Today, my Impromptus is headed “Daddy’s little girl, &c.” One of Kim Jong-un’s children has been in the news lately — as much as the children of North Korean dictators are ever in the news. This is one of the most secretive states on earth, as well as one of the most malign. Do you know how we first learned the name of this girl? We did not get it from the CIA or any other intelligence agency. We got it from Dennis Rodman, in 2013, when he went to North Korea to visit the Kims. I wrote about this in a book called “Children of Monsters.”
Anyway, Kim Ju-ae is in my column today. So is the daughter of Pol Pot (Mea Sitha). So are other sons and daughters, and not just of dictators: I have the younger son of Charles and Diana, Prince Harry. (For people my age, Diana will forever be a big deal.)
Earlier this week, I had a piece called “With the Ukraine War, an Information War.” The last paragraph reads,
An information war is merely one aspect of a “war war,” with its battalions and tanks and missiles. But information, and disinformation, play their part — a crucial part.
Here in the Corner, I would like to relay this news: “RFE/RL Opens Latvia Bureau In Expanded Bid To Counter Kremlin Disinformation.” As you know, “RFE/RL” refers to our combination of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. The bulletin says,
The Riga office is expected to become one of the company’s largest reporting hubs and will produce Russian-language content, including investigative reports and non-news programming as well as Current Time’s morning show.
Over the years, the Kremlin curbed independent media in Russia, before abolishing such media altogether. Many Russians are hungry for honest and independent information, and the Russians working for RFE/RL provide it to them.
In 2018, I wrote a piece about RFE/RL: “Still Broadcasting Freedom.” I quoted, among others, Jim Buckley, a past president of the organization (and an older brother of Bill). The last paragraph of that piece goes as follows:
In America, you often hear accusations of “Cold War nostalgia,” made by Left and Right. Only a fool would want another cold war (with its attendant hot wars). But, as before, if one side stirs up trouble, the other side can respond or not. You may not be interested in war, goes an old line, but war is interested in you. In any case, the U.S. radios serve an important function. Chances are, most Americans don’t know about them. If they did, however, I suspect a majority would be pleased and proud.