Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 5, 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with military officers at the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 15, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS

Donald Kirk, Daily Beast: Kim Jong Un Can Leave North Korea for the Trump Singapore Summit, but Can He Go Back?

The prospect of Kim getting overthrown while he’s gone for two or three days may seem far-fetched, but in his world one can never be too careful or too ruthless.

SEOUL—When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un flies to Singapore to see U.S. President Donald Trump next week, he may be more worried about what’s happening back home than he is about the deal the American has in mind.

That’s the lesson of a shake-up just announced in the top leadership of North Korea’s armed forces, including the dismissal of an old-time general remembered in Pyongyang as “the last pallbearer.” Kim Jong Gak, dismissed from his crucial post as director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, is the sole survivor of the six generals who carried the coffin of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, on a snowy day in December 2011.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 5, 2018

From inside North Korea, clues about Kim's agenda -- Katharine H.S. Moon, Reuters

The Right Way to Coerce North Korea -- Victor Cha & Katrin Fraser Katz, Foreign Affairs

Transcript of the 38 North Press Briefing
 “The Singapore Summit: What’s A Good Outcome?” -- 38 North

Myanmar risks falling into a China debt trap -- Bertil Lintner, Asia Times

China Eyes Its Next Prize – the Mekong -- Elliot Brennan, The Interpreter

Did US-led coalition commit war crimes in Syria's Raqqa? -- Inside Story, Al Jazeera (YouTube)

GCC crisis at deadlock one year on -- Al Jazeera

Will Saudi Arabia be the answer to Israel’s gas conundrums? -- Jonathan Gorvett, Asia Times

What do the Iranian people want? -- Rahman Bouzari, Al Jazeera

Truckers display new face of popular protest in Iran -- Al Monitor

Saudi Arabia Is Playing a Dangerous Game -- Jacob Shapiro, RCW/Geopolitical Futures

Why Europe Is a Reluctant Trade Warrior -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

If the EU punishes Italy, it will reap the whirlwind -- George Soros, The Guardian

Europe to Britain: Eat your cake and go -- Ulrike Guérot, Politico

Who should feed the world: real people or faceless multinationals? -- John Vidal, The Guardian

Brazil, Scared and Leaderless, Looks to the Military -- Brian Winter, Americas Quarterly

Guatemala's Fuego volcano: How the tragedy unfolded -- BBC