Month: November 2017

North Korea’s test-firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, the first since September, has ratcheted up tensions as Pyongyang announced it can now hit the United States mainland with a warhead.

“The newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-15 has been successfully test-launched according to the political decision and strategic judgement of the Workers’ Party of Korea,” read an announcer Wednesday on North Korea’s state-run KRT television.

Following previous launches, the North has claimed its projectiles can hit any part of the continental United States, but this would be the first time it would be able to do so with this new type of upgraded missile, which both North Korean and U.S. officials said could fly higher than the ones the country has tested earlier.

North Korea “can hit US”

“The ICBM Hwasong-15 weapon system is an intercontinental ballistic rocket tipped with a super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the U.S.,” said a statement carried by North Korea’s KCNA news agency.

The statement said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watched the launch and then “declared with pride that now we have finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, the cause of building a rocket power.”

It was not immediately clear if Pyongyang was claiming to have mastered the capability of miniaturizing and mounting a nuclear warhead on an ICBM, which South Korean officials have said could happen within a matter of months. 

Analysts also question North Korea’s technical mastery of ICBM re-entry, which plays a key role in targeting. In the event of a launch at the U.S. mainland, U.S. missile defense systems would be employed. 

Nonetheless, North Korea’s stepped-up threat was acknowledged by the United States and its allies, who vowed to increase pressure on Pyongyang.

“It went higher frankly than any previous shot they have taken,” said the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis. “It’s a research and development effort on their part to continue building ballistic missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world basically.”

Allies respond

Commenting on the North’s missile test, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters “we will take care of it.” 

Trump did not elaborate but said there would be no change in the U.S. approach, which consists of “maximizing pressure” on North Korea and keeping all options on the table. 

“Nothing changed. Nothing changed. We have a very serious approach. Nothing’s changed. We take it very seriously,” added Trump. 

South Korea responded to North Korea’s missile test within minutes, test-firing missiles of its own as a warning to Pyongyang of Seoul’s rapid and precision response capabilities. 

Moon issued a stark warning to Pyongyang. 

“We must prevent the possibility that North Korea may misjudge the situation and threaten us with its nukes or the United States may consider a preemptive strike,” Yonhap news quoted the president saying through his spokesman Moon Young-chan. 

Moon said Pyongyang’s action endangered international peace and security. 

“South Korea and the United States, along with the international community, have no other choice but to continue applying strong pressure and sanctions.” 

Trump spoke separately by phone with Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss Pyongyang’s ICBM test and how best to respond. 

Abe called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

DPRK’s defiance

North Korea’s ICBM test came just a week after the U.S. tightened sanctions against Pyongyang and Trump returned it to the U.S.’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” which some analysts believe could explain the timing of the test.

“While it can be argued that the DPRK was likely to test an ICBM in any case, the timing of this launch was unusual,” said Frank Jannuzi, President and CEO of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, in e-mailed comments to VOA. “DPRK missile testing is far more frequent in the spring than in the fall. I cannot help wondering whether Trump’s exquisitely poor timing on the terrorism list issue hasn’t squandered a chance to get dialogue started.”

Others argue Pyongyang wanted to demonstrate it would not bow to increased pressure. 

“Kim wants us to believe that the new pressure from the U.S. and China has not had an impact. At a minimum, it looks like it forced him to launch at night fearing a preemptive strike,” said Georgetown University Assistant Professor Dennis Wilder, who was National Security Council senior director for East Asian affairs during the George W. Bush administration.

“That he launched in the middle of the night was interesting – perhaps fear of pre-emption,” agreed Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Robert Manning. “But getting spun up every time he acts is dumb, counter-productive and helps Kim’s victim-threat narrative, boosting him internally.

Trump’s hysterical, ridiculous tweets and taunting of Kim were key instigators in creating this pseudo-crisis atmosphere,” Manning adds. 

“I would not blame or give credit to the president’s tweets,” countered David Maxwell, associate director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. “I do not think Kim Jong Un is ‘provoked’ by tweets. I think they conducted this test/strategic demonstration-not a provocation-for one or all of three reasons: A necessary test to advance the program, the regime believes it can gain some advantage in some way and domestic purposes in support of the military elite.” 

The key question, according to Maxwell, who is a retired special forces colonel with multiple tours on the Korean peninsula, is what advantage does Kim think he might be obtaining with a launch at this time or is he really responding to China’s actions, international and U.S. sanctions, a 60-day “moratorium,” or something else? And the second key question, he added, is how should the United States respond?

