And Now a Word from the North Korea Tourism Department

“We encountered locals at the mass games, film studios, world’s deepest underground metro, art schools, and delicious restaurants. This is not a society voluntarily marching in lockstep. Like Iranians and Cubans, they are told one story but increasingly encounter the other viewpoints through media and tourism. Our appreciation of their beautiful cultural offerings reminds them that they are a rich civilization temporarily trapped in an anachronistic state.”
 — “Parag Khanna is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation” and a bizarre shill for the North Korean regime, though I guess they didn’t take him to the gulags or execution-planning meetings? (via)