Twenty-five years ago, the world’s highest-stakes poker game was played in Reykjavik. This characterization comes from a man with a pretty good poker face, George Shultz, who was the US Secretary of State at the time. Secretary Shultz appeared to be one of only three participants at the Reykjavik summit who had no reservations about …
DPRK Road Mobile ICBM?
by | 2011-10-05 | 39 Comments
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June, outgoing-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dropped a little bombshell: With the continued development of long-range missiles and potentially a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and their continued development of nuclear weapons, North Korea is in the process of becoming a direct threat to the United States. I thought …
Tragedy, Farce & Divorce
by | 2011-10-05 | 6 Comments
Is it any wonder why Pakistan produces excellent fiction writers? Fiction has to be exceptional to top newspaper accounts. The latest saga begins with outgoing Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs, Mike Mullen, who speaks the unvarnished truth that Pakistan’s intelligence services are working hand-in-glove with the Haqqani network on both sides of the Afghan …
B83 Mod X
by | 2011-10-04 | 36 Comments
Several readers have mentioned a piece that Bridge Colby and I wrote in The Diplomat (“How To Worry Kim Jong Il”) arguing that the Obama Administration should seriously consider modifying the B83 to hold at risk certain targets in North Korea. After receiving a number of angry emails (and few thoughtful criticisms from good friends), …
