North Korea freed three US detainees, Kim Hak Song, Tony Kim, and Kim Dong Chul, as an act of goodwill before President Trump meets with dictator Kim Jong Un for a peace summit in Singapore in June. The three men spent more than a year in prison on charges of hostility and espionage against North Korea but which are believed to be made-up charges to demonstrate defiance against the US. [...]
The president giveth and he taketh away.
Donald Trump is a stern and wrathful leader. He thinks nothing of raining down fire and fury upon the enemies of his “chosen people.” Indeed, he even flirts with ending the world if he doesn’t receive due respect and the requisite number of burnt offerings. But he can also reward his followers, and those who curry his favor, with positions of power and untold riches.
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — With Colombia’s March 11 legislative elections ending in a near tie between right- and left-wing coalitions, the future of an already precarious peace process most likely hinges on the May 27 presidential vote.
When far-right uribista Ivan Duque of Centro Democratico (Democratic Center) squares off against left-leaning former Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro, it will determine the trajectory of the close U.S. ally, and whether or not the most recent attempt at peace might continue.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continues to make headlines with his efforts to talk with the South Korean leadership, independently of the United States’ influence. In a new development on Saturday, February 10th, Jong-un invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to a meeting in Pyongyang, this being done via a personal letter hand-delivered by Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, to President Moon.
Should progressives support the efforts of Trump and Putin to bring about rapprochement between Russia and the U.S.? Or to use Trump’s terminology, should progressives support the effort to “get along with Russia”?
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s speech did get some coverage here in the US, but mostly the part about how he boasted that he has a “nuclear button” on his desk and that his newly-created nuclear deterrent force is within range of the United States. This provoked the expected expressions of belligerent panic from all the usual suspects, including Rep.
War is a crime. The International Criminal Court has just announcedthat it will finally treat it as a crime, sort-of, kind-of. But how can war’s status as a crime effectively deter the world’s leading war-maker from threatening and launching more wars, large and small?
…and the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame;
And on each end of the rifle we’re the same”
— John McCutcheon, “Christmas in the Trenches”
I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel.
― Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas
