BBC World Service Report: Andy Kershaw in N orth Korea

World Music presenter Andy Kershaw presented a two-part series based on a recent visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). As Phil Ochs once said on an album sleeve when he reprinted the poems of Mao Zedong: "Is this the enemy?"
The programmes can be heard on the Internet, but BBC don't keep back programmes on the web for very long so if you're interested, then I suggest you click on these RealAudio links as soon as you can.

Part One

Part Two
Slideshow of pictures
Details of tours of North Korea
Some of the music is (ironically) rfather Westernised kitsch, but there are some wonderful extracts. Definitely worth hearing!
KARL DALLAS

Test - please ignore

AVAILABLE NOW

Aerosmith	Sweet Emotion
	Walk This Way
Allman Brothers Band, The	Jessica
	Ramblin' Man
Beatles, The	Day Tripper
Benatar, Pat	Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Clapton, Eric	Tears in Heaven
Cream	Sunshine of Your Love
Deep Purple	Smoke on the Water
Dire Straits	Money for Nothing
Etheridge, Melissa	All American Girl
	Bring Me Some Water
	Come To My Window
	I Want To Come Over
	Like the Way I Do
	Nowhere to Go
	Your Little Secret
Foo Fighters	I'll Stick Around
Incubus	Drive
Joel, Billy	You May Be Right
Judas Priest	Living After Midnight
LIT	My Own Worst Enemy
Megadeth	Symphony Of Destruction
Osbourne, Ozzy	Goodbye to Romance
P.O.D.	Alive
Police, The	Every Breath You Take
	Message In a Bottle
	Roxanne
	The Zephyr Song
Santana	Smooth
Stewart, Rod	Maggie May
Sum41	Fat Lip
Taylor, Corey	Bother
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	Refugee
Weezer	Keep Fishin'

COMING SOON

Black Sabbath	War Pigs
Blink 182	All The Small Things
Crosby, Stills & Nash	Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Dylan, Bob	Tangled Up In Blue
Eagles	Best of My Love
Goo Goo Dolls	Name
Hendrix, Jimi	Purple Haze
Johnson, Jack	Flake
Kansas	Dust in the Wind
Marley, Bob	Redemption Song
Mayer, John	Why Georgia
Metallica	St. Anger
Nirvana	The Man Who Sold The World
Oasis	Wonderwall
Pink Floyd	Brain Damage
Rage Against the Machine	Killing in the Name
Red Hot Chili Peppers	Can't Stop
Rolling Stones	Start Me Up
Tool	Aenema
Van Halen	You Really Got Me
Vaughan, Stevie Ray	Pride and Joy
White Stripes	Union Forever
The Who	The Magic Bus

Colin Powell in the New York Times: "What We Will Do in 2004" (More of the same!)

Shorn of its hypocritical posturings, Colin Powell's New Year's message promises more of the same. For instance:
"America's formidable power must continue to be deployed on behalf of principles that are simultaneously American, but that are also beyond and greater than ourselves."
And:
"While our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq will continue in 2004, we are resolved as well to turn the president's goal of a free and democratic Middle East into a reality. We will expand the Middle East Partnership Initiative to encourage political, economic and educational reform throughout the region. We will also stand by the Iranian people, and others living under oppressive regimes, as they strive for freedom."
"We are working for the advent of a free Cuba, and toward democratic reform in other countries whose people are denied liberty. And we are resolved to support the young democracies that have risen in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The consolidation of freedom in many new but often fragile democracies will shape the aspirations of people everywhere, assuring that the 21st century will be a century of liberty worldwide."
Nothing about the undemocratic old regimes in those places that would not have survived without US military and diplomatic support! And the exposure of the WMD lies might never have happened:
"Americans are safer as 2004 begins than they were a year ago. Afghanistan is no longer a devil's playground for terrorists, nor is Iraq an incubator for weapons of mass murder that could have fallen into terrorists' hands."
Anyone who claims that the world is safer - and that includes USA - is either demented or lying. No acknowledgement that the WMD scam was just that, that Iraq had been at war with Al-Queda when US was financing terror in Afghanistan and elsewhere throughout the world.
And anyone who thinks imperialism is dead should ponder over these chilling words, cosmetically seeking to cover a colonialist agenda:
"As we work to restore a liberated Iraq to its people, we invite the United Nations and the international community to help Iraqis establish a new citadel of free minds and free markets in the Middle East."
FULL REPORT