Powerlessness – at the top and the bottom of the pyramid: Part I.
by Nikhil Desai, NAPSNet Contributor
Washington, DC area had an extreme climatic event June 29 night. On cue, reporters and editorials began arguing whether this was due to anthropogenic climate change….
This 1965 report, commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara, was directed “to determine optimum characteristics and employment of MMRBM-type weapon systems for maximum effectiveness in the Pacific Theater… [and] define optimum and alternative weapon system characteristics, operational concepts, force sizes, deployment schemes and development schedules and costs.” The report concludes that “the Flexible Theater Missile provides the optimum capability to satisfy both the political and military requirements. If political considerations dictate an early deterrent and show of force, the A-1 missile system could be used as an interim capability.”
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
New Line of East Asia: Can Japan return to Asia?
by —Yi Kiho – Governance and Civil Society Contributor
Japanese Prime Minister Noda confirmed that the central government will purchase the Senkaku islands…
In this report, prepared for the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1980, James M. Simpson analyzes the differences between South Korean and U.S. Army tactics. The report considers historical, social, psychological and physical influences on conventional attack operations, defense tactics, “special” operations and unconventional warfare tactics. The report also examines the degree to which differing tactics pose problems to combined operations and provides recommendations to resolve them.
The report states that “one weakness in the American forces’ relations with the Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) Army over the past several decades has been an assumption that the Koreans have patterned themselves after the Americans. Although the Korean Army has patterned many of its tactical concepts after the American tactics … they are independent thinkers and have developed a form of fighting which is consistent with the Korean personality, terrain and perceived threat.”
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Nuclear Corruption 2012 to Date
by Richard Tanter – Climate Change and Security Contributor
Fukushima will teach many lessons, but one that does not seem to have sunk in yet is the global link between nuclear power and corruption…
Haksoon Paik observes that over the past months, Kim Jong Un has displayed several new leadership styles characterized by more openness and transparency, which could potentially lead to reform. Paik notes that Kim Jong Un’s new leadership style “seems to have attained popularity among North Koreans…[his] imitation of his grandfather’s style also appears to have given people hope for a better future, reminding them of “those old good days” of the Kim Il Sung era…”. Paik concludes that it is inevitable, under the circumstances, for Kim Jong Un’s policies to be as independence (juche)-seeking, military-first and defensive against external security threats as his predecessors’, but that Kim Jong Un shows signs of being more sensitive and responsive to the demands of the people from below in the domestic realm.
Haksoon Paik is the Director of Inter-Korean Relations Studies Program and the Director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, an independent think tank in South Korea.
Georgy Toloraya considers the implications of Russia’s recent decision to forgive 90% North Korea’s 11 billion dollar debt (USD). According to reports, the remainder will be transferred to the Russian Vnesheconom bank account at the North Korean Bank of Foreign Trade, to be used for projects that will promote the development of educational and health care systems and the energy industry. Toloraya notes that the absence of the debt problem will make financial arrangements for future projects, like the proposed gas pipeline, easier, but that the fate of such projects now depends on Seoul’s position, not on Pyongyang’s credit rating.
Georgy Toloraya is the Director of Korean research programs at the Institute of Economy at the Russian Academy of Science.
