In The News

International Business Times: Trump Reveals Afghanistan Plan

Ishani Roy August 22, 2017
The United States has been at war with extremists in Afghanistan since 2001, and President Donald Trump will send more troops to the country. In a speech, he expressed recognition that the long-running war is a divisive issue for Americans, many impatient with costs and progress, that rapid exit would leave a power vacuum. He declined to offer specifics, but said goals include “winning,” putting...

Asia Sentinel: India-China Rivalry Deepens Over Border Clash

Salman Rafi Sheikh August 21, 2017
Rivalry between India and China over the Doklam region of Bhutan continued through the summer despite otherwise strong bilateral trade relations among neighbors. Bhutan is in the middle as India is determined to counter China’s hegemony. China insists in documents that the issue concerns only itself and Bhutan, describing India as a third-party intruder. “While Bhutan has maintained a critical ‘...

CBC News: US Opens NAFTA Talks With Focus on Trade Balance and Deficit of Facts

Chris Hall August 18, 2017
In opening talks with representatives from Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, the US representative argued for a complete overhaul of the 23-year-old trade deal. “NAFTA has fundamentally failed many, many Americans,” insists Robert Lighthizer in an article by Chris Hall for CBC News. The United States has trade deficits with Canada and Mexico, but overall,...

Bloomberg: Moon Asserts Right to Veto US War

Hooyeon Kim, David Tweed, and Narae Kim August 16, 2017
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is adamant: His country would be most impacted by any military action against North Korea and he has a right to veto any such action. Moon “vowed to prevent war at any cost – a statement that drew a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump, who has warned of ‘fire and fury’ if North Korea continues to threaten the US,” report a team of reporters for Bloomberg...

Asia Times: US, China Vie for Influence in the Philippines

Noel Tarrazona August 11, 2017
Philippine troops continue to battle militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Marawi, a city in the southern part of the country. With a goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia, the militants rely on urban warfare tactics including taking civilian hostages, land mines, snipers and ambushes with more than 400,000 people displaced. China and the United States compete in...

The Korea Times: Trump Warns of “Fire and Fury”; North Korea Threatens to Strike Guam

Jun Ji-hye August 10, 2017
The leaders of North Korea and the United States are exchanging threats, and the rest of the world hopes the war of words does not escalate into what is being called “preventive war” or preemptive strikes. “Preventive strikes are carried out to remove the enemy's strategic facilities in advance to prevent an attack,” explains Jun Ji-hye for the Korea Times. “This is a different concept from...

Council on Foreign Relations: US Cyber Diplomacy Requires More Than an Office

David P. Fidler August 7, 2017
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has moved the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, previously an office with a direct chain of command to the secretary of state, into the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. The move may reflect administration-wide “marginalization of cyber issues in foreign policy,” writes David P. Fidler for the Council on Foreign Relations. “...