Ms. Rosett, a Foreign Policy Fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, a columnist of Forbes and a blogger for PJMedia, is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.
In United Nations circles, Kofi Annan’s death last Saturday is being mourned in terms more befitting a saint than a former secretary general. Ted Turner’s U.N. Foundation eulogized him as “a fearless champion for the powerless.” Departing human rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called him “humanity’s best example.” Current U.N. secretary general António Guterres tells us he was a “a guiding force for good” and a leader of “matchless dignity and determination.” He added, “In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations.”
More than a generation has passed since America hailed the 1991 Soviet collapse as the dawn of a new world order, wide open to the spread of freedom and democracy. That euphoria is long gone, replaced these days by apprehension. For years now, authoritarian rulers have been on a roll, with such aggressive dictatorships as China, Russia and Iran gaining military muscle, influence and turf. Around the globe, freedom and democracy have been broadly in decline.
Someday, China will build a monument in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to honor its citizens who took part in the 1989 uprising we remember under the name of Tiananmen. Perhaps that monument will look like the statue of the Goddess of Democracy, built by demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to hold high in both hands a torch of liberty -- facing off against the huge portrait of Mao.
The summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un seems to be on again, with a flurry of preparatory meetings. Mr. Trump tweeted Sunday: “I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this.” But even to have any chance of defanging the North Korean nuclear menace, there’s one huge concession Mr. Trump must demand from the regime: that Mr. Kim abandon his totalitarian control over North Korea.
The showdown over chemical weapons in Syria has moved from the debating chambers of the United Nations to the realms of reality. President Trump is threatening missile strikes against Syria's Assad regime. Russia, entrenched in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad, is threatening to strike back.
When President Trump tipped reporters to expect a big announcement Thursday evening on North Korea, I joked to a friend that this could only amount to good news in the unlikely event that North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un had just sent Trump a note saying "Help! I want to defect!"
Who is Kim Yo Jong? “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics,” declared a CNN.com headline. This princess of Pyongyang received a royal welcome from South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. He seated her in his VIP box, near Vice President Mike Pence, for the opening ceremony. He hosted her for lunch at the presidential Blue House, where she delivered him an invitation for a summit with Mr. Kim. The resulting Reuters headline: “North Korea heading for diplomacy gold medal at the Olympics.”
If the International Olympic Committee ever decides to add Totalitarian Cruelty and Nuclear Extortion to its roster of Olympic sports, it might make sense for the IOC to bend over backwards to include North Korea -- which would be a shoo-in for the gold.
Wow. President Trump wrapped up his visit to South Korea with a speech square in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan. It's not just that he talked about the long conflict on the Korean peninsula: the "dazzling light" of South Korea versus the "impenetrable darkness" of the North, the glories of freedom versus the toll of tyranny, the line that separates them just north of Seoul, and America's commitment to defending it.
Officially the State Department is headquartered in Washington, but every so often -- far too often -- there come these moments when State seems so out of touch that it might as well be operating on Neptune. So it goes with the question of whether to put North Korea back on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism -- to which the the instant answer from State ought to be yes, yes, YES.
