Here is an interesting read about Americans joining the French Foreign Legion that was in the Stars & Stripes:
Edward, an American member of the French Foreign Legion, takes a break during a weapons drill in September at Camp de Carpiagne, home base of the Legion’s First Cavalry Regiment. The 24-year-old former U.S. Marine was given a new identity upon joining the Legion. He now operates a Milan anti-tank missile. Slobodan Leckic/Stars and Stripes
For almost 200 years, the French Foreign Legion has prided itself on offering a haven for men yearning for adventure and a new start in life.
It was just what “Edward,” a 24-year-old Californian, was looking for after he was booted out of the U.S. Marine Corps in 2015 for a disciplinary infraction.
“I can’t go into too much detail about what I did, but I was young and very stupid, and that’s why I’m no longer in the Marines,” Edward said.
Edward — who has a new identity given to him by the Legion — is now an anti-tank missile operator in the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment based near Marseille on the Mediterranean coast.
He is one of what he says are “several dozen” Americans in the elite formation that is still the hard core of the French army. Though many Americans have served with distinction in the Legion’s many wars, their numbers have fallen in recent years.
After drifting through several civilian jobs in southern California, Edward decided he missed the comradeship of military life. He traveled to France, where he reported to a Legion recruitment center in Paris.
“Everyone in the U.S. military knows about the Foreign Legion, but in a general, mythical way, without much solid information,” he said in an interview with Stars and Stripes arranged by the Legion. “So I decided to give it a try.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but those who are well read about the Korean War may remember that the French Battalion filled with Legionnaires was one of the most colorful and combat hardened units in the war.
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It appears the Kim regime got a taste of its own medicine from a hacker that took over one of its shortwave radio stations:
A hacker has hijacked North Korea’s short-wave station, playing “The Final Countdown” by the Swedish rock band “Europe.”
An unknown hacker has allegedly hijacked North Korean short-wave radio station, 6400kHz, and is broadcasting the 1986 hit song from ’80s Swedish rock band Europe, “The Final Countdown.”
News of the incident was posted on Twitter by vigilante hacker, “The Jester,” who has in the past gained fame by hacking jihadist websites, and who in October 2016 defaced the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the message, “Stop attacking Americans.”
“A god among us has hijacked 6400kHz (North Korean station) and is playing the Final Countdown,” said The Jester on Twitter on Nov. 9, and posted a link to a recording of the broadcast.
The 6400kHz station is based in Kanggye close to the North Korean border with China, and is used by North Korean radio station Pyongyang Broadcasting Station (Pyongyang BS), which also broadcasts on the 621, 1053, and 3250 frequencies.
The North Korean communist regime has in the past used the 6400kHz radio station to broadcast coded messages. Strategic Sentinel, a Washington-based nonpartisan geostrategic consulting company, noted that North Korea often broadcasts messages on the station ahead of provocations. [Epoch Times]
Veterans and their families of the 1950-53 Korean War, alongside South Korean soldiers, offer a one-minute silent prayer at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in the southern port city of Busan on Nov. 11, 2017, to pay tribute to U.N. troops killed in the conflict. Organized by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the Turn Toward Busan ceremony was simultaneously held in 21 other countries that fought for the South Korean side against invading North Korea under the U.N. flag in the three-year conflict. (Yonhap)
I guess the word hasn’t gotten out yet in Columbia that making slant eyes is considered racist:
In this image captured during an MBC telecast of the men’s football friendly match between South Korea and Colombia on Nov. 10, 2017, Colombian player Edwin Cardona makes an apparent racist gesture at South Korean players at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 10, 2017. (Yonhap)
Colombian football player Edwin Cardona made an apparent racist gesture at his South Korean opponents during his team’s 2-1 friendly loss here on Friday.
In a testy match at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 46 kilometers south of Seoul, Cardona, who came off the bench in the second half, made the mocking gesture toward South Korean captain Ki Sung-yueng, who was standing next to two teammates.
It came after the end of some pushing and shoving that ensued following James Rodriguez’s foul on Kim Jin-su around the 63rd minute mark.
After Kim went down to the ground in pain, James, as he’s commonly known, tried to bring the South Korean to his feet so that the match would resume. Colombia were trailing 2-0 at the time.
South Koreans took umbrage at James’ action, and players from both sides gathered around Kim and James.
As the players were separated, Cardona, who’d come off the bench in the second half, made that controversial gesture, which was caught on South Korean television.
His head coach, Jose Pekerman said afterward that he never saw the gesture. But Ki, who clearly did see Cardona’s action, called it “absolutely unacceptable.”
“I thought the Colombians played a physical, rough game today, but it can happen in football,” Ki said. “But racist behavior is absolutely unacceptable. Colombia have world-class players, and I was extremely disappointed to see such action.” [Yonhap]
Some leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum — (clockwise from R, 1st row) South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — attend a group photo session during this year’s APEC summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on Nov. 11, 2017. (Yonhap)
The lesson I’ve learned from this and other, similar episodes is that one should be cautious before believing any highly publicized case of China enforcing sanctions against Pyongyang or applying economic pressure to it. I’ve seen this show enough times to suspect that China has a deliberate media manipulation strategy of making a big deal of enforcing sanctions until reporters lose interest. (……)
Take the coal export cap under UNSCR 2321, which later became a coal ban in UNSCR 2371. Remember August, when China announced that it was halting coal imports from North Korea? We’ve since learned that this is yet another case of China initially complying with an obligation, only to resume its cheating as soon as reporters looked the other way. The flaw in this strategy is that nowadays, too many reporters don’t look the other way for long. The sharp-eyed crew at NK News has been especially diligent about spotting North Korean bulk carriers at Chinese coal terminals, but this time, I’ll credit VOA. [One Free Korea]
You can read the rest at the link, but the Chinese are not even trying to hide their cheating considering they imported 509,000 tons of coal last month. It is pretty clear the Chinese government feels they will not be held accountable for cheating on the coal ban and they are probably right.
The fact that Europe is within ICBM range means that any NATO country that to comes to the aid of South Korea during a crisis puts them at risk of nuclear retaliation. Will any NATO countries risk nuclear retaliation to help the ROK?:
North Korea responded Wednesday to European concerns about being in the path of Pyongyang’s potentially nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by assuring the leader of Western military alliance NATO that such weapons were only intended for the U.S.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview last week with Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun that “Europe has also entered the [North Korean] missile range, and NATO member states are already in danger.” North Korea’s ruling party-run Rodong Shinmun newspaper countered these claims, calling Stoltenberg’s remarks “false and groundless” because, although European states are indeed in North Korea’s missile range, Pyongyang has no intention of pulling the trigger.
“The DPRK’s ballistic rockets are for deterring the U.S. nuclear war hysterics and ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and the region. They are not for threatening Europe and the world,” the commentary read, according to the official Korea Central News Agency, referring to the country’s official title: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. [Newsweek]
You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of how their nuclear and ICBM programs are about more than regime survival. They also are being developed to isolate the ROK from its allies and ultimately separate the ROK from the US.