WATCH: How people reacted to Pyongyang’s latest missile launch

Nuclear deterrence

North Korea tested less powerful ICBMs in July and its sixth, and most powerful, nuclear device in September. Pyongyang says its nuclear and missile programs act as a strong deterrent to prevent an attack from the U.S., while analysts say the alleged U.S. threat is used by North Korea to maintain power over its people since fighting in the Korean War ended. 

Regardless of nuclear arms, all agree a return to war on the Korean peninsula would be devastating as the area around Seoul, which is within North Korea’s artillery range and home to half of South Korea’s population. South Korea and Japan have U.S. military bases while China and Russia share borders with North Korea. 

“I think that all actors are deterred and the constraints are robust and real,” says Troy University in Seoul analyst Daniel Pinkston. “And any unilateral military action by any actor in Northeast Asia to change the status quo militarily would fail miserably. That includes North Korea and all the other actors and stakeholders including the U.S. and China, Japan and South Korea, Russia. So, we’re kind of stuck in this sub-optimal equilibrium. Everyone is dissatisfied and doesn’t like it,” added Pinkston.

While tougher sanctions are on the horizon – raising the costs for Pyongyang’s defiance – many question whether it can be pressured into giving up its nuclear and missile programs. 

“These capabilities are not something that can be negotiated away,” says Pinkston. It’s part of their identity, it’s part of their national security policy. They view all of the U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting these activities as illegitimate and they will continue to challenge those U.N. Security Council resolutions and challenge the international community.”

But, Pinkston said the good news is that we have a lot of experience with deterrence. “We did it against a much more menacing adversary in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, we have much greater capabilities and resources and alliance partners and everything else. So, there’s no need to panic.” 
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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has condemned what he called Russia’s continued behavior toward its neighbors, especially Russia’s interfering in election processes and promoting non-democratic ideals. An analysts tells VOA’s Zlatica Hoke that the U.S. president’s support is crucial for the success of Tillerson’s mission.
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Irwin Steven Goldstein, President Donald Trump’s selection for under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, is a communications and marketing executive with experience at large corporations as well as in government.

Goldstein was confirmed by a Senate voice vote and in the middle of November and is expected to start working at the State Department on December 4. 

At the time of his nomination by Trump, he was the senior vice president of BP Global Solutions, a New York consulting firm.

According to the bio on that company’s website, Goldstein “has a passion for building compelling brands and developing and executing communications strategies that connect diverse audiences.”

In a written statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his nomination, Goldstein wrote, “Those who seek to undermine America do so by spreading misinformation about our people and our objectives. We can fight these efforts by inspiring the world with our shared humanity and our great compassion.”

Moira Whelan, who served as the deputy assistant secretary for digital strategy at the State Department during the Obama administration, said Goldstein would be a potential lead in the fight to combat Russia’s dissemination of false information about the United States.

In an article last month in Foreign Policy magazine she wrote: “In September, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Irwin Steven Goldstein as under secretary for public diplomacy at the State Department. He would be a key player in the effort to push back against Russian disinformation efforts around the world and in the United States.”

Goldstein’s qualifications do match those of his predecessors — former White House senior adviser Karen Hughes during George W. Bush’s administration and the former Time editor Richard Stengel during Obama’s.

His experience includes seven years as executive vice president and chief communications officer for TIAA, a Fortune 100 financial services firm providing retirement security to individuals in the not-for-profit sector.

Goldstein served as vice president and chief communications officer for Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal during the period following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the administration of President George H.W. Bush, he was an assistant to the secretary and the director of public affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. He previously was a press secretary and chief of staff on Capitol Hill.

As senior vice president of BP Global Solutions, he advises start-up technology ventures in the transportation and health care spaces.
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The Air Force’s failure to report the Texas shooter’s domestic abuse offenses to civilian law enforcement was not an isolated incident, the military branch said Tuesday.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Tuesday preliminary findings from a review after this month’s deadly shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, by a disgraced former airman showed similar reporting lapses occurred at other Air Force bases.

The Air Force did not report the airman’s 2012 domestic violence conviction into the FBI’s database, as required by federal law and the Pentagon. Authorities say that measure, had it been properly entered, should have stopped the shooter from legally buying the rifle he used in the massacre.

