Give Us Our Ball Back: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve always thought that guns were generally unnecessary for self-defense. What are the odds that a totally normal non-aggressive citizen would find themselves in a position where they needed to defend themselves with a firearm? That all changed 48 hours ago. This is the story of how I got chased through the woods by 8 men in broad daylight.This weekend was one of the most romantic weekends of my young life- my boyfriend and I took a camping trip up to Yosemite and since he couldn’t hike (sports-related injuries) we decided to hang around town and explore. In a beautiful little town called Groveland, we woke up after a night in the most idyllic canvas tent to a gentle sunrise, and wandered down Main Street.Kind strangers waved to us from their porches and a friendly old biker even chatted with us outside the local saloon. With a margarita in a mason jar in one hand, he gestured up and down the road giving us directions to a store where we could get a fresh propane tank for our camp stove. As I nuzzled into my boyfriends arms, comfortably chatting with this friendly stranger, my ears pricked up when he asked, “You guys interested in swimming or checking out some creeks?”. That was in fact exactly what we were looking for- a relaxing spot to chill for the day and not aggravate his injuries further. We nodded excitedly and the friendly inked man’s eyes twinkled before he gave us directions to “little romantic hideaways” (his words, not mine) nearby. Ah, this was the charm of small town USA- friendly locals willing to share the joys of their hometown with two crazy kids.We wound up at Rainbow Pools, an idyllic set of falls, pools, and rapids about 30 minutes by car from town. As I climbed down the cliffs and eased into the water, I looked up at my boyfriend and grinned broadly, “I can’t believe a place like this actually exists”. Truly I believed we had reached paradise- the water was warm, the rapids mild, and the energy intoxicating. Children played in the shallows and cheered as teenagers dove off the cliffs, while grandparents lazily floated about the various pools of water. It was almost too perfect.My boyfriend hauled himself out of the water after two hours, leaving me to frolic in the rapids. He, being of the fairer variety of human, was burning up under the high sun, while I was merely roasting nicely. He kissed me on the cheek before crossing the rapids to the far shore to ask around for sunscreen and I turned my attention back to the cute little kids splashing about in the cove. Life was so good right then. Until it wasn’t. I saw my boyfriend stumble backwards over the rocks shouting “I’m here with my girlfriend man.”At first I thought he was just joking around with the man on the other side of the rapids, until I saw the man’s feet: there at eye-level, on his ankle, was a thick black band with a box. This guy had an ankle bracelet on, and he was mad. My boyfriend continued to back away with his hands up, repeating “I don’t want trouble man, I’m just here relaxing with my girlfriend and was looking for sunscreen.” But seven more men appeared from the shade behind Mr.Ankle Bracelet. My boyfriend shouted one more time over the yells coming from the men, “Alright, alright, we’re leaving.”, then shouted at me a simple direction: “Run.”Like a puppet with invisible strings, I jumped across the rocks in the rapids, somehow finding sure footing every single time. Mr. Ankle Bracelet wasn’t so fortunate and ate rock when he tried to lunge for my boyfriend. As I looked back hearing the wet thwack of flesh on stone, I feared for the worst, imagining my boyfriend in the hands of those men. Instead I saw something almost as terrifying- pure rage in the eyes of Mr.Ankle Bracelet, now crawling across the rocks. I only knew that look of absolute detachment from reality mixed with a heady dose of fury from movies. Never in my mind had I imagined such a look could be seen in real life.(He looked a lil something like that)My boyfriend and I scaled the cliffs as fast as we could, bare feet thumping on the stone, as the more athletically-inclined men behind Ankle Bracelet chased us. Weaving through brush and perilous overhangs above the river, we sprinted upstream. As I followed my boyfriend away from our car I realized we had no choice but to hide in the woods upstream- they were camped out right where we had parked and would certainly see us. But as he began to lead us on deer paths away from the river, I pulled on his hand and hissed, “We can’t get away from other people. Out here, they can do anything they want to us.” His whole body held tensed as he squared his shoulders towards me and the river, momentarily turning his back on the path, to consider our course. Three men rushed by us, accidentally bumping his body into mine, as an accidental embrace. And for a moment I felt safe. And then I realized that we were both only flesh and bone, and that there were only two of us.That nudge was enough for him to make his decision. He clamped down, harder than he ever had on my wrists to hold me in place, and whispered, “Wait.” into my ear as those same three men pushed by his back once again, this time running in the opposite direction. Then for