“I lived in that system for more than 50 years. ... To be honest, my life in North Korea was nothing but the life of the slave.” - Thae Yong-ho, former Pyongyang ambassador (May 4, 2017)“An American first strike would likely trigger one of the worst mass killings in human history.”- Mark Bowden, The Atlantic (July 2017)In June, three northern soldiers defected across the perilous North-South border within a two-week time frame. Two individuals made the journey on foot — somehow traversing the he

President Donald Trump could have used his maiden speech at the United Nations on Tuesday to reassure allies he was capable of providing global leadership against 21st century threats.Instead, he delivered a bombastic stump speech about guarding American sovereignty that was more suited to his faithful than to world leaders. He peppered his mainly isolationist remarks with a dash of religious sermonizing -- to please evangelicals? -- and several nods to traditional Republican rhetoric and even r

“We have taken every step man can devise,” said President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, “to insure that neither a madman nor a malfunction could trigger nuclear war.” Apparently lots of people are starting to doubt that this is true. The latest entrant is an op-ed article this week in the New York Times. The authors, Jeffrey Bader and Jonathan D. Pollack, call for legislation requiring that “a small group of officials” give unanimous consent before the president can use nuclear weapons, at least if th

The Trump administration often talks about North Korea policy as if it’s an on-off switch. President Trump thundered Tuesday that the US will “totally destroy” North Korea to defend itself and its allies. But Defense Secretary James Mattis blandly insisted the next day that it’s “still a diplomatically led effort.”Somewhere in this maze of public statements-including Thursday’s announcement of new economic sanctions on North Korea -- there’s a nuanced American policy. But the seeming binary opti

When you discount the rhetorical overkill, the most surprising thing about Donald Trump’s address to the United Nations Tuesday was how conventional it was. He supported human rights and democracy; he opposed rogue regimes; he espoused a global community of strong, sovereign nations. Pretty shocking stuff.Because he’s Trump, the zingers got the headlines: He repeated his childish, snarky (but sort of funny) playground denunciation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. “Rocket Man is on a suicide m

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is fixated on obtaining a serious nuclear arsenal, and continues to thumb his nose at the US and other world powers. The latest round of United Nations Security Council sanctions approved on Sept. 11 are not going to change that. But one aspect of them -- new measures to interdict ships breaking trade embargoes against Pyongyang -- could be baby steps toward much stronger sanctions enforcement.The new resolution gives the US and other countries the power to inspec

This month, two Category 4 hurricanes hit the United States within 17 days of each other. In Asia, North Korea is threatening nuclear Armageddon, and floods and famine are putting thousands of lives at risk from Bangladesh to Yemen. How can one survive in this chaotic era?A first step must be to make sense of the apparent chaos. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have proved that climate change is not fake science, but a real threat to home and security. When hailstones the size of golf balls hit Istanb