Mark I. Levenstein's blog

The New York Times tells the astonishing tale of Kim Sung Hee, a North Korean refugee who gets married, has a baby, defects to China without her child, meets another man, can't marry him because she's an illegal alien, lives in constant fear of deportation, has another baby, flees to Vietnam with her second child, wins asylum in South Korea, lands a job and decides she wants to marry the Chinese man, but can't get a divorce from her North Korean husband in South Korean courts.

South Korean divorce law is ill-equipped to cope with situations like that of Kim Sung Hee. The reason? "A thicket of legal riddles," says the Times:

First, should South Korea even recognize a marriage sealed in North Korea, given that the South's Constitution calls the North part of its territory, and that such marriages are typically never registered in the South? With spouses on opposing sides of the border, which court should have jurisdiction? How can a spouse in North Korea defend his or her interests in a South Korean court?

NHK, the Japanese national television broadcaster, shocked some members of its audience on New Year’s Eve when a troupe of apparently topless dancers performed with pop star DJ Ozma during the 57th annual "Red and White Song Contest." (Due to the sexual nature of the video, Passport will refrain from linking to it. But rest assured, it is only a Google away.)

Around 250 people called NHK to complain about the lewd content of what is usually the highest-rated New Year’s television programming in Japan, prompting an on-air apology by one of the presenters. He assured viewers that the dancers were wearing body suits.

By comparison, after Janet Jackson's famous "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Superbowl, more than 200,000 people filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission.

Credit: IGOR SASSIN/AFP/Getty Images

While the 5 million Turkmen who lived under the crushing rule of President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov for 21 years are likely (and understandably) grateful about their leader’s untimely demise, the wacky world of dictators just got a little less interesting for us watchers of international affairs. Passport brings you a mini photo essay, highlighting some of Turkmenbashi’s loonier moments:

(at left) Standing in the capital city of Ashgabat, this imposing statue is just one of the countless monuments to Turkmenbashi across Turkmenistan, including a massive golden effigy of Niyazov that rotates so the sun always shines on his face.

(at right, below) A young Turkmen woman votes in the 2004 parliamentary elections under Turkmenbashi’s watchful eye. Opposition parties were, of course, illegal under Niyazov’s rule, and all of the candidates were carefully vetted. The self-proclaimed "father of all Turkmen" served as President for Life and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, thereby having sole authority over both the executive and legislative branches. And he appointed all of the Supreme Court justices, too.
Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images

(at left, above) A group of Turkmen girls pass by a pile of melons on "Melon Day," celebrated on August 13 this year. In honor of the holiday, a melon was named after Turkmenbashi, joining a park, several cities and the month of January.
Credit: IGOR SASSIN/AFP/Getty Images

(at left, above) This book-shaped building, "The House of Free Creativity," was officially built to promote a free press in a nice bit of Orwellian doublespeak. Turkmenbashi’s government kept tight reins on journalists and free speech, controlling the media and sending dissidents to psychiatric hospitals.
Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images

(at right, above) The Ruhnama, or Book of the Spirit, is one of several books written by Turkmenbashi, who considers himself a poet. A spiritual and historic guide for Turkmen, it is required reading for passing drivers' tests and for schools.
Credit: ANTOINE LAMBROSCHINI/AFP/Getty Images

For more of Turkmenbashi's greatest hits, check out the Guardian's The Personality cult of Turkmenbashi and the exceptionally well timed Turkmenistan travelogue from journalist and film maker Waldemar Januszczaj in the December 17 Sunday Times Magazine.

Borat is a big hit in Israel. The reason is not that the man behind Borat, Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, is mocking anti-Semites with his own virulent verbal attacks on the Jewish people, but rather that Cohen did it in Hebrew.

That's right: Borat's Kazakh was actually a pastiche of heavily-accented Hebrew sprinkled with some Polish, Armenian and gibberish. Israeli audiences often don't even need to read the movie's subtitles, there's so much Hebrew.

The comedian, who is half Israeli and travels to the country often, sings the famous Hebrew folk song "Koom Bachur Atzel" (Get Up, Lazy Boy), and mentions the fictitious Kazakh scientist "Dr. Yarmulke," who proved that women and squirrels have the same brain size. He also uses a popular vulgar expression in Hebrew to refer to his sidekick’s mother.   

It was sort of like a wink to the Hebrew speaker," said one Israeli who saw the movie. "It was a message that basically said, 'Although the movie is very anti (Jewish), I am still with you, I am still the same Mr. Cohen. I'm just trying to send a message here and I hope you guys understand it.'"

