Voice from the Commonwealth Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
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Praise for Voice
"A smart fellow...I do like, recommend and learn from Barbera's blog." -Roger L. Simon
"Your blog is bullshit"- anonymous angry French reader.
Early analysis suggests there is plenty of raw intelligence to be found in the book. For one thing, it provides an intriguing glimpse into some of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's methods of controlling his people. His government runs informant hotlines that remain open day and night in case snitches want to rat out their neighbors or colleagues. According to the academic's analysis, the hotline can be reached by dialing local area codes and then 82. The book also suggests that the ruling party has a previously unknown outlet for its relentless propaganda: cable television. Most important, the book provides a comprehensive listing of government ministries, intelligence bureaus, and some military offices—precisely the kind of information outside intelligence agencies have long been denied. There are 18 pages in the Pyongyang section devoted to government offices—a sign that power is highly centralized in North Korea and that the nation's bloated bureaucracy is alive and well, even if its economy is dying. (Restaurants fill only one page.)
I like their description of North Korea. He risked death if collared—but so do all of the desperate souls trying to escape the world's last Stalinist hellhole. Of course they leave out one other Stalinist hellhole.
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