Tag: north korea

Confronting Homeland Security’s ‘SSSS’ Watch List

HUFFINGTON POST 05/21/15 By Michael Shank It’s official. The Department of Homeland Security has placed me on a travel watch list. Every time I travel abroad, I now have “SSSS”, which stands for Secondary Security Screen Selection, on my boarding documents. That means I get an extra rigorous full-body screening, […]

U.S. Policy Toward a Nuclear North Korea Should Reflect Reality

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Rachel Kent That South Korea and North Korea resumed talks this week, but failed to reignite inter-Korean economic cooperation by reopening the complex at the Kaesong Industrial Zone, puts the fight over the North’s nuclear fight program in the political […]

White House, Congress Choosing Wrong Path on Iran

ROLL CALL 05/23/12 By Michael Shank Recent Istanbul negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 and this week’s Baghdad negotiations have tempered, albeit temporarily, the cry for war. It was close under President George W. Bush, who rallied regime-changers to invade, but it is worse now. The Pentagon publicly prepares plans, […]

When Diplomatic Opportunities Were Dismissed

FINANCIAL TIMES 04/11/12 By Michael Shank Sir, Your editorial “Ms Rousseff Goes to Washington” (April 9), by implying illicitous cosiness between Brazil and Iran, incorrectly portrays these nations’ relationship and the reasoning behind Barack Obama’s rebuff of Brazil’s president. Claiming that Brazil’s refusal to join UN sanctions against Iran is […]

High-Level Engagement by US and UK is Needed vis a vis Iran

FINANCIAL TIMES 07/01/08 By Michael Shank Sir, Let us for a moment consider the merits of engagement (“A very small step: Pyongyang’s nuclear declaration is no breakthrough”, editorial, June 27). Three successes in 2008 are particularly salient and worth citing. US ambassador Christopher Hill’s persistent diplomatic penetration of North Korea’s […]