North Korea
PAJU, South Korea — On April 5, the North Korean foreign affairs ministry delivered a sinister circular to embassies and non-governmental organizations. After next Wednesday, it reportedly read, the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of international personnel. Please do not hesitate to evacuate your staff, it said. READ MORE >>
Since retiring from professional basketball in 1998, Dennis Rodman has seemingly been engaged in a single, uninterrupted publicity stunt, the latest example of which is his current jaunt to Rome in hopes of meeting with the new Pope. Of course, that was preceded by another attempt to pose as an international statesman: his recent visit to North Korea, where the former Detroit Piston and Chicago Bull met with the country's dictator, Kim Jong Un. READ MORE >>
North Korea, in advance of a unanimous United Nations Security Council vote to sanction the country for last month's underground nuclear weapons test, today threatened to pre-emptively nuke Washington. Pyongyang has long been known for its provocations, but this one is scary enough to warrant asking: Could they pull it off? READ MORE >>
Even close friends and allies can sometimes prove troublesome for their big power patrons. President Obama discovered that in his first term dealings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who lectured the U.S. president, embarked on a rash of settlement building, and then openly embraced Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. The Russians are finding that out with Syria, as Moscow looks increasingly isolated in its continued support for Bashir al-Assad’s blood-soaked regime. READ MORE >>
Eric Schmidt: Silicon Valley's Only Grownup Wants to Have Fun Too
How soul-crushing it must be to be constantly referred to as the “adult in the room” when you are, in fact, always in a room full of actual adults. Though ostensibly a compliment, it’s not entirely flattering. It is the equivalent, more or less, of being the guy you can count on to turn on the lights and turn down the music just when the party is getting fun. READ MORE >>
Susan Rice Isn’t Going Quietly
Romney Plays Reagan — And Does Well Enough
After Abbottabad: Navy SEALs and American Security
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden By Mark Owen, with Kevin Maurer (Dutton Adult, 301 pp., $26.95) I. READ MORE >>
Genocide and the Fine Arts
The Patagonian Hare: A Memoir By Claude Lanzmann Translated by Frank Wynne (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 528 pp., $35) I. READ MORE >>
