• Chinese social media mock Kim Jong Un

    From mobile bureaus in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo, NBC's Richard Engel, Ian Williams and Ayman Mohyeldin chat about the ongoing situation in North Korea and how their missile threats are impacting the region.

    As North Korea continues its bellicose rhetoric, the U.S., as well as China and the rest of Asia are on high alert.

    A team of NBC News correspondents have been deployed to cover the potential impact of a missile launch: Richard Engel is in Seoul, South Korea;  Ian Williams is in Beijing, China; and Ayman Mohyeldin is in Tokyo, Japan.

    On Friday, they all participated in a Google+ Hangout and discussed the attitudes in their respective countries towards North Korea's rhetoric, the real potential of a missile launch and much more.

    Ian Williams weighed in from Beijing saying that the North Korea story has recently generated an “explosion of interest” in the official Chinese state media over the last few days. But what he finds even more significant is the attention the story is getting on social media in China.

    Left to right: Ayman Mohyeldin, Richard Engel, Ian Williams.

    “Social media, the Internet, is the closest barometer we have got of public opinion here in China. And they are absolutely laying into North Korea. The criticism is  – not of the U.S. – but of North Korea. There are caricatures, there are cartoons, they’ve dubbed the leader Kim Jong Un as ‘Fatty the Third’ or ‘Little Fatty,” Williams reported. Adding “It’s serious – they are questioning precisely what he’s going to stick on top of one of his missiles, questioning the military capability. But also criticizing their own leadership for their association with what they see as a Neanderthal regime whose methods are very chilling.”

    Click on the link above to replay the informative chat from three of NBC’s most experienced foreign correspondents.

    Social media serve as a gauge of public opinion in China and according to Ian Williams "they are absolutely laying into North Korea"

     

    This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:10 PM EDT

  • Keeping options open: Egypt's military maintains watchful eye on politics

    Gianluigi Guercia / AFP - Getty Images

    Egyptian army tanks are deployed outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Thursday.

    By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News

    News analysis

    Editor's note: This story includes a correction.

    Updated at 7:25 a.m. ET: CAIRO — Many hailed the emergence of civilian rule in Egypt when then recently elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi ordered the country’s armed forces back to their barracks in August, after they had led the county for close to a year and a half.

    But within months, the same military was functioning as the country's auxiliary police force, ensuring the safety and integrity of the upcoming constitutional referendum, and protecting the presidency — both physically by guarding the palace and politically by acting as an intermediary to diffuse political tensions between Islamists and the opposition.

    Meanwhile, the newly drafted and disputed constitution that will be up for a vote on Saturday changes little about the military's role in the state. In fact, it preserves the ability of the military to try civilians in military courts. It also maintains the secretive budget of the armed forces, which eats up a sizable chunk of the state’s coffers.

    So, as Egypt lurches through a crisis pitting the country's president and his Islamist supporters against opposition forces, observers are working to figure out what exactly the country’s powerful military will do next.

    Egyptian leader told: 'Fear God... postpone the referendum'

    The dispute over a controversial decree giving Morsi near absolute powers reached a crescendo on Dec. 11, when protesters opposing the president's decision circled the presidential palace. Morsi supporters, mainly from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties, took to the streets in counter protests. They, too headed to the palace, only this time to confront the president’s opponents. What ensued were deadly clashes that left at least eight people dead and more than 700 injured.

    NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin is outside the presidential palace in Cairo where hundreds of thousands are protesting what they say is an unjust constitution. They want to delay a vote on the current draft of the constitution now scheduled for December 15. 

    Amid the turmoil and after standing on the sidelines, the powerful armed forces weighed in and issued their first political statement since Morsi was elected on June 24.

    ANALYSIS: Egypt is rapidly approaching its own 'cliff'

    “Anything other than [dialogue] will force us into a dark tunnel with disastrous consequences, something which we won't allow to happen,” the statement read. The call for dialogue may have struck some as a surprise because it came from an institution that served as the backbone of the country's authoritarian regimes for six decades.

    Then late Sunday night, Morsi issued a decree granting the country's military law enforcement powers, essentially giving the armed forces the legal authority to act as the country's police force. The military was allowed to arrest and detain civilians in the run up to the key constitutional referendum starting Saturday. It was also tasked with securing the thousands of polling stations around the country, meaning its job was to secure the integrity and safety of the voting process and the voters.

