SOMERSET, N.J.: President Donald Trump on Sunday mocked the leader of nuclear-armed North Korea as “Rocket Man” while White House advisers said the isolated nation would face destruction unless it shelves its weapons programs and bellicose threats.
Trump’s chief diplomat held out hope the North would return to the bargaining table, though the president’s envoy to the United Nations said the Security Council had “pretty much exhausted” all its options.
Kim Jong Un has pledged to continue the North’s programs, saying his country is nearing its goal of “equilibrium” in military force with the United States.
North Korea will be high on the agenda for world leaders this coming week at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, Trump’s biggest moment on the world stage since his inauguration in January.
Trump is scheduled to address the world body, which he has criticized as weak and incompetent, on Tuesday.
Trump, who spent the weekend at his New Jersey golf club, tweeted that he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in discussed North Korea during their latest telephone conversation Saturday.
Asked about Trump’s description of Kim, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said “Rocket Man” was “a new one and I think maybe for the president.” But, he said, “that’s where the rockets are coming from. Rockets, though, we ought to probably not laugh too much about because they do represent a great threat to all.”
McMcaster said Kim is “going to have to give up his nuclear weapons because the president has said he’s not going to tolerate this regime threatening the United States and our citizens with a nuclear weapon.”
Asked if that meant Trump would launch a military strike, McMaster said “he’s been very clear about that, that all options are on the table.”
Some doubt that Kim would ever agree to surrender his arsenal.
“I think that North Korea is not going to give up its program with nothing on the table,” said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Kim has threatened Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, and has fired missiles over Japan, a US ally. North Korea also recently tested its most powerful bomb.
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously twice in recent weeks to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea, including targeting shipments of oil and other fuel used in missile testing. Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, said North Korea was starting to “feel the pinch.”
Trump, in a tweet, asserted that long lines for gas were forming in North Korea, and he said that was “too bad.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was waiting for the North to express interest in “constructive, productive talks.”
“All they need to do to let us know they’re ready to talk is to just stop these tests, stop these provocative actions, and let’s lower the threat level and the rhetoric,” he said.
But Haley warned of a tougher US response to future North Korean provocations, and said she would be happy to turn the matter over to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “because he has plenty of military options.”
Mattis said after Kim tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month that the US would answer any threat from the North with a “massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming.”
Trump has threatened to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea if the North continued with its threats. Haley said that wasn’t an empty threat from the president but she declined to describe the president’s intentions.
“If North Korea keeps on with this reckless behavior, if the United States has to defend itself or defend its allies in any way, North Korea will be destroyed and we all know that and none of us want that,” Haley said. “None of us want war. But we also have to look at the fact that you are dealing with someone who is being reckless, irresponsible and is continuing to give threats not only to the United States, but to all their allies, so something is going to have to be done.”
In other developments Sunday:
— McMaster said “the president’s ears are open” to possible participation in a new global climate agreement that addresses his concerns about the original 2015 deal, when Barack Obama was president. The White House has denied reports that Trump has changed his mind about withdrawing the US from the accord.
— McMaster suggested that Friday’s bomb attack in London could lead Trump to introduce a stronger travel ban. Trump’s original travel ban has been tied up in court, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear arguments next month in a legal challenge.
Haley and Feinstein spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” McMaster appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday” and Tillerson was on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Trump, in new dig, mocks North Korea leader as ‘Rocket Man’
Trump, in new dig, mocks North Korea leader as ‘Rocket Man’
Polish leader Tusk plans large-scale military training for all adult males to boost reserves
“Today we are talking about the need for a half-million army in Poland”
WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that his government is working on a plan to prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in response to the changing security situation in Europe.
The military training would create a reserve force that is “adequate to possible threats,” Tusk said in a major speech on security to Poland’s lower house of parliament, or Sejm.
He said that there’s a need for an army of 500,000 soldiers, which would include reservists.
Last year, the Polish government said that the military was made up of around 200,000 soldiers and was to grow to 220,000 this year with the objective of increasing it to about 300,000.
But security fears have grown far more dramatic in recent weeks, as Russia continues to pound Ukraine with missiles and drones, and as the Trump administration has withdrawn military and intelligence support for Ukraine while putting its commitments to NATO in question.
“Today we are talking about the need for a half-million army in Poland,” Tusk said.
After his speech, Tusk explained to reporters that he wasn’t considering a return of universal military service, but rather a reserve system based on the model in Switzerland. In that country, every man is obliged to serve in the military or an alternative civilian service, while women can volunteer if they choose.
