Ron Nehring

As Egypt prepares for next week's anniversary of the January 25, 2011 uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak from power, it's clear many Americans have been left with an impression of the "Arab Spring" that is far different than what we actually saw in Cairo.

A country of 78 million people, Egypt is struggling. The economy has taken a major hit over the last 12 months, with tourism down dramatically as television news footage of violence and protests continue to define the country in international eyes. Major tourist sites are deserted. Egyptair is carrying a fraction of the passenger load it did a year ago. Gas lines pervaded the capital over the last four days as a sudden gasoline shortage went unexplained.

The most important development in recent months has been the success of Islamist and Salafist parties in the multi-stage elections for Parliament's lower house. Elections for the upper house and the presidency will take place in the coming weeks and months, and there is no reason to believe the religious parties will not continue to dominate at the ballot box.

Many Americans recall how the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall eventually led to elections in Eastern Europe that produced pro-Western governments determined to open markets, protect individual freedoms, and build relationships with the West.

This history is not being repeated in Egypt.

With the passing of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, the country occupying the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula is back in the news. As if to make sure the rest of the world noticed the country as its "dear" leader departed, the People's Army fired a short range missile into the ocean within hours his death.

Does the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (as the North Koreans leaders like to call their country) have much in common with today's other major news item, the "Occupy" movement?

CAPITALISM. Today's Occupy movement rails against capitalism in general and "greedy corporations" in particular. Not a lot of capitalism in North Korea, and the only corporations are owned by the government ("the people").

FREE TRADE. Ports have been a target of the Occupiers, particularly in Oakland where the protesters "succeeded" in disrupting port operations and with it the jobs of the unionized port workers, all of whom would be considered part of the "99%." North Korea doesn't have much need for commercial ports, except for the occasional import of food (its people are starving), and exporting weapons and nuclear materials to countries like Syria. In fact, the philosophy of Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung, "Juche," or "self-reliance," is rooted in an anti-trade philosophy.

WEALTH DISTRIBUTION. In the Occupy mindset, wealth isn't created — it's "distributed," and in free market economies the wealth is not "distributed" properly. North Korea doesn't have such problems, as workers are all treated equally, and although poverty is widespread, at least it's "fair."

But it isn't. The capital of Pyongyang is built as a showpiece for foreigners. Only the privileged (those favored by the government) are permitted to live in the city. The elderly and those with physical or mental challenges, are mostly excluded, with those few who do live in the city kept off the streets where someone may see them. Foreign visitors are carefully watched over and only permitted to see what the government wants them to see in the Truman-Show-On-Acid gulag that is Pyongyang. Widespread starvation and malnutrition is common in the country's rural areas, rarely seen by outsiders.