Space: The Final Missile Defense Frontier? http://t.co/m4V9ndlcc4

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) September 20, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea – Mr. Jin-Ha Hwang, Chairman of the Defense Committee visits CP Tango along with other committee members during Ulchi Freedom Gaurdian 2014. (US Army Photo by Sgt. Russell Youmans) [Via USFK Flickr Page]

This is what happens when everyone goes to college and want the same jobs:

Last year, 71 percent of high-school graduates went on university, but only 59.3 percent of university and college graduates were able to find jobs. The number of unemployed people between 15 to 29 years of age has surpassed 400,000.

Now young jobless people often cause a headache for their parents who still have to support them.

Yet young graduates continue to insist on jobs with major conglomerates in Seoul, which are not only growing scarce but extremely competitive, while small businesses have a tough time finding people to work for them.

A study by the Ministry of Employment and Labor shows that there will be a shortage of high-school graduates to the tune of 320,000 by 2020 and more than 500,000 excess university graduates.

Unless university graduates lower their sights and seek a wider range of job options, the day may come when a degree becomes utterly useless. (Chosun Ilbo)

You can read more at the link, but I think it is arguable that college degrees with a few exceptions in both the U.S. and Korea have been devalued to where they are becoming glorified high school diplomas.

N. Korea says detained American hoped to be a “second Snowden” http://t.co/rA0y3a9SJC pic.twitter.com/B3S1B42Y6u

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) September 20, 2014

Odierno must get frustrated by members of Congress complaining to him about Army cuts when they are the ones responsible for it:

Fiscal 2016 is the breaking point,” Odierno said, warning it would bring “a significant degradation of readiness.”
Complicating matters is an unusual burden on Army headquarters units, Odierno said. Each one has been cut by about 25 percent, and yet he is sending them to Iraq, to Europe and to Africa to help with coordinating the Ebola response, as well as maintaining the normal rotations in Afghanistan and South Korea.
Enough is enough, he said, and the Army’s tasks aren’t going to get any easier. “I’m not seeing, in ‘16, peace breaking out all over the world.”
Defense advocates on Capitol Hill hope voices like Odierno’s, as well as the enduring crises in Europe and the Middle East, put sequestration back on Congress’ priority list. The world has shown that it’s too dangerous for Congress to permit sequestration to return, as it would under current law, hawks argue. (Politico)

You can read more at the link, but I agree with Odierno that the government needs to figure out a security strategy for the military then properly fund and resource the military to carry out.

How Saigon’s premier night spot ended up in North Korea – a unique investigation by Leo Byrne on NK floating hotel http://t.co/2dOjtjDQSY

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) September 20, 2014

Here is a good read in The Diplomat that compares the concepts of the Chinese and American Dreams:

In a previous article for The Diplomat, I argued that the “China Dream” does not challenge U.S. global leadership. A brief comparison between the China Dream and the American Dream can further explain how the China Dream is different. Ultimately, the China Dream is not meant as a universal dream but as one alternative among many.

All politics is cultural, just like all politics is local. While individualism has prevailed in Western societies and political cultures for hundreds of years, China has a strong tradition of collectivism and even authoritarianism. Collectivism and the spirit of unity have virtually dominated Chinese culture, society, and politics for thousands of years, ever since the time of Confucius (551-479 BCE). Chinese culture, or in a larger sense Chinese civilization, helped cast and shape China’s unique contemporary domestic politics and its political culture. Underpinning Chinese contemporary politics are a great number of traditional values and beliefs such as the importance of order, reverence for authority, the virtue of rulers, and most importantly, collectivism or unity.

These cultural backgrounds determine political perceptions and ideals. Many Westerners view the state as a “necessary evil” and believe that individuals should constantly remain alert in their efforts to confine and try to contain the beast. By contrast, the traditional Chinese view sees the state as an extended and (more importantly) a united family to which they should show their love and reverence. In fact, the word for country in Chinese, guojia, combines the characters for kingdom (guo 国) and family (jia 家).

Based on this cultural perspective, one difference becomes clear: the China Dream is “our dream”; the American Dream is “my dream.” [The Diplomat]

You can read much more at the link, but what people need to realize is that the Chinese government is playing into this cultural trait by pushing their nationalist agenda.  The Chinese Communit Party’s (CCP) legitimacy for one party rule used to be centered around the country’s economic growth.  As wages rise this growth will slow down.  So now the CCP are positioning themselves as the defenders of the Chinese dream.  They push propaganda that China has long been the center of the world and only for a brief period of over 100 years did China’s place as the center of the world crash down when the nation was exploited by foreigners. 

This is why now there are so many anti-Japanese movies, territorial threats against neighbors, and anti-foreigner protests in China.  We even saw in Korea this anti-foreigner sentiment when the Chinese embassy sponsored thugs to assault Koreans in the streets of Seoul during the 2008 Olympic torch relay.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.