“If negotiations fail, it would be time to end the nuclear threat from North Korea – one way or the other” — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham – 28 Feb 2019 … As nuclear negotiations between President Trump and N. Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un conclude with a walk without agreement, questions follow. What’s next?
Global Poll (Pew Research) Climate change increasingly ranks as the world’s most pressing security threat… Fears about American power grow … ”Nations in the survey say the influence of the U.S. is a major threat to their countries… more people now say the U.S. is a threat than in 2013 and 2017 …
Second Meeting Confirmed Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to confer in Hanoi “My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong-un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 & 28” …
As nuclear treaty after nuclear treaty bites the dust, today, February 1st, 2019, the U.S. announces its intent to withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. Nuclear arms control is immeasurably damaged. A new nuclear arms race is heralded, a global breakout characterized by many as “insanity”.
One day, January 16, 2019, as Google World News highlights China sword-rattling … rising risks, markets react to China-US trade war, Taiwan tensions escalate, North Korea nuclear talks off, South China Sea maneuvers grow as a new arms race reverberates with next generation nukes, hypersonic weapons….
December 7, 2018 3:50 EST … Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson — Consider U.S. denial of climate change, oil / gas exploration, risks and reality. Recall that in 2011, Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil, completed an unprecedented oil / gas Arctic development deal with Russia’s Rosneft (see GreenPolicy360 / Arctic for details).
As the U.S. energy policy continues to focus on fossil fuels, we at Strategic Demands take a look at the data and consider crude oil proved reserves. It is an appropriate moment to consider the longer term, e.g., the longevity of the U.S. fracking upsurge… and consequences
Strategic policy and strategic ramifications, short-, mid-, and long-term. China warns U.S. to withdraw sanctions or ‘bear the consequences’
President Donald Trump announces via Twitter that he has ordered Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea because there has not been “sufficient progress” in denuclearization talks so far. The president singles out China for not “helping the process”…
It’s on. After back and forth negotiations, a deadline passes and what is being described as a “trade war” commences. What sort of trade war? The market’s collective judgment so far? Day one, the global markets shrug. We consider the negotiating strategies, risks, costs, and ripple effects. Go…
Energy Priorities, Geo-politics & Fracking in the US. As OPEC’s latest meeting concludes, let’s take a snapshot of worldwide oil/gas. The US has gone to the top of the heap and is exerting its muscle as the US president pleads for lower energy prices. Next chess move is from China-Russia with their Eurasia strategy
The historic meet up between North Korea and the US produced a page and a half ‘agreement’. This released result was all the public has been given to date. Behind the scenes, the world is assured, much is in the works. New meetings are planned. In North Korea, a campaign of politics with posters is […]
The lies of the Iraq war and subsequent disaster now shift toward an Iran disaster. After listening this past week to Israel’s PM present his country’s official POV regarding Iran, although it veered widely from top U.S. security officials public statements and testimony before Congress, the U.S. president has decided
What’s an appropriate response to news of an unexpected meeting in Beijing and newest moves by the US president threatening trade war with China? The first shots in the trade war are now fired, global markets are responding, and the visit of N. Korea’s leader to meet the Chinese president signal a new asymmetrical conflict […]
Tom Nichols Makes His Case. Strategic Demands’ editor responds… Former US Defense chief, William Perry, weighs in… Negotiating horizon? Time to prep? Two months. Negotiating prep to date? No visible prep. Korean Ambassador? No US Ambassador. Nuclear weapons experts? Arms Control team? Questionable at best. Winging it? Admittedly. Other options? War. Nuclear war. Dead-Hand Disaster.
The new Nuclear Posture Review signals a new nuclear arms race. Luck of the draw. “Do you feel lucky?” The question of generational, existential risk takes on new dimension as strategic arms experts ask deadly end game questions. Nuclear tensions are turning to nuclear threats, an international ramp up of nuclear weapons development, ‘usable’ nukes, […]
The U.S. needs new oversight on the unlimited power of the president to order nuclear use on any day at any moment for whatever reason. The singular nuclear launch authority one person has is an extreme and potentially cataclysmic authority. Now is the time for a sane nuclear launch system
