South China Morning Post (May 20)
“The end of the Cold War was supposed to deliver a long peace. For a while, that was working, until it wasn’t. We might now be entering another period when the breakdown of a world order leads to war.”
Tags: Breakdown, Cold war, End, Peace, World order
Wall Street Journal (May 12)
“The U.S. and Iran are locked in a diplomatic stalemate over issues that have bedeviled the two sides for years, as the conflict settles into a gray zone that is neither war nor peace.” Though the stalemate “could shift any day,” it appears ”the most likely scenario for now is a continued limbo.” Little suggests “that either the U.S. or Iran is ready to compromise, but neither wants to start fighting again.”
Tags: Bedeviled, Compromise, Conflict, Continued limbo, Diplomatic stalemate, Gray zone, Iran, Peace, U.S., War
Wall Street Journal (April 23)
“The conflict with Iran has entered a damaging new phase—a crippling limbo between war and peace that leaves the Strait of Hormuz closed and the prospect of escalation looming.” The explosions have stopped, “but the battle for control of the strait, one of the most important conduits of global commerce, is raging, leaving commodity traders on edge and helping push international oil prices above $100 a barrel on Wednesday.”
Tags: Battle, Commodity traders, Conflict, Crippling, Damaging, Escalation, Global commerce, Iran, Limbo, Looming, Oil prices, Peace, Raging, Strait of Hormuz, War
The Economist (May 1)
Taiwan is now “the most dangerous place on Earth.” An extreme “exercise of high-calibre ambiguity has kept the peace” for decades, but that’s rapidly disintegrating as positions polarize. “America and China must work harder to avoid war over the future of Taiwan.”
Chicago Tribune (November 8)
“The Berlin Wall fell in a dramatic wave of hope, openness and U.S. support 30 years ago. Now everything is different.” Back then, “Europe had a United States willing and able to help guide its future, which it did in building a Europe whole, free and at peace. Now, Europe will have to decide its own future.” Will Europe “recommit to unity” or “allow divisions and disagreements to deepen.”
Tags: Berlin Wall, Disagreements, Divisions, Dramatic wave, Europe, Free, Future, Hope, Openness, Peace, Support, U.S., Unity
The Korea Times (July 1)
There are clearly “concerns that the one-time meeting may end up as an anticlimax. Trump probably needed such global grandstanding…to boost his re-election bid. For his part, Kim might have wanted to use his DMZ meeting with Trump as propaganda to raise his international standing and tighten his grip on power.” Still, one must hope that “Trump and Kim will reach a grand deal to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. Their ‘handshake of peace’ should be translated into complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula.”
Tags: Anticlimax, DMZ, Grand deal, Grandstanding, Handshake, Kim, North Korea, Nuclear issue, Peace, Propaganda, Re-election, South Korea, Trump, U.S.
Time (January 22)
“Trump’s desperation for a North Korea deal may play into Kim’s hand.” An overeager Trump might sign a sweet sounding, but dangerous, peace agreement that leaves the region more war prone, especially if it removes the rationale for stationing U.S. troops nearby. “What does this mean for South Korea? Worst case scenario is that it’s left exposed and isolated by the U.S. with a fanatical foe just miles away.”
Tags: Dangerous, Deal, Desperation, Exposed, Isolated, Kim, North Korea, Overeager, Peace, South Korea, Troops, Trump, U.S., War
CNN (May 15)
“The dream of ‘peace in our time’ in the Middle East died on Monday.”
Tags: Died, Dream, Middle East, Peace
The Guardian (May 13)
“The American president has thrown into confusion old alliances and imperilled Middle Eastern peace.” His “stark rejection of the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal with Iran poses complex and momentous challenges for Europe, and the UK in particular. This reckless US action upsets the geopolitical furniture in troubling ways. The European democracies now find themselves at odds with their principal ally on an issue of fundamental importance to their security and to peace in the Middle East. By insisting they will uphold the Iran deal… European countries have embarked on a collision course with Washington.”
Tags: Alliances, Ally, Collision course, Confusion, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Nuclear deal, Peace, Reckless, Rejection, U.S., UK
Businessweek (May 3)
President Trump “wrote a book on dealmaking, only this time nuclear war and peace will hang in the balance, rather than a real estate contract. And on the evidence so far, his sparring partner Kim Jong Un has mastered The Art of the Deal, too.” For example, “Kim has already changed the conversation while giving away very little, beyond a moratorium on nuclear tests that may no longer be needed…. The summit alone is a public-relations coup for Kim. A one-on-one meeting with the U.S. president has been a long-held North Korean goal.”
Tags: Dealmaking, Kim Jong Un, Moratorium, Nuclear tests, Nuclear war, Peace, Trump
