Thursday, December 26

Sanctions

Sanctions are a key aspect of global diplomacy.  They reveal international relations through a concrete lens. It’s a primary tool for policymakers to implement foreign policy decisions. It has a real-world impact on finance, trade, and investments. A key question is, do they work to implement change or influence another country’s decisions? We look at both international and unilateral sanctions. This topic overlaps with global diplomacy and touches on areas of banking and global finance.

U.S. Preps for ‘Talks’ — Not Negotiations — with North Korea
12Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Preps for ‘Talks’ — Not Negotiations — with North Korea

March 12--Returning home a day early from a diplomatic trip in Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to attend meetings on North Korea on Tuesday. It will be the first chance the top diplomat has to engage with the U.S. national security team since President Donald Trump announced plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un by May. Invitation is 'A Trap' Trump's announcement came as a surprise to many analysts. Some, like long-time diplomacy NBC news reporter Andrea Mitchell, warned that Kim's invitation was a "trap" for the United States. "We do not yet know what [Kim] is even offering," she said on NBC Meet the Press. She said "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" would mean that the United States would have to eliminate its nuclear umbrella in South Korea. ...
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Trump to Meet N. Korean Leader Kim By May 2018
8Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

Trump to Meet N. Korean Leader Kim By May 2018

March 8--Just days after meeting with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jung Un, South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong announced a major diplomatic breakthrough: U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim will meet by May of this year. Speaking before at an impromptu press conference outside the White House, Chung announced the two leaders have agreed to meet by May. Chung had just delivered a message from Kim to Trump that the North Korean leader is committed to denuclearization, would refrain from conducting further nuclear tests, and understands that routine joint-military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States would continue. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that Trump and Kim were "a l...
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Military Tensions Ease on the Korean Peninsula as Denuclearization Discussed
6Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

Military Tensions Ease on the Korean Peninsula as Denuclearization Discussed

March 6-North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would suspend nuclear missile tests if the United States agrees to hold direct talks, according to South Korean delegates who met with Kim on March 5. Furthermore, Kim is willing to remove his country's nuclear weapons if he can be assured that his regime and country no longer face threats, they said. "North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear program if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure,” Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's led delegate of the talks, told reporters. It is a significant breakthrough for the two countries, which have been in a technical war since 1953. It is a result of both a softening of relations...
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South Korean Gov’t Delegates Meet With North Korean Leader Kim in Pyongyang
5Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

South Korean Gov’t Delegates Meet With North Korean Leader Kim in Pyongyang

March 5--Delegates from South Korea traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea today to meet with Kim Jong-un., the country's supreme leader. It was the first meeting South Korean officials have had with the rogue leaders since 2011. The diplomatic trip is a sign of the warming relations between the two countries since their athletes and government officials came together during the 2018 Winter Olympics, which South Korea hosted. The South Korean delegation includes 10 government officials, including two ministerial-level envoys: Intelligence Chief Suh Hoon, National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong and Vice Minister for Unification Chun Haesung. Ri Son-gwon, North Korea's chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, met them at the airport. And Mr. Kim hosted t...
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U.S. Targets Chinese, Malaysian Firms in New Sanctions
13Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Targets Chinese, Malaysian Firms in New Sanctions

In its latest round of sanctions against Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department targeted two firms based in Shanghai, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both firms are accused of trading in export-sensitive goods and concealing that the buyers were Iranian firms barred under previous sanctions. And both firms risk having their any U.S.-based assets frozen and losing business ties with banks and companies under U.S. jurisdiction. Middle Men One of the firms is a large manufacturing and global trader with a business office in Shanghai, China. Bochuang Ceramic, Inc., makes and sells a specialized chemical that can be used in military weapons, such as torpedoes, mines, aircraft and surveillance. According to Treasury, Bochuang Ceramic sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sensitive...
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U.S. Rebuffed at UN Security Council Meeting on Iran
9Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Middle East, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief, UN Security Council

