Exploiting divides between the United States and South Korea on North Korea policy is standard operating procedure for Pyongyang. The cancellation of the Trump-Kim summit helps to further that goal. But the most serious fault lines for the US-Korea alliance lie within the alliance itself. Donald Trump’s treatment of South Korea is a throwback to a time when South Korea was poorer, weaker, and less influential. If it continues, it will lead South Koreans from across the political spectrum to question not just US bases in South Korea but the necessity of the alliance.

Wealthy benefactors who have the president's ear oppose US engagement with Iran. That's not the case with North Korea.

The US president is supposed to declare whether Tehran is meeting the terms of the nuclear agreement by October 15.

If you have the vague impression that Donald Trump is an enemy of science, the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a report that will confirm your darkest fears.

The transition period for the incoming Donald Trump administration has generated a great deal of concern about apparent changes coming to the United States in just about every sphere of public policy. The absence of climate science experts, alternative energy executives, and seasoned nuclear negotiators in the new administration raises serious questions about how public … Continued

Will the president-elect increase dangers to human civilization?

Given last night's electoral upset, the question now is: What, exactly, will a Trump presidency look like?

An Wednesday, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough revealed that an unidentified foreign policy adviser had told him that, in a briefing about nuclear weapon, Donald Trump had repeatedly asked: “If we have them, why can’t we use them?” His campaign denied this ever occurred. But the kerfluffle does point up the fact that nuclear weapons are … Continued

Less than one year ago, President Donald Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea, implying the possible use of nuclear weapons. This inflammatory rhetoric alarmed the world—especially the countries of East Asia. Trump’s threats were particularly upsetting to people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because his tweets came on the 72nd anniversary of … Continued

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she had spoken with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about “preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the [nuclear] launch codes” amid increasingly widespread calls for President Trump’s removal from office.

As risky as Trump’s rallies might be from an epidemiological standpoint, if you look one or two levels down on the Trump campaign surrogate chart, the picture is even worse. 

The accusations about Russian and Chinese nuclear testing provide a convenient pretext to US officials who want to withdraw from the treaty. That may be exactly the point.

The president has a new, “optimistic” take on climate change: promoting tree planting. And also fossil fuels.

Trump reimposed unilateral sanctions against Iran under a little-known law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. A brief explainer of the president’s authorities under IEEPA—and its potential consequences.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) says that President Trump badly misrepresented the research of its scientists when he cited their work last Thursday to justify his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, reported the Reuters news service. Trump had said: “Even if the Paris Agreement were implemented in full—with total compliance from all nations—it is … Continued

If nothing else, President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey amid an FBI investigation of the Trump administration’s ties to Russia has raised questions, at home and abroad, about the quality of US governance.