South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Can't Get Enough American Pie and more...

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Welcome back to Political Misfits on Radio Sputnik, where we bring you news, politics and culture - without the red and blue treatment. I am John Kiriakou here with Michelle Witte.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is in Washington today, and the Biden Administration has rolled out the red carpet.  All major media are reporting this morning that yesterday’s talks between the two presidents focused on deterring North Korea, and the United States apparently has offered to allow South Korea a say in the use of nuclear weapons in exchange for forgoing a nuclear program of its own.  The two sides are also expected to announce in the coming days the stationing of US nuclear submarines in South Korean ports for the first time.  //  Chinese leader Xi Jinping this morning held a call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a first since the start of the conflict.  Both sides described the call as “an important dialogue,” and Xi said that the countries would exchange ambassadors.  Xi also confirmed that a Chinese mediator would soon travel to Ukraine with an eye toward bringing the Ukrainians and Russians to the negotiating table, something that the US has steadfastly opposed.  //  The Taliban announced that they had killed the ISIS commander who was responsible for the attack on Kabul Airport in 2021 that resulted in the deaths of 13 US service members.  The operation apparently took place several weeks ago, and it is unclear whether the ISIS commander was targeted or whether he was killed in one of the many ongoing clashes between ISIS cells and the Afghan government.  //  The United States is complaining today that Russian air operations in Syria have come “dangerously close” to US air operations in the country, creating new risks for the miscalculation.  What was left unsaid by Washington was the fact that the Russian military is in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government.  The United States is not.

Mark Sleboda is an international affairs and security analyst.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-russias-military-actions-in-syria-raise-risk-of-escalation-7a858d77

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/25/space-warfare-leaked-documents/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/26/russia-ukraine-war-news/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/26/biden-reassure-south-koreas-security-amid-rising-threat-north/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/us/politics/isis-leader-killed-kabul-airport-bombing.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/europe/xi-jinping-zelensky-phone-call-intl/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/biden-yoon-south-korea-state-visit/index.html

Ukraine’s Azov brigade races to rebuild ahead of fateful fight - The Washington Post

Sudan conflict: Dictator Bashir in military hospital, not escaped - The Washington Post

Questions:

1. Welcome back, Mark.  Let’s start with the visit of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to Washington and with the issue of nuclear deterrence.  The media here in the United States is reporting this state visit as a lovefest between Seoul and Washington.  The US has spoken out strongly in favor of South Korea over the past several days.  What substantive changes should we expect to see in the relationship?

2. The media today are telling us that the South Korean government will have “a say in the use of nuclear weapons” in exchange for a promise to not develop their own.  What exactly does that mean?  I don’t think I even realized that the South Koreans were considering the development of a nuclear weapons program.

3. The US says that it will begin stationing nuclear submarines in South Korean ports.  Again, how is this any different than at points in the past?  And why make such an announcement now?

4. The phone call today between Presidents Xi and Zelensky is a major development, and it is exactly what the United States doesn’t want.  China and Ukraine will exchange ambassadors and Ukraine will accept a visit from a Chinese mediator.  Tell us about the import of this decision.  And what kind of pushback is Ukraine going to get from the US?

5. The Chinese have had success recently in providing mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, something that has given the US fits.  What are the prospects of Chinese mediation in the Ukraine conflict if the US actively opposes it?  After all, we know from these leaked Discord documents that the Pentagon is worried that the Ukrainians simply can’t keep up the fight over the long term.

6. We only learned today that the Taliban had killed the ISIS commander in Afghanistan responsible for the attack last year at Kabul Airport that resulted in the deaths of 13 US soldiers.  So this wasn’t a joint operation with the US, or anything of the sort.  It happened two weeks ago apparently.  Tell us about how much of a threat ISIS is to the Taliban government.  We also know that ISIS is active in Pakistan and is working with the Pakistani Taliban, which is far more radical than the Afghan Taliban.  What’s happening in the region?

7. I was somewhat amused this morning to read in the Wall Street Journal an article about close calls between US and Russian fighter jets in Syria.  I say amused because the article blamed the Russians for flying sorties near US aircraft.  The truth is that the US presence in Syria is patently illegal, while the Russian presence is at the request of the Syrian government.  Can you speculate as to what might happen if an accident occurs?  What might happen if US and Russian aircraft actually engage each other?