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How U.S. Intelligence Agencies Underestimated North Korea
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, with the Hwasong-15 missile in a photo released by the government news agency in November. CreditKorean Central News Agency WASHINGTON — At the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, American intelligence agencies told the new administration that while North Korea had built the bomb, there was still ample time — upward…
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As U.S. freezes, Russia’s still waiting for winter to start
Through Christmas and New Year’s there were no flakes at all. That hasn’t been great news for Russian landscape photographer Ivan Boiko. “It is indeed very untypical for this time of year and for this geography. It’s quite a rare thing, I would say.” It hasn’t even been that cold. Temperatures have averaged a relatively balmy 30 degrees…
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Iranian protests and Israeli-Palestinian consequences
In foreign policy everything is connected. Every great power’s foreign policy is calculated with respect to every other big power’s foreign policy. What happens of importance in one country doesn’t have effects only in that country. There are ripple effects throughout a region or even the world, sometimes major ones. Situations change, strategies are reviewed,…
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Is time running out for Germany’s Merkel?
Angela Merkel now has what appears to be a last shot to cobble together a coalition government. BERLIN — For a dozen years, Angela Merkel seemingly floated above the laws of political gravity, making her calm and consensual leadership style as much a part of the German landscape as fairy-tale castles, precision engineering and beer-saturated…
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Protests For, Against Government Continue Throughout Iran
Thousands of pro-government Iranians have rallied in cities across the country for a fourth day in a show of support for the clerical leadership, while antigovernment protests reportedly continued in at least nine cities across the country, including the capital, Tehran. Amid a backdrop of diplomatic maneuvering, state television showed footage of January 6 pro-government…
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5.1 magnitude earthquake rocks Iran’s western Kermanshah
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media is reporting that a magnitude 5.1 earthquake has jolted the country’s western province of Kermanshah. Semi-official ISNA news agency says the temblor rocked the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 520 kilometers, or 320 miles, west of Tehran on Saturday. It says the quake’s depth was eight kilometers, or…
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China might not win attack, but Taiwan needs to spend more on defense
Military drills in Taiwan. (By Associated Press) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An eventual military attack by China against Taiwan would not necessarily end with a victory for Beijing, but the island needs to step up its military spending, according to an op-ed piece in the Washington Post. In the article “Can China really take over Taiwan?,” former…
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Study: Europe’s Muslim population to grow, migration or not
BERLIN — Europe‘s Muslim population will continue to grow over the next several decades even if all immigration to the continent should stop, according to a study published Thursday. The Pew Research Center report modeled three scenarios for estimating the number of Muslims who would be living in Europe by 2050. All three used a…
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U.S. Will Withhold Security Aid From Pakistan
A protest against President Trump’s tweets about Pakistan took place in Karachi on Tuesday.CreditAsif Hassan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The United States will suspend nearly all security aid to Pakistan, the Trump administration announced on Thursday, in a sign of its frustration with the country’s refusal to confront terrorist networks operating there. “The…
