Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
The latest round of tensions on the Korean peninsula may be linked to efforts by Kim Jong Il to ensure that power passes to one of his sons: Experts on North Korea say that its latest act of belligerence — the sinking of a South Korean ship in March, one of the worst military provocations [...]
TNR’s Marty Peretz argues that “The Verdict Is In On The Long American Excursion In Iraq. And It Is Favorable.” He admits right at the outset that, “Of course, Iraq hasn’t turned out that well. Sunni jihadniks are still routinely murdering pious Shi’a on pilgrimage to Karbala.” But, he contends, “There are three especially compelling [...]
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Il, has made his first public appearance in 50 days: SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, thought to have suffered a stroke in August, made his first appearance in about 50 days, the state’s media said on Saturday. Last month, U.S. and South Korean officials said Kim, 66, may [...]
Readers may be familiar with the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics (short version: the US can do whatever it wants if it just has even willpower). Now, it appears we can add another member of the Justice League to our understanding of foreign policy. On Friday, author Andrew Klavan had a piece in the WSJ [...]
Christopher Hitchens joins the legions dancing on Jesse Helms’ grave. Rather than piling on about the racism of a Southern politician whose career began sixty-odd years ago, he instead focuses on Helms’ foreign policy: His chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a period of national embarrassment and, sometimes, disgrace. The Helms-Burton Act of [...]
John Bolton, President Bush’s former UN ambassador, is not at all pleased with last week’s deal with North Korea on the nuclear stalemate. With much fanfare and choreography, but little substance, the administration has accepted a North Korean “declaration” about its nuclear program that is narrowly limited, incomplete and almost certainly dishonest in material respects. [...]
Hillary Clinton’s 3 a.m. ad may have (or may not) have helped her win in Ohio. But it’s also backfiring in some quarters. Comic Larry David titles a Huffington Post piece on the subject “Does Anyone Want This Nut Answering the Phone?” A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, [...]
More details have been reported on the raid conducted by the Israeli Air Force on a base in Syria on September 6: Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and [...]
Libby Copeland uses the occasion of Monica Lewinsky earning a master’s degree to reflect on the smart-but-dumb phenomenon. There are moments that make you question your fundamental assumptions about the world. One of them took place a few days ago, when news emerged that Monica Lewinsky had just graduated from the London School of Economics. [...]
Graham Allison charges that the Bush administration’s issuance of vague threats has been precisely the wrong approach to North Korea. Effective deterrence required three components: clarity, capability and credibility. Clarity meant bright lines and unacceptable consequences. Credibility was understood to be in the eye of the beholder. How credible was the threat to trade Boston [...]
In what appears to be an eerie similarity to the Iraq War runup, North Korean defectors are telling Western officials that getting rid of Kim Jon Il would end North Korea’s nuclear threat. There’s a twist, though: They think it can happen without Western military intervention. Defectors from North Korea are hoping that international sanctions [...]
The UN Security Council has unanimously agreed to impose sanctions on North Korea to punish it for testing a nuclear weapon and to prevent further proliferation. The U.N. Security Council on Saturday voted unanimously to impose sanctions against North Korea in response to the country’s claimed nuclear test. The vote was scheduled soon after negotiators [...]
The politics of ethnic outrage has taken an unusual turn, with Hispanic groups railing against a new Democratic Party ad that seemingly conflates terrorism and illegal immigration. A Democratic political ad is under fire from Hispanics who say it unfairly compares Latino immigrants to terrorists. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sponsored a 35-second ad on [...]
President and Mrs. Bush were on Larry King Live last night on the occasion of the commander-in-chief’s 60th birthday. It was a wideranging but frank discussion of world events and the personal side of the world’s most stressful job. NYT television columnist Alessandra Stanley began her story on the interview with the rather bizarre opener, [...]
*Updated Below The Fold The festivities begin in 5 and I’ve got my precious with me to liven it up a little more. To whet your appetite, Allah Pundit has a little preview. 7:02: Rules of engagement. 7:04: Lieberman: I’m running on my 18 years of service to Connecticut and Lamont is running against me [...]
“…hope for the best”: More via Breitbart/AP: President Bush said Thursday that the United States is seeking a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea, but cautioned that diplomacy will take time. Bush said he was pleased that leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, in telephone calls during the past few [...]
After weeks of provocation, North Korea finally test-fired its Taepodong-2 long-range missile and at least two Scud missiles at approximately the same time the U.S. space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral. Fortunately, the long-range missile failed just seconds after launch. Via Breitbart/AP: North Korea launched a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable [...]
Michael O’Hanlon and Mike Mochizuki argue that a preemptive strike on the DPRK’s threatened test of their long range Taepdong 2 missile “would probably isolate the United States more than Pyongyang.” Further, the main problem is a muddled and inconsistent Korea policy and the larger issue of a nuclear regime, not this specific test. [T]he [...]