The recent inaugural summit meeting between President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in elicited a wide range of opinion about its value. With diplomacy-first progressives in power simultaneously in both nations for the first time in two decades, even subtle gains may be significant. Those impressed by the summit found its comprehensiveness striking… Continue reading The Biden-Moon Meetings: Much Ado About Something?
Category: Intel
What Does Vlad Putin Know That Joe Biden Doesn’t?
On May 19, 2021 I read an article from Politico about the current Pentagon weighs keeping Trump-era change to ‘psychological operations’ (See: https://politi.co/2S8fS8q). The article leads with: “In the final months of the Trump administration, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper quietly moved to let the military run influence campaigns — often called “psyops” — more… Continue reading What Does Vlad Putin Know That Joe Biden Doesn’t?
Takeaways from the Biden-Moon Summit: Three Observations on China
When U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held their first summit on May 21, North Korea was not the only elephant in the room. Rather, in the broader context of the Biden administration’s foreign policy priorities and the Moon government’s own geopolitical concerns, China was probably the larger presence. Judging by… Continue reading Takeaways from the Biden-Moon Summit: Three Observations on China
Indonesia Is Quietly Warming Up to China
In late 2019 and early 2020, China and Indonesia were inching toward armed conflict. China’s coast guard and fishing militia were making continued incursions into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in the Natuna Sea, a region of the Pacific Ocean located between Borneo and Sumatra and considered a traditional Chinese fishing region by Beijing. The intrusions… Continue reading Indonesia Is Quietly Warming Up to China