Trump on North Korea, Montenegro Joins NATO, No More Calls with Taiwan

Trump Says “Major Conflict” Possible with North Korea: US President Trump said that a “major conflict” is possible with North Korea, though he would prefer to solve the standoff over the country’s nuclear and missile program through diplomatic measures. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US is ready to enter into direct talks with Kim Jong-un’s regime, but that North Korea would have to discuss dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

The Trump administration’s openness to diplomacy came as the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, told the US Senate that current tensions with North Korea were the worst he had ever seen. In an interview with Reuters, Trump echoed those sentiments, but also confirmed the readiness of the Chinese to apply pressure on Kim. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Trump in Florida earlier this month and one of the main topics was the North Korean threat.

Tensions Between Israel, Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah Escalate: Syria’s military said Israeli forces struck a military installation near Damascus International Airport early Thursday morning, exacerbating the already tenuous relations between the two neighbors. Passenger flights and civilian cargo jets are still able to fly into Damascus, although there is suspicion that some commercial flights are carrying weapons from Iran. Seeking to disrupt these weapons transfers from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel has bombed Syria with increasing frequency in recent weeks, making the war-torn country “a proxy theater for Israel’s wider war with Iran.”

The increasing number attacks risk escalating the combustible trio of Israel, Syria, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a staunch ally of Assad’s government with thousands of fighters in the country. Israel’s military said that later on Thursday it intercepted a drone coming from Syria over the Golan Heights; they are still determining if it was a Russian aircraft that entered Israel by mistake or if it was launched by the Syrian military. However, both the Syrian government and Hezbollah are bogged down in the six-year-old civil war and are unlikely to be carrying out any retaliation that may start an even bigger fight with Israel.

Montenegro Set to Join NATO: Montenegro’s parliament is set to ratify accession to NATO on Friday, a historic move for the Balkan country long considered a traditional Russian ally. The move to join NATO move is controversial within Montenegro itself and has angered Moscow, which has banned wine imports from the country, citing sanitary problems. Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic dismissed the decision as politically motivated.

Montenegro, much like other Balkan countries, has been caught in a battle of influence between the West and Russia. The government hopes that joining NATO will bring stability and economic benefits to the country after centuries of turmoil. Russia, however, has been angered by NATO expansion in what it considers to be its zone of interest.

Trump Rejects Further Contact with Taiwan: US President Trump made waves in December when he took a congratulatory call from Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, triggering a furious response from Beijing. On Thursday, Tsai told Reuters that she would be open to another call, but Trump swiftly dismissed the idea, saying that he would not want to upset China’s President Xi, given how much he needs his help on North Korea: “Look, my problem is I have established a very good personal relationship with President Xi. I really feel that he is doing everything in his power to help us with a big situation.” In February, Trump agreed to honor the “one China” policy and hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.

Weekend Reads:

• Some technology writers say the smartphone era has already reached its zenith. Perhaps smartglasses will make a comeback, and Google Glass was way ahead of its time (ZDNet)
• When we think about the smartphone we think about cameras. In fact, Snap at first labelled itself a camera company. But major tech innovations are happening in the area of sound (Technologist)
• South Africans finally get to portray themselves in a film about the anti-apartheid struggle (Quartz)
• Obama is back and he’s delivering $400K speech to a Wall Street firm. Nice money if you can get it. Should we begrudge him that? Elizabeth Warren, who has become the heart of the liberal Democrat wing, says she is troubled by the news (MSN)
• The media bubble is real because many digital publishers are based in big cities and there are very few reporters who are Republican (Politico)
• Has the US lost its Protestant work ethic and are Americans so distracted that we have lost the ability to think clearly and independently? (The Atlantic)  
• Tips from a venture capitalist on how to become an effectively & insanely well-connected person (First Round Review)
• Steve Bannon spent a good bit of time in Hollywood before becoming heavily involved in the Republican media space. More about Bannon in La La Land (The New Yorker)
• Emmanuel Macron, one of two candidates to make it to the run-off in the French presidential election, has a wife who is 24 years older than him. This has caused a fair bit of double-taking and some negative press. But is there a double standard in the age separation between men and women? President Trump is 24 years older than his wife Melania, but this has not caused an uproar (The Independent)
• Speaking of Melania Trump, Vanity Fair’s take on the elusive First Lady