Today marks the 89th anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet secret police. "Day of the Chekist" is originally a Soviet holiday designated by Joseph Stalin and still celebrated by the KGB's successor, the Russian Federation's Federal Security Services (FSB). Also on this day in 1981, the Soviets created (sub. req'd.) the Vymple, a covert intelligence unit that specialized in liquidating people abroad.

This year's celebrations are (hopefully) tamer. Yesterday, members of the Movement for Human Rights staged a protest in front of the FSB building in Moscow, calling on the agency to uphold Russian law. Today the FSB website contains a message congratulating visitors on the holiday. But considering the bad publicity surrounding potential Kremlin involvement in the death of Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, I doubt Russia's spooks are in a mood to celebrate.

The administration is blocking the publication of a New York Times op-ed written by two former government employees, saying that it contains classified information. But Flynt Leverett, one of the coauthors, claims the real reason the article is being blocked is because it criticizes U.S. policy toward Iran. According to an official statement by Leverett, the CIA had already cleared the contents of the Century Foundation white paper "Dealing with Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options toward Iran" that he used as the basis for his op-ed. What was in there? 

These matters include Iran's dialogue and cooperation with the United States concerning Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and Iran's offer to negotiate a comprehensive ‘grand bargain’ with the United States in the spring of 2003,” Leverett’s official statement said. 

About the above issues, the Century Foundation paper says the following:

• After 9/11 the Bush administration used the cover of the U.N.’s “6+2” framework for Afghanistan to conduct practically monthly bilateral diplomatic contacts with Iranian officials, whose experience and connections were vital to defeating the Taliban and installing the Afghan Interim Authority. These contacts continued until May 2003, with only a one-month break following President Bush’s January 2002 “axis of evil” speech.
• In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and before the start of the insurgency, the Iranian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the U.S. government (available here via ArmsControlWonk) proposing a framework for settling the disputes between Tehran and Washington. The administration turned the offer down.

While it may be classified, none of this is news. I mentioned Iran’s dislike for and help in toppling the Taliban here. In this article, Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy notes regular meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials from “the Taliban days” until May 2003 that, although held with a third party present, were essentially bilateral. And the Financial Times broke the story on Iran’s offer to discuss its nuclear program in July of 2003.

Amid a shaky truce, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans on going ahead with early presidential and parliamentary elections. His goal is to unseat the ruling Hamas government, whose refusal to recognize Israel has meant a cutoff of vital Western funding.

What are Abbas's odds of success? According to a December 14–16 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), Fatah would beat Hamas 42 to 36 percent if the election were today. But Stephen Weber, chief operating officer at World Public Opinion.org, told me that although Fatah probably won't lose to Hamas, the poll’s margin of error (closer to ±4% than PSR's of ±3%) means you can't be sure that Fatah would actually win either.

What's more, PSR's polls have skewed in favor if Fatah in the past. They failed to foresee Hamas's victory last January, predicting that Fatah would receive 42 percent of the national vote to Hamas's 35 percent. Fatah did win 42 percent of the vote, but got only 34 percent of the seats (sub. req'd). Hamas, however, won 44 percent of the vote and 56 percent of the seats. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority designed the electoral law for its own benefit, but Hamas quickly adapted to the complicated list system and beat Fatah at its own game.

Eleven months later, Hamas says it will not participate in Abbas's early elections on the grounds that they are "unconstitutional." That's legally accurate, but Hamas would probably support elections if it was confident of a strong showing at the polls.

If Hamas changes its mind, the movement could win at least a few cabinet spots. If, instead, Hamas does boycott, the organization could slip back into its comfortable role of political spoiler. That's how it built its popularity. If Abbas really wants to weaken Hamas, perhaps he should hold off on the risky elections idea and give the stubborn Hamas government more time to shoot itself in the foot.

The folks over at Radar have a great article cataloging the quirks of all of your favorite dictators: The Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascist. It reminds me of the bi-weekly Today in Despotism posts by T.A. Frank at The New Republic’s website, now long gone. It's not quite the same, but the Radar article provides a lighter look at some of the world’s craziest leaders.

One of the lesser-known tyrants highlighted is Republic of Kalmykia and World Chess Federation President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who apparently "claims to have once been abducted by space aliens."

Also making an appearance: Fidel Castro looking like a member of ZZ Top and Libyan "Lt. Col." Moammar Gaddafi, whose style of dress "could give M.C. Hammer a run for his money."

(Hat tip: littlegreenfootballs)