Free Republic

US-led forces have blown up three oil tankers in Syria as the United States increases its pressure on Syria by thwarting the oil trade between the PKK/YPG and the Assad regime, according to local sources quoted by several media sources. The strike was carried about by coalition planes, which hit three oil tankers, leaving four dead. The coalition has not yet made a statement about the attack. In the area controlled by Assad, oil consumption stands at around 136,000 bpd. Production, meanwhile, is only 24,000 barrels per day. This means that the regime must import significant volumes of crude oil...

In their 2014 book North Korea: The Politics of Regime Survival, Young Whan Kihl and Hong Nack Kim noted that “some restricted arm and weapons material have reached North Korea from Russia. . . . Russian companies have been among the suppliers of North Korea’s nuclear program.” Now Putin may be covertly supplying its missile program as well. The key question is why Putin would exacerbate an already crisis-level situation on the Korean peninsula. The answer may be the same as to why Putin has embroiled Russia in Syria: as a way to disrupt and distract the West, especially the...