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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   708 thread views

Transnational Thursday for January 8, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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North Korea is very, very different from Iran.

For one, it's next to China, its backer. For another, it's society is far, far more closed off from the rest of the world than Iranians are.

There's no history of mass protests in North Korea. In Iran, there is.

There's no history of modern living or any kind of open society at all in North Korea. There is in Iran.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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