Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 19, 2019

Lee Jeong-ho, SCMP: Was North Korea’s missile test a sign Pyongyang is getting impatient?

* Analysts say Kim Jong-un wanted to send a message to China and the US that it will not succumb to the pressure of economic sanctions
* Choice of weapon also suggests Pyongyang was keen not to cause too much upset ahead of important meetings next week in Beijing and Vladivostok

North Korea’s firing of a new “tactical guided weapon on Wednesday was intended as a warning to China and the United States that it is running out of patience with the UN sanctions imposed against it, analysts say.

According to a report published on Thursday by the Korean Central News Agency, the leader of the hermit state, Kim Jong-un, “supervised and guided the test firing of a new type of tactical guided weapon by the Academy of Defence Science”.

“The development of the weapon system serves as an event of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army,” he was quoted as saying.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 19, 2019

Kim Jong Un turning up heat in North Korea with new military posturing -- Eric Talmadge, USA Today/Associated Press

How Kim is killing off Trump's nuclear deal -- Tom Rogan, Washington Examiner

The World China Wants -- Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council

Ten years after China’s renminbi went global, what keeps it from really challenging the US dollar as a reserve currency? -- Kean Fan Lim, SCMP

IMF World Economic Outlook puts Ghana in the lead -- Silja Fröhlich, DW

How Egypt’s constitutional changes would put the military above the law -- Christian Achrainer, African Arguments

Libya’s Fragile Oil Renaissance Is Under Threat -- Nick Cunningham, OilPrice.com

Why Turkey Won’t Align With Russia -- Xander Snyder, Geopolitical Futures

What a Volodymyr Zelensky Ukrainian Presidency Would Look Like -- Doug Bandow, National Interest

Is Zelensky a Ukrainian Trump? -- Andreas Umland, The Globalist

Has Slovakia’s political development reached the point of no return? -- Marian L. Tupy, CAPX

What Brexit Is Doing to Europe -- Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe

On the Fire at Notre Dame -- Ronald Tiersky, RCW

Trump’s Venezuela Policy: Slow Suffocation -- Uri Friedman and Kathy Gilsinan, The Atlantic

China’s 5G tech may do more than revolutionise communications – it may redraw global security alliances -- Emanuele Scimia, SCMP