U.S. Rebuffed at UN Security Council Meeting on Iran

At its first formal meeting of the year, the UN Security Council met at the request of the United States to assess the situation in Iran after a near week-long protests in 80 cities. The meeting itself drew criticism from many members who accused the United States of using human rights as an excuse to meddle in Iran's internal affairs. The meeting also comes at a crucial time when leaders are trying to reach a political settlement to end the Syrian civil war. It also comes ahead of a Jan. 13 deadline for the U.S. President Donald Trump to decide whether or not to remove nuclear-related sanctions against Iran based on a 2015 international agreement. Under U.S. law, he must decide every 90 days whether or not to certify the deal, and therefore ease up on nuclear-related sanctions. Trum...
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Iran Protests Spark Bigger Diplomatic Conflicts
4Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Geopolitics, Middle East, Sanctions, Types of News: Analysis

Iran Protests Spark Bigger Diplomatic Conflicts

January 4, 2018 - In the aftermath of the multinational fight against ISIS-Daesh forces who had held large parts of Iraq and Syria, geopolitical divides are emerging as regional powers turn their focus to economic issues, sanctions and security alliances. One sign of the shift is the near week-long demonstrations in Iran, which started Dec. 28 near Iran's border with Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The protests started in Mashhad, Iran's second most populous city, and quickly spread to other parts of the country. They are the largest mass demonstrations the country has seen since 2009 when protesters in Tehran disputed the presidential election. Most media outlets reporting on the recent unrest say the government has not used violence to tamp down on the protests as it did in 2009. The gove...
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UN Gives New Authority to Implement Sanctions on North Korea
29Dec By Patti MohrNo Comments
International Law, Legal Battles, Sanctions, UN Security Council

UN Gives New Authority to Implement Sanctions on North Korea

Dec. 29, 2017 - The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution tightening sanctions against North Korea. It is the tenth Security Council resolution on North Korea since 2006 and the fourth in 2017. It follows 20 ballistic missile tests by North Korea (DPRK) in the past year that violate UN resolutions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The consensus language in the December 22 resolution was opaque and loose enough to bring together the 15-member council. While it is too soon to know how effective new resolution will be, it is already having an effect. The latest resolution gives countries added authority to implement previous sanctions, and today South Korea put the new authority to use when it seized a Hong Kong-flagged ship suspected of illega...
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UN Security Council At Odds Over North Korean Sanctions
19Dec By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, International Law, Legal Battles, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

UN Security Council At Odds Over North Korean Sanctions

Even as world leaders tried to display a united front against a nuclearized North Korea in the wake of 20 ballistic-missile tests this year by that country, UN Security Council members remained deeply divided on their willingness to engage economically with the rogue nation. The divide was clear at a December 15 UN Security Council meeting called by Japan after a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile crashed into the Sea of Japan on Nov. 28. Sanctions U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on countries to take unilateral action beyond the minimum requirements of the UN resolutions. In contrast, Russia, China and Bolvia positioned themselves against unilateral sanctions and said "sanctions had been imposed in order to spark negotiations, and were not an end in th...
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North Korean Dealings with Hong Kong-Business Keep Regime Alive
25Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Communism, Dictatorship, Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Sanctions

North Korean Dealings with Hong Kong-Business Keep Regime Alive

Despite extensive sanctions against North Korea by the United Nations, European Union and United States in response to its nuclear testing, the world's most isolated country is not as isolated economically as one might suspect.According to a groundbreaking investigation by the Financial Times, North Korea relies on an obscure web of connections to finance foreign and domestic projects and bring in the foreign currency it needs to survive.The main group, Office 39 based in North Korea, conducts "illicit economic activities" to produce income for the leadership, according to the Financial Times. North Korea is also known to export weapons, drugs and indentured servants.It has dealings with a multi-million dollar private company based in Hong Kong, referred to as the Queensway Group. The pri...
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