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IF EVER a ruling elite seemed to justify the Bush-era doctrine of “pre-emption”, it is the Kim dynasty in North Korea. No government anywhere subjects its own people to such a barbarous regime of fear, repression and hunger. And the Kims are complicit in international outrages ranging from murderous terrorism and nuclear proliferation to drug-smuggling and currency-counterfeiting. The present dictator, Kim Jong Il, is apparently not long for this world, and seems to be boosting his 27-year-old son and anointed successor as a victorious warrior. When the elder Kim was himself dauphin, in the 1980s, he earned his spurs through international terrorism.

This week the North waged war for the second time this year with South Korea when it shelled a South Korean island near the disputed maritime boundary, killing two soldiers and two civilians, injuring others and burning a score of houses. In March, when one of its torpedoes sank the Cheonan, a naval vessel, killing 46, North Korea could, albeit implausibly, deny culpability. This time, though the North describes its aggression as retaliation (for a harmless South Korean military exercise), there is no gainsaying its responsibility for one of the most serious incidents since the end of the Korean war in 1953. To add to this dismal catalogue, the latest onslaught came just three days after the revelation that, in defiance of international efforts to curb its nuclear programme, North Korea has developed a sophisticated facility for enriching uranium. That gives it a further potential source of material for bombmaking.



The starting-point for answering the North’s aggression has to be that, in the most basic sense, the Kims will almost certainly get away with only a symbolic return of fire. It is entirely wrong for North Korea to act as it does. But punitive military reprisals against the North risk a spiral of escalation and catastrophic war. Deterrence works badly against a dictator who blithely imposes famine and gulags on his people during peacetime. Even if there are doubts about the efficacy of its tiny nuclear arsenal, North Korea has enough men under arms, and enough conventional ammunition within range of Seoul—just 35 miles (60km) from the frontier—to make war seem very much a last resort.

If war and the threat of war are hardly even options, what can the world do? The best card in a bad hand is to heal the divisions among other countries about how to handle North Korea. That means, in particular, making China see that a tinderbox it has long regarded as a strategic asset has become an appalling liability. China also struggles to control North Korea. But a united front would change the environment that encourages the rogue state’s bad behaviour.

China cannot be blind to the Kims’ bungling and bellicosity, nor welcome their nuclear ambitions. But it has had two worse fears. One is of a rekindled war on the peninsula, which would damage China. The other is of North Korean collapse, with millions of desperate refugees pouring into China and South Korea or even American troops on China’s border. It is as a bulwark against this “instability” that China cossets the Kims. It refused to condemn them even for the sinking of the Cheonan, and this week issued blandly even-handed calls for restraint. It apparently believes that if their only ally abandons them, the Kims might do something really rash..

But they already have. Whatever it says publicly, China must surely see that this regime flirts with war as an instrument of diplomacy and that its desire to shock the world into negotiating with it requires ever greater outrages. Ultimately, this pattern of behaviour threatens the very stability China craves. China’s alliance with North Korea thus undermines not just its image as a global power but also its own interests.

So how to nudge China in the right direction? One possibility is the revival of the six-party forum, chaired by China and involving Japan and Russia. Talks stalled after North Korea forged ahead with its nuclear programme. The Kims would regard a revival as a victory. But talks will eventually have to resume if North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are to be negotiated down. If they also help persuade China to rein in North Korea, that would be a double benefit.
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love, infatuation or obsession


From the time immemorial, many people have mistaken infatuation and obsession for love. People just don‘t know how to recognise and differentiate between each of these emotions. Incidentally, many singles are guilty of this. The universal misconception of each of these ideologies is one of the chief causes of divorce, single parent homes, and broken hearts. Read on to tell each of these emotions apart.

Love connects you to your partner in positive, enriching ways. Love is the energy you feel and exhibit which is used, unselfishly, to promote your partner‘s well-being, success and happiness. Love is much more than sweet nothings in your ear, sex and passionate feelings of longing. Love is concrete, measurable behaviour and action that demonstrates to your partner and the whole world that you respect and care for this person.

Words of love and romantic passion make promises to satisfy your needs and get you all worked up with the possibilities and the fantasies. However, love in action keeps those promises and satisfies those needs consistently and dependably until those fantasies become a reality. Loving moves your partner and yourself forward. You grow and develop and change to be the best you can be.

Infatuation and obsession, on the other hand, are the feelings that you must have or be with this person, no matter what. In many instances, this is someone you don‘t know very well, or someone that has flatly told you s/he is not interested in a relationship with you. You formed an attachment based strictly on fantasies of perfection or your wishes alone - no matter what the object of your affection feels about it. You cannot think, eat, or sleep without thinking of him/her.

Some people go off the deep end and become stalkers, calling and hanging up to see if s/he is at home, following them around to see where they are or whom they are with. The most dangerous obsessives are those that decide that if they can‘t have you, nobody will. Stories abound of obsessed persons that were shunned and turned around to become murderers.

