For nearly 18 months, one of Washington’s most important embassies operated without a Senate-confirmed ambassador. With the confirmation According to former Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, the United States finally has an ambassador to South Korea. His arrival in Seoul has considerable symbolic significance. As a Korean American, Steel reflects the deep human connections that have long complemented the military and strategic foundations of the South Korea-U.S. alliance. But symbolism can be both an asset and a liability. Steel’s appointment comes at a time when political polarization has become a defining feature of U.S. and South Korean politics. Unlike many of…
Author: Frank M. Everett
When the Taliban violently seized Kabul in August 2021, the international community reacted with unified condemnation. World powers have promised strict diplomatic isolation. They set non-negotiable thresholds on human rights, counter-terrorism and inclusive governance as preconditions for any future relationship. Years later, a disturbing transformation occurred. The catastrophic erasure of basic human freedoms in Afghanistan is no longer treated as an intolerable emergency. Instead, the country is experiencing rapid geopolitical normalization. Global powers increasingly view the ban on women’s education, the exclusion of women from the economy, and the resulting mass exodus of intellectual capital as permanent internal realities rather…
Tribalism and war often go hand in hand, and last year’s border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand was no exception. Nationalist rhetoric has been amplified on both sides of the border and has too often turned any meaningful discourse into heresy. Those who dared to express their opinion were and still are hit by the law. In this regard, Cambodia’s ruling “elites” have a lot to answer for, having lost control of a strategically important border territory to Thailand. Licadho, a local human rights group that monitors Cambodia’s courts, has published news reports about at least 20 people who have…
The US government announced on Tuesday a new round of sanctions against individuals and entities linked to the Cambodian Prince Holding Group, which it had previously accused of running a “cyberfraud empire” spanning regionally. In a statement, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it listed nine individuals and 26 entities linked to Prince, including “executives, investors in fraudulent schemes, and shell companies.” “Southeast Asian fraud centers steal billions of dollars from American victims each year,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement. “Treasury will continue to use its tools to disrupt the networks behind…
Global index provider MSCI has extended its review of Indonesia’s status as an “emerging” market economy until November to allow it to assess a series of reforms announced by President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. MSCI first threatened to downgrade its rating in January due to a number of transparency issues in its stock market, including high concentration of ownership in certain companies and limited “free floating” of shares, meaning those that are openly available for public trading. Last week, in its annual Global Market Accessibility Report, MSCI also lowered Indonesia’s information flow test to negative, reflecting “structural issues related to opaque…
During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea in early June, Kim Jong Un confirmed his support for Beijing’s “one China” principle, long used to claim sovereignty over Taiwan as an inalienable part of China. Following North Korea’s support for Russia in its war in Ukraine, including around 15,000 troops, questions have been raised about whether Pyongyang could play a role in a possible military confrontation between China and Taiwan. If such a crisis erupts in Taiwan tomorrow, the United States would likely find itself at the end of its rope, given that its industrial capacity has been seriously…
By all accounts, Trump’s meeting at the Capitol with Senate Republicans was a complete disaster. The meeting was supposed to be about mending fences and easing tensions, but Trump showed up and started ranting about all his grievances. Some Republicans have believed for at least a month that the president is trying to lose the Senate to his party. Republicans are increasingly worried that Trump is trying to sink his own party.PoliticusUSA news and opinions are 100% independent. Support us by becoming a subscriber.The idea is crazy, because common sense dictates that a Democratic victory in November would make Trump…
When Chinese researchers recently announced the discovery of a large gathering of endangered hawksbill turtles around Scarborough Shoal, they may have had ulterior motives — experts told Radio Free Asia that the scientific studies served a broader strategic goal by strengthening China’s presence and authority in disputed areas of the South China Sea.Days earlier, Chinese state media published extensive coverage of a scientific expedition around the shoal, highlighting coral reef studies, ecological protection efforts and marine research.Although the findings are presented as scientific and environmental news, they are intended to bolster Beijing’s sovereignty claims over the entire sea, Joseph Kristanto,…
Two state-owned banks in Kyrgyzstan have ended their partnerships with more than 130 companies due to sanctions risks, the Kyrgyz government announced this week. During a work meeting on sanctions policy, chaired by Bakyt Sydykov, Minister of Economy and Trade – and also recently named the Kyrgyz president’s special representative for sanctions policy – the government shared what he called the “results of ongoing work.” Two state-owned banks, Eldik Bank and ABank, have terminated relationships with around 131 companies and are investigating another 80 companies. These figures come just a few weeks after those of Kyrgyzstan. Ministry of Justice announced…
A report of STAT News The fact that a 79-year-old man had unprecedented access to a weight-loss drug under the compassionate use provision, which is primarily used for the terminally ill, sparked a storm of speculation that it was Donald Trump who was ill and received the drug. The White House, after refusing to answer several questions from reporters, denied that the person to whom this treatment had been administered was Trump. But after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for a bipartisan housing bill on Wednesday, questions are now being raised by members of Congress about Trump’s health.PoliticusUSA…