China voted in favor of a new sanctions resolution in the U.N. Security Council that condemned North Korea’s December 12 ballistic missile test and strengthened existing sanctions on the “Hermit Kingdom.” The vote is an important sign that the new People Republic of China(PRC) leadership is willing to use sticks to prod Pyongyang towards compliance with international non-proliferation norms. […]
Months of speculation about the possible development of an air-launched version of the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile finally came to a head, with India and Russia announcing they had signed a co-development deal, with plans for a test-fire within six months. The deal was made public a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to arrive in […]
One year ago, the chubby and blubbering soon-to-be leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was seen walking alongside the hearse that carried his dead father, Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un was young, inexperienced, unqualified, and bereft of any of the larger-than-life myths that had sustained his father’s and grandfather’s rules. And yet, […]
“Potemkin villages,” I scribble onto a scrap of paper for the interpreter, Mr. Kim. “What does that mean?” he asks. “It means that you are just showing us facades here to feign growth and progress, just as the Russian Prince Potemkin once did,” I reply. “You should google it. “That, though, is not an option […]
looking beyond borders 