Monday, December 19, 2011

One Dictatorship Viewing Another

The death of Kim Jong-il in North Korea came up briefly in an English lesson today.

My student, a former East German in her late 40s, said news about North Korea always cuts a little close to home, a little too close to how her country could have ended up – she remembers well the same kind of marches and obligatory celebrations, with functionaries checking everyone against an attendance list.

But, she reflected, "Compared to North Korea, we had a Streichelzoo-Diktatur [petting zoo dictatorship]."

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