Catsup&Liquor

What the true effects will be on the international stage are TBD.

What a freak show our world is turning out to be, eh?

Someone said it best when they likened this hullabaloo to a reality show, with politicians, diplomats and the media starring in it. The rest of us? Glued to our screens, simultaneously disgusted and enthralled by what might come next. Real World: International Diplomacy Challenge?

That was a bad attempt at echoing that MTV reality show. (Sidebar: I think it’s still going on, but not so much as a social experiment as much as it’s a taped orgy for attention whores.)

I was trying to avoid posting more on the North/South situation or about this whole WikiLeaks thing. It’s not like I have much to contribute (though when do I ever). I could throw my spear into the murky flow of information and take a stab at analyzing, or I can just be lazy and throw a bunch of links at you.

Guess which one I chose…

WikiLeaks Accidentally Helps U.S.

This was an intriguing read, Leslie Gelb is surprisingly sunny towards the situation. Gelb tears a silver lining into this whole WikiLeaks fiasco, which is one extreme of the swirling spectrum of sensational reporting. [via. The Daily Beast]

South Korea Fears New Attacks

More speculations on tensions rising in the Korean peninsula. It sounds foolish, but after today, I’m keeping my feed reading to a minimum. I’d rather live life than sit at home wondering if it might end. [via. NY Times]

All my little illusions of safety

Lifestyle piece from a reporter living abroad about our tendency to negotiate survival based on fuzzy distinctions. Notable: Her ditty on those statistics about “getting struck by lightning is likelier than dying in a terrorist attack”. They’re meant to assuage you, but we can all agree they suck. [via. Salon]

U.S. Diplomats Noted Canadian Mistrust

I’ve always thought that Canada is very idealized in the U.S., but it wasn’t until I got here that I found Canadians tend to idealize their own country. I think this is why this article stuck out to me, even if it’s just more negativity against the U.S.  It doesn’t really behoove any country to have a negative relationship with their neighbor. And let’s be real, no government is as benevolent as you want to believe. [via. NY Times]

Putin Responds to Cables re: Russia on LKL

Oh, this back and forth is like high school frenemies blasting each other on their blogs! Oh, Putin. ‘Tis all. [via. NY Times]