Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 16, 2018

This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 16, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location. KCNA via KNS

Richard Lardner, National Post/AP: Kim Jong Un wants to fulfill his grandfather's wish and reunify Korea under 'a single communist system': U.S. Admiral

Harry Harris Jr. told the House Armed Services Committee that Kim is after much more then a nuclear arsenal

WASHINGTON — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s long-term goal is to reunify the divided Korean Peninsula under his totalitarian government, the senior U.S. Navy officer overseeing military operations in the Pacific told lawmakers Wednesday.

Adm. Harry Harris Jr. said during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee there’s a prevailing view that Kim needs a nuclear arsenal to safeguard his regime. But Harris says Kim is after much more.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 16, 2018

Why North Korea won’t give up its nukes -- Katiana Krawchenko, CBS

Thanks to Trump, strategic patience with North Korea has finally come to an end -- Alex Titus, The Hill

Moon Jae-in's leadership could bring U.S., North Korea breakthrough -- Elizabeth Shim, UPI

Pence prevents breakup of US-South Korea alliance -- Gordon Chang, FOX News

Who's Really Winning the North Korea Standoff? -- Victor Davis Hanson, RCP

The ultimate rent-a-war being fought in Syria -- Thomas L. Friedman, Straits Times

Pull U.S. Troops Out of the Middle East and Put 'America First' -- Daniel L. Davis, National Interest

Turkish public divided over military's alliance with FSA -- Pinar Tremblay, Al-Monitor

America Has Turned a Blind Eye to the Taliban's Territorial Gains -- Daniel R. DePetris, National Interest

South Africa wakes up to the end of Zuma -- Gavin Du Venage, The National

Zimbabwe: What's next for MDC after Morgan Tsvangirai? -- David Child, Al Jazeera

The Militarized, Adaptable Cartel Spreading Across Mexico -- Jesús Pérez Caballero, War Is Boring/InSight Crime

Does technology threaten democracy? -- Lewis Sanders IV, DW

Special counsel Mueller's Russia probe: Where it stands -- AFP