John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In the bizarre ritual of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a recent rocket launch was intended to put the icing on the dynastic cake of the centennial birthday celebrations of the late dictator Kim Il-Sung. The world press had been invited to the reclusive neo-Stalinist state, and the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — No doubt about it, United States negotiator Glyn Davies got suckered into one of the all-time negotiating tricks when he fell for the deal with North Korea’s veteran double-talker Kim Kye-Gwan on Feb. 29 in which Kim convinced him, really, this time North Korea would honor […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The failure of North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket leaves one great mystery to which there may never be a definitive answer. The question is whether or not it was carrying a weather satellite that the North Koreans had been saying for weeks would go into orbit in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s determination to fire a long-range missile sometime between Wednesday and next Monday is leaving the United States and its allies in the humiliating position of issuing rhetorical threats with no real chance of carrying them out. The helplessness of the U.S. position was clear […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Kofi Annan seems to have clinched a diplomatic deal in Damascus which may stop or at least decompress the debilitating year-long conflict in Syria which has taken 9,000 lives, mostly civilians. The former UN Secretary General in a bout of shuttle diplomacy has received approval from the Bashar Assad […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — As the ongoing conflict in Syria churns out a ghastly humanitarian carnage, diplomatic efforts to halt the violence are shadowed by last year’s Libyan intervention, which morphed into a six month long military operation to topple a tyrant. So when the UN Security Council met again on Britain’s initiative […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ABU DHABI — Qatar has become the second Arab League state to call for the arming of the Syrian opposition. Qatar has urged the international community to help send weapons to the Sunni rebels in Syria. Doha, deemed a leading supporter of the rebels, said the arms would be used to defend […]
Sol W. Sanders Minxin Pei, the most original of current Sinologists, makes the point authoritarian/totalitarian regimes inherently prioritize requirements for protecting regime leaders over long-term national interest. To preserve the former’s power, they sacrifice the latter’s needs. In the process, they encourage breakdown in the world order. Beijing is now demonstrating the phenomenon in spades. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The administration of President Barack Obama has ordered the military to draft options to oust the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials said the National Security Council and State Department were directing efforts to review a range of military options to topple the Assad regime in 2012. They said […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have lambasted Russia’s veto of a Security Council resolution on Syria, calling it a “travesty,” but did she really think for a moment that Moscow was going to ditch an old political ally? Did Hillary moreover really believe that Beijing was going to […]