the second time that day he said, “Run.” And together we ran, down a poison-oak ridden deer trail down the cliffs to the river once more. Once again we were among people and paradise.As we climbed further down the rocks and into a small rocky alcove, he anxiously watched the ridge above where we had run minutes before. He then told me why he had held my wrists earlier- those men who had ran past us were some of the same men who were part of Mr. Ankle Bracelet’s posse. They had been searching for us. Holy heck we had got lucky.Down by the river, I shook like a wet chihuahua even though it was perfectly warm. The sun looked indecently bright and the children laughing nearby were unimaginably happy. How was this happening to us, over a bottle of sunscreen, in paradise? Still curled up in a ball on a rocky alcove, a little girl waved at me eagerly and then jumped off a rock into the water. It was like she didn’t even think about if there were rocks below the water, or if I was a dangerous stranger, or if the current was going to toss her about. She simply trusted the good in the world.I looked down at my boyfriend, and murmured, ““I know it’s early to talk about this, but I think I’d like kids one day. I’m not much of a mum now, or up to the task, but I always like being around them. They’re just so optimistic and happy all the time.” My boyfriend looked at me like I had grown a third head- we had just been chased by a bunch of guys through the woods and this was the first thing I talked about?I shook my head, trying to shake the feeling that none of this was really happening, and then started on logistics. I was 19 and an adult goddamit- time to start acting like one. Together we came up with a few facts about the situation:The men were camped out right along an isolated path we needed to reach our car. If we got spotted on the path by them, we could get sandwiched between two groups of them and be severely screwed.Rainbow Pools was located far away from any town or police station. Meaning, even if we got into trouble and had to call the police, help would be about 20 minutes away.Even if we wanted to call the police for an escort to the car, we had no service on his cell phone and mine was missing (I dropped it on the cliffs in our mad rush to escape).The sun was beginning to go down and the longer we waited there, the longer we risked running into the men when they were heading back to their cars.Because the men were young and with other people, we figured that they would eventually stop searching the river for us and get bored. So we had a time frame between when they got bored and when they left for their car to make an optimal escape.Listing all of our options out, I felt a little bit more secure if not safe. The plan was to wait at least 45 minutes for them to lose interest but act before the sun began going down in 90 minutes. While we counted down the time until 45 minutes had passed and the “patrols” of men along the ridge had stopped, we began to disguise ourselves. My boyfriend changed his shorts, pulled on a long sleeve, tied my bandanna around his face, and then put on a baseball cap I had scavenged from the river (Go Jags!). I took my hair down and let it cover my face, changed clothes, and finally got a pair of running shoes on. We were ready as we were ever going to be.As we sat on the rocks, getting ready to climb up the cliffs away from the river, I asked what was on both of our minds- “What if they cut us off at our car or block the road?”. He sighed, “Babe, I know you don’t like guns, but moments like these are when they’d come in handy to keep in the car. There’s two of us and at least 8 of them. And we don’t know if they have any buddies in the area.” At the time I didn’t know what to do with the statement- I was too busy looking for the safest possible route down the river- but the thought bored itself into my head in the following hours.We managed to sneak down the path and past the men, get to the car safely, and drive it past them once more. On the other side of the river, I jumped out, grabbed my phone off the cliffs, and then sprinted back up to the car with the word “Run” thudding in my head. As I jumped into the car and slammed the door shut, he grabbed my hand and floored it out of paradise like we were Bonnie and Clyde escaping a successful heist. We had made it.(The escape route: pink=the initial conflict point, purple= our hiding place upstream, yellow = our car)In all honesty though, we had been really lucky on a number of occasions that day:We were lucky that Mr. Ankle Bracelet pounded his own face on the rocks, giving us a head start.We were lucky that the three men managed to miss us twice, despite literally bumping into us.We were lucky that we made it past the group of men to our car, and didn’t get recognized by one of them that was waiting along the past.We were lucky my phone was still on the cliff when I went to retrieve it and that the men didn’t recognize me.There were four points where crap could have hit the fan, and didn’t.I’ve always operated under the assumption that unprovoked attacks rarely happen, and if they do they can be de-escalated without needing a firearm. And that if they can’t be de-escalated with words, the police can step in to protect