Contemporary Geopolitics Portfolio

1) NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR CRISIS

INTRODUCTION
North Korea has been carrying out their nuclear program over a number years dating back to the
1950s. These variations of tests have enabled the country to finesse its weapons and have caused
a number of controversies and threats, the latest being in 2017 where the country launched a
missile over Japan that caused an outrage and was heavily covered in media. With Dictator Kim
Jong-Un as ruler of North Korea, the nuclear threats have only worsened which in turn has
brought a number of responses that have triggered dire ultimatums and consequences to North
Korea and its people. It has also affected political relationships and country associations. The
nuclear crisis currently involves South Korea, USA and Australia. Furthermore, the escalating
threats have caused other bodies to be involved in helping to mitigate it.
LITERATURE REVIEW
North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests so far. Kim Jong-Un announced in 2016 that the
North Korean scientists have been able to make a miniaturized warhead (BBC News:
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17823706)7 In 2017, North Korea claimed it had successfully
tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb that had a reading of 6.3 on the Seismic reading. This
indicated the highest reading to date. There have been a number of reactions to this which
included the United States Treasury which targeted the North Korean financial transactions and
overseas labor networks to bar vessels that have visited or interacted with North Korea or have
their assets frozen (Forbes Asia Foreign news: US Treasury’s ‘Nuclear option’ in response to
North Korea’s nuclear threats1)

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1984 1990 1991 1993 2006 2009 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
A graph showing the number of Nuclear tests by North Korea over 1984-2017 by Business
Insider .2
SUMMARY
The nuclear crisis is becoming quite controversial and a threat that is getting wide media
coverage and affecting other countries and independent bodies, and this has been quoted to be
the start of the “Third World War” (Express: World war 33) In 2015, through the KCNA,
Pyongang called on Washington to contribute to easing the tension on the Korean peninsula by
suspending the military exercise in South Korea. The US response was to tell Pyongang to stop
threats, reduce tension and take steps toward denuclearization so as to resume negotiations. This
proved impossible and to date the two countries have not been in good political relations (The
Guardian4)
North Korea conducted missile and nuclear tests in 2017 that revealed the country have the
ability to launch ballistic missiles beyond its immediate region. This suggested a nuclear threat to
other countries that shows the countries fast growing nuclear development as assessed by the US
intelligence bodies.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian is military exercise collaboration between the US government and
the South Korean government with the main aim to defend South Korea from a North Korean
attack. The collaboration also aims to improve the South Korean defense. North Korea sees this
as a statement of the US preparing for war against them. This triggered bad political relation
among all three countries and proceeded to issue out threats to the US and its allies. It is quoted
that the UK “will face a miserable end” if it takes part in the exercise (The Guardian 5)
North Korea launched a missile test over the mainland of Japan with a population of 130 million
people. This sparked an outrage worldwide which resulted in a number of sanctions against
North Korea by the US, South Korea, Japan, the European Union and the United Nation Security
Council. These sanctions were developed in order to help stop North Korea’s nuclear efforts.
One of the most highlighted sanctions by the media has been Resolution 2371 issued by the UN
Security Council. In summary, resolution 2371 mentions a ban on all exports of coal, iron, lead,
seafood and also restricting the number of North Korean individuals working in foreign
countries. A consequence of this would be a cripple to the North Korean economy and its
relations to other bodies. The US put in a sanction that would add pressure on North Korea.
President Trump issued an order that would penalize any party doing business North Korea by
freezing their assets or cutting off their access to the financial system or even both (Money
CNN6)

CONCLUSION
The North Korean nuclear crisis has affected a number of countries, independent bodies and the
very people of North Korea and surrounding regions. The effect that the nuclear threats on other
countries has resulted to political animosity that has trickled down to the persons themselves. For
example North Korea and South Korea have been at political odds that have resulted in cutting
ties between the two.
The launch of the missile across Japan was a huge threat and show of power and was a possible
threat to the millions of lives there. As a result severe actions were taken which doubled back on
North Korea. The sanctions touched all bases of North Korea which includes the economy and
social political aspects. They threatened the livelihoods of the people and the economy of the
country and unfortunately the ruler of the country to date refuses to back down in order to help
correct the situation.
Over the past year, tension between the US and North Korea have increased steadily and
although previously the two countries have held off negotiation, they are currently open to
communication as long as the nuclear threat is neutralized. Depending on Kim Jong-Un’s stance,
the ball is entirely on his court regarding his relationship with other countries and bodies and also
the progress of his country and its people.

