If we can’t even get right who the ruler of NK is, how is NK at all understood?
I disagree with this example. He isn’t worth purging unless he has a lot of power. It is reasonably common for figureheads to purge their shadows and seize power. I don’t know whether that’s what happened; or whether he was a future threat rather than a past ruler; or whether he never had any power and was just doomed by foreign speculation. But I don’t conclude that the speculation was far from the mark.
North Korea is hardly the country with speculation about the ruler. Jiang Zemin’s purge last year ago caused me to update upwards the amount of power he maintained for the past decade. Many said that Cheney was the puppetmaster.
He isn’t worth purging unless he has a lot of power.
Purges affect all sorts of people. Stalin’s purges were notorious for their indiscriminateness. The prison camps of NK are filled with powerless people. The lack of targeting is precisely one reason purges are so terrifying and so useful—no one feels safe, no matter how powerful or powerless.
I disagree with this example. He isn’t worth purging unless he has a lot of power. It is reasonably common for figureheads to purge their shadows and seize power. I don’t know whether that’s what happened; or whether he was a future threat rather than a past ruler; or whether he never had any power and was just doomed by foreign speculation. But I don’t conclude that the speculation was far from the mark.
North Korea is hardly the country with speculation about the ruler. Jiang Zemin’s purge last year ago caused me to update upwards the amount of power he maintained for the past decade. Many said that Cheney was the puppetmaster.
Purges affect all sorts of people. Stalin’s purges were notorious for their indiscriminateness. The prison camps of NK are filled with powerless people. The lack of targeting is precisely one reason purges are so terrifying and so useful—no one feels safe, no matter how powerful or powerless.