you without you needing to even have a weapon on you. In many ways I was like that little girl diving off the rocks- I had never been hurt before, so I assumed I was safe. Until suddenly I wasn’t.Truthfully I’m not sure what would have happened if we got caught in the car or blocked in. 8 men versus a guy and a girl aren’t exactly optimal odds. Add to that the fact that we were far away from the nearest police hub and had no cell connection created a recipe for disaster. But we were incredibly lucky to make it out safe and sound.Something was rattled in me that day. I can’t help but think about how incredibly naive I’ve been. Because I’ve always lived in safe suburban neighborhoods, and had a highly privileged life, my experience with violence has been infrequent. And I’ve always been able to rely on police or security to aid me in a pinch. But what happens when you’re far away from help and drastically outnumbered? I hate to say it, but a firearm starts to look like a very attractive option. That being said, I’m an advocate for gun control and limiting civilian access to certain classes of firearms. I didn’t believe that the average citizen needed to own a gun for home protection and that there was too much paranoia around the need for weapons for self defense. And now I don’t know what to think- I had to learn the hard way that my beliefs aren’t as black and white or waterproof as I initially thought. Truth be told I’m still rattled and struggling with the whole situation and what it means for my personal view on firearm ownership. While a firearm could have been a protective weapon if sh*t hit the fan, would pulling out a firearm escalate the situation if sh*t hadn’t hit the fan yet? I’ve yet to come to any solid conclusion.Please feel free to leave your opinions (phrased respectfully) in the comments because I could use any insight on firearm ownership that I can, from both sides. If this incident has taught me anything, it’s that I had a fairly limited perspective because of my privilege (living in a safe and well-off neighborhood) before and could benefit from widening my perspective.EDIT: I realized I omitted an important detail when writing this at 1am. The man with the ankle bracelet accused my boyfriend of looking at his sister (and using looking for sunscreen as an excuse). This is what catalyzed the conflict.Photo Credits:[1] Rainbow Pool (Groveland) - 2020 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor[2] Google Maps[3] Screenshot from The Grudge

Tanks with knees are dumb.I need to acknowledge, Star Wars is meant to be a fantasy genre in a Sci-fi setting. So you shouldn’t take anything too seriously from a “would it work?” perspective, being that tiny green men do gymnastic laser sword dances and Rei needs no training. I get that. Star Wars is a beautiful part of our cultural heritage and a testament to human creativity. I also get that technically it was a type of “armored transport”, but given we didn’t see a lot of actual tanks at Hoth, we’re talking about tanks here. With that said, I’m not knocking it other than to say to people who delve into science fiction writing…Please don’t give tanks knees.It — is — dumb.This is the Abrams. We’re going to be talking about it a bit.Do you know how much it weighs? About 60 tons. Now, I’m going to ask you to place that on two legs. Ignoring a lot of engineering problems with that, what you’ve effectively done is create weak points on the platform that figure skating fans of the 90’s will recognize immediately.The tracks used by tanks are the most stable and efficient means of transporting large objects, as well as not dying if people don’t want you there. Think about this. Why is it that sports cars were never made with legs, but instead with wheels? Because it works better. We don’t have to make things — that look like other things — slightly more like us for them to be believable in our fictional worlds.If you give a multi-ton fighting platform legs, you create weak points at the joints that, if they fail… which your enemy is going to try to make them fail… will be catastrophic. In actual tank warfare, if you manage to disable the ability of a weapons platform to movement, we call that a “mobility kill” — the gun still works, the operators may still be fine. Just move away and you’re safe. So if you take out the tracks on an Abrams, the team would be shafted for a while as they had to get out and replace the parts. It’s completely possible to change out the tracks on a tank in battle. Maybe they’ll be lucky and within a few hours, be right back in the fight. But if you’re that Imp charged with manning the AT-AT, you’re not coming back from this one.If you blow out the knee of a giant walking robot, then it’s not going to fall over like dad stepping on legos. 