Foreign

Tensions flare between North and South Korea

Published

3 months ago

June 7, 2024

South Korea is fed up with North Korea’s garbage—literally. Last week, North Korea sent around 3,500 balloons full of manure, scrap paper, and cigarette butts over the border into South Korea, in response to South Korean activist groups sending balloons with propaganda leaflets and other contraband to their isolated neighbors to the north.

And even though no one was hurt by the North Korean deliveries—and Pyongyang promised to pause the mud-slinging for now—the damage had been done. The relative calm on the Korean Peninsula was officially trashed.

On Tuesday, Seoul suspended a six-year-old military agreement with Pyongyang that aimed to decrease tensions between the two countries by requiring both sides to stop holding military drills or carrying out psychological warfare activities in border areas. It’s a move that has some officials and experts worried that hostility on the Korean Peninsula—already on the rise after North Korea carried out an underwater nuclear test in January—could blow through the roof.

Tit-for-tat. The scrapped 2018 deal dated back to former South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s time in office, where he sought direct rapprochement with the north in three successive meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Both sides agreed to stop blaring propaganda messages across the border at one another and to halt live-fire exercises within the 400-square-mile demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel that roughly splits the two countries.

But even before Seoul killed the deal, relations on the Korean Peninsula were already deteriorating. North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite in late May prompted South Korea to conduct air drills with 20 fighter jets—including F-35s, F-16s, and F-15s—maneuvering near the no-fly zone along the DMZ. And that’s when North Korea started sending trash balloons over the border.

“We cannot help being enraged by such intolerable saber-rattling, a blatant violation of our national sovereignty,” Kim said. He called South Korea a “gangsters’ regime.” And he punctuated his comments by firing 18 short-range ballistic missiles in a military drill.

Now, the Americans are involved. On Wednesday, the United States sent a long-range B-1 bomber over the Korean Peninsula in joint drills with Seoul and dropped precision-guided bombs. It was the first time that had happened in seven years. It last occurred during the war of words between former U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim that lasted for most of 2017.

Unwelcome distraction. For the last three years, the Biden administration has said that the U.S. will meet with North Korea anytime, anywhere, and without preconditions—a message that Pyongyang has pointedly ignored, even as Biden himself publicly repeated the pledge during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington in April.

But the flare-up in tensions comes at a time when the United States is trying to get South Korea to focus outside of the Korean Peninsula and repair relations with Japan to deal with the threat of China’s military rise.

Historical animosity stemming from Japan’s World War II-era occupation of Korea, including the military sexual enslavement of thousands of Korean women, had undermined the prospect of a diplomatic thaw for most of the past eight decades. But Seoul and Tokyo had a “kumbaya” moment at a Camp David summit with Biden, Kishida, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in August 2023. Earlier this week, all three countries agreed to hold joint military exercises, and Japan and South Korea agreed to re-normalize defense ties in a significant step toward overcoming those historical issues.

Now, South Korea’s military assets—and the political bandwidth to keep an eye on China—are once again being diverted to deal with North Korea’s threats.

Biden has nominated Julie Smith to serve as the undersecretary of state for political affairs, the State Department’s fourth-ranking job. The role has been vacant since Victoria Nuland retired in March. Smith will stay on in her current job as U.S. ambassador to NATO while she goes through the confirmation process.

Biden has also tapped Kin Moy to be U.S. ambassador to Vietnam and James Story to be U.S. ambassador to Mozambique. Both are career foreign service officers.

Kelly Magsamen, the chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is set to leave her job at the end of the month after three and a half years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has appointed Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Ronny Jackson of Texas to serve on the House Intelligence Committee, putting two close Trump allies on the powerful congressional panel charged with overseeing U.S. spy agencies.

Johnson has also tapped Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia to serve on the China select committee.

Beyond the Russian border. The Biden administration is now allowing Kyiv to hit targets inside Russia close to the Ukraine border with U.S. arms, and Ukraine hasn’t wasted any time since it got the green light. By Wednesday, Ukraine had already struck inside Russia with U.S. weapons, congressional aides and NATO officials told us, as Russia ramps up attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border. Other European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have given Ukraine similar approvals.

Some officials and congressional aides we’ve spoken to (all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters) concede there’s a chance this could further escalate tensions between Russia and NATO, particularly as Russian President Vladimir Putin floats more nuclear threats. Others believe the policy is necessary for Ukraine to defend itself and are frustrated the Biden administration has taken so long to approve the measure, believing the White House is leaning too far into micromanaging how Ukraine uses U.S. weapons systems.

We just want to talk. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been aggressively recruiting former fighter pilots from NATO countries to train members of its air force and naval aviators, according to a bulletin issued Wednesday by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance composed of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

“The PLA wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the notice said. Front companies around the world have offered potential recruits “exorbitant salaries,” Michael C. Casey, the director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in a statement.

“Somalia on steroids.” The U.S. special envoy for Sudan told Foreign Policy that the East African country’s ongoing civil war could devolve into a failed state, warning that it could become “Somalia on steroids,” as Robbie reported this week.

Sudan’s civil war, one of the world’s deadliest conflicts, has killed around 150,000 people by some estimates and been the scene of widespread atrocities including ethnic cleansing and potentially genocide. It has significant geopolitical implications as well: Russia is eyeing establishing a naval refueling station in Sudan on the strategically important Red Sea coast in exchange for supplying the Sudanese Armed Forces with more weapons.

Toxic workplace. U.S. military personnel responsible for maintaining America’s nuclear weapons arsenal were exposed to dangerous toxins and chemicals without proper safety equipment or support from the Air Force, according to a new investigation from Military.com. “Many believe their jobs repairing intercontinental ballistic missiles contributed to prolonged illnesses and cancer diagnoses,” the report found.

