New York Times (August 22)
“Given North Korea’s nuclear weapons arsenal and its erratic leader, Kim Jong-un, any such confrontation must be taken seriously and managed carefully, with the United States and China playing key roles in urging restraint…. As satisfying as it may be to push back against Mr. Kim’s provocations, any reaction by South Korea and the United States must be carefully weighed, with an emphasis on restraint.”
Tags: China, Confrontation, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Restraint, U.S.
New York Times (May 19)
“With North Korea in possession of nuclear weapons and a well-oiled machinery of oppression, a regime collapse may not happen soon. But the Kims will surely fall at some point, quickly and brutally, and when they do South Korea and its allies must stand ready to rescue a nation that has suffered horribly. In the meantime, the United States and America’s allies must remain vigilant and continue to search for ways to deter Mr. Kim.”
Tags: Allies, Collapse, Kim, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Oppression, Regime, South Korea, U.S., Vigilant
Washington Post (May 11)
“China has shown signs of exasperation with North Korea’s enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Un, and if China possesses about 250 nuclear weapons, then its leaders should be unsettled to hear from their own experts that North Korea is ramping up to 50 or even 100 in the next decade. Certainly, China—and only China—has the leverage to halt North Korea’s steady climb to becoming a nuclear power.”
Tags: China, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Nuclear weapons
Washington Post (April 1)
“Deal or no deal, the Iran talks have borne fruit” by engaging Iran with the outside world. “Iran is now a diplomatic and political factor in regional and world politics, for better or worse. The right U.S. strategy was to prevent this rising Iran from getting nuclear weapons, not to pretend that it didn’t exist.”
Tags: Deal, Diplomatic, Engaging, Iran, Nuclear weapons, Political, Pretend, Strategy, U.S.
Washington Post (February 22)
“There is a danger that as other pressing concerns about North Korea accumulate — nuclear weapons, missiles, cyberattacks — the world will lose interest in the human rights disaster.” Ideally, “North Korea’s leaders should be held accountable” and referred “to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity.” At present, however, a Security Council referral looks doomed to veto by China or Russia. For the time being, the UN must continue “to investigate human rights abuses in North Korea, with an eye toward identifying who in the regime’s leadership is responsible for the horrors so that they can eventually be held to account.”
Tags: Abuses, Accountable, China, Crimes against humanity, Cyberattacks, Disaster, Human rights, International Criminal Court, Investigation, Leaders, Missiles, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Russia, Security Council, UN, Veto
Washington Post (March 12)
The U.S. military is not ready for cyber conflict. “U.S. nuclear weapons, hardened to survive an atomic blast in the Cold War, may not be ready to survive a cyber-onslaught… We ought not wait until a disaster has arrived to address the policy implications of cyberwar.”
New York Times (March 2)
The outcome of recent negotiations with Iran “was frustratingly incremental, but it keeps alive the slim possibility of a diplomatic solution…. It is hard to know whether Iran will ever abandon its nuclear ambitions.… Mistrust runs deep on all sides. Still, it makes sense for the United States and its partners to be creative in pursuit of a deal that will prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon.”
Tags: Deal, Diplomacy, Iran, Mistrust, Negotiations, Nuclear weapons
New York Times (November 23)
North Korea’s recent “outbursts are almost certainly tied to the struggle over replacing the ailing leader, Kim Jong-il.” China needs to step up and pull North Korea back from this “very risky game.” China, however, is “still in denial.” Given the difficulty of knowing what is actually going on in North Korea, there might even be more enrichment facilities than the one North Korea has admitted. The world, with China in the lead, must prevent North Korea from becoming armed with nuclear weapons. The latter would be a recipe for instability.
Tags: China, North Korea, Nuclear weapons
