Music Video Special: Funking with the Axis of Evil (Germany 1942 and North Korea 2010)

This week we learned that someone had found the perfect musical interpretation of present-day North Korea of Kim Jong-Il. But, even as we watched it, we knew that the precedent had been set 68 years earlier, for another military power and another Very Bad Man.

First, funking it up with the North Koreans. Then we go back in time, courtesy of a British film unit, to do the Lambeth Walk with Adolf and his boys.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwoSFQb5HVk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtEKSg-ycQ&feature=related[/youtube]

Comments

[dchoubak]

Nice. I think the Koreans could teach the Germans a few lessons here though.

[Catherine]

RE: funking it up with the North Koreans.

And all on just two bowls of rice a day! Dchoubak is right.

[Baz]

I have always wondered how/why Kim Jong-Il appears to have the personal power/authority that he commands in North Korea. Neither he nor his father appear to me to have any great personal "charisma" - nor are great orators (Hitler had both of those and I can understand his rise to power) . Then again - Stalin also was not great orator and had no great charisma and rose to power - perhaps it was because he was a psychpathic killer??

How does a seemingly insignificant person ( eg Ahmadinejad) arise out of the mire??

Barry

[Baz]

I have always wondered how/why Kim Jong-Il appears to have the personal power/authority that he commands in North Korea. Neither he nor his father appear to me to have any great personal "charisma" - nor are great orators (Hitler had both of those and I can understand his rise to power) . Then again - Stalin also was not great orator and had no great charisma and rose to power - perhaps it was because he was a psychpathic killer??

How does a seemingly insignificant person ( eg Ahmadinejad) arise out of the mire??

Barry

[Catherine]

Hi Barry,
Whereas Kim Jong-Il qualifies as the epitome of an "inscrutable oriental" :-), I always thought Stalin was widely considered to be a "charismatic leader", albeit an "evil" one, who is often mentioned in the same sentence with Hitler, Lenin and Mao as other examples of the same. I don't know if he fulfills all the criteria Max Weber sets out for a charismatic leader, but this fascinating examination of Stalin's early years shows he had lots of other "qualities" besides public speaking that took him to the top. This review goes into some detail:
Young Stalin
By Simon Sebag Montefiore
Frank Bongiorno, reviewer
August 11, 2007
The young Joseph Stalin was a charismatic and well-educated hoodlum.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/young-stalin/2007/08/10/1186530599084.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1" rel="nofollow">http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/young-stalin/2007/08/10/1186530599084.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1