“Although policies and procedures requiring reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking,” Stefanek said.

The Air Force said it has implemented corrective measures to “prevent future occurrences,” and will implement additional actions in the next few weeks.

Among the new procedures is a leadership requirement to verify that information from applicable cases is registered with the FBI’s National Crime Information Center’s Interstate Identification Index.

The Air Force added that officials are correcting all identified failures to report to civilian law enforcement as they are discovered.

The disgraced former airman, Devin Kelley, murdered 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Sunday. He shot himself in the head after being wounded by a neighbor and chased by the neighbor and police.
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North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile Tuesday.

South Korean Military officials are quoted as saying the missile flew on an eastward trajectory and that authorities are analyzing the launch in cooperation with the U.S. military.

“We detected a probable missile launch from North Korea. We will provide additional information as available,” Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Robert Manning said.

The United States is “not surprised” by the development, a U.S. intelligence official told VOA.

White House Press Secretary tweeted President Donald Trump “was briefed, while missile was still in the air, on the situation in North Korea.”

The last ballistic missile launch by North Korea was in September.  It is still unclear what type of missile was launched Tuesday.

In Japan, the Cabinet crisis team has been summoned for an emergency meeting.  Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary said Tokyo “strongly protests” the launch.

The latest North Korean launch comes as the U.S. and South Korea are preparing a five-day joint exercise called “Vigilant Ace” from December 4-8 with thousands of military personnel and more than 230 aircraft, including six F-22 Raptor fighter jets deployed to South Korea for the first time.

Pyongyang routinely condemns such military drills using belligerent language and military threats.

Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin, White House correspondent Steve Herman and Seoul correspondent Daniel Schearf contributed to this report
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The school board in LeBron James’ Ohio hometown has approved the plan for a public school being created in partnership with the NBA star’s foundation.

The LeBron James Family Foundation says the “I Promise” School in Akron will be geared toward educating students who are at risk of falling behind. It will have longer days and begin classes in the summer — weeks before other district schools — to encourage information retention.

It’s scheduled to open next fall for third- and fourth-graders and add more grade levels in future years.

The idea is based on the foundation’s existing “I Promise” programs that encourage struggling students to stay in school.

Supporters cheered after the Akron School Board approved the school’s plan Monday.

New York-based production company Warrior Poets says it will soon begin filming a documentary series centered on the school in partnership with LeBron James’ production company SpringHill Entertainment.

 
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Native Americans have taken to social media to criticize President Donald Trump for using a racial slur during a Monday White House ceremony honoring Fleming Begaye, Thomas Begay, and Peter MacDonald, three of the 13 Navajo Code Talkers still living.

“I just want to thank you because you’re very, very special people,” Trump said to the men who were recruited into the U.S. Marine Corps to transmit tactics and vital information in a language that was then incomprehensible to America’s World War II enemies.

WATCH: Trump comments to honorees

“You were here long before any of us were here — although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what? I like you. Because you are special,” Trump continued, touching MacDonald on the shoulder.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye described the incident as part of an “ongoing feud” between Trump and Elizabeth Warren, over her claims to have Native American heritage during her Senate campaign.

“In this day and age, all tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy,” Begaye said. “As Native Americans, we are proud people who have taken care of this land long before there was the United States of America and we will continue to fight for this Nation.”

Navajo Nation Council delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty cited the event as the “latest example of systemic, deep-seated ignorance” about Native Americans.

“The Navajo Code Talkers are not pawns to advance a personal grudge or promote false narratives,” Crotty said in a statement released Monday. “Such pandering dishonors the sacrifice of our national heroes.”

Dine Code Talkers secretary Debra Klecan posted on Facebook that the White House ceremony was the first time she had ever heard disparaging comments made against the Code Talkers.

“I’ve seen men and women of all ages break down in tears in honor and in awe of meeting them in person and they subsequently share their personal or family stories about how the Code Talkers affected their lives. It is too bad the president of the United States cannot do the same.”

In a personal Facebook message to Trump, Marty Thompson, whose great uncle Dennie Housteen was a Navajo Code Talker, demanded an official apology.

“There were three… Navajo Code Talkers standing and sitting with pride and dignity next to you. But, you Honor and Respect them with a…racist, derogatory comment about Pocahontas. Do you even know the true Pocahontas?” Thompson asked.

Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, issued the following statement Monday:

“Today was about recognizing the remarkable courage and invaluable contributions of our Native code talkers. That’s who we honor today and everyday – the three code talkers present at the White House representing the 10 other elderly living code talkers who were unable to join them, and the hundreds of other code talkers from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Lakota, Meskwaki, Mohawk, Navajo, Tlingit, and other tribes who served during World Wars I and II.”

Keel also called on the president to refrain from invoking Pocahontas in a way that “denigrates the legacy” of the 17th century Pamunkey woman, born Matoaka, who is credited with helping foster relations between Virginia tribes and early British colonizers.

“As a Marine Vet myself, I am keenly aware of how great a sacrifice these Navajo Marines made to the war effort,” said Ray Cook, former op/ed editor of Indian Country Today Media Network. “There is something basically wrong that a man would on one hand hand praise Native veterans and, on the other and in the same breath, denounce another person with a claimed Native background with a racial slur that is derogatory to Natives.”

Native Americans observers were quick to note that Monday’s ceremony took place beneath a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president and architect of the policy that forcibly drove thousands of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribe members from their homes to the West. Along the way, thousands died of cold, disease or hunger.

And as if all this weren’t insult enough, Oglala Lakota journalist and Native Sun News Today publisher Tim Giago cited Trump’s tone of voice.

“He talked down to Peter MacDonald and the other brave Navajo as if they were children,” he told VOA, expressing fear that this may have detracted from Code Talker Peter MacDonald’s speech.

In his speech, MacDonald urged the creation of a museum commemorating the Code Talkers and preserving their stories for future generations of Americans. And he praised America’s unity and diversity.

“We have different languages, different skills, different talents, and different religion. But when our way of life is threatened, like the freedom and liberty that we all cherish, we come together as one. And when we come together as one, we are invincible.”

White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, responding to questions from reporters Monday, said she didn’t believe calling Warren “Pocahontas” was a slur.

“I don’t think that it is [a racial slur] and I don’t think that was the President’s intent,” Sanders said.

“Look, I think that Sen. Warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career.  I don’t understand why no one’s asking about that question and why that isn’t constantly covered.”
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The coal industry and environmentalists squared off Tuesday at a public hearing over the Trump administration’s planned repeal of an Obama-era plan to limit planet-warming carbon emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency was holding the only scheduled hearing on the reversal in Charleston, West Virginia, capital of a state heavily dependent on coal mining. The hearing was expected to last two days.

The Clean Power Plan sought to ratchet down use of the dirtiest fossil fuel but never took effect because of lawsuits filed by coal companies and conservative-leaning states. Coal-fired power plants are a major source of the carbon emissions driving climate change.

Among those testifying was Bob Murray, chief executive Murray Energy Corp. He derided the Obama plan as an illegal power grab that has cost coal miners their livelihoods.

“The Clean Power Plan would devastate coal-fired electricity generation in America,” said Murray, whose company employs 5,200 miners and has 14 active coal mines. “This would impose massive costs on the power sector and on American consumers.”

Under the Obama administration, EPA held four multiday public hearings — in Washington, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Denver — to collect feedback before issuing the Clean Power Plan in 2015. About two dozen conservative-leaning states and a battery of fossil-fuel companies immediately sued, successfully preventing the carbon reduction plan from taking effect before the election of Donald Trump, who as a candidate pledged to repeal it.

To head EPA, Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general who was among those who fought the Clean Power Plan in court. Pruitt has made a priority the delay and reversal of recent environmental regulations negatively impacting the profits of coal and petrochemical companies.

Though Trump, Pruitt and others have blamed environmental regulations for the loss of coal-mining jobs, the accelerating shift of electric utilities using cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas is a primary culprit.

Pruitt has also sought to cast doubt on the consensus of climate scientists that the continued burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming. Scientists say climate change has already triggered rising seas and more extreme weather, including killer heat waves, worsened droughts and torrential rains.

Pruitt did not attend Tuesday’s public hearing, which was presided over by three EPA employees.

The Sierra Club’s climate-policy director, Liz Perera, told them that the proposed repeal ignores scientific reality.

“This is about the kind of world that we want to leave for our children,” she said.
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Sen. Al Franken apologized Monday to “everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women” as the Minnesota Democrat fought to bolster his support with his first Capitol public appearance since being drawn into a wave of sexual harassment accusations buffeting Congress.

