Author: Jonah Bhide

Trump-Kim Summit: Is a No-Deal Better than a Bad Deal?

The promising romance between President Trump and Chairman Kim — falling in love in 2018 — seems to have experienced a flameout at the end of the Trump-Kim Summit in Hanoi last week.  After getting Chairman Kim to agree to denuclearization last year, President Trump seemed quite confident in reaching another productive deal.  A declaration […]

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Global Global Policy Studies & International Security

Rearming A Forbidden Military: Japan’s Self-Defense Force & Constitutional Revisions

A pilot makes final preflight checks in the cockpit of an F-15DJ Eagle aircraft of the 202nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF), during the joint U.S./Japan exercise Cope North 85-4.

With a record $47bn defense budget, a total order of 150 F-35s coupled with the first aircraft carriers since 1945, and a House of Counsillors election in July, 2019 will be a busy year for Prime Minister Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). These enhancements to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF), a military organization […]

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Global

Iran Sanctions and the Public Opinion Battleground

Following its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – commonly referred to as the Iran Deal – the Trump administration introduced a new wave of sanctions on Iran last Monday. The first wave of sanctions implemented this year targeted financial transactions with U.S. dollars, Iran’s automotive sector, and the purchase of commercial airplanes, […]