Foreign

Kamala Harris reacts to Trump’s assassination attempt; Says, ‘I am glad he is safe’

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Following the second assassination attempt of Former President Donald Trump in the Florida golf course ahead of the US Presidential elections, US Vice President Kamala Harris stated,‘ I am glad he is safe’. The shooting took place at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. After the news broke out, Kamala Harris shared a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and said there is no place for violence in America.

“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 15, 2024

According to the White House, both the Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have been informed about the security incident of the Former President when he was golfing on Sunday and are both “relieved to know” that Donald Trump is safe, reported CNN.

“The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team,” stated the White House.

Meanwhile, the suspect involved in Sunday’s shooting incident at Trump’s Florida Golf Course has been taken into custody, CNN reported, citing a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

Meanwhile, a suspect, who, according to the officials, is connected to Sunday’s shooting incident at Trump’s Florida Golf Course, has been taken into custody, CNN reported, citing a Facebook post from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.

The sheriff’s office “has stopped a vehicle and taken a suspect into custody,” the post said. According to the office, a portion of Interstate 95 close to State Route 714 in Martin County is closed. Trump is “safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” the Trump Campaign said in a statement on Sunday, CNN reported.

Foreign

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A man suspected of plotting to assassinate former US president Donald Trump was charged with federal gun crimes on Monday.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number at his initial court appearance.

Routh, who was arrested on Sunday after an alleged abortive bid to shoot the former president at his West Palm Beach golf course, is expected to face further charges at a later arraignment.

Routh appeared calm during the brief court hearing, answering “yes” in a soft voice to several questions from District Judge Ryon McCabe of the Southern District of Florida.

Routh was arrested on Sunday after a US Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of a rifle pointing out of shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Course.

Agents, who were deployed in a moving security bubble extending about one or two holes ahead of the former president, “engaged” an individual, the US Secret Service’s Rafael Barros said.

Support for Trump, questions for Harris in pro-fracking Pennsylvania
Trump was unharmed.

Police said Routh fled in a vehicle and was arrested shortly after.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said police recovered a “AK-47-style” rifle equipped with a scope, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera from the scene.

Routh is reported to be a self-employed affordable housing builder based in Hawaii, with an arrest record spanning decades.

He regularly posted about politics and current events on social media, including criticism of Trump, according to US media.

AFP

Foreign

Zimbabwe approves mass slaughter of elephants to feed hungry citizens

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Zimbabwe has authorized a mass slaughter of elephants to feed citizens left hungry by its worst drought in decades.

With nearly half of the country’s population facing the risk of acute hunger, “we are targeting to cull 200 elephants,” Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, told CNN on Monday.

The move follows a decision in Namibia to cull elephants and other wild animals to relieve food insecurity fueled by a prolonged drought. The culls have drawn criticism from animal rights activists and conservationists.

Zimbabwe is home to more than 84,000 elephants, Farawo said, around double its “capacity of 45,000,” he added.

2019/11/29: African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in the Huanib River Valley in northern Damaraland and Kaokoland, Namibia.

Zimbabwe’s elephant population is the second-largest in the world, exceeded only by Botswana’s.

Environment Minister Sithembiso Nyoni told parliamentarians last week that “Zimbabwe has more elephants than we need and more elephants than our forests can accommodate.”

She added that overpopulation by elephants “causes lack of resources” for their sustenance, which fuels human-wildlife conflict in the country.

“We are discussing with Zim Parks (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority) and some communities to do like what Namibia has done so that we can count the elephants, mobilize the women to maybe dry the meat and package it to ensure that it gets to some communities that need the protein,” Nyoni said.

“When there is an overpopulation of wildlife in a specific park, they will then seek to go outside the park to look for other resources such as water or greenery. When that happens, they will then come into contact with the humans and conflicts begin.”

In Namibia, 700 wild animals, including elephants, were approved for slaughter last month and for their meat to be distributed to people facing food insecurity.

More than 150 animals have already been killed, Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said, with more than 125,000 pounds of meat shared out.

Zimbabwe and Namibia are just two of the many countries across southern Africa suffering a severe drought caused by El Niño — a natural climate pattern that has resulted in very little rainfall in the region since the start of the year. The countries are also vulnerable to droughts worsened by climate change.

Farawo, the parks spokesperson, told CNN that the culling will begin once the authority completes the necessary paperwork.

“We are doing the paperwork … so that we can start as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the planned slaughter would target areas with a large elephant population.

The proposed elephant culls in Zimbabwe and Namibia have been strongly criticized.

“Culling of elephants must be stopped,” Farai Maguwu, who leads the Zimbabwe-based advocacy group the Center for Natural Resource Governance, said in a post on X.

“Elephants have a right to exist,” he wrote, adding that “future generations have a right to see elephants in their natural habitat.”

Conservation biologist and natural resources consultant Keith Lindsay also expressed his discomfort at using wildlife to alleviate food insecurity, telling CNN that it is “very likely to lead to a more regular, ongoing demand for bushmeat that would be unsustainable.”

Farawo, however, said Zimbabwe’s decision to slaughter elephants — its first cull since 1988 — was part of wider measures to reduce conflict between elephants and humans, following a series of elephant attacks on humans.

“The animals are causing a lot of havoc in communities, killing people. Last week, we lost a woman in the northern part of the country who was killed by an elephant. The previous week, the same thing happened. So it (the culling) is also a way of controlling,” he said.

At least 31 people have died in Zimbabwe this year as a result of conflict between humans and wildlife, local media reported.

Credit/CNN