• A decade ago, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un first emerged at the age of 26, during the funeral for his father Kim Jong Il. Western observers had high hopes for change in North Korea given that the young North Korean leader attended a Swiss boarding school and was a fan of American basketball. These hopes were soon dashed as he became, like his father, a ruthless hardliner demanding complete obedience, while leveraging his nation’s nuclear weapons program.
(“From ‘Tempestuous’ Child to ‘Little Rocket Man’: 10 Years of Kim Jong Un,” Guardian, Dec. 16, 2021; “Kim Jong Un: 10 Years of Missiles, Murder and Economic Misery,”Al Jazeera, Dec. 17, 2021)
• In the Yaqui Valley below the Sierra Madre Mountains lies Mexico’s productive wheat fields, whose grain is exported around the globe. Howeve the low-tech methods used by farmers there includes the use of nitrogen fertilizer, that has generated a hot spot for the release of green house gas that is heating up the world. When water mixes with nitrogen fertilizer, and when no crops are in the ground to absorb it — huge surges of nitrous oxide gas are released into the atmosphere.
(“Mexican Wheat Fields Help Feed the World. They’re Releasing a Dangerous Greenhouse Gas,” Washington Post, Dec. 22, 2021)
• After the US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that opened the floodgates of unlimited and unaccountable campaign contributions, Democrats pushed for the Disclosure Act, which would have required new reporting prior to Election Day of top donors to political ads sponsored by corporations, unions and advocacy groups, with the top five donors being disclosed in the ads themselves. ut the bill stalled due to a Republican filibuster in the U.S. Senate. New superPACs quickly emerged with corporations and special interests having the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money — and a new “dark money” infrastructure developed.
(“The Democratic Dilemma on Dark Money,” American Prospect, Dec. 2, 2021)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
