knows will proximately cause its own destruction.”

“Given the novelty of the martyr state argument,” Grotto continued, “and how unequivocally its proponents present it, one would expect to encounter an avalanche of credible evidence. Yet that is not the case.” Finding both that “references are scarce in this line of writings, and certain references are cited with striking regularity,” Grotto determined that the “martyr state” view essentially rests upon a few neoconservative op-eds and a report by a right-wing Israeli think tank, whose claims have been bounced endlessly around the internet.

The other thing to point out is that the supposedly deranged, fanatical and undeterrable leaders of Iran have been ruling the country for 30 years -- more than enough time to do any number of stupid things to court their own destruction and usher in the end times we're told they're waiting for. They don't appear overly eager to end it all in an atomic fireball.

(AP Photo)

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Over 120,000 Greek professionals have fled the country since 2010, according to a study from University of Thessaloniki. The numbers include doctors, engineers, IT professionals and scientists: in other words, the very people that the Greek economy needs if it's going to dust itself off and start growing again.

At 26 percent, Greece has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union and is experiencing its sixth straight year of negative growth.

(AP Photo)

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The balance of power in the Middle East has shifted irrevocably now: an Iranian scientist has invented a time machine (technically the Aryayek Time Traveling Machine) that can predict the future up to five or eight years in advance with 98 percent accuracy.

The project's inventor, 27-year old Ali Razeghi, claims the machine is no larger than a PC and will be offered not just to the Iranian government (which is naturally concerned about its immediate future) but to other states as well as it enters production.

One concern, however, is that releasing a prototype now will open the doors to Chinese theft. "The reason that we are not launching our prototype at this stage is that the Chinese will steal the idea and produce it in millions overnight," Razeghi was quoted as saying.

I would have thought the time machine could have informed Razeghi if the Chinese steal his idea.

Either way, Iran has been on something of a technological role of late. They introduced a new stealth fighter which had no radar or ability to carry weapons or fuel and claimed to have successfully sent a monkey into space and back (provided you pay no attention to the fact that the before and after photos showed two different monkeys).

Update: Joshua Keating spoils the fun.

(Image credit: Universal)

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Whoops:

Finnish police say the Russian president’s name was mistakenly placed on a secret criminal register that could theoretically have gotten him arrested at the border.

TV station MTV3 reported Wednesday that Putin was placed there for his contact with Russian motorcycle gang Night Wolves, though he wasn’t suspected of a crime in Finland. But National Police Board spokesman Robin Lardot told the AP the listing was a mistake and that Putin’s name was removed from the list.

No doubt Putin was not amused.

(AP Photo)

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It has been a year of bad omens for French President Francois Hollande. On the day he was inaugurated, lightning struck his plane. He has suffered a collapse in his approval rating that is the worst since 1958. And now, somebody has eaten his camel.

The New York Times reports that the nation of Mali -- which is receiving military assistance from France for its ongoing conflict with Islamists -- greeted the French president with a noble gift: a baby camel. The camel, however, perhaps sensing the French public's zeitgeist, did not take kindly to Mr. Hollande. Besides, where exactly does one keep a camel in the Elysee? So, Mr. Hollande gave it to a family in Timbuktu to take care of.

And take care of it, they did. The camel featured prominently in the family's tagine, a type of stew. (Here's a recipe for Moroccan tagine; presumably the chicken is replaced with camel.)

The Malian government was horrified. The Times writes:

"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," an official in Timbuktu told the Reuters news agency. "We are ashamed of what happened to the camel," said the official, who asked Reuters not to identify him because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. "The new camel will be sent to Paris. It was a present that did not deserve this fate."

Hopefully the new camel won't be turned into bourguignon.

[via New York Times]

(Image: Camel by John O'Neill via Wikimedia Commons)

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Abandon civility, all ye who enter here.

I always wonder how long it will take after a famous person dies for critics to pounce. It would seem that common courtesy would allow at least a few days -- perhaps after the funeral. But common courtesy is sorely lacking.

