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Hither and Yon

Obama welcomes Xi: A matter of ‘optics’ and not much else

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
WASHINGTON -- China President Xi Jinping’s meeting with President Obama Friday is sure to be an exercise in double-and-triple talk that will sorely test the skills of both of them in papering over, covering up and otherwise evading issues that neither of them is going  Read More 
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Where’s the international pressure on China to accept refugees . . . from N. Korea?

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
The spectacle of mass migrations is a permanent phenomenon of our times. Images of refugees risking lives to escape oppressive regimes, starvation, war and mayhem are embedded in our subconscious.
Think of the thousands who escaped from Vietnam after the defeat of the American-backed Saigon  Read More 
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Yankee, don’t go home just yet; Unlikely ‘strategic partnerships’ take shape in East Asia

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
Here’s a twist on the shifting course of the recent military history of the region. The Philippines and Vietnam are about to become “strategic partners” in common cause against, yes, the Chinese.
For those who may have forgotten, the U.S., having ruled the  Read More 
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China’s loud signal to North Korea reminded Kim Jong-Un he’s not his own man

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
Conflict with South Korea is a gambit that North Korea cannot afford.
Much as leader Kim Jong-Un may have yearned to humiliate the South by ordering gunfire against the mega-loudspeakers broadcasting music, news and invidious commentary into the North from below the Demilitarized Zone, he  Read More 
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Korea vs. Japan: 70 years after WWII, can we just move on? Apparently not

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
SEOUL — Maybe Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, should have kept his mouth shut.
No matter what he might have said on the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender, he would be the target of intensive criticism. The fact is the Japanese are done with  Read More 
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Shared Pain of War and Colonisation Does Little to Heal Korea's Bitter Divisions

COMMENT›INSIGHT & OPINION
Donald Kirk sees no sign of a breakthrough in North-South relations, despite efforts to bridge the gap, as they separately mark their liberation from colonial rule

The tragedy of Korea is that "liberation" on August 15, 1945, was the prelude not to lasting peace and freedom but to the division of the peninsula  Read More 
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Korea Still Threatened by Imminent War 70 Years After Japan's Surrender

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
SEOUL — The looming 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender and Korea’s ”liberation” reminds us of the dangers of new wars in a region where peace may be a fleeting phenomenon. North Korea, writhing under the humiliation of the failure of “Great Leader” Kim Il-Sung’ Read More 
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Obama may be tempted to leave the budgeting of a credible U.S. Asian presence to his successor

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
The temptation to slash defense spending is overwhelming. Why worry about huge standing forces overseas when they’re not deployed much except on military exercises and war games that are repetitious and boring?
Easy to say, but the U.S. had only 500 advisers in South  Read More 
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Stormy weather in the South China Sea: Manila, Washington, Seoul weigh the options

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
MANILA -- War clouds hang over the South China Sea.
The question is whether they’ll burst into a storm or simply cast a menacing shadow and eventually blow away. The outlook for clear weather does not appear bright while the Philippines works on reopening Subic  Read More 
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Spyware that targeted Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi deployed against Kim Jong-Un?

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
SEOUL — Cyber espionage is the cutting edge of modern warfare.
Think of all the great stuff intelligence agents learn from monitoring the conversations of just about everyone. The only problem is how to separate the meaningless, which means almost everything, from the inside clues that  Read More 
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