Links – August 30, 2017
Ugh. I am tired of photos of Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, and missiles flying. So no photo today.
The Cold War and America’s Delusion of Victory. From a new book.
Trump’s Business Record in Russia Is Humiliating.
Month: August 2017
Trying To Break The Iran Agreement
This is pretty far down in the weeds, but it may help you to understand what is going on with the Trump administration and Iran.
Julian Borger summarizes Nikki Haley’s visit to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. The article is a good jumping-off place for what I’m going to say. Read More
Sunday Comics
Iran’s Claim of Five Days
We may see magnification and misrepresentation of some things Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s chief of atomic energy, said.
Let’s get an accurate translation first: Ariane Tabatabai speaks Persian. Her tweetstream starts here. I’ll collect what she translates for easier reading. Read More
Links – August 21, 2017
Russian propaganda is an issue in the questions about the 2016 election. Sputnik News is an organ of the Russian government. If you’ve been thinking that it just provides another viewpoint, read this.
20 Questions That Should Be Answered by the Russia Investigations
Nice summary of what Trump’s threats against North Korea have done.
Backgrounder on Guam. Map of Guam at top from University of Texas Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. Read More
Sunday Comics
Links – August 14, 2017
Excellent article by Vipin Narang and Ankit Panda on why Donald Trump’s threats against North Korea are so destabilizing. MAD doesn’t apply.
Second- and third-order effects of foreign policy actions. And every action has them. This is something that Trump chooses not to understand, or perhaps is incapable of understanding.
Seven experts: Are we on the brink of war with North Korea? Probably not.
Letter from 62 members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, asking Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to urge Trump to STFU on war with North Korea. Read More
Sunday Comics
North Korea Reaches Out?
I had a conversation last night on Twitter with Ankit Panda (@nktpnd), who has been following the North Korean situation. Panda is a senior editor with The Diplomat magazine.
I contend that the North Korean statement issued in response to Donald Trump’s “fire and fury” threat contains an invitation to negotiations. As is often the case, that invitation is not stated as such. Diplomacy guards such invitations so that nobody loses face when they don’t work. Neither Trump nor his people understand this, and they ignore the State Department and are doing their best to gut it. This is the sort of thing that the State Department specializes in. Read More
Nuclear Diner 