North Korean Train Wreck

While that title could pertain to just about anything related to society north of the DMZ, of course I'm talking about last weeks disaster.

One thing keeps comming back to me. How could a train collision have caused such a large scale calamity? Some reports say both trains were carrying explosives. Still, to dammage everything in a 4 km radius, which is what CNN was reporting this weekend, seems way outside the realm of explosives being shipped.

So I'm pondering what the hell happened. We'll probably never know. I'm also wondering if the US has offered any assistance? I hope we have. Who knows, though. Despite his Xian posturing, Dubya seems like the last person to offer help to an "enemy" in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.

P.S. In the post below, BH's guest blogger mentions Admiral Boorda, who committed suicide in the early 90s because of a controversy arrising from a medal he wore, but was not awarded. I worked as a gopher in the pentagon the summers of '89 and '90 while home from college. I worked for the Navy in 1990, and had the pleasure of meeting Admiral Boorda on two occasions, who was Chief of Naval Peronnel at the time. My understanding was that the award in question was one he was qualified to wear, but had not officially been awarded. As a lifelong civilian, I don't fully understand the distinction. However, two individuals I worked with in 1990 viewed his suicide as a tragedy, and the loss of a great man. The first was a Master Chief who worked in our office, himself a Vietnam Veteran. The second was the O6 who ran our office, and worked under Admiral Boorda.