Poland, with a population of 38 million people, is located along NATO’s eastern flank and is deeply concerned by the war in Ukraine. There are fears that if Ukraine is defeated, Russia will turn its imperial ambitions next to countries like Poland, which Moscow controlled during the 19th century and during the Cold War.
Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the head of Poland’s largest opposition party, the conservative Law and Justice, said that a mental shift in society would also be needed in addition to the military training of men.
“We will have a return to the chivalric ethos and to the fact that men should also be soldiers, that is, be able to expose themselves, even to death,” Kaczyński said.
Concern has grown in Poland and across most of Europe as US President Donald Trump has signaled a dramatically shifting stance in Washington to one that includes support for Russia’s position — even though on Friday he issued a stern warning to Russia after it attacked Ukrainian energy facilities with dozens of missiles and drones.
“If Ukraine loses the war or if it accepts the terms of peace, armistice, or capitulation in such a way that weakens its sovereignty and makes it easier for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to gain control over Ukraine, then, without a doubt — and we can all agree on that — Poland will find itself in a much more difficult geopolitical situation,” Tusk said.
President Andrzej Duda said Friday that he was submitting an amendment to the Polish Constitution for consideration which would oblige the country to spend at least 4 percent of its gross domestic product each year on defense.
Poland is already NATO’s top spender on defense as a percentage of its overall economy, spending above 4 percent of its GDP this year. But Duda said that he wanted to take advantage of the consensus on the political scene in Poland today on the matter to enshrine it in the highest law.
Trump has suggested that the US might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don’t meet defense spending targets.
US aerospace firm Maxar disables satellite photos for Ukraine
- “The US government has decided to temporarily suspend Ukrainian accounts in GEGD,” Maxar said
- Maxar’s action was first reported by the military news outlet Militarnyi
WASHINGTON : US aerospace firm Maxar Technologies said on Friday it had disabled access to its satellite imagery for Ukraine, as US President Donald Trump’s administration suspends intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
In a statement, Maxar said it has contracts with the US government and dozens of allied and partner nations, and “Each customer makes their own decisions on how they use and share that data.”
The company said one of those contracts is GEGD (the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery program), a US government program providing access to commercial satellite imagery collected by the United States.
“The US government has decided to temporarily suspend Ukrainian accounts in GEGD,” Maxar said, referring further questions to the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We take our contractual commitments very seriously, and there is no change to other Maxar customer programs,” Maxar said.
Maxar’s action was first reported by the military news outlet Militarnyi.
John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said on Wednesday that Washington had suspended intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, piling pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government to cooperate with the Trump administration in convening peace talks with Russia.
Pakistan asks illegal foreigners, Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave by March 31
- Islamabad has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens
- “Pakistan has been a gracious host and continues to fulfil its commitments and obligations as a responsible state,” the country’s interior ministry said
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior ministry on Friday asked all “illegal foreigners” and Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave the country before March 31, warning they would otherwise be deported from April 1.
Islamabad has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest portion of migrants in the country. Kabul has rejected the accusations.
“Pakistan has been a gracious host and continues to fulfil its commitments and obligations as a responsible state,” the country’s interior ministry said in a statement. “It is reiterated that individuals staying in Pakistan will have to fulfil all legal formalities.”
Pakistan launched its repatriation drive of foreign citizens, most of whom are Afghan, in 2023, but had said they were first focusing on foreigners with no legal documentation.
More than 800,000 Afghans hold an Afghan Citizen Card in Pakistan, according to UN data. Another roughly 1.3 million are formally registered with the Pakistan government and hold a separate Proof of Residence card. The statement did not specify how PoR holders would be affected.
The UN says that more than 800,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since the repatriation drive began and that in total Pakistan hosted around 2.8 million Afghan refugees who crossed the border during 40 years of conflict in their homeland.
Among those are tens of thousands of Afghans in the process for resettlement to the United States and other Western nations following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 as the Taliban took over.
Bosnian Serb leader Dodik asks Serbs to quit federal police, judiciary
- The call follows a series of moves that risk pushing Bosnia into greater uncertainty
- “We have ensured them a job, while preserving their legal status, ranks, and positions,” said Dodik
SARAJEVO: Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Friday called on ethnic Serbs to quit the federal police force and courts and join the government of the deeply divided country’s Serb statelet.
The call follows a series of moves that risk pushing Bosnia into greater uncertainty a week after Dodik was convicted for defying an international envoy charged with overseeing the Balkan country’s peace accords.
