Search Results for: The Death of an Alliance, Part

No question about it: perception of a threat has a direct relationship to the hospitality–or hostility–with which U.S. forces are received. After a United States Navy sailor was confined on an American base near here, accused of the Jan. 3 beating death of a Japanese woman, 20 people held a protest at the base. One man held up a sign that read, in English, “Dear Sailors, Don’t Kill Local Women.” A decade ago, when three American servicemen were detained on...

[Updated; Scroll down.] If the military and the peasantry unite as one, then none on this earth could possibly subvert them. –MaoRural uprisings in China are becoming so frequent, it’s getting hard to keep track of them. BEIJING (Reuters) – China has sealed off a village in southern Guangdong province after days of protests over land grabs ended at the weekend in clashes with police that killed a teenage girl, two residents said on Monday. Last week’s protest came a...

The Joongang Ilbo has an excellent profile of him, including a long and detailed bio. The executive summary: he’s much smarter than Chung–which I realize isn’t saying much–and is a dyed-in-the-wool leftist academic and key theoritician behind Korea’s new neutralist policy, one that ironically depends on the presence of a large U.S. military contingent. His nomination was not well received in Washington. While I think that the significance of his lack of familiarity with the United States may be overstated,...

The Joongang Ilbo has an excellent profile of him, including a long and detailed bio. The executive summary: he’s much smarter than Chung–which I realize isn’t saying much–and is a dyed-in-the-wool leftist academic and key theoritician behind Korea’s new neutralist policy, one that ironically depends on the presence of a large U.S. military contingent. His nomination was not well received in Washington. While I think that the significance of his lack of familiarity with the United States may be overstated,...

Today comes word of more sanctions on Chinese state-owned companies, all with close ties to the military, for helping Iran with its nuke and missile programs. The sanctions, announced by the State Department, are part of a diplomatically complex effort to cut off the flow of technology into Iran that could aid its weapons programs, while pressing both China and Russia to threaten action against Tehran at the United Nations Security Council. Included in the latest sanctions, first reported Tuesday...

South Korea’s president Roh Moo-Hyun may have entered office with the hope of a multifaceted agenda, but that agenda has only one surviving facet. His moves to create a more redistributive economy has sufficiently damaged the economy that Roh’s allies would dream of running on that record in the 2006 elections. The attempt to move the capital out of Seoul was a political disaster; it was blocked in the courts, and mostly succeeded in creating a dangerous new political enemy...

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow recently drew some shrill responses from North Korea and its friends in the South for calling the North a “criminal regime” when commenting on the latter’s counterfeiting of U.S. currency. The ambassador may create a degree of discomfort in the South Korean government, but he’s certainly doing a far better job of carrying the American message than his predecessors. In the process, he’s won some fans, and not just on this blog. All emphasis...

The New York Times earns high praise this week for its brave, straightforward coverage of the slaughter in Dongzhou, where Beijing is trying its best to revive the old Maoist terror: Now, a stilted calm prevails, a cover-up so carefully planned that the small town looks like a relic from the Cultural Revolution, as if the government had decided to re-educate the entire population. Banners hang everywhere, with slogans in big red characters proclaiming things like, “Stability is paramount” and...

There is no respite for the profligate tyrant of a criminal regime today, notwithstanding the fury of his abetters. His access to ready cash may soon dry up. The Chosun Ilbo reports: The U.S. government on Wednesday turned up the heat on North Korea by warning U.S. financial institutions that North Korea may be looking for new money laundering channels after Washington blocked transactions with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, allegedly Pyongyang’s main funnel for gains from criminal activities. An...

This would be a good time to hawk your unfinished copy of The Pentagon’s New Map on e-Bay. Have a look at the new blocs shaping Asia’s new Cold War: ASEAN, Korea, Japan and China on Monday reiterated their commitment in principle to forming an East Asian Community on Monday, the first day of the ASEAN + 3 Summit. Heads of government from the 10-member Southeast Asian bloc met with the three affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. . . ....

Chosun Ilbo on Hyde Letter. In case you’re interested in reading half as much information a week later. . . . And no, I don’t think that’s a garbled reference to this site. If you want to read the full text, just click. Update 11/15: Suddenly, I realize how much we are going to miss House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde when he retires, and how essential it is that the next chairman be of similar caliber (in other...

Since I’ve been experiencing some of the busiest weeks in my professional life lately, I haven’t been able to sneak out of the office to attend hearings, but there are two interesting highlights to report. The first is the latest House hearing, which took place October 27th, covering the U.S. government’s implementation of the N.K. Human Rights Act. Here is a link to all of the testimony, which I freely admit I haven’t the time to review in full. Still,...

Welcome to the new, independent South Korea–the one that bravely sets its own policy direction without regard for how Yankee imperialists may view it: The Foreign Ministry is hiring an American PR firm to put a positive spin on its U.S. policies in a nation that has been reading them as increasingly hostile. The Foreign Ministry recently wrote to the parliamentary Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee asking for an extra budget of W1.2 billion (about US$1.2 million) next year...

Korea-Iraq Update: On September 6, I blogged about what appeared to be a trial balloon statement from an Uri MP that Korea was considering a premature downsizing of its force of 3,600 troops in Iraq. Korea’s Iraq contingent is substantial on paper–the third-largest of any coalition partner–but is of little military value, remaining hidden away behind its barricades in the safest corner of Kurdistan. Today comes word that the Korean Ministry of National Defense intends to extend the mandate of...

This is an updated post. With the news that the talks are now on again, apparently for September 13, the odds dim that substantial progress will result. Begin with this money quote on South Korea’s position: “South Korean officials are pinning their hopes on a U.S. concession.” That hope appears misplaced. The New York Times published some blunt comments from Reps. Jim Leach and Tom Lantos, who represent the moderate views of both parties in the House International Relations Committee,...

Welcome to the Carnival of the Revolutions edition for August 29th. Hosting next week’s edition (Sept. 5) will be Thinking-East; next up (Sept. 12) is Quid Nimis. Updates added, typos fixed. East Asia and the Pacific Rim Burma: Did the government’s army use chemical weapons against Karen rebels earlier this year? The Jubilee Campaign, a Christian human rights NGO, prints an editorial by Lord David Alton, a member of the British House of Lords. Publius reports on new rumors of...