Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The landlocked West African state of Mali remains a critical crossroads for both international people smuggling and a nexus of radical Islamic terrorism in the Sahel, the vast arid region on the southern reaches of the Sahara desert. Here amid ancient caravan routes, porous borders, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – U.S. officials and so-called “Korea experts” look with clearly mixed feelings on the prospects of North Korea sending hundreds of performers, artists and officials to the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics. Conservative forces in Washington share the misgivings of Korean conservatives over athletes from the two Koreas parading together […]
by WorldTribune Staff, January 22, 2018 Turkish military leaders informed the United States prior to bombing positions of U.S.-allied Kurds in northern Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Jan. 21. “They warned us before they launched the aircraft that they were going to do it,” Mattis said. Turkish warplanes on Jan. 20 launched […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – Koreans may not believe it, but the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics are not uppermost on the minds of Americans. In fact, no one in the upper reaches of the U.S. government, including President Trump, is worrying about whether North Korea is using the Games to drive a […]
Special to WorldTribune By Miles Maochun Yu, Hoover Institution Editors’ note: The following, published originally on Jan. 29, 2016, is still relevant two years later. A significant portion of our national security establishment, painstakingly built up during the Cold War, has accepted the assumption that when it comes to threats from sovereign states, Russia, not […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Christopher Sparks, January 18, 2017 The U.S.’s ultimate objectives in Syria include ensuring ISIS is fully defeated, “post-Assad leadership” and preventing Iran from bolstering its position. Therefore, the U.S. will “maintain a military presence” in the country, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Jan. 17. “A total withdrawal of American […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― Uh oh. Watch for all the soothsayers putting in their two cents or two won worth on the future of the Korean Peninsula, post-PyeongChang. Beware of the cognoscenti with dire forecasts of capitulation to the evil Northers, with hopeful words of peace at last, with demands for […]
by WorldTribune Staff, January 5, 2018 North Korea on Jan. 5 accepted South Korea’s offers of talks to be held next week in the DMZ truce village of Panmunjom in the first official meeting between delegations from the two Koreas since December 2015. President Donal Trump “is taking credit for easing tensions that might have […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is planning more missile tests even as he tries to split the historic South Korea-U.S. alliance with a skillfully worded offer of North-South dialogue and North Korean participation in the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The widespread view here is that Kim has […]
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 […]