Franken spoke as lawmakers began returning from an extraordinary weeklong Thanksgiving break that saw sexually tinged problems engulf two other legislators as well: Reps. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Joe Barton (R-Texas). Those revelations were on top of allegations that Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and sought romantic relationships with other teenagers when he was in his 30s four decades ago, which he has denied.

With harassment charges bringing down big names in the worlds of entertainment and journalism, Congress was adding widespread complaints about how it handles such incidents to its pile of year-end work.

A new allegation, indeed, surfaced late Monday against Conyers.

A former deputy chief of staff for Conyers said the veteran lawmaker had made unwanted sexual advances toward her, including inappropriate touching.

Deanna Maher, who ran a Michigan office for him from 1997 to 2005, told The Detroit News that there were three instances of inappropriate conduct.

She says the first was in 1997 during an event with the Congressional Black Caucus, when she rejected his offer to share a hotel room and have sex. She said the others involved unwanted touching in a car in 1998 and unwanted touching of her legs under her dress in 1999.

Conyers’ attorney Arnold Reed questioned why Maher continued to work for him after the alleged incidents.

Maher said she needed a job at age 57 and feared no one would hire her.

​In a brief appearance before reporters in Washington Monday, Franken stopped short of specifying how his memory differs from four women’s accounts of separate incidents in which he allegedly initiated improper sexual contact. He said he recalls “differently” one woman’s allegation that he forcibly kissed her but provided no detail, and said he doesn’t remember three other times women assert he grabbed their buttocks, citing “tens of thousands” of people he meets annually.

“But I feel that you have to respect, you know, women’s experience,” he said.

Franken said he’ll cooperate with an Ethics Committee investigation of his behavior. He said it will take “a long time for me to regain people’s trust” and said he hoped to begin that process by returning to work.

“I want to be someone who adds something to this conversation,” said Franken, a longtime liberal.

Looking for new ways for reporting, settlement

The House planned to vote Wednesday on a resolution requiring lawmakers and staff to annually complete anti-harassment training. Its chief sponsors included Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Virginia) and Jackie Speier (D-California), who has said she was sexually assaulted by a male chief of staff as a House aide decades ago. The Senate approved a similar measure this month.

With many lawmakers – particularly women – pushing for more, the House Administration Committee planned a hearing next week on how to strengthen Congress’ processing of harassment allegations. Under the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act, complaints have been sent to an obscure Office of Compliance, which requires a lengthy counseling and mediation period and has allowed virtually no public disclosure of cases.

Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Mississippi) said the hearing will consider “ways to create a respectful reporting and settlement process” and said he expected legislation by early 2018. Comstock, also on that panel, said members are discussing whether federal funds should be spent to settle harassment suits and if people can be released from nondisclosure agreements.

Congress’ procedures drew intensified fire after a report last week by the news website BuzzFeed that Conyers’ office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. The money came from taxpayers, not Conyers himself.

Conyers, 88, the House’s current longest-serving member, has relinquished his post as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Ethics Committee is reviewing the case. He’s denied the allegations.

Late Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said she’d met with a woman who described “unacceptable and disappointing” treatment from Conyers when she worked for the Judiciary panel in the 1990s. Melanie Sloan, an attorney, told The Washington Post last week that Conyers criticized her appearance and once attended a meeting in his underwear, but said she didn’t feel sexually harassed.

Conyers’ counsel has denied Sloan’s allegation. Pelosi said she believes Sloan and said the “ridiculous system” of secret settlements must be ended so accusers can speak to the Ethics committee.

Speier and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) have introduced legislation requiring that lawmakers who settle harassment claims with the Office of Compliance repay the Treasury for the settlement. It would eliminate mandatory nondisclosure agreements as a condition for entering mediation and require public identification of offices that have settled cases.

Barton, a 32-year House veteran, has acknowledged sharing a nude photo of himself with an unidentified lover that was spread online. He’s accused her of threatening to make it public when he ended the relationship.

The woman told The Washington Post that she didn’t put it online and said the congressman threatened to go to the authorities if she exposed his conduct. Barton, 68, said he was separated from his second wife at the time and has apologized for not using “better judgment.”

Leeann Tweeden, now a Los Angeles radio news anchor, has said Franken forcibly kissed her on a USO tour and took a sexually suggestive photo while she was sleeping in 2006, before he entered the Senate. Three other women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
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