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In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

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Tag: North Korea

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Post #373: Nuclear Politics: The US-South Korea “Washington Declaration”

5 May 20235 May 2023
The US-Republic of Korea (ROK) alliance began in 1953, at the end of the Korean War. Now seventy years later, President Biden and Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol met to cement…
BLOG

Post #367: Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington

18 Mar 202318 Mar 2023
The Mounting Danger Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached a new level of intensity. North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement Feb. 17 in anticipation of another round of…
BLOG

Post #338:North Korea: Missiles Over Human Security

24 May 202224 May 2022
Omicron Catches Up with North Korea After having proclaimed for over two years that the country was untouched by the coronavirus, North Korea now faces a potential health catastrophe.  Its…
BLOG

Post #314 – Dissecting North Korea’s Missile Tests

12 Oct 202112 Oct 2021
            North Korea is carrying out one missile test after another lately, at the same time indicating (or is it?) interest in talks with South Korea about reducing tensions.  Late…
BLOG

Post #295: North Korea is Back on the US Agenda

23 Apr 202119 Apr 2021
North Korea is rattling America’s cage again.  It sent a reminder call when it recently fired off multiple short-range missiles after denouncing Washington for going forward with joint military exercises…
BLOG

Post #252: No Room for Dialogue

3 Jan 20203 Jan 2020
“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak, and he’s ineffective. So the only way he figures that he’s going…
BLOG

Post #238: Trump-Kim III: Making History Without Making Progress?

2 Jul 20192 Jul 2019
Taking a few steps onto North Korean soil, and posing for pictures with a friendly dictator, seem to fit Trump-era diplomacy better than a carefully laid out process. But unless…
BLOG

Post #237: The Trump Way of War

29 Jun 20191 Aug 2019
Notice how similar are the Trump administration’s interactions with Iran and North Korea?  The pattern in both cases is dangerous, ill-informed, and bound to fail.  US adversaries by now understand…
BLOG

Post #231: National Security—A Dangerous Confusion

7 May 201927 May 2019
This blog also appeared in Informed Consent, May 6, 2019, https://www.juancole.com/2019/05/backward-ignoring-interference.html There is a dangerous confusion in US national security policy when evaluating relations with Russia and China. The Trump…
APB

APB: Trump and Kim, Act II

28 Feb 201928 Feb 2019
Trump was correct to describe denuclearization last June as a lengthy “process” that one summit meeting could not achieve. However, the second summit, in Hanoi at the end of February…
BLOG

Post #223: Happy New Year from Kim Jong-un

6 Jan 2019
Kim Jong-un looked quite cosmopolitan on January 1 as he made his annual New Year’s address to the nation from the comfort of a paneled office, wearing a spiffy Western-style…
BLOG

Post #221: Weaponizing Humanitarian Aid

13 Dec 201813 Dec 2018
Long ago, US foreign aid programs honored the principle that humanitarian aid should be treated separately from economic and military assistance to governments. Public Law 480 (popularized as “Food for…
APB

“Gangsterism” or “Progress”? Examining North Korea’s Latest Statement on Denuclearization

9 Jul 20188 Jul 2018
Most US news reports are suggesting that the North Koreans may be backtracking on their commitment to denuclearization,calling the US position “gangster-like” following the visit of Secretary of State Mike…
American Politics and the World…

Post #142: Unfit to Command

9 Jan 201727 Feb 2017
  During the presidential campaign a significant number of former senior foreign policy and national security officials from both parties spoke in no uncertain terms about Donald Trump’s qualifications to…
BLOG…

Post #139: People Power in Seoul

14 Dec 201627 Feb 2017
Over the last several weekends, roughly 4 million Koreans have taken part in demonstrations in Seoul and other cities with the aim of bringing down President Park Geun-hye, who has…
BLOG…

Post #136: The Trump Team: Loyal and Dangerous

15 Nov 201627 Feb 2017
Personnel appointments provide a useful glimpse into what policy will be.  Senior-level appointees are the policy shapers, and from what we have seen thus far, we are right to have…
BLOG…

Post #115: Sanctions and Defiance in North Korea

23 Apr 201627 Feb 2017
Part 1: Sanctions—A Failed Strategy (Note: This is the first of a two-part commentary on North Korea.  The second part will discuss the North’s latest weapons programs, which have evidently…

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