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Hyperinflationary Currency Collapse Is Leading To Big Anti-Regime Protests In Iran Joe WeisenthalOctober 3,2012 Earlier this week we wrote about how Iran's currency (the Rial) is in a state of total collapse, in part due to oil sanctions. It's obvious that the spiraling cost of things is having a major destabilizing effect. The BBC reports on protests: Riot police in Iran have clashed with protesters in the capital over sharp falls in the currency, the rial. Tear gas was used to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom were setting fire to tyres and rubbish bins. There were many arrests, reports...

If there's one sure way to infuriate the North Koreans, it's to talk of "regime collapse" and "contingency planning". As far as Pyongyang is concerned, such speculation is proof positive of United States-led plotting of a "pre-emptive strike". Against this background, one should not be surprised if the North Koreans see a study conducted by Rand Corporation analyst Bruce Bennett and Dartmouth College scholar Jennifer Lind as the most conclusive evidence to date that the planning is in an advanced stage. Considering Rand's contracts with the U.S. defense establishment, one has to perceive the study as a scenario for an...

Clock ticking for Kim's Korea 24 January 2008 Kim Jong-Il's regime could collapse within six months, bringing chaos to North Korea, observers and intelligence sources in Asia have told Jane's. A joint United States report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute for Peace has also revealed that China has "contingency plans" in the event of North Korea's implosion. The report, entitled 'Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor', said that China was prepared to "take the initiative" and had a military strategy for securing North Korea's "loose nukes" should Kim Jong-Il's rule fail.

Regime collapse in Pyongyang January 21, 2008 By Daniel L. Davis - On Nov. 7, Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited his South Korean counterpart Kim Jang-soo to underscore the solidarity between the United States and the Republic of Korea with regard to the oft-intransigent North Korea. Sending an unmistakable message to Pyongyang — and Asia in general — about how seriously America views the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Gates was accompanied by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the admiral commanding all American forces in the Pacific, and the four-star general commanding all troops in...

N. Korea nuke issue can only be solved by regime collapse: Bolton (Kyodo) _ (EDS: TO BE LED) Visiting former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Wednesday that the North Korean nuclear weapon program issue can only be solved by the collapse of its current leader Kim Jong Il's regime. Bolton also said in a press conference in Tokyo that additional economic pressure on North Korea is necessary, noting that the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program "failed irrecoverably" following Pyongyang's missile launches and nuclear test last year. "If my conclusion that the six-party talks have...

/begin my translation Depressed Market due to Bad Chinese Goods Life of N. Koreans We find out the life in N. Korea from N. Koreans who came to China. People do not go to work because government cannot give out food rations. The authorities cannot come down strongly on them, either. N. Koreans mainly use Chinese products, but many of them turn out to be health hazards, leading to boycotts. For example, lipsticks can cause fever, and skin to be peeled off. Brazier can cause rashes and itching. Worse, one newly-wed couple died after eating apples in 2005, or children...

[Sensitive Documents From North Korea the Japanese Recently Obtained] As a service to Free Republic (and the cause of Truth, Freedom, and National Security) it is my pleasure to synopsize-translate-comment, link to the original report, and pass on to you a quite interesting report today from Tokyo, Japan. This comes through the services of Fuji Television (FNN News). It has to do with internal Communist Korean Worker's Party government documents smuggled out of North Korea which seem to show an increasing level of internal concern and nervous tension over a break up of public order (i.e. 'loss of control')...