It's not necessarily because we have more discourteous people today; indeed, "civil" society has never been all that civil. However, primarily because of the Internet, what is different today is that everything is so in-your-face. Social media, perhaps most notoriously Twitter, and the 24-hour news cycle, combined with our collective short attention span, have created a culture that lacks reflection. We get bumper sticker slogans from talking heads instead of serious news "analysis," and the pundit who can provide us with the most obnoxious sound bite is rewarded with the most TV time. This is this societal milieu in which we find ourselves.

It was announced at 12:55 p.m. London time on Monday that Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the UK, passed away. She was a transformative figure, whose governing philosophy -- often referred to as "Thatcherism" -- permanently changed the UK and influenced other countries around the globe. Her accomplishments and failings have been detailed extensively elsewhere, so we need not recount them here. As would be expected of any powerful leader, she engendered both deep admiration among supporters and equally deep animosity among critics.

World leaders, including former rival prime ministers, have graciously expressed their sympathies. Alas, this moment of solidarity was not shared by all.

At 3:41 p.m., not even four hours after Thatcher had died, Glenn Greenwald put together an incoherent article for The Guardian explaining how it is perfectly acceptable to speak ill of the dead if they are public figures. In fact, to not do so is "dangerous" and "irresponsible" because:

Demanding that no criticisms be voiced to counter that hagiography is to enable false history and a propagandistic whitewashing of bad acts, distortions that become quickly ossified and then endure by virtue of no opposition and the powerful emotions created by death.

In other words, influential leaders are fondly remembered by society because criticism is socially unacceptable in the immediate aftermath of their death. In Greenwald's twisted world, a person's legacy is sealed in the week or so after they die -- not during the several previous decades in which they were alive, not to mention the years and years of historical analysis (and reanalysis) that inevitably ensue.

Logic continues to evade Greenwald the further he goes. He writes:

She played a key role not only in bringing about the first Gulf War but also using her influence to publicly advocate for the 2003 attack on Iraq ... She was a steadfast friend to brutal tyrants such as ... Saddam Hussein.

In the same paragraph, Greenwald manages to criticize Thatcher both for being a friend and enemy of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps the only explanation for this is TDS, "Thatcher Derangement Syndrome."

At 5:30 p.m., other pathetic souls, apparently suffering from the same syndrome, handed out slices of "Maggie Death Cake," and a theater in Brixton had its sign changed to read, "Margaret Thatchers Dead LOL." Another protester hung a banner that read, "The Bitch is Dead."

Celebrating like that may be appropriate (though still mildly distasteful) for the death of, say, Osama bin Laden. But Margaret Thatcher? And, thanks to the Internet, the whole world got to see all of this disgusting behavior -- not even six hours after she died.

Being gracious toward those whom we dislike is not a common trait, yet several world leaders (many of whom strongly disagreed with Thatcher) were able to do just that. Perhaps this is one of the incredibly rare moments in life when our elected politicians are actually serving as responsible role models.

Alex B. Berezow is the editor of RealClearScience and associate editor of RealClearWorld. Follow him on Twitter @AlexBerezow.

(Image: AP)

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Via Uri Friedman. More commemorative videos here.

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Campaigning has always been a dirty business, but Venezuela's acting President Nicolas Maduro has added an element of the surreal in his quest to succeed Hugo Chavez.

According to Reuters, Maduro invoked the 'Curse of Macarapana" on any Venezuelan who dared to vote against him (the curse refers to a "16th-century Battle of Macarapana when Spanish colonial fighters massacred local Indian forces").

“If anyone among the people votes against Nicolas Maduro, he is voting against himself, and the curse of Macarapana is falling on him,” he reportedly said.

When not summoning ancient evils, Maduro has raised more conventional specters, claiming that hit men hired by the U.S. had been attempting to kill him and sabotage the country's electrical grid.

Maduro holds a lead in the polls over opposition leader Henrique Capriles. The election will be held on April 14.

(AP Photo)

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Congressman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, thinks the international community should "collapse" the North Korean regime by squeezing its money supply.

These kind of glib statements aren't really surprising given North Korea's worrisome antics and atrocious human rights record (who wouldn't want to see the regime swept away), but they do highlight one of the deeply problematic aspects of the standoff. No one wants to see the Kim regime endure and no one wants to see it end chaotically.

