Pyongyang nights: A modest proposal for Edward Snowden

Pyongyang nights: A modest proposal for Edward Snowden

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Edward Snowden seems to have considered just about every conceivable option for asylum. At least two countries, Venezuela and Nicaragua, whose leaders are deeply critical of U.S. foreign policy, are happy to accept him. He would no doubt be glad to live in either while disclosing still more […]

Summit documents reveal N. Korea’s fears of being absorbed by China

Summit documents reveal N. Korea’s fears of being absorbed by China

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korean leaders have been living in fear of coming under Chinese control but had no option but to rely on the economic giant for much-needed hard currency, documents and sources said. According to the 2007 inter-Korean summit transcript disclosed by South Korea’s spy agency, then North Korean […]

Snowden’s best option: Come home and talk like there’s no tomorrow

Snowden’s best option: Come home and talk like there’s no tomorrow

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com We keep hearing about all the countries where Edward Snowden is looking for asylum ― Ecuador and Venezuela would love to have him just to show they can’t be intimidated. Now it seems Ecuador is chickening out while Venezuela vies with Nicaragua for the distinction of defending the […]

Israel need not follow Obama’s lead and ignore China’s massive cyber-theft

Israel need not follow Obama’s lead and ignore China’s massive cyber-theft

Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey The dysfunctional U.S. Congress is dithering about passing the so-called “shield law”, designed to protect the American power system from electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack, despite the fact that the cost of the program would be about what the U.S. gives Pakistan every year, the political profit from which is […]

More Maoist than thou: Xi Jinping is in, Bo Xilai is out, but the CCP is still thoroughly corrupt

More Maoist than thou: Xi Jinping is in, Bo Xilai is out, but the CCP is still thoroughly corrupt

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping marked his 60th birthday last weekend by launching a Mao-style “mass line political education” campaign in an apparent effort to raise the moral standards of the 83 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as […]

When the U.S. loses resolve: The Afghanistan-Vietnam parallels

When the U.S. loses resolve: The Afghanistan-Vietnam parallels

Sol W. Sanders   For those of us who lived through it, current negotiations for the American exit from Afghanistan smells much too much like the end of the U.S. commitment in Vietnam. Washington, after a decade of enormous sacrifice of life and treasure, has chosen to negotiate with the enemy following diplomatic “modalities” pretty […]

2 of 3 South Korean students in survey thought their country started the 1950 war

2 of 3 South Korean students in survey thought their country started the 1950 war

Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com In a shocking poll, 69 percent of South Korea’s high school students believed that it was the South that started the Korean War in 1950. President  Park Geun-Hye expressed dismay on June 17 during a cabinet meeting in the Blue House, the presidential office/residence complex in Seoul. “This kind of wrong […]

How many Edward Snowdens are there and why aren’t we tracking N. Korea?

How many Edward Snowdens are there and why aren’t we tracking N. Korea?

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Sometimes you have to wonder when reading the top stories how much people are really thinking about some of the implications. Take this running story about Edward Snowden. It’s a fun read, and it would not be a good idea to put him in jail for a lot […]

The sons also rise: Xi Jinping grooms more and more princelings for top slots

The sons also rise: Xi Jinping grooms more and more princelings for top slots

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Given the apparent ease with which President Xi Jinping has consolidated his hold on power, it is perhaps not surprising that the princeling (a reference to the offspring of party elders) is actively nurturing the careers of younger members of the “red aristocracy.” In the past year, several […]

Not so superpowerful: Obama, Xi talk but the days of grand summits are past

Not so superpowerful: Obama, Xi talk but the days of grand summits are past

Sol W. Sanders   There was less than met the eye at the two-day summit of China’s Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama. Neither party was in a position to tackle the growing list plaguing the relationship between the superpower and the superpower-wannabe. That might or might not have been a product of their particular […]