Coping With North Korea: Korean Roulette -- The Economist
Kim Jong Un has raised the stakes; it is time to get tougher with the nastiest regime on the planet.
EVEN by its own aggressive standards, North Korea’s actions over the past couple of weeks have been extraordinary. Kim Jong Un, the country’s young dictator, has threatened the United States with nuclear Armageddon, promising to rain missiles on mainland America and military bases in Hawaii and Guam; declared a “state of war” with South Korea; announced that he would restart a plutonium-producing reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear site, while enriching uranium to build more nuclear weapons; and barred South Korean managers from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, almost the only instance of North-South co-operation. All this comes after the regime set off a nuclear test, its third, in February. Tensions are the worst on the peninsula since 1994, when North Korea and America were a hair’s breadth from war.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Analysis: hot-headed gamble could lead to war no side wants -- The Telegraph
The Coming Chaos in Syria -- David Ignatius, Real Clear Politics
War without End: The Price of Inaction in Syria -- Christoph Reuter, Spiegel Online
Turkey Seeks Ottoman Sphere Of Influence -- Kadri Gursel, Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse
Egypt Becoming a Nightmare for Muslim Brothers -- Zvi Mazel, Jerusalem Post
Tunisia and Egypt need the Arab revolutions to spread -- Seumas Milne, the Guardian
Can Cyprus’ economic crisis end long division between Turkish north and Greek south? -- Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers
Did Putin Sink Cyprus? -- Ben Judah, New York Times
Pakistan’s Precipitous Decline -- William Milam, New York Times
A Libyan Report Card -- Robert Kaplan, Real Clear World/Stratfor
Arms Trade Treaty -- Irish Times editorial
‘Nuclear zero’ is dangerous to US, allies -- Douglas J. Feith, Frank J. Gaffney, James A. Lyons and R. James Woolsey: Stars and Stripes
Why bitcoin’s rise is nothing to celebrate -- Felix Salmon, Reuters
What the FBI’s UFO Memo Shows About American Intelligence -- Spencer Ackerman, Danger Room