Sports at center of Kim Jong-Un’s new communication strategy at home and abroad

Sports at center of Kim Jong-Un’s new communication strategy at home and abroad

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The regime of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un has turned to sports as the tool to shape his image of a genial and friendly leader at home and mend fences with South Korea and the United States, officials and analysts here say. The initiatives range from inviting former […]

China’s counter to GPS targets SE Asia en route to global market

China’s counter to GPS targets SE Asia en route to global market

Special to WorldTribune.com By Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com China is aggressively pressing its global positioning service, known as the Beidou, into service throughout the entire Southeast Asia region. The goal is to extend coverage regionally, before achieving global coverage by 2020. China views Southeast Asia as key to countering the influence of the United States and […]

From Somalia to Kenya mall massacre, Al Qaida on the move

From Somalia to Kenya mall massacre, Al Qaida on the move

Special to WorldTribune.com CAIRO — Al Qaida has expanded from Somalia to neighboring Kenya. The Al Qaida-aligned Al Shabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on a shopping mall in Kenya in which 85 people, including two foreign diplomats, were killed. Al Shabab said its fighters took hundreds of hostages in Nairobi on Sept. 21. […]

Ahem, Mr. President: The War on Terror is far from over

Ahem, Mr. President: The War on Terror is far from over

Sol W. Sanders   If the Boston Massacre and the growing Syrian Civil War jihadist outrages were not self-evident, the bloody attack on innocents at the Nairobi, Kenya, mall provide new evidence that the international terrorist conspiracy continues virtually unabated. The perpetrators were Islamic jihadists, apparently members of the al Shahid thugs in neighboring Somalia […]

In poll, Japan rebuffs China’s claim to islands; Abe’s approval rating soars

In poll, Japan rebuffs China’s claim to islands; Abe’s approval rating soars

Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com One year after China’s government erupted over Japan’s decision to buy three islands in the Senkaku chain from private investors, a decision dubbed by politicians as “nationalization,” a whopping 69.6 percent of Japanese in a recent public opinion poll endorsed the government’s action. Respondents to the poll clearly put blame for […]

Another mind-numbing precedent: Obama arms Al Qaida with U.S. weapons

Another mind-numbing precedent: Obama arms Al Qaida with U.S. weapons

Jeffrey T. Kuhner President Obama has crossed a moral red line. Recently, he did the unthinkable: He announced that the U.S. government would directly arm terrorist groups in Syria. Mr. Obama said that he would waive a federal law designed to prevent weapons from being sent to designated-terrorist organizations. In particular, the president cited a […]

Oil and the other variables in the coming U.S.-Iran rapprochement

Oil and the other variables in the coming U.S.-Iran rapprochement

Special to WorldTribune.com By Fariborz Saremi Currently the Middle East is in a state of upheaval from which it may never truly recover. Politically, the region as a whole is extremely unstable, as are several countries within the region. To ensure that permanent chaos does not ensue the United States and the Islamic Republic of […]

Why Syria’s chemical weapons agreement will succeed

Why Syria’s chemical weapons agreement will succeed

Special to WorldTribune.com By Rael Jean Isaac Much of the current debate on Syria centers on whether Assad will in fact give up his chemical weapons. Not to worry. The chemical weapons agreement will be a resounding success. This is not because all or most of the weapons themselves will be found and destroyed. The […]

The strategic roots of the U.S. ‘defeat’ of Sept. 10, 2013

The strategic roots of the U.S. ‘defeat’ of Sept. 10, 2013

Special to WorldTribune.com Gregory R. Copley, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs There should be no ambiguity: the U.S. and the West suffered a transformative strategic reversal on Sept. 10, 2013, and Russia and Iran each separately made substantial strategic gains and consolidation as a consequence. But the pivotal decision of Sept. 10 by President Barack Obama […]