Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
Loading

Featured Posts        



categories        



Links        



archives        



meta        





Summary: Psychological assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, leadership style implications of Kim’s personality profile, and North Korea threat assessment with respect to U.S. national security.


Dec 23rd, 2010

Summary: North Korea’s minister of armed forces, Kim Yong Chun, said its military was prepared to wage a “holy war” against South Korea using its “nuclear deterrent” in response to what he called Seoul’s “intentional drive to push the situation to the brink of war.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 23, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.


Dec 22nd, 2010

Summary: South Korea has mobilized troops, tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets for its largest-ever wintertime military drills in a show of force that comes a month after North Korea’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on the release of the 2010 election cycle’s first poll in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District race for U.S. Representative. The survey, conducted December 17-20, 2009, showed that 53% of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s constituents approved of the job she was doing.


Nov 24th, 2010

Summary: North Korea’s artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong island, in conjunction with the sinking of the South Korean warship “Cheonan” in March, most likely is indicative of a hardline policy shift in North Korea coinciding with the military leadership cementing its control over Kim Jong-il’s successor, Kim Jong-un. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 24, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Nov 22nd, 2010

Summary: North Korea showed visiting American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker a vast new facility it secretly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, in February 2002, shortly after the attacks of 9/11.



Summary: North Korea celebrated the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party founded by “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung and anointed “Young General” Kim Jong-un as “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s successor. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqis took to the streets in parts of Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing growing discontent among Iraqis.


May 28th, 2010

Summary: North Korea accused South Korea of faking the sinking of one of its own warships, the Cheonan, and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 28, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels. The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North’s underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier in the week.


May 20th, 2010

Summary: Forensic evidence proves North Korea fired a torpedo that sank the South Korean warship Cheonan, while North Korea denies responsibility and threatens “all-out war.” … Psychological evaluation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il by Aubrey Immelman. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann appeared on talk radio with end-times pastor Jan Markell to discuss the “Criminalization of Christianity,” where in the past she held forth on topics ranging from homosexuality to the Second Coming; but this time, her topic was the labeling of Christians as terrorists.


Apr 9th, 2010

Summary: The White House is warning that al-Qaida is quietly hunting for an atomic bomb, adding urgency to a historic summit next week where President Barack Obama will try to persuade world leaders to step up efforts to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on April 9, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that PolitiFact debunked Rep. Michele Bachmann’s claim, in an April 7, 2009 op-ed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, that President Barack Obama’s cap and trade proposal would cost every household in America more than $3,000 in energy costs a year. (Still, I don’t believe it’s good policy, but it’s wrong to go and lie about it.)



Summary: Hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades nearly overran a U.S. outpost near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and capturing more than 20 Afghan security forces in the deadliest assault against U.S. troops in more than a year. … Stephanie Smith of Cold Spring, Minnesota, was left paralyzed in 2007 after eating a hamburger tainted by E. coli. …. On the 25th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported the killing of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq bombing mastermind, the withdrawal of Polish forces from Iraq, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s first public appearance in more than a month amid speculation about his health.