Update: I am willing to grant that China disrupted rare earth shipments to Japan over the Diaoyutai/Senkaku incident. That's a distinction I should have made in the Asia Times article, and I regret not doing so. Given the quota system/smuggling structure of China's rare earth trade, it would be easy to slow or stop exports... Read More

 A lot of matches are flying around the Chinese tinderbox.   Fortunately, most parties involved seem more interested in scoring political points than making a genuine and risky effort to push back China. However, as the example of Sarajevo tells us, sometimes wars happen when nations become prisoners of their own posturing.   So it's worthwhile to... Read More

In recent days I've had two articles up at Asia Times that touch on efforts by the United States and the ROK to turn the Cheonan outrage into a tipping point in the affairs of the Korean peninsula, framing the issue as continued ostracization of Pyongyang by the international community as a prelude to reunification... Read More

Update: Consider this can of worms officially closed! Do not open! The United States on Wednesday rejected a call by North Korea for a new investigation of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that Seoul blames on Pyongyang. The U.S. said the findings of a South Korean inquiry that attributes the attack... Read More

This looks like a calculated slap in the face: It looks like President

Pathetic. That's the only word to describe the Board of Audit report on the Cheonan sinking response. From Korea Times: From Chosun Ilbo: Watchdog Sees No Merit in 'Flock of Birds' Story The Board of Audit and Inspection on Thursday said there is no very good reason to believe that the Sokcho, the nearest w

I have a post up at Asia Times on South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's efforts to exploit the geopolitical potential of the Cheonan sinking. It's called "The Cheonan Sinking...and Korea Rising". President Lee has grand plans for South Korea, as indicated by a January 2010 Newsweek piece entitled, Lee Myung-bak wants to move his country... Read More

If the Cheonan sinking turns out to be South Korea's Kennedy assassination, maybe Buoy 3 will be the conspiracy theorists' grassy knoll. Asia Focus has an article up by a citizen journalist, Tanaka Sakai, entitled, Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan? A New Stage in the US-Korean War and US-China Relations. Tanaka notes a... Read More

Several people have pointed out that the Foal Eagle exercise officially ended March 18, well before the Cheonan sinking on March 26. Not so. According to the U.S.F.K. spokesman as reported by the Korea Times: Navy Times, also not known as a Nork mouthpiece, reported the incident thusly:   ... The U.S. ships were already... Read More