Thanks for this article, whose link you posted in the Tata Steel page. I have always wondered about our isolated northern neighbor in east asia, especially its nuclear capabilities.

<‘You haven’t seen the glint in the eyes of the South Korean military,’ she said. ‘They’re desperate to get hold of the North’s nuclear arsenal. That’s unacceptable.’ Why? ‘Because if a unified Korea becomes a nuclear power, it will be impossible to stop Japan from becoming one too and if you have China, Japan and a unified Korea as nuclear states, it shifts the relationship of forces against us.’ >

The above opinion came as a surprise to me. Yet it seems logical enough. I believe Japan would see a unified economically powerful Korea as a threat, especially if armed with nuclear weapons. USA in turn would see economically powerful nuclear armed north east asian countries as something uncomfortably uncontrollable.

I think China and Japan follow USA as the 2nd and 3rd biggest economies in the world, with South Korea on the way up. Regarding basic economy, this is in large part measured by industrial production of basic stuff; and in the past decade, China has become number one producer of modern civilization's top three structural metals (iron, aluminum, magnesium), not to mention zinc, mercury, gold, rare earths.. plus the most commonly produced industrial chemical- sulfuric acid. Regarding energy, only China, Japan, the Koreas, and India have constructed new nuclear plants since Chernobyl; and China and Japan are into active research in 4th generation nuclear plants.

I do not know if you like theater, but I recommend (Ovid's) "Metamorphoses" at the Constellation Theater (near 14th and T Streets)

[ http://constellationtheatre.org/met... ]

<al wazir: I decided to incorporate them ("a collection of vector formulas") in my opusculum >