    The move has drawn sharp criticism from Human Rights Watch, an international organization, which said the military's emergence as a law enforcement authority raises serious human rights concerns.

    Egypt army gets temporary power to arrest civilians ahead of referendum

    Islamist forces, however, remain skeptical of the military. After all, for decades it was the country's senior internal security leadership in conjunction with the military that hunted down Islamist leaders, jailing them and torturing them under strongman Hosni Mubarak and his predecessors.

    Opponents of Egypt President Morsi say he's betraying the revolution, but his supporters say he wants to guarantee human rights with a controversial referendum on a new constitution. NBC's John Ray went onto the streets of Cairo to hear from both sides of the deepening divide.

    What Egypt's military wants
    The military, which had recoiled back to its bases after it led the country for nearly 18 months following the revolution that toppled Mubarak, remains skeptical, too.

    "They have not been neutral. While appearing to be sympathetic to the protesters' demands, they remain suspicious of popular mobilization's ability to induce change that goes beyond their control," said Joshua Stacher, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and author of "Adaptable Autocrats."

    Google+ Hangout with NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin

    The military is also not standing on the sidelines and will likely remain the last arbiter of Egypt’s politics. Any appearance to the contrary is a result of the armed forces being "intentionally opaque," Stacher said. 

    "I don't believe that they have a plan worked out. Rather, they are waiting to see how the situation evolves before deciding what is the best course of action," he added.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Egyptian soldiers stand in line as anti-Morsi protesters stand on top of a barricade erected by the army to protect the Presidential Palace in Cairo on Tuesday.

    The best course of action may just be revealing itself. The proposed constitution also stipulates that future defense ministers must be officers.

    But the real test of power, Stacher and others argue, will be whether the military retains control over its vast economic empire and secretive budget under a new constitution.

    External link: English translation of Egypt's draft constitution

    "The military prefers to remain behind the curtain influencing events," he said. "They also have the constitution that they want in terms of securing their interests. They would prefer that the constitution pass, they stay formally out of politics, and the protesters go home."

    'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

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  • Russia: We can do no more for Syria's Assad

    By msnbc.com news services

    MOSCOW - A top Kremlin aide said on Monday Moscow could do little more for Syrian President Bashar Assad, opening the door to a shift in Russia's position after 10 months of bloodshed.

    Moscow is one of Assad's few remaining allies, resisting pressure to call for his resignation and, with China, blocking a Western-crafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned a crackdown that has killed thousands of civilians.

    But Russia can do no more, state-run news agency Itar-Tass quoted Mikhail Margelov, a senior lawmaker who is President Dmitry Medvedev's special Africa envoy and has also engaged in diplomacy over Syria, as saying.

    "(Our) veto on the U.N. Security Council resolution was the last instrument allowing Bashar al-Assad to maintain the status quo in the international arena," Margelov was quoted as saying.

    The veto "was a serious signal to the president of Syria from Russia. This veto has exhausted our arsenal of such resources," said Margelov, who is chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper parliament house.

    The Syrian government says the country is being attacked by extremists but some civilians say the only armed gangs in the city are the security forces. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    Syria earlier rejected the Arab League's wide-ranging new plan to end the crisis, saying the League's call for a national unity government in two months is a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty.

    President Bashar Assad blames the uprising that erupted in March on terrorists and armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country. His regime has retaliated with a brutal crackdown that the U.N. says has killed more than 5,400 people.

    There is growing urgency, however, to find a resolution to a crisis that is growing increasingly violent as regime opponents and army defectors who have switched sides have started to fight back against government forces.

    Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in a suburb outside the capital, Damascus, to mourn 11 residents who were either shot dead by security forces or killed in clashes between army defectors and troops a day earlier, activists said.

    The crowd in Douma — which one activist said was 60,000-strong — was under the protection of dozens of army defectors who are in control of the area after regime forces pulled out late Sunday, said Samer al-Omar, a Douma resident.

    The reports could not be independently confirmed.

    Some say the Arab League observers' mission has been a failure. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    The Arab League has tried to stem the bloodshed by condemning the crackdown, imposing sanctions and sending a team of observers to the country. On Sunday, the League called for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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