Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 1, 2018

A TV report in the South Korean capital of Seoul broadcasts news about the dismantling of North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

Philip W. Yun, Reuters: Trump's best option for denuclearizing North Korea

The head-spinning ups and downs of the “on-off-and-now-maybe” summit between Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is diverting attention from the real choice facing the U.S. president: if he remains inflexibly committed to eliminating Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program by the end of his first term, he will fail.

Contrary to the sky-high expectations being set, rollback of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs will not happen anytime soon because – after investing so much blood, sweat, and treasure to develop operational nuclear weapons over the past 25 years – the North will not give them up quickly or easily.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 1, 2018

Would The U.S. Withdraw Troops From South Korea? -- Tom Bowman, NPR

North Korea and US ramp up talks in three locations -- Andrew Salmon, Asia Times

China’s amphibious ambitions emerge in South China Sea -- Kerry K Gershaneck, Asia Times

Lessons learned from the U.S. experience in Afghanistan -- John F. Sopko, Brookings

Is Israel driving a wedge between Russia and Iran? -- Jonathan Marcus, BBC

Muqtada al-Sadr, Shia cleric, calls U.S. an 'invader country' in Iraq -- Guy Taylor and Carlo Muñoz, The Washington Times

Dissident journalist Arkady Babchenko's staged assassination delivers propaganda bonanza to Moscow -- Anne Barker, ABC News Online

Ukraine's cynical Arkady Babchenko deception -- Bernd Johann, ABC News Online

Oil and gas geopolitics: no shelter from the storm -- Pepe Escobar, Asia Times

What Do Steel Tariffs Have to Do With Iran? Plenty -- Melvyn Krauss, Bloomberg View

Is the US-China trade war back on? -- Karishma Vaswani, BBC