I'm still in the camp that thinks it's unlikely that North Korea will start a full-blown war, but there's less doubt that the collapse of the regime would cause immediate havoc in both China and South Korea and very quickly in the U.S. as well.

The South Koreans have looked at German reunification and, according to Jochen-Martin Gutsch, here's what they found: refugees will flood into the country "rapidly, in large numbers and inexorably." South Korea has a vibrant and healthy economy, but not healthy enough to add millions of starving and under-educated civilians to its institutions instantly.

China has its own interests in keeping the status quo in tact: it not only doesn't want the refugee influx, it's worried about a reunified peninsula under South Korean control hosting American military facilities.

The Brookings Institute's Michael O'Hanlon did a run-down of potential Korean collapse scenarios and none of them look pretty from a U.S. stand point, either:

The problem is more complex than a peacekeeping mission, however. To begin, some significant fraction of North Korea’s million-strong army may fight against South Korea even in an apparent collapse scenario. Collapse is likely to imply a contest for power among multiple North Korean factions rather than a literal, complete, and immediate dissolution of authority nationwide. Some significant amount of the South Korean army could therefore be in effect on war footing, fighting from village to village and city to city.

A calculation based simply on overall force requirements also ignores the dimension of time. How long would it take South Korea to spread out and establish control of the North Korean territory—and how much time can we afford? In fact, and of course, speed would be of the essence in any mission to find and control DPRK nuclear-related assets.

The collapse or end of the Kim regime is inevitable -- if not in a "ocean of fire" than in the decay that erodes all political dynasties (especially those built on brutality and oppression). But deliberately provoking it without an adequate plan in place to deal with the aftermath is insane. Things are likely to go awry even with the best unification plan in place.

(AP Photo)

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Like Iraq before it, Syria is becoming a magnet for foreign jihadists. The Washington Institute's Aaron Zelin has compiled a rough sketch of what the influx looks like and where it's coming from. Zelin estimates that between 2,000 and 5,500 foreign fighters have entered Syria of which between 135-590 came from Europe. Here's Zelin's European break-down:

* Albania: 1
* Austria: 1
* Belgium: 14-85
* Britain: 28-134
* Bulgaria: 1
* Denmark: 3-78
* Finland: 13
* France: 30-92
* Germany: 3-40
* Ireland: 26
* Kosovo: 1
* Netherlands: 5-107
* Spain: 6
* Sweden: 5

Zelin estimates that there are currently 70-441 Europeans still in Syria, mostly on the front lines in the war against Assad.

I wonder if they're all fighting for democracy and a Western-aligned Syria?

(AP Photo)

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While the world has taken note of a new Bird Flu variant in China, another, arguably more insidious, threat has flown under the radar: Justin Bieber.

Now comes word that a school in Norway has rescheduled exams in a preemptive strike against the notorious Bieber Fever. Five schools in Alesund will have their midterm exams rescheduled since those tests were due to coincide with a visit from the teen pop sensation.

John Stoll reports:

“We considered that this was a battle that we could not win this time,” Roar Aasen, the principal of the Blindheim secondary school in Alesund, told national broadcaster NRK. He expects Mr. Bieber’s upcoming show to lead to sparse classroom attendance.

Five hundred students will be affected. Alesund is about an eight hour drive from Oslo, or an hour by plane...

This year, half of the girls at Mr. Aasen’s school are expected to attend one of Mr. Bieber’s Oslo shows, according to interviews done by NRK. The Norway stop is the beginning of a Nordic leg of his current tour, which will take him through Copenhagen, two stops in Sweden and Helsinki.

Foolish capitulation or prudent precaution? You decide.

(AP Photo)

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French President Francois Hollande campaigned on a promise to offer 100 percent state funding for abortions, up from the 80 percent currently covered by the state -- and he's now delivering on it. The measure to fully cover the costs of French abortions was included in the 2013 social security budget.

Also included in the new budget is a measure to offer free and anonymous birth control to children between the ages of 15 and 18. Before, teenagers had to pay 70 percent of the costs.

