East Asia

Real threat in North Korea: regime collapse

North Korea's missile tests point to a desperate regime trying to keep its own populace distracted, and to spook the international community into providing food aid.

East Asia

Tiananmen spectacle, historical revisionism

The massive spectacle in Beijing commemorating China's victory in the Sino-Japanese War was preceded by arrests of activists pushing a dissident version of the conflict's history.

East Asia

Korea escalation amid US military exercise

Artillery exchanges across the DMZ come amid the joint US-South Korea "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" military exercise, involving 30,000 US troops and 50,000 South Korean.

Greater Middle East

North Korean troops fight in Syria?

Pro-opposition sources in Syria say a force of North Korean soldiers has arrived in Damascus, and been mobilized to the rebel-controlled suburbs of Ghouta district.

East Asia

South Korea threatens free expression too…

As partisans of North Korea use threats to supress The Interview, South Korea's high court bans a pro-DPRK political party. Do you think either side grasps the irony?

Watching the Shadows

Wanted by Italy, ex-CIA agent is released to US

Panama detained but quickly released an ex-CIA agent wanted for kidnapping in Italy. Cuban sources link him to the Contragate scandal; since 2005 he's been living in Honduras.

Inner Asia

Asia’s secret nuclear arms race

For all the hoopla about North Korea, a far more significant threat on the Asian continent is getting virtually no coverage: the nuclear arms race between China and India.