Axis of Evil World Tour

[MaestroDJS]

Chicago Public Radio has the excellent world affairs program Worldview every weekday at noon. Today host Jerome McDonnell interviewed Scott Fisher, the author of Axis of Evil World Tour: An American's Travels in Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. He was formerly an Asia Analyst for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, and he also was a member of the Iraq Survey Group, which tried to find evidence of WMD after the US invasion. Currently a writer and English Professor in Seoul, South Korea, Scott Fisher travelled to North Korea in June 2002, visited Iraq in November 2004 through January 2005, and went to Iran in January 2006. This program and his book give fascinating glimpses of daily life in these three countries, and the author found most (although not all) of the local people to be surprisingly friendly toward Americans.

Axis of Evil World Tour
http://axisofeviltour.com

Axis of Evil World Tour goes beyond the superficial coverage found in much of the media to bring a boots-on-the-ground look at three of the most enigmatic, difficult-to-enter countries on the planet--Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.

North Korea: Visit the tense yet quiet DMZ that divides North from South, one of the eeriest places on earth. Spend time touring Pyongyang, the showcase capital that houses the regime and its elites. Travel halfway across the country to the beautiful "Heavenly Fragrance" mountain for a visit to the surreal, cult-like "museums" housing gifts to the country’s leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

Iraq: What's it like to live on a U.S. military base during the war in Iraq? Spend two months as part of the Iraqi Survey Group, the international team that was tasked with finding Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.

Iran: What do Iranians think of the U.S. and Americans? You might be surprised. Travel around the country and take an inside look at Khomeini’s tomb, hear about Iran’s own fight against Al Qaeda, and take a look inside the secret world of the mullahs that really run Iran.

[RebLem]

And then there is the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour featuring...well, look at their webiste. http://www.axisofevilcomedy.com/ There is a Comedy Channel special on them which I have already seen a couple times, and which I am sure will be broadcast again. Check your local listings.

RebLem, the Ape of Albuquerque

[Ralph]

Has anyone heard the Axis of Evil Philharmonic performing Mahler?

[living_stradivarius]

And then there is the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour featuring...well, look at their webiste. http://www.axisofevilcomedy.com/ There is a Comedy Channel special on them which I have already seen a couple times, and which I am sure will be broadcast again. Check your local listings.

RebLem, the Ape of Albuquerque

Looks like it could be on par with Borat...

[jbuck919]

I hope somebody will remember this better than I do:

Back in the 70s, some college student won one of those not-too-structured grants by making a proposal to visit and write on all the danger spots in the world, which at that time included Nothern Ireland the Stonewall Inn in lower Manhattan.

[Sapphire]

Actually, I can explain why the Iranians have been a bit uppity recently. Stay with me it’s intriguing.

I gather that the U.S. warned Iran earlier this year that it was in danger of being dropped from the three-nation "Axis of Evil" after a lackluster 2006 in which the purportedly “evil” country was largely missing in action. There was talk about including France instead, who had applied in late 2005 but was told the club was full, and could only be considered for possible membership if one of the others was too “good” in 2006.

Jealously guarding its right to remain in the Axis at least for another year 2007 (a clever plot to push up the oil price), the Iranians cooked up a deal with the Brits. We agreed to drop anchor exactly 2 inches inside the Iranian border (keep it all fuzzy, you see) and said we wouldn’t play the game for more than 13 days maximum. In return we insisted upon a new set of civvy suits for our sailers. Unfortunately, the Iranians blew it all at the end by all the hugs and kisses. They're such nice folk! So, having messed up this opportuntity to be really evil, I think we should be on guard in case they do something more wicked for fear of being losing their special status.

I thought some of you might be interested, as I know you are very perceptive in your analysis and appreciation of good news stories involving the Brits.



Saphire

[Werner]

Subtlety will never win a simplistic argument - but it's certainly one reason why it's good to have the Brits around.

[MaestroDJS]

I gather that the U.S. warned Iran earlier this year that it was in danger of being dropped from the three-nation "Axis of Evil" after a lackluster 2006 in which the purportedly “evil” country was largely missing in action.

That makes perfect sense, especially after reading articles like this:

The Onion: North Korea Wondering What It Has To Do To Attract U.S. Military Attention
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27665

"When Bush named us as part of his Axis of Evil, I was so happy," Kim said. "I thought to myself, 'This is it. We are finally going to have a military conflict with this two-faced hyena.' He'd been ignoring me so long, I really didn't think he cared."

[Sapphire]

FUTURE GLOBAL AXIS OF EVIL

I have found a very interesting map of the world showing the Global Axis of Evil at some future time.

It is the imagination of someone who writes by way of introduction:

• If there's one thing that distracts George W. Bush while he's trying to masturbate, it's the thought of evildoers out there plotting destruction. But you know what would really make him plotz? If the whole world was overtaken by the Axis of Evil! Not just Godless North Koreans and Wrong-Godded Iranians, but fascists, communists, cultists, mafiosos, lesbians, cannibals, Mounties, drug cartels, Jacobins, gangsters, rhinos, Inquisitors, pirates, terrorists, barbarians, Nazis, trickster gods and irredentists of all shapes and sizes! In contemplating what such a world would look like, I created the map above. Here's a brief run-down of the conspiring countries:

http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2006/0 ... -evil.html

I was particularly amused at some of the place names like "Anglostan" for England, "New Sodom" for California, "Murder Inc" for New York, and "Nation of Islam" for central USA, and "Greater North Korea" for the whole of China.

One has to laugh. Still it might be true. Hell!!!


Saphire