2) Taliban in Afghanistan. (Terrorism and attacks)

Introduction
The Taliban is an Isamic Fundamental political movement in Afghanistan that have taken control
of nearly all territories in Afghanistan. They have been a threat to the Afghanistan government
with their constant attacks to the civilian community. Their forces have grown stronger mostly in
Pakistan their main being to remove foreign forces from the country and to enforce the Sharia
law and Isamic government in Afghanistan. The Taliban attack civilians through different ways
for example , suicidal bombing in public places..

Literature Review
Ghani Says Afghanistan Hit by 'Undeclared War' From Pakistan
By Eltaf Najafizadab and Chris Kay, from the fro the Bloomberg politics onJune 6, 2017,
updated on June 6, 2017.
Afghanistan is attacked in Kabul and the Pakistan deny the attack
Summary
American troops started invading Afghanistan in 2001 after the Taliban refused to hand in
Osama bin Laden who was a wanted terrorist leader. This has gone on for the last 16years,
American troops have been dispatched to Afghanistan in attempt to end these attacks. Also
because the Afghanistan military lack enough manpower, equipment and training to take back
the territories that are now under the Taliban control. (The New York Times). The territories
under the Taliban were recently tracked by the experts in the institute of war. This can be shown
in the map below;
From the image above it shows that The Taliban and Islamic movement, ISIS has taken control
of almost all of Afghanistan.
President Donald J. Trump recently announced that he would send more troops in Afghanistan
and offer training to their military groups in order to end this ongoing war. But once again this
deepens U.S. involvement in the mission to support the government of Afghanistan in the fight
against the Taliban and terrorist groups. The attacks of the Taliban haven’t reduced, there was a
recent attack in Kabul where there was a bombing of a truck that killed 150 people and injured
more than 300, this was by far the worst incident in the ongoing war.
The US government has been spending a lot of capital in aiding Afghanistan troops and
supporting the military. Early this May, a report stated that 61 percent of the $71 billion the
United States was spent on Afghan reconstruction since 2002 has gone to training and equipping
security forces (Bloomberg). This shows that most of US capital is spent on Afghanistan and if
this wr doesn’t end soon, it will become a huge problem to the Financial state of the American
government.
The main interests of the United States government is to safeguard the numerous political,
economic and security gains that have been achieved throughout the sixteen years.

Conclusion
We can conclude that the Syrian civil has led to the death of many people including children . It
has also resulted to the fleeing of Syrian to neighbouring countries in order to seek refuge. It is
also a concern to the US that they are prone to attacks from Syrians and therefore need to assist
in ending this war.

3) Civil War in Syria

Introduction
The Syrian War is said to have began in 2001 as an uprise to protest against president Assad's
regime. This protest later became a Civi war between the Syrian government and the anti-
government rebel groups. The Syrian government is bcked by Irn and Russia while the anti-
governmrnt groups is backed by Turkey, United states, Saudi Arabia and other regions. As the
years went on the conflict between the two spilled to the neighbouring countries, and as a result
the Islamic state has recruited thousands of foreign states to join in the battle of Syria.
Literature Review
“Syrian Centre for Policy Research says 470,000 deaths is twice UN’s figure ‘human
development’ after population is disposed,” the Guardian: report on Syria conflict finds 11.5% of
population killed or injured.
“Thousands of Syrian refugees returning to unsafe country amid lack of international support” by
Lizzie Diadren from The Independent, July 1. In this article, the UN informs that there are no
safe conditions for refugees to return home safely.

