Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
China says US orders it to close its consulate in Houston
The Chinese Consulate in Houston that the Trump administration ordered closed Wednesday has been at the center of a major spying operation run by Beijing, U.S. officials say, an operation that has accelerated over the past six months as U.S. firms have geared up in search of a vaccine against the coronavirus. Published July 22, 2020
DOJ: Chinese hackers targeted COVID-19 research firms
The Justice Department has accused the Chinese government of running an elaborate cyberhacking operation aimed at stealing secrets from Western companies, including U.S. businesses, racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic that began in China six months ago. Published July 21, 2020
Azerbaijan-Armenia fighting sparks fear of oil and gas disruption
Azerbaijani officials warned over the weekend that an escalating military clash between with rival neighbor Armenia could disrupt oil and gas flows from the Caucasus region to Western European markets. Published July 19, 2020
Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un sister, rise marks increase in North Korea cyberattacks
A cyber "spear phishing" campaign believed to be run by North Korean intelligence operatives who impersonate American journalists and South Korean diplomats on email with the goal of hacking U.S.-based North Korea analysts and human rights advocates has grown increasingly brazen in recent months, according to sources familiar with the campaign. Published July 12, 2020
Park Won-soon, Seoul mayor found dead, faced sexual harassment scandal, reports say
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who was widely regarded as one of South Korea's most powerful political figures and a contender for the nation's presidency in 2022, was found dead in a wooded area in his home city hours after his daughter had reported him missing on Thursday. Published July 9, 2020
North Korea talks tough as U.S. negotiator Stephen E. Biegun lands in Seoul
The Trump administration's top nuclear negotiator arrived in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to break the months-long stalemate in diplomacy with North Korea, even as Pyongyang was ridiculing the idea of restarting denuclearization talks with Washington. Published July 7, 2020
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador-Donald Trump unlikely alliance culminates in White House visit
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was supposed to be his country's leftist savior -- a seasoned grassroots nationalist, an economic populist and a fiery anti-Trump climate change warrior who would solve the country's bloody, long-running drug war through the decriminalization of illegal narcotics. Published July 6, 2020
Trump G-7 expansion push reignites Japan-South Korea flap
President Trump's push to include South Korea in an upcoming Group of Seven summit is triggering backlash from Japan and threatening to reignite tensions that soared between Tokyo and Seoul last year. Published June 29, 2020
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz says annexation may get delayed: Reports
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's July 1 target date for a major annexation of West Bank territory faced a new uncertainty Monday after Defense Minister Benny Gantz suggested the controversial move be delayed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Published June 29, 2020
Benjamin Netanyahu vow to annex West Bank land moves forward
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showing no sign of backing off his vow to annex of vast stretches of the West Bank by July 1. Published June 28, 2020
Hassan Rouhani, Iran president, expresses solidarity with North Korea against ‘common enemy’ U.S.
Iran is seizing the current moment of increased U.S.-North Korea tension to urge Pyongyang to stand up against the United States and align more closely with Tehran against the "common enemy" of Washington. Published June 25, 2020
Indictment clouds Trump administration hopes for Kosovo summit
The Trump administration's hopes for an unlikely, election year foreign policy win suffered a blow Wednesday when one of the key participants was indicted for war crimes. Published June 24, 2020
Top Afghan official says peace still possible with Taliban despite claims of spike in violence
The top Afghan negotiator for talks with the Taliban expressed hope Wednesday the talks can still proceed, despite claims by others in the Afghan government that the militant group recently killed nearly 300 Afghan security personnel in the "deadliest" week of the country's 19 years of conflict. Published June 24, 2020
North Korea reinstalling massive propaganda speakers along DMZ
The North Korean military is erecting massive loudspeakers along its southern border to blast angry propaganda into South Korea in the latest sign that relations between the two have soured since a brief thaw that surrounded denuclearization talks in recent years. Published June 22, 2020
Vladimir Putin eyes another term, inches closer to president-for-life status
Russian President Vladimir Putin is inching closer to seizing president-for-life status, despite a lower approval rating in recent months and coronavirus-related challenges to his carefully crafted image as a 21st century czar. Published June 21, 2020
U.S. absence in Libya civil war allows Turkey, Russia proxy fight
Libya's slow-burning civil war is boiling over once again as an expanding proxy war between Turkey and Russia, each of which is seeking greater influence in the oil-rich North African nation and across the region in the absence of a clear U.S. policy or role in the conflict. Published June 18, 2020
India, China troops clash in Himalayans killing 20
Scores of Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed or fell to their deaths in a Himalayan clash Monday that marked a sudden and unexpected escalation of a long-running border dispute and the most violent encounter between the nuclear armed Asian rivals in decades. Published June 16, 2020
Paul Whelan, American, sentenced to 16 years in Russia on spying charges
The Trump administration and lawmakers from both parties slammed Russia's sentencing of American security executive Paul Whelan to 16 years in prison on spying charges Monday, after what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called an "appalling" and "secret trial" in Moscow. Published June 15, 2020
Benjamin Netanyahu set to annex West Bank Jewish settlements
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to stir the pot anew by the end of the month by fulfilling a campaign promise to annex a large swath of Jewish settlements in the West Bank that Palestinians and much of the rest of the world say is their land. Published June 11, 2020
U.S. reopens consulate in Greenland amid race for Arctic supremacy
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the reopening of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, on Wednesday, framing the development as a strategic move within the Trump administration's ongoing push to expand America's presence and influence in the Arctic region. Published June 10, 2020