60 tons of machinery is going to come crashing to the ground. Even from a small drop, that’s a catastrophic event. Ask a helicopter pilot. No one wants to crash from only twenty feet up. When you think of the sheer tonnage involved — everyone in that vehicle is dead. They’re so dead. They are organ flavored soup suspended in skin bags level dead. If somehow they are likewise equipped with plot armor to survive the fall, I’m not seeing how some Private First Class is going to get that thing up again with a few twists of a wrench, either.What real benefit do the knees even provide? Really. Writers of scifi. Why do we do this. What do they do? The tank’s wide base gives it a stable firing platform. Range of motion? Modern tanks can already pivot everything without needing to pivot their whole chassi to look at the thing they’re shooting. Height advantage? Does it elevate the weapons platform? Are there better ways to do that?Oh… right. Forgot that was an option.Alas, it seems there’s nothing in the Star Wars galaxy that has surpassed the technological advantage of the AH-1W Super Cobra Attack Helicopter.Now let’s deal with the main cannon.This is the effective firing field of the AT-AT. Perhaps the very astute will notice a few problems.Namely, if you get behind it, beside it, even under it… even under it… you’re totally safe, so long as the giant tank camal dogs don’t come in packs.This, however, is the firing filed for the Abrams. This is the difference between a 360 degree fully rotating turret as compared to the limitations of putting the cannons at the end of a short neck. Not the differences.Even then, the laser cannons only fire in straight lines. That means you can hide behind things. Just put a reasonably sized rock between you and the main cannon of an AT-AT. You’re good. I’m telling you, you are good. But a weapon that relies on throwing the modern equivalent of a cannon ball at you relies on ballistics. Ballistics is the science of falling objects. That means that if the tank points high enough, there is nothing that you can hide behind. Death will merely rain down following an arc that will… look the pink in the diagrams wasn’t to be cute. It’s to illustrate the puff of existence that is the last thing anyone sees of you.We can talk about speed too. Where the Abrams runs on a literal jet engine that helps move twice the speed of similar tanks, the AT-AT moves at the speed of smell. If not for the profound instrumental work of John Williams, there is nothing scary about this thing at all. Turning speed is also a thing. The Abrams can literally 180 degrees on a dime in less than a few seconds. I have no idea what an AT-AT does if they miss an exit to Tucson. They’re just going to Mexico. “That’s it guys. We can’t turn in this thing, so we’re just taking over Mexico.” Unless you choose to stand still for a very long time in the one place I told you not to, this is not a functional weapons platform.All that said, this answer pokes fun at how dysfunctional a lot of the Star Wars universe was from a real military perspective. It’s actually pretty interesting to discover that performance specs like top speed and firepower of many of the weapons platforms in use today. Even so, George Lucas somehow found a way to become a billionaire without creating a realistic depiction of how the military would function in a future space sci-fi fantasy world. He made great characters, living out a great story, that will be a defining Hallmark of the American culture’s contribution to world history. And Empire Strikes Back is probably one of the best contributions to that story, and my personal favorite — tanks with knees notwithstanding.

North Korea may seem like this unpredictable, bipolar government whose foreign policy seems to flip-flop without warning. But, as many experts about Korean affairs and history have said, North Korea is perhaps the most consistent, pragmatic, and calculating government in the region. A Korea-specializing journalist that I’ve had a pleasure of meeting a while back even went as far as saying that it isn’t North Korea that’s inconsistent and unpredictable, but the democratic South Koreans and Americans, whose policies change every few years depending on whose in power.In other words, in all likelihood, this “sudden” change in North Korea’s behavior was probably planned months if not years in advance. So why now? We can only guess, but here are some reasons that I can guess:North Korea has finished developing nuclear missiles.It’s no secret that the Kim regime has been focusing much of its attention and capital in developing its nuclear arsenal. But the issue isn’t whether North Korea has the bomb or not. It does. For a solid decade or two now, North Korea could’ve snuck an atomic bomb into Seoul or dropped it from a plane. It’s because of this capability that the allies — including the almighty U.S. of A. — would never dare to invade North Korea at this point. But, the two real problems Pyongyang has had was making said bomb small and light enough to put on a missile, and making a missile strong enough to reach the U.S. mainland.But in 2016, that changed. North Korea successfully tested a miniaturized nuclear bomb, long-range missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and missiles with detachable warheads (which makes them very hard to shoot down). In other words, North Korea has finally completed its development of nuclear missiles.So why is this important? Well, now when Pyongyang goes to the negotiation table, it isn’t negotiating ending the development of nuclear weapons, but getting rid of weapons that already exist. That holds a LOT more weight and upgrades Pyongyang’s hand in any deal that it reaches with the U.S. It also means that even if North Korea got rid of its existing arsenal, there’s nothing stopping North Korea from making more later. In other words, whether Washington likes it or not, North Korea is a full-fledged nuclear power.