Summary
The Syrian civil war has been ongoing for the last six years and various foreign countries have
played an important role in this conflict. These countries include Turkey, Russia, Iran, the US,
Saudi Arabia and Qatar.Throughout the years, Syria has experienced various issues that have
caused the death of over 470,000 people. These issues are war crimes, use of chemical weapons,
humanitarian crisis and proxy war.
The United States has been working with the Syrian Demographic Forces in order to give a
helping hand to the local militias to fight the Islamic state. The SDF managed to take back
Syria’s largest dam and due to this president Donald Trump's administration gave a thumbs up to
arming the SDF in order to retake Raqqa which sits to the east of Syria’s dam.

Recent developments show that the Syrian is still ongoing. This is because in recent months
civilian casualties have increased due to acts of terrorism or from airstrikes. Early this year in
April, a suicide bus bombing occurred and killed at least 126 people. Also there was a chemical
attack carried out by the government on its citizens killing eighty people. The United States
responded by sending an air strike on the Syrian airbase destroying a part of the Syrian air force.
Trump increased the US military force going to Syria in order help out end the civil war.
Major concerns have been raised due to the war. There have been more than 470,000 deaths and
more than 10 million people have either fled the country or internally displaced. Refugees have
fled to various countries in order to acquire aid. Involvement of foreign countries complicates the
Syrian war and the ongoing violence might result to terrorist groups that are active in Syria to
launch attacks against the U.S. This therefore raises a huge concern to the US government.
There has been numerous attacks against the Taliban for example Targeting the narcotic facilities
of the Taliban by the Ghani(washington post). Another example iss hitting the Taliban opium
factories (Reuters, 2017)
An example of a graph of the Deaths in Syria

Syrian Network for Human rights.

Conclusion
It can be concluded that the Syrian civil war is a war that has been ongoing and has no way of
solving this issue unless the leaders sit down and come up with a solution that will satisfy both
parties. Also how the US will benefit from this if the civil war was to end today.
Thererfore, Syria which is a geopolitical region face conflict issues pertaining war and and
territorial issues with the neighbouring countries.

4) Tensions in the East China Sea

Introduction
The Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands have been an object of dispute between China and Japan since the
1970s. But it was known to be claimed by the Japanese in 1895 who have since had control over
the islands. These conflicts resurfaced again in 2012 when Japan bought some of the islands due
to its economic significance. The north eastern part of the island has potential oil and gas natural
reserves which would be great to boost the economy of a country.
Both countries have claims to the islands, China’s claim is that the island has been part of its
territory ever since and serve as important fishing grounds done in the Taiwan province. While
Japan claims that they found that it was inhabited in 1895 and therefore put sovereignty marker
that showed that the islands belonged to Japan,
A map of the Diaoyu/ Senkaku Islands
Source: The Economist

Literature review
China warns neighbours over Territorial Disputes by Emily Feng and Leo Lewis from the
Financial times, August 1
Japan Tries to Grow Population on Islands, as shown in the Financial times in March 24. Japan
refuses transportation and empoyment and avoiding visits from foreign vessels
China intercepts US planes over East China sea as shown In the Reuters In May 2017.

Summary
The conflict between the two countries has not changed through the years. The type of this is a
territorial one because each country wants to own the island in order to gain the economic value
the Islands offer and in turn benefit from it. China decided to put up large naval warships in
order to coast guard so as to safeguard vessels from other countries.
Recent developments show that the dispute between China and Japan was due to the detention of
seven Chinese nationals early in 2012 and the second one was the Japanese moving to purchase
and nationalize 3 of the 5 islands. Japan deciding to purchase the islands caused China to protest.
Recently in 2014, the former President Obama stated that the Islands are covered by the U.S.-
Japan security treaty but the US does not take any position on their ultimate decision to who
owns the Islands. Any wrong deductions made by China or Japan could result the US be in
conflict with China.
The concerns of this dispute will cause political mistrust which may lead to conflict thus
hindering peaceful resolution of the dispute. Japan’s claim increase everyday and alao their
military activity making China act the same way. If this situation persists, there is likely going to
be a confrontation and it might not be pretty. It may also cause other states for example, the US
enter into conflict.

Conclusion
In confusion we see that the US is affected by the conflict between Japan and China as they
participated in a treaty that can implicate the US if Japan and China decide to wage war. The
tension between Japan and China is a territorial dispute and so far there has been no change in
resolving this dispute.

REFERENCES
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