The Times of London (July 16)
“Even as US vessels launched hundreds of missiles at Iranian military targets in the past few days, Trump still seemed reluctant to unleash the type of all-out war necessary to bring the enemy to heel. As was the case during the initial five weeks of conflict this spring, the president seems rigidly focused on a low-risk, stand-off warfare, minimising the risks of close-up combat.” With the tactics of Trump’s campaign “explicitly designed to avoid high-intensity battle,” his “objectives are rooted more in hope than in strategy.”
Tags: Campaign, Conflict, Cose-up combat, Enemy, High-intensity battle, Hope, Iran, Low-risk, Military targets, Missiles, Objectives, Reluctant, Stand-off, Tactics, Trump, U.S., Vessels, Warfare
New York Times (July 12)
“Russian spies appear to be operating right under the noses of the Japanese authorities.” Just 10 minutes on foot from the National Police Agency, Aeroflot’s office in Tokyo shelters the 20th Directorate, a military intelligence unit, which “finds the high-tech equipment that Russia needs to wage war.” Japan’s “weak espionage laws and flourishing high-tech industry have made it a crucial piece of the Russian war effort.” The Ukrainian government estimates that Japanese components are found in roughly 90% of Russian missiles and drones.
Tags: Aeroflot, Authorities, Components, Crucial, Drones, Espionage laws, High-tech equipment, High-tech industry, Japan, Military intelligence unit, Missiles, National Police Agency, Russia, Spies, Tokyo, Ukraine, War, War effort
Wall Street Journal (August 5)
“China’s firing of missiles near Japan has left little doubt that Tokyo would be pulled into any potential war over Taiwan—and would be part of the U.S.-led alliance likely to defend the island.”
New York Times (August 5)
“North Korea had launched its third barrage of short-range missiles in just over a week, parading its growing ability to strike its neighbors with devastating firepower. But instead of banding together against a common adversary last week, the two American allies in the path of the missiles—Japan and South Korea—were locked in their own bitter battle, whose roots stretch back over 100 years.”
Tags: Adversary, Allies, Devastating, Firepower, Japan, Launch, Missiles, North Korea, Short range, South Korea, U.S.
Business Times (March 28)
Kim Jong Un’s visit to Beijing “is only the latest sign of moving geopolitical plates over the Korean stand-off. Following spiralling tensions in the peninsula in 2017 over the North’s nuclear weapons and missile programmes, 2018 has brought unexpected, and what could yet prove remarkable, diplomatic respite that has seen a mini-rapprochement between North and South.”
Tags: Beijing, Diplomatic, Geopolitical, Kim, Korea, Missiles, Nuclear weapons, Rapprochement, Stand-off, Tensions
New York Times (July 10)
“The new American sanctions on North Korea are hardly surprising, since the regime brutally controls 25 million people, has an aggressive nuclear program and is improving its ability to launch missiles that could one day hit the United States.” Whether the sanctions can “make North Korea budge” remains to be seen.
Tags: Aggressive, Brutal, Launch, Missiles, North Korea, Nuclear program, Regime, Sanctions, U.S.
Washington Post (June 9)
“Kim Jong Un is a weak leader in every respect but one: He pushes ahead relentlessly on a program to build missiles carrying miniaturized nuclear warheads.” It is likely that “the next U.S. president could confront a genuinely dangerous threat from a faraway place: a North Korean missile that could hit U.S. territory with a nuclear warhead.”
Tags: Dangerous, Kim Jong Un, Leader, Missiles, North Korean, Nuclear warheads, Threat, U.S.
Popular Mechanics (February 1)
“As both the capital of Japan and home to a quarter of its citizens, Tokyo is very much a big, fat target” for North Korea. Mainly done to reassure people living in Tokyo, “the deployment of the eight PAC-3 missiles does give real protection in case Pyongyang has something unexpected in mind.” While any launch would probably just be a missile test, “North Korea’s erratic nature means Japan can never quite rule anything out.”
Tags: Capital, Deployment, Erratic, Japan, Missiles, North Korea, PAC-3, Protection, Pyongyang, Target, Tokyo
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
Time (March 15)
North Korea continues to ratchet up the tension. “In keeping with the dynasty’s tradition of erratic behavior, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to bombard a South Korean island with 5,000 residents, further raising alarms in Seoul and the U.S., which is beefing up its own missile defenses against possible attack from Pyongyang.”
Tags: Attack, Defense, Kim Jong Un, Missiles, North Korea, Seoul, Tension, U.S.
