Ashish Kumar Sen

Trump-Kim Summit: Distrust and Verify  If the upcoming summit between US President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fails to move the conversation closer to a peaceful resolution, it could result in a return to the belligerence of a few months ago, according to John McHugh, an Atlantic Council board director and former secretary of the US Army.

The Korean Summit: Cautious Optimism  The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on April 27 to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and work to formally end the Korean War this year. Making history, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walked across into South Korea where he was greeted by a beaming South Korean President Moon Jae-in. This was the first time that a North Korea leader has set foot in South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Kim then asked Moon to step back with him into North Korea; Moon obliged, eliciting applause from onlookers.

The Koreas: Charting a Path to Peace   The big question following the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27 is what denuclearization means in the context of the summit declaration, according to the Atlantic Council’s Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow.  

Six Things You Should Know as the Koreas Prepare to Make History Given the frenetic pace of the news cycle these days it would be easy to have missed the fact that the leaders of North and South Korea are poised to make a little bit of history of their own—and, perhaps, bring peace to two countries that have technically been at war with each other for the past sixty-eight years.

Nigeria’s Buhari Goes to Washington Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will on April 30 hold the distinction of becoming the first African president to meet US President Donald J. Trump at the White House in Washington.  

Macron Pitches a New Iran Deal French President Emmanuel Macron said on April 24 that he wants to work on a “new deal” with Iran that would retain the 2015 nuclear agreement as a primary pillar.  

Cuba’s New President Sails into Choppy Waters   For the first time in sixty years, Cuba will be led by a man whose last name is not Castro. However, this reality is unlikely to herald change in Cuba or soften US President Donald J. Trump’s hard line toward the island that sits just ninety miles off the US coast, according to the Atlantic Council’s Jason Marczak.

Emmanuel Macron: The Trump Whisperer?   Trump and Macron make an unlikely pair. What the two have in common is that they tapped into populist anger and by doing so pulled off surprising electoral victories. They are also both policy disruptors.  

World Reaction to Strikes on Syria The United States, the United Kingdom, and France on April 13 launched strikes on Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack which they blamed on Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Syria: Mission Accomplished? The morning after US, French, and British jets targeted chemical weapons facilities in Syria, US President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter to declare “Mission Accomplished.” That declaration—the two words that former US President George W. Bush came to regret—has left many scratching their heads.

Strikes Will Not Change Assad’s Calculus There is no evidence that US President Donald J. Trump has any intention of changing Bashar al-Assad’s calculus in Syria, according to H.A. Hellyer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

A Question Mark Over the Fate of Libya’s Haftar Reports that Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar is in a coma will deepen the chaos in a country that has been in flux for the past seven years. Haftar is a military strongman whose forces have fought Islamist militias, but has himself proven to be an obstacle in efforts to unite Libya. Media organizations reported that Haftar had slipped into a coma after suffering a stroke. He was flown to Paris earlier in April after falling ill in Jordan.

The United States, Britain, and France Launch Strikes on Syria The United States and its European allies have launched strikes against Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack blamed on Bashar al-Assad’s regime. US President Donald J. Trump announced the strikes on April 13.

Trump’s Change of Heart on TPP On January 23, 2017, his first full business day as president, Donald J. Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) . A little more than a year later, on April 12, 2018, Republican lawmakers said Trump had instructed his staff to look into rejoining the multilateral trade agreement with eleven other Asia-Pacific nations.

Missile Strikes on Syria, But Then What? With missile strikes imminent in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, the looming question is: what next, said Frederic C. Hof, a nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.

Trump’s Decision to Skip the Summit of the Americas Sends the ‘Wrong Message’ US President Donald J. Trump’s decision not to attend the Summit of the Americas in Peru this week sends the “wrong message” to many of the United States’ friends in Latin America, according to Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

Syria: All Eyes on Trump (and His Tweets) US President Donald J. Trump is weighing his options as he decides how to respond to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria. He has not ruled out military strikes. In a tweet on April 11, Trump warned Russia that missiles targeting its ally, Syria, "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'"

A Brief History of Chemical Weapons in Syria US President Donald J. Trump said on April 9 that he will respond within forty-eight hours to an alleged chemical weapons attack on a Damascus suburb. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has denied responsibility for the attack.

Halting the ‘Caravans’ US President Donald J. Trump on April 3 announced that he would deploy US troops to the border with Mexico to stop the flow of unauthorized migrants into the United States. The comment followed a series of tweets in which the president warned about the “caravans” of migrants that are headed through Mexico to the United States.

Trump Tells Baltic Leaders He is Tough on Russia US President Donald J. Trump has assured leaders of the three Baltic States—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—that no one has been tougher on Russia than him. He also said that he thinks he could have a “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump made the comments in a joint press conference with the three Baltic presidents—Kersti Kaljulaid of Estonia, Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania, and Raimonds Vējonis of Latvia—at the White House in Washington on April 3.

LTG H.R. McMaster: The Toughest Man on Russia? US President Donald J. Trump assured the leaders of the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—at a White House meeting on April 3 that no one has been tougher on Russia than him. Hours later, he was almost upstaged by his outgoing National Security Advisor LTG H.R. McMaster who delivered a blistering rebuke of Russia in remarks at the Atlantic Council. McMaster said that the West has "failed to impose sufficient costs" on Moscow for its aggressive behavior that has ranged from cyberattacks to near-fatal poisonings.

Pork with a Side of Tariffs China’s decision to impose tariffs on about $3 billion worth of US imports sent stocks tumbling on April 2 and fueled fears that a trade war—or at the very least a trade skirmish—is imminent. The Chinese tariffs, which went into effect on April 2, target 128 US products, including pork, fruit and nuts, and steel pipes.