From the Foreword: Originally published as "Criminal Sovereignty: Understanding North Korea's Illicit International Activities" by the Strategic Studies Institute. The authors of this monograph have exposed a key piece of the puzzle which helps to provide a better understanding of North Korea's surreptitious international behavior. For years; North Korea's military provocations have been obvious to the world; however; much of its decisionmaking is shrouded in secrecy; particularly that of a wide-range of clandestine activities. This monograph is unique in the way that it sheds light on the illicit activities of the regime; and how those illegal activities are used to support its military programs and the government itself.From drug trafficking to counterfeiting; from money laundering to cigarette smuggling; North Korea's Central Committee Bureau 39 is an active participant in the criminal economy of the region with tentacles extending well beyond Asia. The authors discuss how these activities have negative strategic consequences for a number of stakeholders and nations throughout the region while describing how such activities provide critical funding streams for military programs and regime supporters.As a result; North Korea is not just a "rogue state;" but practices what is essentially criminal sovereignty whereby it organizes its illegitimate activities behind the shield of non-intervention while using the tools of the state to perpetrate these schemes abroad. The authors argue that this arrangement has important links to succession issues within the regime. They also argue that policy makers who are concerned with the development of future policies and strategies aimed toward North Korea must view those new policies from a different perspective than that used in the past.
#54152 in Books 2015-04-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.25 x .40 x 5.75l; .0 #File Name: 1606064479112 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great; short book; but be aware...By Steve in DCLove this book; but be aware that it IS basically the same book as one of a similar title by the same author.13 of 14 people found the following review helpful. A great example is the simple one sound for the Sumerian ...By Fred P.Short but effective summary of just about all aspects related to cuneiform with some effective close-up illustrations of tablets. Examples of the original accounting list pictographs from 3200 BC in 300 year development of an actual writing system. Early cuneiform writing involves a mixture of consonant-vowel syllable sounds; symbols for specific words; and short words from the original Sumerian standing for longer words now pronounced in Akkadian. A great example is the simple one sound for the Sumerian word “water†which stands in for a multi-syllable Akkadian word. Everything made much more complicated today by being written in an unknown language. There are problems in that some syllables can be represented by several different signs; and some signs can represent different words or sounds. Of course; we have similar issues with modern English writing. Some suspect that the multiplicity of the same signs for different words may indicate that Sumerian was a tonal language like Chinese. Investigators are helped by the existence of scribes’ lists showing the equivalence of Sumerian and Akkadian terms. Nice illustration of how the cuneiform stylus instrument was made and how it created the wedge-shaped impressions. We hear that ink was used to annotate some tablets; and there are references to parchment cuneiform texts; too. Bricks were often stamped with cuneiform inscriptions with a kind of moveable typeset suggested by some signs being inserted in an inverted position. This kid of reverse image preparation must have been familiar from use of seal impressions but never used in any other way. Perhaps half of all existing known cuneiform tablets come from a single source – Ashurbanipal’s great archive at Nineveh. Cuneiform just barely survived into early historic times (mostly in ancient astronomical texts) so that there are useful Greek crib tablets using Greek letters to give the phonetic value of cuneiform symbols circa 100 AD to suggest what late Akkadian and Sumerian sounded like. Generally good; lengthy explanatory captions for figures; but one or two (such as the cross-section of a typical clay tablet) are hard to follow.8 of 9 people found the following review helpful. The World's First Writing SystemBy Dennis ZeunertIn about 3200 BC; temple accountants in the Mesopotamian city state of Uruk invented a writing system that transformed record keeping and communications. It would endure for the next 3000 years; spreading throughout the Middle East; eventually reaching such areas as Armenia; Bahrain; Israel; Iran; and Egypt. Scribes; with reed stylus's; wedged cuneiform symbols on soft clay tablets that would later dry and harden in the sun. Five thousand years later archaeologists uncovered thousands of these tablets in buried ancient palace archives and libraries.Cuneiform comprises 600 – 1000 characters representing complete or parts of words and syllables. The numbering systems were based on the numbers 60 and 10. The calendar was based on lunar months (29 – 30 days); with each year having 360 days. The decipherment of cuneiform; needing a type of Rosetta stone; was made possible by a trilingual cuneiform inscription in Old Persian; Babylonian; and Elamite of Persian king Darius on a mountain pass in Eastern Iran. Also; amazingly; archaeologists found a perfect tablet listing a table of signs; pronunciations; and meanings.The book is not intimidating; with simple to understand explanations; and many color photographs. It is only 103 pages with a complete index. The nine chapter titles facilitate searching for specific subjects; such as “Who used cuneiform writing?†and “How did it work?â€