[UPDATE 4/27: The North Korean government confirmed that it finished developing nuclear weapons and claimed that it “doesn’t need further tests.” Like I said, this changes the calculus during the de-nuclearization negotiations, which the regime has so far seemed very keen on having. North Korea has a strong hand, and now it has raised. Now we wait to see if Moon and Trump will call it or fold.]2. The impeachment of Park Geunhye and the ascension of Moon Jae-inFrom the very beginning, North Korea has made it crystal clear that it hates every thing about former president Park Geunhye. She and her party were hardliners toward North Korea, and not to mention she’s the daughter of Park Chunghee, who also was a very firm anti-North Korea leader. Thus, under her administration, negotiations with the South would’ve never resulted in a deal that meets the North’s standards, if they even happened at all.But Moon Jae-in? Now that’s different. Moon has always been an advocate of improving relations with North Korea and strengthening South Korea’s own voice irrespective of the U.S. (the real enemy in North Korea’s eyes). And, even better, Moon’s family were originally from the northern provinces of Korea — which means, at the very least, he’d know how northerners think and feel. (By the way, this isn’t saying that Moon is a North Korean sell-out. My family is also from the North — Pyongyang, in fact — and I can tell you that they’re an extremely determined, proud, but brutally practical people. It isn’t easy to deal with them unless you can step their step, so to speak.) North Korea knows that Moon is as good a negotiation partner as it will ever get for perhaps another generation.3. Trump’s election and the strain on U.S.-South Korean relations.I won’t get too political here, but Trump’s protectionist policies and comments have placed a strain on its relations with its South Korean allies. Threatening to rip up the ROK-US Free Trade Agreement unless South Korea comes to a compromise is not only borderline illegal, it’s flat out insulting. And don’t get me started about his comments about South Korea not doing its share in its military alliance. Combine Trump’s ineptness/harsh approach to his allies with Moon’s beliefs in making South Korea less reliant on the U.S., and you have the perfect window of opportunity for Pyongyang to launch talks with the South.[EDIT] I will give Trump credit for one thing. He (probably inadvertently) gave the Koreas room for negotiations. By openly pushing for the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea, he wasn’t just fulfilling American interests, but also North Korea’s. The Kim regime has maintained that American military presence on the peninsula is one of its main security threats and will only sign a peace treaty if they leave. The Trump Administration wants to pull troops out of Korea, but it couldn’t justify it and avoid looking weak or disloyal to its ally. So all Kim needed to do was give it a little nudge. By playing nice, Kim gave Washington the perfect excuse to accelerate its military withdrawal. And, with the U.S. already halfway out the door, North Korea no longer needs to demand American withdrawal in the peace treaty (which is why Kim explicitly stated he won’t ask for it), saving it the political capital to make other demands.Now, as a side note, one has to mention that Moon has been pretty amazing dealing with all of this. He has shown an incredible amount of patience toward Trump’s demands and slights, while crediting Trump for every positive development in North-South relations, even though he’s done nothing but stand in the way. On the surface, this may seem sycophantic, which is odd because Moon has stated over and over again that his government will not just be American lackeys. But, in reality, he’s playing Trump like a fiddle. He realizes that Trump doesn’t actually care for a pushover who gives him concession after concession (cough, Abe, cough). No, he wants compliments and credit, even though he did none of the muscle work — a very business owner-like mindset. By swallowing his pride a little, Moon has effectively kept the U.S. off his back as he goes completely against its hardline policy toward North Korea. And, by doing so, he has even managed to get the notorious Donald Trump — the same guy who threatened “fire and fury” against North Korea — to actually want to negotiate with Kim. That’s pretty impressive.4. The OlympicsIt makes for a great story, doesn’t it? At the Olympics, the global sporting event that symbolizes peace and unity of the human race, North and South Korea have come together. And indeed, journalists from all over the world jumped on this story, which the public — especially in South Korea — ate up. And let’s not forget to mention that where the 2018 Olympics were held. Needless to say, this was the absolute best platform for North Korea to rebrand itself as the harbingers of peace and unity in Korea.Like everything else, this was entirely calculated, as was the decision to send Kim Jong-Un’s suave sister Kim