I'm in Canada, and am probably more wary of Dubya reaching north of the forty-ninth and drafting my sorry ass than Canada.

My wife is from Cyprus, where young men have to serve for two years. Her brother Costas, now twenty-nine, is still living the life of say a twenty-year-old here in Canada. He is a student in England, finishing his Phd in something, but is treated like a child by his parents. I would have thought that being in the army for two years would have "made a man out of him", whatever that means. The Greek Cypriots, so my wife told me (so it may or may not be totally accurate), have the highest number of university graduates, per capita. From my tiny view (weekly phone conversations with her folks, who still live in Nicosia, and her brother, and a three week holiday spent in Cyprus a couple Christmas's ago) a lot of what you say about Korea is true in Cyprus as well. Interesting, as both countries share similar political problems.