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30acb86
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The fervor and single-mindedness of this deification probably have no precedent in history. It's not like Duvalier or Assad passing the torch to the son and heir. It surpasses anything I have read about the Roman or Babylonian or even Pharaonic excesses. An estimated $2.68 was spent on ceremonies and monuments in the aftermath of Kim Il Sung's death. The concept is not that his son is his successor, but that his son is his . North Korea has an equivalent of Mount Fuji--a mountain sacred to all Koreans. It's called Mount Paekdu, a beautiful peak with a deep blue lake, on the Chinese border. Here, according to the new mythology, Kim Jong Il was born on February 16, 1942. His birth was attended by a double rainbow and by songs of praise (in human voice) uttered by the local birds. In fact, in February 1942 his father and mother were hiding under Stalin's protection in the dank Russian city of Khabarovsk, but as with all miraculous births it's considered best not to allow the facts to get in the way of a good story.
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religion
ancient-egypt
ancient-rome
babylon
baekdu-mountain
bashar-al-assad
dynasties
francois-duvalier
hafez-al-assad
haiti
jean-claude-duvalier
joseph-stalin
khabarovsk
kim-il-sung
kim-jong-il
kim-jong-suk
miraculous-births
mount-fuji
north-korea
reincarnation
syria
mythology
atheism
russia
china
rome
egypt
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Christopher Hitchens |
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55b4b4d
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Inevitably came the time when he angrily repudiated his former paladin Yasser Arafat. In fact, he described him to me as 'the Palestinian blend of Marshal Petain and Papa Doc.' But the main problem, alas, remained the same. In Edward's moral universe, Arafat could at last be named as a thug and a practitioner of corruption and extortion. But he could only be identified as such to the extent that he was now and at last aligned with an American design. Thus the only truly unpardonable thing about 'The Chairman' was his readiness to appear on the White House lawn with Yitzhak Rabin and Bill Clinton in 1993. I have real knowledge and memory of this, because George Stephanopoulos--whose father's Orthodox church in Ohio and New York had kept him in touch with what was still a predominantly Christian Arab-American opinion--called me more than once from the White House to help beseech Edward to show up at the event. 'The feedback we get from Arab-American voters is this: If it's such a great idea, why isn't Said signing off on it?' When I called him, Edward was grudging and crabby. 'The old man [Arafat] has no right to sign away land.' Really? Then what had the Algiers deal been all about? How could two states come into being without mutual concessions on territory?
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arafat
bill-clinton
christians
extortion
george-stephanopoulos
israeli-palestinian-conflict
ohio
philippe-petain
vox-populi
white-house
yitzhak-rabin
edward-said
united-states
corruption
francois-duvalier
arabs
territory
new-york
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Christopher Hitchens |