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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com NEW DELHI — The late “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung no doubt drew upon the teachings of Mao Zedong when he formulated his philosophy of “juche” or self-reliance, but one word you never hear on visits to North Korea is “Maoism.” If North Korea recognizes Mao Zedong as an […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The usually deferential official Chinese media has characterized Premier Li Keqiang performance during his just-completed four-nation visit as “Li-style diplomacy.” The last leg of Li’s first overseas trip as head of government – a mere two-day stopover in Berlin – has demonstrated the hard edge of enhanced hard-power […]