24-Nov-10 News -- South Korean civilians shelled by N. Korea

[John]

24-Nov-10 News -- South Korean civilians shelled by North Koreans

Euro in crisis as countries seem to be falling like dominoes

** 24-Nov-10 News -- South Korean civilians shelled by North Koreans
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi ... 24#e101124

Contents:
"South Korean civilians shelled by North Koreans"
"Euro in crisis as countries seem to be falling like dominoes"
"Additional links"
Haiti's cholera epidemic expected to infect hundreds of thousands
Portugal's public sectors unions plan general strike
Retirees splurging on credit card debt

[mannfm11]

John, the primary reason for Ireland balking at this bailout is the fact it is linked directly to a bank bailout instead of a government debt bailout. It is time for the bankers to take the hit for their mistakes instead of the general population and it might as well start in Ireland. I doubt seriously the typical Irishman had much to do with the construction of 300,000 extra homes in such a small country. This was instead financed by massive inflows of credit from foreign banks. These banks made poor business decisions, bringing money into a bubble and I am sure the bankers stuffed plenty of money into their pockets in the meantime for these poor business decisions. Much of developing Europe has been enslaved by imprudent lending practices by German, Swiss and Swedish banking interests. BTW, the Noble Prize for Economics was invented by the Swedish Central Bank.

[thomasglee]

I'm leaving Friday evening for Seoul and I've been talking to the managers of our office there. From their reaction and the reactions I've read on various blogs that deal with Korea, the ROK citizens really aren't taking all this very seriously. One account I read was truly ignorant and must be considered for most clueless statement of the year:

She also felt somehow more secure being in Seoul, even though it is just 110 miles from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and within easy range of the North’s missiles and artillery along the heavily militarized border.

“We think the government will be more protective of us here, and it’s safer than in any other part of the country,” Ms. Pyun said.

Another quote from the linked NYT's piece:

Residents of Seoul, however, seemed to display only a mild anxiety on Wednesday, caught somewhere between calm and dread, and maybe breathing a collective sigh of relief that things had not escalated.

“I was talking with a friend this morning and we wondered why we weren’t more concerned,” a Seoul restaurant owner, Pyun Sung-ja, said on Wednesday. “I guess it’s because the area of the shelling is so far from here. It feels like it happened in another country.”

The Koreans have become numb to the provocations and I think you're right that one day, they're all going to encounter a very rude awakening.

Anxiety in Seoul as Civilian Deaths Are Reported