John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the China-Phillipines fight over natural resources in the South China Sea; how China weakened its international legal position by signing the UN Law of the Sea treaty, ceding historical territorial claims to a new “exclusive economic zone” standard; US interest in protecting shipping lanes, especially for oil tankers; how collective security agreements seem like a good idea – until a world war...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “North Korea’s Failed Fireworks;” the UN Security Council’s condemnation of their dual-use missiles (even Iran is able to launch satellites without comment); North Korea’s commitment to spending a big chunk of their meager GDP on a single failed satellite launch; the known unknowns about Kim Jong Un (except he likes basketball); how an increasingly worldly and foreign-educated North...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his new book Crusade 2.0: The West’s Resurgent War on Islam; how the Obama administration is “bribing Israel” with offers of bunker buster bombs and long range aircraft if Israel will wait until after the election to attack Iran; looking at the pros and cons – for Iran – in pursuing a nuclear weapon; and the lack of resolve in US policy on Syria.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “Two Leaders, Two Deaths,” comparing the legacies of former Czech president Vaclav Havel and N. Korean “dear leader” Kim Jong Il; Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution and Havel’s mixed-bag presidency, where his aspiration of “moral government” fell short in implementation; Kim Jong Il’s ability to defy the US and maintain his hermit kingdom (paid for by Koreans who suffered a repressive...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “Closing Overseas Bases Is Good Policy and Good Politics;” why chances for peace on the Korean peninsula should improve after the next (Korean) election; the known unknowns on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal; why a mass closure of foreign US military bases would almost certainly result in Japan’s militarization; and the bipartisan Congressional proposals to close bases and cut military...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses his article “The End of America’s Pacific Century;” North Korea’s attempt to increase its stature among nations, both militarily and economically – which requires regional allies with deep pockets; N. Korea’s deals with S. Korean industry and Russian energy concerns; the Bush administration’s overtures to N. Korea in 2006-07, followed up by Obama’s silent treatment; and the debate about whether...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the Afghanistan debate following Osama bin Laden’s death; his disagreement with Jonathan Landay, who says we can’t withdraw for fear of the terrible consequences; the sea-change in public opinion (and even in Congress and among elite opinion-makers) on the wisdom of staying in Afghanistan; why Syria may be a bridge too far for US intervention; the failed “kill the chicken to scare the monkey” US...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Fo13cus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the original Islamic caliphate that was hardly world-conquering even at its peak around 1000 years ago, how periodic US alliances with 'radical' Islam (in opposition to the USSR for example) shows that realpolitik transcends religious concerns, the multiple schisms between different sects and state-less/national powers in Islamic countries and the broad divergence between rhetoric and reality...

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the diplomatic fallout following S. Korea's conclusion that N. Korea sunk its battleship, indications that — despite the heated rhetoric — war will be avoided on the Korean peninsula, the breakdown of N. Korea's prior NPT commitment thanks to the US government and the Japanese Prime Minister's change of heart on a US military base on Okinawa.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the US influence in remaking the Japanese government after WWII, the enduring popularity of Japan's Peace Constitution, the Pentagon's recognition that US military bases eventually overstay their welcome even in allied countries, the continued symbolic significance of US gestures of regret for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and how Japanese foreign policy is influenced by antipathy toward N. Korea.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus, discusses a Jeffersonian-era U.S. navy suicide attack against Barbary pirates, the Western tradition of self-sacrifice for a 'greater good,' how suicide attacks are usually a desperate tactic taken against foreign occupation and not exclusive to Islam and the inability of Western claims of moral superiority to withstand scrutiny.

John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, discusses the new arms race in North Asia, Japan’s abandonment of their tradition of non intervention since WWII, 'containment' policy toward China, the status of the nuclear deal with the DPRK and the possibilities and obstacles to Korean reunification.