Page 15 - Van Jackson News Today

Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone continue to escalate; Japan makes unprecedented defense pledges, to China’s chagrin; U.S. submarine collision gives China an opportunity to push back on U.S. operations in South China Sea; and Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines see Chinese incursions in South China Sea.

Given political considerations in the United States and South Korea, a diplomatic approach with North Korea is likely unsustainable in the long term.

Insights from Van Jackson.

Left out of a new defence pact - and apparently caught unaware by its announcement. Can we still count the US as a friend?

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has sought to align the country more firmly with the US while still maintaining a certain distance. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/AAP New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has sought to align the country more firmly with the US while still maintaining a certain distance. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/AAP Mon 19 Jul 2021 23.11 EDT Last modified on Mon 19 Jul 2021 23.12 EDT New Zealand has long prided itself on having an “independent” foreign ...

Time for US nuclear strategy to embrace no first use It was one of the most potent lessons of the Cold War — nukes are good for deterring others from using nukes, but not much else. Weapons capable only of spasmodic mass violence are too crude as a credible tool of coercion in most circumstances. If the United States seeks only deterrence, but not political advantage from nuclear weapons, then adopting a no-first use nuclear policy is not just low-risk — it’s necessary. Most of the l...

China Daily, August 7, 2017. Tim Beal is a retired New Zealand academic who has written extensively on Asia with a special focus on the Korean Peninsula. Recent publications include the entry on Korea for The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (New York: Springer, 2019). He has also written some chapters for a forthcoming collection: Immanuel Ness and Stuart Davis, eds., Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy (Leiden: Brill, 20...

Progressives believe they helped push for a quick ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Could they rack up more wins?

May 23, 2021 Signs are emerging that the U.S. and North Korea are once again engaging in a delicate diplomatic dance over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. U.S. President Joe Biden has hosted talks to discuss the issue with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, his team has concluded a review of Washington’s North Korea strategy and Pyongyang has — sticking to a well-worn script — lashed out. But beyond the new U.S. strategy’s broad outlines...

By Kang Seung-woo South Korea and the United States will hold a two-plus-two meeting of their foreign and defense ministers next week, the first of its kind in over four years, a sign of the Joe Biden administrations commitment to restoring their bilateral alliance after four years of neglect under former President Donald Trump. Although the meeting will showcase the special relationship of the allies, the long-delayed, long-awaited dialogue is not expected to proceed in South Koreas favor, as ...