North Korea and the Hydrogen Bomb

NPR the two-way: Here Are The Facts About North Korea’s Nuclear Test.

“Perhaps the greatest unknown is what Kim Jong Un will do with his nuclear arsenal. Traditionally, nations have used these weapons have been to deter attacks by others, and so far, the young leader’s actions seem to suggest he wants to preserve his power, according to Wolfsthal.
But, he adds, “The problem with deterrence is that it works up until the point it doesn’t.””

Deutsche Welle: North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test.

“North Korea has claimed a successful hydrogen bomb test that analysts said was more powerful than previous ones. The test ratchets up tensions after North Korea has conducted repeated ballistic missile tests.”

Deutsche Welle: Nordkorea meldet “erfolgreiche” Zündung von Wasserstoffbombe.

“Kim Jong Un dreht an der Eskalationsschraube. Nordkoreas Machthaber will eine Wasserstoffbombe getestet haben. Fest steht: Die Erde bebte und Südkorea und Japan glauben, dass es ein neuer Atomtest war.”

Nordkoreas Atomtest weltweit verurteilt. “Die jüngste Provokation aus Nordkorea schockiert die internationale Gemeinschaft. Rufe nach weiteren Sanktionen werden laut. Ungewöhnlich zurückhaltend reagierte US-Präsident Donald Trump.”

Kommentar: Die Rakete war Kims Gesprächsangebot. Von Martin Fritz, Tokyo. “Der jüngste Raketentest zeigt, dass Sanktionen und Drohungen Nordkorea nicht einschüchtern. Das Land will auf Augenhöhe mit den USA verhandeln, meint Martin Fritz aus Tokio. Die USA täten gut daran, darauf einzugehen.”

“I hope to pierce the wall of deafness with this, my scream.”

Open letter from jailed journalist Deniz Yücel’s wife: Open the door, it’s me.

“Deniz Yücel has now spent 200 days in a Turkish jail. The German-Turkish journalist is one of thousands arrested in the crackdown following the failed coup. This appeal was written by his wife.”

Offener Brief: Deniz Yücel seit 200 Tagen in Haft: Ich bin’s, mach auf.

“Seit 200 Tagen sitzt der deutsch-türkische Journalist Deniz Yücel in der Türkei in Untersuchungshaft – abgeschirmt von der Außenwelt. Seine Frau Dilek Mayatürk Yücel wendet sich mit diesem Brief an die Öffentlichkeit.”

Cream Tea

I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned scones before… I love scones with clotted cream and jam, preferably strawberry. Of course we had to have scones several times while in Scotland this summer, even though the cream part is not as common there as it is in Devon or England in general.

My plans for this weekend include making blackberry jam because I got a lot of blackberries from my neighbor, yay!

Also, I found clotted cream in a nearby supermarket a few days ago, which is not normally sold here in Germany, so I think I’ll bake Very British – Scones to live by and eat them still warm from the oven with clotted cream and blackberry jam. Looking forward to teatime tomorrow!

Eine deutsche Übersetzung des oben verlinkten Rezepts für Scones findet sich ürigens hier beim Kochfrosch: Schnelle Scones.

Update: Here they are, fresh scones with fresh blackberry jam (and store-bought clotted cream).

“It’s like you have 82 German baboons and then two other baboons come in. Those two would have to work really hard to Islamize German society.”

The Washington Post: This German political party is a complete joke — literally.

“[Nico] Semsrott is not campaigning in the United States, where emotions are red hot. This is Germany, where politics is seemingly untroubled. The chancellor, Angela Merkel, is poised to claim a fourth term, polls show. One poster for her center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union, features a young woman lying in the grass, sleeping. “Enjoy the summer now and make the right choice in the autumn,“ the flier counsels, suggesting that voters sleepwalk through the race.

But Semsrott would rather voters snicker than snooze. He is the leading candidate in Berlin for Die PARTEI — the Party for Labor, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative. More aptly, “The Party.“ Founded in 2004 by the editors of the satire magazine Titanic, one of its members, Martin Sonneborn, sits in the European Parliament.

The motto of the satirical faction is “yes to politics, no to politics“ — a contradiction that gets to the heart of Semsrott’s mission. He is a professional jokester with an earnest political objective. By luring nonvoters to his joke party, he is trying to diminish the share of support captured by Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist, anti-immigrant party that needs 5 percent of the vote to enter Parliament. AfD’s strategy is convincing voters, two years after a massive influx of refugees, that Germany is facing a crisis.”

Nico Semsrott is an up-and-coming Germany comedian – pardon me, tragedian?! His homepage and videos on YouTube are only available in German, though. In case you understand German, you can watch his Germans-baboons-comparison in this video: Pavianfelsen.