Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 30, 2015

KCNA/Reuters

Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast: Are Coup Fears Keeping Kim Jong Un Home?

In a surprising turn, Kim Jong Un cancelled a trip to celebrate with Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. After months of high-level executions, it’s leaving some to wonder if he’ll ever take a trip and return as the Supreme Leader again.

Today, the Kremlin announced that Kim Jong Un will not be attending next week’s events in Moscow commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. “He has decided to stay in Pyongyang,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This decision is related to North Korea’s internal affairs.”

The announcement was generally unexpected. Among those taken by surprise was South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, which had just issued a report to the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee on the topic. Yesterday, two lawmakers, including one from the ruling Saenuri Party, revealed the NIS believed that the North Korean leader was still planning on attending the victory celebration in the Russian capital.

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 30, 2015

So You Think You Can Provide Maritime Security... -- Robert Farley, The Diplomat

Change in the name of stability for Saudi Arabia -- Michael Stephens, Al Jazeera

Lessons, 40 Years After the Fall of Saigon -- New York Times

How Young Vietnamese View the Vietnam War -- Elisabeth Rosen, The Atlantic

Forty years after fall of Saigon, Vietnam now directs anger at China -- Donald Kirk, CSM

Is it Liberation Day or Defeat Day in Saigon? -- Andrew Lam, L.A. Times

Shinzo Abe Bets on America's Fading Memories -- David Graham, The Atlantic

Money Talks and Knock-Offs Walk in North Korea -- William O’Connor, Daily Beast

A great power is rising as a third force in the East -- Sholto Byrnes, The National

Carinthia Won't Be the Next Greece -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Ukraine Separatists Rewrite History of 1930s Famine -- Andrew Kramer, NYT

Putin Needs Neither War Nor Peace in Ukraine -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

The Pentagon's 'Long War' Pits NATO Against China, Russia and Iran -- Pepe Escobar, Sputnik

U.S. Pays Off Hostage Takers -- Shane Harris, Daily Beast

America's Good News Energy Story -- James Robbins, US News and World Report

Hitler’s Strange Last Orders -- Walter Kempowski, Daily Beast