Estimates on the number of abortions in France vary widely: L'Express said that 225,000 French women have abortions each year. The AFP said only 12,000 abortions were performed in France last year.

(AP Photo)

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"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
--Winston Churchill

It's been a rough few years for democracy. Despite that, Westerners always seem to assume that the most highly evolved form of government is democratic. The trouble with that notion is that, at some point, a majority of voters realize they can vote for politicians who promise them the most stuff, regardless of whether or not it is good policy or financially sustainable. And once that occurs, the country is (perhaps irreversibly) on a pathway to decline.

Take Greece, for example. Even though it isn't the sole (or even largest) cause of the Eurozone crisis, it stands as an example of a poorly governed nation that lived far beyond its means for years. Tax evasion was rampant, and when the credit card bill arrived in the mail, the Greeks couldn't pay up. They sought a bailout, and the austerity imposed upon them appears to have made matters even worse.

In short, an irresponsible, democratically elected government in Greece had to turn to unelected officials to get something drastic done (even if that solution is far from perfect). Greece's fate is now in the hands of non-Greeks: Angela Merkel and unelected bureaucrats in the troika -- the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

Events like this have had a pernicious effect on how Europeans view the EU. One Charlemagne column in The Economist describes how the EU suffers from a legitimacy problem because of a democratic deficit. Many of the movers and shakers are unelected or too far removed from the citizens they represent. Charlemagne summarizes the problem:

The EU boasts of being a union of democracies. But its crisis of legitimacy is intensifying as it delves more deeply into national policies, especially in the euro zone. One problem is the evisceration of national politics: whatever citizens may vote for, southerners end up with more austerity and northerners must pay for more bail-outs. Another is that the void is not being filled by a credible European-level democracy.

In other words, regardless of what voters vote for, they get what leaders think is best.

But is that such a bad thing? As The Globalist reports, for two millennia, Europe considered democracy to be little better than "mob rule." The author, Zhang Weiwei, highlights four points to make his case:

(1) Democracies often elect untalented people; (2) the welfare state unaffordably increases in size; (3) consensus, and hence governance, is too difficult when minority parties are keen on obstruction; and (4) populism sacrifices long-term interests for the sake of short-term gains.

These criticisms aptly apply to the United States. Indeed, in 2011, we lost our AAA credit rating because our politicians had no good plan to reduce the national debt, and instead engaged in brinksmanship over raising the debt ceiling.

Similarly, Russians have flirted with democracy and free markets since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But, polls suggest that they wouldn't mind flipping the calendar back a few decades: 51 percent of Russians want a centrally planned economy and 36 percent believe the Soviet system was superior to what they have today.

Mr. Zhang suggests that the world can learn from China, which chooses its leaders on a merit-based system. Of course, there's also a lot wrong with China, such as human rights abuses and a general lack of freedom.

Obviously, an entirely autocratic system is undesirable (and perhaps even evil), but it appears that a completely democratic one is, at best, dysfunctional. Is there a way, for the sake of economic prosperity, to strike a proper balance between the two?

(Parthenon: Steve Swayne via Wikimedia Commons)

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Tourism has fallen sharply in India for the first three months of the year, according to a survey of Indian tourism industry participants. Foreign visits have dropped 25 percent and the number of female tourists has dropped 35 percent.

As the Guardian reports, these industry figures contrast with official Indian government statements which claimed tourism had increased and that the widely publicized gang rape in Delhi had had no adverse impact on foreign travel to the country.

Sexual violence in India has become a major international story of late following the brutal gang rape and eventual death of a woman in Delhi. Just last month, a Swiss tourist was gang-raped while biking through central India and a British woman jumped out of a third story hotel room to avoid an assault from the hotel manager.

Complaints about sexual assault have sky-rocketed since the Delhi case, the Guardian notes:

Delhi police figures show a dramatic rise in reported crime since 1 January, with molestation cases up by 590.4% over the same period last year and rape cases up by 147.6%. The front pages of Sunday's newspapers carried a story about the gang rape of an 18-year-old male Delhi University student who had gone out to meet a Facebook friend.

(AP Photo)

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