Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Consulting my crystal snow globe reveals a blizzard of events, many of them unpredictable which await us in the New Year. And after 2017’s roller coaster and often bizarre political events, it’s difficult to believe that 2018 may hold many unexpected surprises. UN Secretary General […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk This article by WorldTribune.com columnist Donald Kirk was first published today at the South China Morning Post. The timing of the Winter Olympics, in the South Korean mountain district of Pyeongchang in February, could not be better – or worse. By hinting at sending a team, North Korea’s leader […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― Historical comparisons can be terribly flawed. Bearing that in mind, I could not help but think of talk about talks with North Korea while watching a new British film, “Darkest Hour,” all about Winston Churchill in the darkest early days of World War II spurning pleas to […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The USA and Israel suffered a nasty diplomatic slap when the 193 member UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Trump Administration’s plan to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem. But while the mainstream media and the usual chorus of critics presented this lopsided […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― Here’s a target the deadliest, most accurate missile isn’t going to touch: the computers in North Korea that are responsible for wreaking havoc around the world. It’s all very well to talk about “the military option” or even a “pre-emptive attack” on a North Korean nuclear and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — A riveting Security Council session condemned North Korea for its Nuclear proliferation and illegal ballistic missile firings. The meeting at the Ministerial level saw Foreign Ministers and delegates nearly universally condemn Pyongyang’s provocative actions which have brought the world to the brink of conflict. Now […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― A lot of people here, from right to left politically, think war on the Korean peninsula is imminent. Kim Jong-Un, they say, is eager to order a seventh nuclear test as well as test shots of intercontinental ballistic missiles. And would not President Trump love to stage […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The Olympic Games should be entirely about sport, sportsmanship and solidarity. Yet they rarely are. Every four years the athletes of the world, or at least most of them, meet in an exotic locale plagued by political controversy, cost overruns, corruption, and doping concerns. The […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – The CIA has struck alarm bells here with a top-secret report to President Trump telling him he has just three months to stop North Korea from having the ability to fire a nuclear warhead at the United States. The report has deepened the bitter divide between hawks […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The global surge of refugees and economic migrants continues unabated. Both the scourge of civil and ethnic conflicts, as well as the pull of economic betterment, have seen millions of people on the move to both the USA and the European Union. As countries scramble […]
