Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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Aug 3rd, 2009

Summary: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea on a mission to win the release of jailed American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear defiance. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, August 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and posted, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 1 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).


Jul 26th, 2009

Summary: North Korea is interested in holding direct talks with the United States, according to North Korean ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son Ho. … Psychological Profile of Kim Jong-Il. … One-year retrospective: On the 12th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to Minneapolis to tape an interview with Ken Avidor for The UpTake, focusing on his background, his reasons for running, and his core issues of national security, law enforcement/public safety, and border security/illegal immigration. In discussing national security, Immelman pointed to lost opportunities after 9/11, specifically “the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, which turned a country that had been militarily contained and led by a dictator hostile to Iran and to Islamic fundamentalism … into a foreign policy nightmare that has consumed our domestic political agenda and squandered our finite resources for more than five years.” (Includes video of interview)


Jul 4th, 2009

Summary: North Korea’s motives in launching seven ballistic missiles on U.S. Independence Day, July 4, 2009. Includes link to North Korea threat assessment and psychological profile of Kim Jong-Il.


Jun 16th, 2009

Summary: North Korea has threatened a “fire shower of nuclear retaliation” if provoked by the U.S., but U.S. officials are downplaying any imminent threat to the United States of a North Korean missile strike or confrontation between the two countries at sea. … December 16, 2009 update: President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as part of an intense effort to draw the reclusive nation back to nuclear disarmament talks.


May 31st, 2009

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


May 28th, 2009

Summary: 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 27th, 2009

Summary: Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, says the Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012.


Apr 5th, 2009

Summary: North Korea has fired a multistage rocket over Japan, defying Washington, Tokyo, and other world leaders who suspect the launch was cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.


Apr 4th, 2009

Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann announces forums in St. Cloud and Woodbury to debunk global climate change and President Obama’s proposed carbon “cap and tax” plans, featuring Chris Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. … North Korea situation report.



Summary: President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a statement agreeing on “a stern, united response from the international community” as North Korea prepared to launch a long-range, multistage Taepodong-2 rocket capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.