North Korea

North Korean Breakthrough? Plus, Tweet of the Day [with comment by Paul]

Featured image I don’t think we have said much about what could become a stunning diplomatic triumph: the rapprochement between North Korea and South Korea, accompanied by North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization. This assessment by Todd Rosenblum at The Hill strikes me as balanced: “Stunning Korea denuclearization statement bodes well for America.” It is too early to pop champagne corks, but it would be absurd to deny that so far, President Trump »

Have we really made “big progress” with North Korea?

Featured image President Trump is hailing North Korea’s announcement that the regime is willing to end the testing of its ICBMs. He tweeted: North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World – big progress! Look forward to our Summit. I don’t want to rain on Trump’s parade. If he gets a boost in »

The pros and cons of talking with Kim Jong Un

Featured image So President Trump’s bellicosity towards North Korea hasn’t led to nuclear war, after all. Instead, from all that appears, it has led to the negotiating table and face-to-face talks between the president and Kim Jong Un. But is that a good place for the U.S. to be? And will it lead to a denuclearized North Korea? Let’s keep in mind that North Korea has benefited significantly from past talks with »

Next stop, Nobel Peace Prize?

Featured image The big news of the day is Kim Jong Un’s invitation of President Trump to a meeting to discuss denuclearization. The meeting is to take place before May at a place to be determined. Little Rocket Man has agreed to stop missile and nuclear testing in the meantime. South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-Yong made this announcement on White House grounds to the assembled press gaggle yesterday evening: Today, »

Liberal media fawns over Kim Jong Un’s sister

Featured image I’ll say this for Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong — she’s considerably better looking than the goon who runs North Korea. This may be faint praise, but there’s nothing faint about the praise being heaped on the dictator’s sister by America’s mainstream media. According to CNN, to take perhaps the worst example, “if ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister would »

Oops: Hawaii Missile Alert Is a False Alarm [Updated]

Featured image The Associated Press reports: “Hawaii officials mistakenly warn of inbound missile.” Hawaii emergency management officials say a push alert that warned of an incoming ballistic missile to Hawaii on Saturday was a mistake. The emergency alert sent to cellphones said in all caps, “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.” Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesman Richard Repoza says it’s a false alarm. That’s »

Tweet of the Day

Featured image Everybody is predictably freaking out over President Trump’s tweet about his, um. . . button: I won’t even bother sharing some of the hysterical reaction in the media over this. Better to go with the best response so far, which comes from . . . Kentucky Fried Chicken?? One can only imagine what Trump, a McDonald’s burger fan, will have to say when he sees this! (Of course Trump also »

At the Washington Post, if it misleads, it leads

Featured image The lead headline on the Washington Post’s web page right now is: “Putin thanks Trump for CIA intel that foiled a planned terrorist attack in Russia.” The story isn’t earth-shattering but has the virtue of enabling the Post to write a lead headline that includes “Putin” and “Trump.” Post reporter David Filipov characterizes Putin’s call as “unusual.” He says “countries share intelligence all the time, but presidents rarely publicly thank »

Will There Ever Be An Accounting On North Korea?

Featured image Today North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that stayed airborne for close to an hour and flew farther than any previously tested by that country. Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters that the Kim regime now has the ability to to hit “everywhere in the world basically.” And, of course, the regime has nuclear weapons. Further: The US believes Pyongyang may be able to put a miniaturized warhead on »

The Gathering Storm in the Western Pacific

Featured image The South China Morning Post, one of the favorite go-to sources for my old professor of grand strategy Harold Rood, had an interesting article about China and North Korea a couple days ago—and notice how even the Post headline editors aren’t buying the official story: Main link between China and North Korea to be cut when Friendship Bridge closes ‘for repairs’ The closure of the Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge in »

North Korean escapee soldier was severely malnourished

Featured image The world was transfixed by the dash of a North Korean soldier across the DMZ into South Korea. North Korean guards shot the escapee at least five times, but South Korean doctors performed three surgeries and managed to save his life. In treating the North Korean, doctors discovered that he was malnourished and had a severe parasitic infection they hadn’t seen before except in medical textbooks. The tapeworms they found »

Jimmy Carter applies for encore North Korea gig

Featured image Jimmy Carter tells Maureen Dowd “I would go” to North Korea to negotiate with Kim Jong Un. Apparently, he has told the Trump administration, via its national security adviser H.R. McMaster, the same thing. So far, says Carter, the response has been negative. Carter doubts that China can help rein in North Korea. The Chinese have no relationship with Kim Jong Un, he explains. Carter doesn’t either. However, he has »

Trump is right, Tillerson is wasting his time on North Korea

Featured image A day after Secretary of State Tillerson said he was reaching out to North Korea in hopes of starting a new dialogue, President Trump belittled the idea. He tweeted: I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man. Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done! Trump is right. North Korea isn’t going to »

The China syndrome

Featured image President Trump’s address to the General Assembly of the United Nations earlier this week appears to have been calculated in part to “unsettle China” sufficiently to clamp down on Rocket Man. I think it’s gonna be a long, long time, but maybe President Trump was on to something. At today’s Washington Times, Dave Boyer and S.A. Miller report: President Trump persuaded China to freeze all financial transactions with North Korea »

Trump Moves Against North Korea, Press Is Confused

Featured image Today President Trump issued an executive order that imposes financial sanctions on those who do business with North Korea: President Trump announced new U.S. financial sanctions Thursday that target North Korea and foreign companies or individuals that do business with the rogue nation…. The new penalties seek to leverage the dominance of the U.S. financial system by forcing nations to choose whether to do business with the United States or »

Did Trump unsettle Russia and China? Let’s hope so

Featured image The Washington Post reports that President Trump’s statements to the U.N. about North Korea unsettled China and Russia. Trump said that “the United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” China, through a state controlled newspaper, complained that Trump’s threat will “likely worsen the already volatile situation.” It called »

McMaster’s Obama holdovers, a second look

Featured image I’ve been critical of H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, and I continue to have reservations about him. However, I now believe that one of my posts on the subject was unfair and needs to be revisited. The post in question discussed Obama administration holdovers on McMaster’s staff. It was based on an article in the Daily Caller by Richard Pollock and Ethan Barton. Throughout the post, I tried »