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About me: I am against communists and I am pro- judging people by the quality of their hair follicles.
A Policy of Musihada (무시하다) and Muyong (무용)
Alex GratzekSeptember 24 My early contributions to The Korea Times largely revolved around inter-Korean relations and the futility of ‘negotiations’ with North Korea. Every North Korean dictator since Kim Il-Sung have proven themselves to be faithless negotiators. Every ‘roadmap’ to better relations that is laid out inevitably proves to be a dead end. North Korea…
Graveyard of Empires- Part III
In my last column Graveyard of Empires- Part II, I wrote “I’d wager heavily on the American supported Afghan government collapsing followed by a period of turmoil and infighting.” I was right on the money although the speed of the collapse was surprising. The Afghanistan Governments fall in 2021 was eerily reminiscent of The Taliban’s…
A Wasted Crises
(Originally written May 18, 2020) A common refrain in politics is so never let a good crisis go to waste. As a Political neophyte, President Trump can be excused from being aware of this saying and attempting to ensure some good emerges from the aftermath of the Corona Debacle. The problem with Trump and the…
Stepping back from the precipice of Civil Strife
As I worked from home the other day, I called my dad who told me he was contemplating turning on the TV. I was a bit surprised because he isn’t the kind of person to spend his day watching television. Intrigued, I turned on the TV to suddenly recoil in horror as I watched a…
Aircraft Carrier- Korea’s White Elephant
In previous centuries, white elephants were a status symbol in Southeast Asia. Monarchs were keen on possessing white elephants because they symbolized the power and justness of his rule while also signaling that the lands were blessed with peace and prosperity. Eventually, white elephants began to be given by monarchs to sideline their potential rivals.…
An Unholy Abomination
By Alex Gratzek One technological issue facing America and the world at large today is the threat posed by algorithms. These algorithms, when coupled with Facebook and YouTube, pose a threat to public civil discourse in America and by extension, to democracy itself. Platforms such as these are eager to keep users online and engaged…
(Un)Compassionate Release
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, crime rates in America skyrocketed. In response, governments at the state and Federal level took actions to combat this rise in crime at the tail end of this crime pandemic in the early and mid 1990’s. Most famously, California enacted the 3 strikes law. Essentially, it said that any person…
Coming Collapse: Part 2
In my first Coming Collapse piece which was published in The Korea Times, I wrote how the coming of man was the harbinger of death for megafauna around the world in prehistoric times. As man’s technological prowess has improved, so has his ability to wrought destruction on the finely tuned planet we call home, Earth.…
Political Progression
By Alex Gratzek- Originally published in The Korea Times. Over the centuries, a positive development among international relations and domestic politics has been the increased respect of the sanctity of diplomats and political opponents from harm. In ancient times, diplomats were sometimes harmed or molested, but not always. During the Persian-Greek Wars, the Spartans threw…
The Absurdity: Part 2
Last time I wrote about the daily minutiae of my life in Korea, I was primarily concerned with taxis and bananas. I want to update you on those two issues which have driven me bananas for so long along with a couple of new issues which as an outsider on the margins of Korean society,…
Current events through a historical lens 