AIWA! NO!: Live-wire on people, events and life; giving 'voice to the voiceless'.
Israel Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria, Report Says; 16 Killed, 21 Wounded
Syrian air defenses responded to attacks on Homs and Damascus outskirts launched from Lebanese air space, Syrian state media says
North Korea responds to Trump’s suggested meeting saying it is ‘interesting’
By ELLEN LAIPSON//The conventional truth that US-Israeli relations are solid, sustainable and largely impervious to American partisan differences is mostly correct. But it’s worth considering whether some important shifts in Israel’s foreign-policy priorities will have an impact on its bonds with Washington. Over time, Israel’s leaders may find ties to major Asian countries at least of equal value and at most an acceptable alternative to its long-standing Western orientation.
Two years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced during a visit to Singapore a “pivot to Asia,” an amusing echo of the Obama-era pivot that was much maligned and misunderstood. (It was criticized as proof that the Middle East would be abandoned, and for the appearance that it focused more on military cooperation with Asian countries wary of China, rather than a more three-dimensional engagement with the rising powers of the East.) For Israel, the announcement was a rhetorical flourish for a reality that had been evolving over many years.
“North Korea fired several short-range projectiles off its east coast on Saturday, in a move likely to raise tensions as denuclearization talks with the United States remain stalled,” the New York Times reports.
“The South Korean military said in a statement that the North had fired several short-range projectiles between 9:06 a.m. and 9:27 a.m. from near Wonsan, a coastal town east of Pyongyang, the capital. The projectiles flew 70 to 200 kilometers before they landed in the sea between North Korea and Japan, it said.”
North Korea issued a $2m hospital bill for the care of Otto Warmbier, the American man who died after falling into a coma while in custody in the country.
The bill was handed to Joseph Yun, the former State Department Special Representative for North Korea who went to Pyongyang in June 2017 to bring Warmbier home, sources told CNN.
When he was released, Mr Warmbier was in a comatose state and died a few days later.
He’d fallen into a coma in March 2016 after being sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour by the North Korean government for tearing down a propaganda sign in a Pyongyang hotel.
The reason for his comatose state has never been confirmed, though North Korean officials maintain that he was not tortured.
