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Sat, June 23, 2018 | 09:17

Opinion > Columnists > Donald Kirk >

Fake news and false flags

The assassination of Kim Jong-nam promises to go down as one of those weird acts of terrorism that North Korea, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, will forever deny having perpetrated. The prevarication and obfuscation in this case would appear a little more ornate than North Korea’s unending denials of having anything to do with anything. Forget about the sinking of the Cheonan in the Yellow Sea nearly seven years ago that killed 46 sailors, or the explosion over the Indian Ocean in 1987 of a Korean Air flight that sent 115 aboard to their deaths, or the bombing in the Burmese cap...

Donald Kirk | 2017-02-23 16:23

Brotherly love lost

Kim Jong-nam showed the warm and human face of North Korea’s dynastic family. You had to like the guy, judging from sightings in the gambling enclave of Macao, across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong off China’s southeastern coast. One time he was spotted in a Macao bus. Another time he was seen at a doorway with a funny little smile on his face. Then, for a while, he dropped out of the news. Speculation was he’d been told to keep his mouth shut and stay out of sight after making disparaging comments about his younger half-brother, “Respected Leader” Kim Jong-un. He had had the nerve t...

Donald Kirk | 2017-02-16 18:42

Brotherly love lost

By Donald Kirk Kim Jong-nam showed the warm and human face of North Korea’s dynastic family. You had to like the guy, judging from sightings in the gambling enclave of Macau, across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong off China’s southeastern coast. One time he was spotted in a Macao bus. Another time he was seen at a doorway with a funny little smile on his face. Then, for a while, he dropped out of the news. Speculation was he’d been told to keep his mouth shut and stay out of sight after making disparaging comments about his younger half-brother, “Respected Le...

Donald Kirk | 2017-02-16 17:15

Trade wars looming

President Donald Trump’s most fearsome offensive on the world stage has nothing to do with immigration reform, or building that wall all along the U.S. border with Mexico, or defense or treaty alliances or the North Korean nuke-and-missile threat. It’s all about U.S. trade relations with the rest of the world. When you come right down to it, all that other stuff may be good for headlines but isn’t going to affect most Americans directly. The hassle over letting refugees into the U.S. doesn’t faze people too much on a personal level. Sure, Trump may be raising suspicions - and prejudices - ag...

Donald Kirk | 2017-02-09 17:34

Trump's vision of 'Fortress America'

Donald Trump has bumped into a global donnybrook with his order banning entry into the U.S. for people from seven Muslim countries. No doubt, after the initial cries of rage and indignation, bureaucrats in the swamp of Washington will regularize ways for enforcing his order in the face of legal challenges and attempts at evasion.

Donald Kirk | 2017-02-02 17:07

Trump's opening move on the chessboard

President Donald Trump has now made his first substantive move in foreign policy with broad repercussions for Northeast Asia, including both Korea and Japan. The consequences may be far-reaching.

Donald Kirk | 2017-01-26 16:34

Snowden playing the role

As Donald Trump is inaugurated today in Washington, it may be timely to wonder what if anything did Edward Snowden, in Moscow, have to do with his election.

Donald Kirk | 2017-01-19 17:10

Facing up to cyber-espionage

WASHINGTON - Once upon a time, in an era that’s faded into the near-forgotten history of The Cold War, Moscow was the enemy, and those who believed otherwise were labeled “comsymps” for Communist sympathizers. The phenomenon of “the Red scare,” meaning the fears inflicted by the specter of “commies” taking over the world, bedeviled liberals and leftists from Berkeley, Cal., to Cambridge, Mass. Accused of paying homage to Josef Stalin and his successors while undermining democracy as preached and practiced in the U.S., many of them had to defend themselves in congressional hearings and even c...

Donald Kirk | 2017-01-12 16:40

Facing off against China and Russia

President-elect Donald Trump will be flexing America’s muscles against both China and North Korea from almost the moment he sits down in the Oval Office of the White House, at least to judge from his recent tweets.

Donald Kirk | 2017-01-05 16:49

China admits to retaliation against THAAD deployment

Trump foreign policy paradox

The U.S. refusal to veto the UN Security Council resolution attacking Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory as “a flagrant violation” of international law has triggered cries of outrage worthy of full-scale hostilities.

Donald Kirk | 2016-12-29 16:56

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