Outside the Beltway

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to call a snap election pays off big time.

Donald Trump is undermining his own Secretary of State’s efforts on North Korea, and he doesn’t seem to care.

Donald Trump’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric regarding North Korea is leading to similar rhetoric from the DPRK, and concern among top diplomats.

In a marked departure from previous American Presidents, Donald Trump delivered a highly belligerent speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

The Trump Administration’s effort to impose sanctions against North Korea suffered a significant defeat in the United Nations Security Council.

Absent significant changes, expecting normal diplomatic relationships with the DPRK is a pipe dream.

At a time when our alliance is more important than ever, President Trump is responding by attacking our ally.

More provocative action from North Korea, and another reminder that there are no easy answers to the problems represented by the Kim regime.

The people who would most immediately be impacted by a war on the Korean peninsula don’t seem quite so concerned. Perhaps we should take a cue from them.

Things are getting far more complicated on the Korean Peninsula. Diplomacy isn’t working, and a military option would most likely lead to disaster.

Another escalation on the Korean peninsula.

More provocation from Pyongyang.

Another provocative move by North Korea.

South Korea has elected a new President who breaks with his impeached predecessor in favoring dialogue with the North.

America’s longest war is still going on, and President Trump’s advisers want him to continue his predecessor’s policies of continuing to re-expand American forces in a war that has seemingly no end.

The North Koreans failed to successfully test a longer-range missile again yesterday, but tensions on the Korean Peninsula seem destined to increase in any case.

North Korea is threatening another nuclear test, the United States is threatening retaliation, and China is warning of a ‘gathering storm’ on the Korean Peninsula.

A warning to North Korea.

South Korea removes a corrupt leader by peaceful means.

North Korean Intrigue…….

As America prepares for a Presidential transition, an old conflict with a history of turning dangerous rears its head.

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear program but it’s unclear what anyone can do about it.

A third major ISIS-inspired or planned attack in three weeks.

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima left just the impression it should have.

On his trip to Hanoi, President announced the latest sign that the Vietnam War is finally something both nations have manged to put behind them.

More saber rattling from Pyongyang.

Can anything restrain the North Koreans besides direct action by China? That’s unclear, but the new round of sanctions pending at the U.N. seem unlikely to accomplish much of anything.

China’s economy is still growing, but it’s most recently reported growth rate is slower than the nation has seen in quite some time.

The United States and South Korea are hinting at increased military cooperation in the wake of last week’s North Korean nuclear test.

Experts are casting doubt on North Korea’s claim that it tested a thermonuclear device earlier this week.

The North Koreans claim to have made a major advance in their nuclear weapons program, but there are many reasons to be skeptical.

North Korea’s mercurial leader now claims to have thermonuclear weapons, but analysts are saying this is likely braggadocios nonsense.

Thanks mostly to well-founded demographic concerns, China is ending the ‘One Child’ policy, but it is probably too late for them to avoid the consequences of the forty year program.

The Taliban dealt a major defeat to a numerically superior Afghan Army force, raising questions about just how well Afghanistan can defend itself on its own.

Yesterday’s stock market drop led some Republican candidates to say some particularly dumb things.

China adds to its status as the honey badger of intellectual property law.

The Afghan Army isn’t doing so well against the Taliban right now.

In the past month, the Chinese stock market has lost more than 1/3 of its value.

A well-founded fear of ISIS seems to be drawing many of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia closer to Moscow.