Yo-Jong to lead the charge. If the shock of friendliness during the Olympics captured the world’s attention, Kim Yo-Jong captured the South Koreans’ hearts. Her youthful confidence and charisma was not only refreshing to see from a nation that’s mainly known for their chubby dictators, but it also tapped the younger generation’s push for women’s equality — a movement that really took a hit in the balls by Park Geunhye’s fantastic failure as president.5. China’s ReadyI couple years ago, I interned at a think-tank that offered an informal “back channel” for mid-level foreign policy officials and experts to meet with their Chinese counterparts. According to one of the people that came back from a trip in China, the Chinese officials that he met there said that Beijing genuinely does not have as much leverage over Pyongyang as the West likes to believe. North Korea and China are allies in name, but in reality, North Korea only plays along to China’s wishes if it serves their interests. And if it doesn’t, well, that’s the end of it.When he first came into power, Kim Jong-Un’s first mission was to secure his power base by purging his government of potential rivals, especially those with foreign ties. This included his uncle-by-marriage Jang Song-taek, who was considered the second-most powerful man in the country and was very pro-China. Jang was promptly executed, effectively leaving Beijing in the dark. This was shortly followed by Kim’s orders to expedite nuclear weapons development, which further angered the Chinese. And, to add insult to injury, Kim was reported to have invited Xi to come to Pyongyang for a summit, which went against the whole China is North Korea’s elder brother mentality.It was unsurprising, then, that when Park Geunhye tried to build ties with China in hopes of isolating North Korea, Xi was very receptive. Symbolic of this was in 2015, during a WWII parade in Beijing, Park stood alongside Xi and Putin, while North Korea’s envoy was far, far away.But to Xi’s dismay, no matter how close South Korea and China get, China still comes second to the U.S. in Seoul’s priorities, as proven by the deployment of THAAD in South Korea. This led to severe backlash from Beijing and reversed all progress made in South Korea-China ties. And, unfortunately for Xi, even when Moon took over, South Korea chose to keep THAAD, leaving China completely alienated from both Korea.Xi’s failed attempt at building lasting political ties with South Korea worked in Kim’s favor. When China turned against him, Kim had further reason to develop his nuclear weapons and proved to the world and his people that he’s subservient to none. And, when China’s relations with South Korea collapsed, the threat of a China backing a South Korea-led unification collapsed with it. It was a gamble, but it paid off.Thus, when Kim scored a summit with Moon in late April of this year and Trump in May, it likely infuriated Xi to no end. Xi had been left on the sidelines to helplessly watch as the Koreas and the U.S. were drawing together. Xi needed to somehow be relevant to the conversation again, and thus, Kim’s “surprise” visit to Beijing a couple weeks ago. We don’t know whether Xi invited Kim or if Kim asked first, but either way, by coming to China and meeting with Xi, Kim did Xi a HUGE favor. That’s leverage that can be used later.I mean, just look at their faces.^The subtle smugness in Kim’s face, with the cold, lack of emotion in Xi’s is pretty telling (I’m half joking).ConclusionIn the end, this is all speculation. But, when it comes to figuring out why a government does something, you generally have to assume that it acts in a way that serves its interests. In the last three months alone, North Korea has gone from being on the brink of war with the U.S. to being just weeks away from having a summit with its president. That doesn’t just happen.And, most importantly, Kim currently has everyone at his mercy. Moon and Trump NEED this to work because if it doesn’t they’ll look like a bunch of gullible idiots — and heaven knows neither of them can afford that right now. Xi also NEEDS this to work because he just had to swallow his pride and stick out its neck to be a part of all this craziness.So, is this all a ruse? Maybe. But as far as I can tell, there’s no reason for Kim to throw away his leverage after going through so much effort to get it. For the first time in his reign as Supreme Leader, he’s being treated as a real player in the game that is global politics, not just by South Korea, but by China and the U.S., the two most powerful nations in the world. And, by extension, perhaps for the first time in its history, North Korea’s existence and legitimacy is no longer in question.If he plays his cards right, North Korea may actually be able to reform on a scale that China had in the 70s and 80s without being threatened by foreign powers. And if that succeeds and North Korea develops into the economic powerhouse it has the potential to be, then maybe… just maybe… one could hope to see unification in our lifetimes.I don’t see why Kim would intentionally forfeit all of that. The 36-year-old (yeah, surprising right?) has come pretty damn far and has the chance of really making a name for himself. But who knows? I’ve been wrong before.