Tag: North Korea

Coincidence? Hmmmmm

While I firmly believe in Occam’s razor, and the theory that one should not ascribe complex motives when (governmental) stupidity is far more likely than a complex conspiracy, the news yesterday was fascinating. I also find it interesting that Iran and China are linked to sites and countries where odd things are happening.

First up, the original primary explosion followed by the massive blast in the port of Beirut, Lebanon. I agree that the red cloud on the second blast indicates nitrates of some type were involved, but am invoking the 48-hour rule on speculation for now. That is in part because some details don’t add up and in part that some other interesting things have been happening.

It seems that Iran suffered several mysterious fires in industrial and food and electrical warehouses. Given some of the photos of the fire, it seems very engaged for food supplies. The fires outside Tehran are quite interesting.

While it could be just chance, there was also a fire in a closed food market in the UAE.

Also, there was an explosion and fire in a North Korean town on the border with China. At least one South Korean media outlet has reported that a gas leak caused the explosion, though again I think the 48-hour rule is good on anything involving the Hermit Kingdom.

It could be, and likely is, random chance that all these happened over a large geographic area in such a short time. The fires inside Iran? Well, the safe bet is that those fires were not chance but yet more in the series of debilitating “accidents” that have hit Iran and crippled some of its more interesting activities. Hitting at food, if that is what it was, simply continues fires and possibly other attacks on crops and food that were also seen in 2019.

Still, interesting to see and worth noting for consideration.

Some Quick Thoughts On The Hermit Kingdom

A few weeks ago, North Korea went dark. Not a loss of power, but a loss of signal if you will. This happens periodically, as they deal with internal matters or assess how some of their shenanigans are playing in the rest of the world (or have had it firmly suggested by the Chinese that they stop whatever it was that they were doing). They have never been a major focus for me, so I generally note it and move on.

However, there are times they do this and become a black hole. It’s not just a loss of signal, it’s a cessation of activities out in the world as well as a total lockdown of information on an internal basis as well. A few times this has been done, I suspect, to see who gets speculated upon as a replacement for the current Kim in charge. Funny how often those mentioned in the media during those times have accidents, disappear, go into exile, or are flat out killed later.

The other times, well, those are interesting. It usually means that there is a major power struggle underway, either for leadership or to change policy. What comes out after is rarely a cause for celebration elsewhere.

One possibility of what is going on is here. It is an interesting take, and a bit different from anything I’ve come across.

For now, I trust South Korean intelligence reports a heck of a lot more than I trust the mainstream media, and they say Kim is alive. My own suspicion is that there is a major policy struggle underway, and those often enough include struggles for power and to remain in power. If it is about a successor to Kim, there are few good options I see.

We will learn soon enough.