Category: BLOG

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has undoubtedly been sipping Champagne these days in celebration of his successful effort to lobby Donald Trump over the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s crude interventions to…

In the wake of the inter-Korean summit meeting, analysts are having a field day taking apart the Panmunjom Declaration of Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in and speculating about how Donald…

(Note: A somewhat shorter version of this article appears in China-US Focus, April 20, 2018, https://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/japans-shifting-security-posture-under-abe.)   Abe Shinzo, Japan’s prime minister, has now held his sixth meeting with Donald Trump.…

Donald Trump’s threat of another missile attack—or any attack—on Syria cannot improve the rebels’ position on the ground, affect use of chemical weapons, change Russia’s and Iran’s policies, or alter…

With the appointments of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and John Bolton as national security adviser, Donald Trump has signaled his preparedness by the May 12 deadline to withdraw…

It’s a classic narrative: the foreign dignitary of a US ally visits Washington, the Pentagon and State Department are intent on selling him a large weapons package, a munitions maker…

(Note to readers: This is the second of a two-part commentary, continuing reporting of good and bad news on the environment that began with my very first blog in 2014.…

For the first time in quite a few years, direct US-North Korea dialogue seems within reach thanks to North-South Korea talks involving Kim Jong-un and top officials of the Moon…

(Note to readers: This is the first of a two-part commentary, continuing reporting of good and bad news on the environment that began with my very first blog in 2014.…

(Note: An updated, longer version of this blog is at https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/2018/0302/16170.html.) In the aftermath of the “Korean spring” at the Winter Games, some observers waxed euphoric over the potential for direct…

Three brief reports on January 25 concerning Israel-Palestine-US relations sum up the new situation created by Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy…

In recent months Donald Trump has shown no hesitation to comment critically on political developments in Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, and North Korea. He supported protests in Iran against “the brutal…

The White House has said it has no objections to direct North-South Korea dialogue, which will start shortly thanks to a surprise invitation to President Moon Jae-in by Kim Jong-un.…

What does the future hold for our planet?  It is easy to prophesy doom: a nuclear war, irreversible climate change, hordes of dispossessed people converging on well-to-do cities, a contagion…

It is truly extraordinary: the still-new Trump administration keeps appointing people whose common priority is the destruction of the agency they head.  Their mission is therefore the opposite of their…