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April 25, 2007 | Chicago Tribune Finds UN Giving Dollars to Dictators

After the UN oil-for-food scandal, it seemed UN aid programs couldn’t possibly sink lower in public opinion. Enter North Korea which, according to the Chicago Tribune, has taken $150 million in hard currency from the UN Development Program in Pyongyang. UN officials now promise a full audit, but the fact that this “development aid” was used during the period when the North Korean nuclear weapons

April 12, 2007 | Robert D. Kaplan on When North Korea Falls

North Korean nuclear tests are symptoms of an unheralded threat: not the exertion of North Korean strength, but the prospective collapse of Kim Jong Il’s government. Weakness in Pyongyang could result in desperation, a WMD attack on the South, or full-on military engagement with Seoul. Drawing on this possibility of collapse, Robert D. Kaplan discusses opportunities for:

1. Reconstruction and