Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk has been covering Korean Peninsula issues for decades.

Israel’s widening war

The United States faces an incredible dilemma in terms of both internal dissent and relations with the greatest recipient of American military aid, namely Israel.

Apr 25, 2024By Donald Kirk

Conventional wisdom holds that voters here are more concerned about the economy than foreign policy. You hear constant complaints about rising prices, the costs of places to live, standards of living and the rising wealth gap between rich and poor.

Apr 11, 2024By Donald Kirk

Corruption under communism

In the old days, when I was in "South" Vietnam, the communists from "North" Vietnam were self-righteous nationalists waging war against the corrupted, decadent forces of the South. They would do anything to win, but surely, in pursuit of their socialist ideals and their belief in an egalitarian system, they were not likely to cheat and steal, at least on a massive scale.

Mar 14, 2024By Donald Kirk

Care and feeding of victims

Here’s the kind of irony that shows what an upside-down, topsy-turvy world we’re living in. American cargo planes are now dropping food supplies on the people of Gaza while Israel fires into terrorist targets in Gaza from American-made warplanes.

Mar 5, 2024By Donald Kirk

'Justifying' civilian casualties

The vast majority of victims in wars are not members of the armed forces on either or both sides but civilians caught in the crossfire, in attacks and counterattacks intended to annihilate the enemy.

Feb 22, 2024By Donald Kirk

Alliances in danger

The politics of American political campaigning shows the fragility of the wheeling and dealing of the Biden administration and the danger of the whole ornate structure of relationships and commitments falling apart, crashing and evaporating.

Feb 8, 2024By Donald Kirk

China, Taiwan need each other

The victory of the pro-independence, pro-American candidate for president of Taiwan opens a new chapter in the prolonged saga of the struggle of the breakaway island province to remain safe, secure and separate from China.

Jan 18, 2024By Donald Kirk

Another year of wars and threats

The New Year is opening on a disturbing note. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza are killing hundreds if not thousands a day, and we have to endure threats of war by China against Taiwan and by North Korea against South Korea, and maybe against Japan and the U.S. too. Those are just the more obvious flashpoints. War could erupt almost anywhere, often by surprise.

Jan 4, 2024By Donald Kirk

Sticking by our allies

WASHINGTON — The debate in the U.S. Congress over more funds for more arms for Ukraine evokes unpleasant memories. In 1975, as the “North” Vietnamese were roaring to victory over “South” Vietnam, the Congress refused to approve more appropriations for arms that the South badly needed for a last-ditch defense of at least the Saigon region.

Dec 21, 2023By Donald Kirk

'Progressive' versus retrogressive

One loaded word comes up in every political-military-diplomatic brouhaha: "progressive." For reasons lying deep in the history of American politics, progressives veer to the left in a movement initiated by crusading idealists who battled more than a century ago against the injustices of a “system” that discriminated against minorities and fostered terrible social and economic inequities.

Dec 14, 2023By Donald Kirk

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