Zach Galifianakis, the newest member of the New Zealand SAS

– Robert Manning calls out George Friedman for a preposterous set of predictions for a century from now. Included are such gems as a Russian breakup in 2020, a collapse of the EU, and the major global players are Poland, Turkey, and Japan. Ooph.

– Strike – Hold! has a great piece recalling the “1/21 Incident” in South Korea. I had no idea of its very existence before reading this. The infiltration route is now a park.

– The Chinese economy grew 8.7% in 2009. Either Gordon Chang is seriously wrong, or the Chinese government is getting creative with their bookkeeping.

– An interesting, if infuriating takeaway from the Massachusetts election:

In a somewhat paradoxical finding, a plurality of voters who switched to the Republican — 37 percent — said that Democrats were not being “hard enough” in challenging Republican policies.

– Foreign Affairs offers a reading list on fascism. Curiously absent: Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate.