by WorldTribune Staff, February 15, 2018 Kim Jong-Un has put on a charm offensive at the Winter Games while extracting money from South Korea under the guise of reunification, the leader of U.S. Pacific Command said. But the North Korean leader’s goal goes beyond preventing regime change, he said. Rather, he is focused on the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk American policy-makers appear highly uncertain and divided among themselves as to moves toward negotiation between North and South Korea in the wake of the Winter Olympics. The view from the White House, is that President Donald Trump has succeeded in forcing the hand of Kim Jong-Un, compelling him to […]
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 […]