Infatuation is superficial. One is usually infatuated by another person‘s looks, attitude and behaviour. When you know a person in and out, you tend to feel for him/her. This is pure infatuation and not love. Infatuation wears off fast and weakens with distance and time. If you are not in touch with your infatuated partner for a long while, it will tend to weaken and eventually wear off.

Infatuation is more common these days than actual love. One should know when it is infatuation and when it is true, romantic love, which develops slowly and gradually, while infatuation develops at almost no time. Those who rush into marriage learn by sad experience of self-made miseries. Infatuation is rushing into a bad decision, while true love is attracted to the total personality of the person. Infatuation is mainly interested in the physical features, which depend on a few non-sense things, while true love is attracted to most of the qualities of the one loved.

True love affects your whole personality. Willing to learn, adjust and change to bring out the better qualities. Infatuation is blind, illusion and fantasy, trying to believe that the only thing that matters is their love for each other. True love is not only interested in the whole person but that interest is growing warmer as the day goes by. In infatuation, the interest for each other grows between hot and cold, if not freezing.

It is on record that separation and distance make true love fonder; but infatuation will not survive the test of separation or distance but will seek happiness in another person. True love always cultivates to nurture the relationship, always complimenting, never dominating.

True love causes two different personalities to grow intimately together that even a short separation will help in evaluating that emotional love..

True love can easily resolve quarrels and disagreements for healthier relationship. Infatuation can ignite little disagreement into a massive forest fire, leading into permanent break-up. While true love is concerned with giving way to improve and build stronger relationship, infatuation is concerned only with getting and receiving from the relationship for personal gains and interest.

True love is always unselfish, always giving. Infatuation is always waiting to receive. True love dwells in genuine humility and sacrifice for the loved one. Infatuation dwells in human ego and castle of arrogance.

True love is always responsible, willing to pay the cost, willing to endure hardship and suffering. Infatuation is always ready to escape into the open sea of unreliability. True love is not love at first sight but the result of knowing and accepting the person just as he is. Love requires knowledge.

True romantic love distinguishes between a body and a person. Choosing a girl because of her beautiful figure is unstable criterion. She might become Coca-cola shape (in cans) in just the next few years. Selecting a guy for his physique and good looking face is a treacherous decision that may result in a lifetime of suffering. A person who easily falls in love with the appearance will also easily fall out of love.

True love is self-giving; it is not what you can get from another person but what you can give without expecting anything in return. The passionate desire for his/her body is not love but lust. Any prostitute can fully satisfy that burning desire.

True love can thrive without physical expression until full commitment for marriage. If your only reason for having a sweetheart is to have someone to hug and caress, you had better buy yourself a life-size doll!

True love seeks to build a life and permanent relationship of marriage. The objective and goal of any relationship is marriage. Marriage is a triangular relationship between God, a man and a woman, not a triangle between three persons. Lust will not settle for octagon.

True love embraces difficult and serious responsibilities. Marital responsibility is far more than money. It is commitment to love the other person come what may. Lollipops and roses have nothing to do with true love.

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Are You Feeding Your Soul? Are you happy with what you see when you look in the mirror? And I’m not talking about your physical body when I ask this question — I’m talking about your spiritual body. Has your soul been getting the nourishment it needs to grow in health and strength, or have you deprived it from the Word it so desperately needs? If what you see in the mirror doesn’t even begin to reflect what you know you can be, it’s time to make a change, time to dive into God’s Word and receive all the love and forgiveness He has been waiting to give you . . . a time to release your life into God’s hands. The Word tells us, But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NLT). You may not like what you see now, but just wait. Rely on God’s faithfulness and perfect timing and begin to make changes when God shows you it is necessary. And soon, you’ll be able to look back and say, “Look where God moved me from. Look what He saved me from. I stand blessed where I am all because of the transforming grace of God.” An Evangelistic Tool The following is an evangelistic tool. Feel free to use this tool to lead someone to the Savior. It can also be used in your church. Tony lead the members of our church through this process, and then commissioned them to offer the good news to those they come in contact with in the course of their day. This is one of our outreach programs for this year. OPENING QUESTION: Has anyone ever shown you from the Bible how you can be sure you are on your way to heaven? Would you allow me to show you? I. First the Bad News a. The Problem: Every person is a sinner before a Holy God and unable to save themselves (Romans 3:10, 23). b. The Penalty: Every person is under the sentence of death and will be forever separated from God because of their sin (Romans 5:12; 6:23). I. Now the Good News a. The Provision: Through the substitutionary sacrificial death of Christ, God has addressed the sin problem for us (Romans 5:8, 17-21). b. The Pardon: God offers a free pardon and eternal life to all who place faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation (Romans 10:9-10; 4:4-5). CLOSING QUESTION: Would you like to trust the Lord Jesus Christ right now as your personal Savior? PRAYER: Lord Jesus thank You for dying on the cross for my sins and rising from the dead to save me. By transferring my total trust to You alone as my Savior, I now receive the forgiveness for my sins and the free gift of eternal life that You offered me.
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