If decades of disastrous wars in the Mid/Near East aren’t enough for you… if U.S. forces based across the globe aren’t enough… if a Triad of 24/7/365 hair-trigger alert nuclear weapons aren’t enough, if the collapse of weapons control agreements and treaties aren’t enough then how about a Big Show on the 4th of July? […]
Category: North Korea
Report from Vladivostok
Nuclear Talks, Nuclear Risks North Korea and Russia Take Next Steps VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) — Smiling and upbeat, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday stepped off his khaki-green armored train in far-eastern Russia for a much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin that comes amid deadlocked diplomacy on his nuclear program.
Regional Nuclear Conflict will deliver, science says, Global Nuclear Catastrophe
“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 Security Fears: Climate and the U.S.
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 …
Trump-Kim-Hanoi Summit
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” …
Googling China January 2019
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….
Linkage, China, US, North Korea
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”…
KCNA Re: Denuclearization
A Week after Singapore
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 […]
It Could’ve Been Worse
After the Singapore summit, the commentators, op-ed writers, columnists, analysts, foreign policy experts and seemingly everyone within reach of a keyboard or smartphone all have an opinion. Who are we not to join in with StratDem’s opinion? Consider the alternative to negotiating, “politics by other means”, war and potential catastrophic use of nuclear weapons
Prepared, or Not Prepared
“I think I’m very well prepared. I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude, it’s about willingness to get things done. So this isn’t a question of preparation, it’s a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we’ll know that very quickly.”
“Complete Denuclearization”
The nuclear question, the crisis, revolves around “CVID”. You ask, CVID? We answer, Complete, Verifiable and Irreversible Dismantlement (or Denuclearization?). Then we add calls for “complete nuclearization” on the Korean peninsula. Then we add — when, where, how, why. The world is asking for nuclear deescalation and not just on the Korean peninsula Update: […]
Now Negotiation
The U.S. president threatens to throw out the Iran international agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He wants to renegotiate in the Mideast. At the same time, he says he is going to meet with North Korea’s leader to ‘denuclearize the peninsula’. Agreements ended, allies lost, opportunities gained?
Blowback Risks, Asymmetrical Conflict
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 […]
May in Korea
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.
Korean Talks, March 6th, 2018
Announced breakthrough in talks between North / South Korea… 1) Breaking: 2 Koreas 5 pt agreement: 1. inter-Korean summit end of April at Panmunjeom, 2. establish hotline between Moon-Kim to reduce tensions & consult, 3. NK has will to denuclearize, no reason to have nukes if security guaranteed, willing to have frank talks with US…
Olympic Overture in the Koreas
Citizens of the U.S. are not known for their knowledge of international relations — from the basics across to more detailed, complex geopolitics and diplomacy. Yet, it is time to recall what was once called “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” that set in motion an opening between the U.S. and China. The Olympics may be another opening