“We have ensured them a job, while preserving their legal status, ranks, and positions. They will receive the same salary, or even a higher salary than they had,” said Dodik, who is the president of Bosnia’s Serb statelet Republika Srpska (RS).
Dodik later added there were no plans for violent escalation but insisted that the RS had “the ability to defend itself, and we will do that.”
Earlier this week, Dodik signed a raft of bills into law that banned the central police and judiciary from his statelet.
Dodik pushed the legislation through the RS parliament last week, after he was sentenced to a year in prison and banned from office for six years for refusing to comply with decisions made by Christian Schmidt — the international envoy charged with overseeing Bosnia’s peace accords.
The legislation has escalated tensions in Bosnia and is proving to be a key test for its fragile, post-war institutions.
Dodik later said he planned to ignore a summons from Bosnia’s chief prosecutor who is investigating Dodik for allegedly undermining the constitution.
Since the end of Bosnia’s inter-ethnic war in the 1990s, the country has consisted of two autonomous halves — the Serb-dominated RS and a Muslim-Croat statelet.
The two are linked by weak central institutions, while each has its own government and parliament.
The high representative holds vast powers in Bosnia — including the ability to effectively fire political leaders and strip them of power.
Dodik’s conviction last week was linked to his role pushing through two laws in 2023 previously annulled by the high representative Schmidt.
The legislation refused to recognize decisions made by the high representative and Bosnia’s constitutional court in the RS.
This followed months of tensions, as Dodik engaged in a bitter feud with Schmidt.
For years, Dodik has pursued a relentless separatist agenda that has put him on a collision course with Bosnia’s institutions.
The RS president has repeatedly threatened to pull the Serb statelet out of Bosnia’s central institutions — including its army, judiciary and tax system, which has led to sanctions from the United States.
European leaders downplay skepticism from Trump about NATO solidarity
- Māris Riekstins, Latvia’s ambassador to NATO, stressed the military alliance remained the most important platform for addressing transatlantic security issues
- In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his country would raise defense spending to reach NATO’s target faster than previously committed
MADRID: European Union leaders on Friday downplayed skepticism from US President Donald Trump about solidarity among NATO members a day after they backed plans to spend more on defense amid wavering US support.
After European leaders committed Thursday to freeing up hundreds of billions of euros for security, Trump said he was “not so sure” that the military alliance would come to the United States’ defense if the country were attacked.
“We are loyal and faithful allies,” French President Emmanuel Macron said late Thursday in response, expressing “respect and friendship” toward US leaders and adding that France was “entitled to expect the same.”
Māris Riekstins, Latvia’s ambassador to NATO, stressed the military alliance remained the most important platform for addressing transatlantic security issues. He emphasized the commitment from his country — which shares a nearly 300-kilometer (186-mile) border with Russia — to defense spending.
The Baltic country last month said spending should be increased to 4 percent of GDP next year and move toward 5 percent.
Trump’s repeated warnings that he would make European allies face the threat of Russia alone has spurred countries that for decades faltered on defense spending to find ways to bolster their security and back Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On Thursday, EU leaders signed off on a move to loosen budget restrictions so that willing EU countries could increase their military spending.
Following the emergency talks in Brussels, Trump again suggested that the US could abandon its NATO commitments if member countries didn’t meet the alliance’s defense spending targets. He expressed doubt that other allies will come to the defense of the US — though they have done so after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the only instance in which the Article 5 mutual defense guarantee was invoked.
The US president has criticized the alliance for years, arguing that European members have not contributed enough toward their own security.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his country would raise defense spending to reach NATO’s target faster than previously committed. But he did not specify when the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy — and NATO laggard — would hit the 2 percent of GDP military spending target.
Spain spent an estimated 1.28 percent of GDP on defense last year. Italy and Belgium also spent less than the 2 percent target last year, according to NATO estimates.
NATO members pledged in 2014 to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense, which 23 countries were expected to meet last year amid concerns about the war in Ukraine. Spain, which ranked last among NATO members for the share of GDP it contributed to the military, previously said it would reach that target by 2029.
Sánchez emphasized Spain’s commitment to European security and to backing Ukraine — though he stated that the security threats faced by the southern European nation were of a different nature than what European allies on the bloc’s eastern front face from Russia.
Still, he said, “it’s clear that we all have to make an effort and an accelerated effort.”
Though he did not name Trump, the Spanish leader on Thursday argued for a stronger, more unified Europe, saying that “while some (leaders) raise walls and tariffs, we build bridges and close trade agreements.”
Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made comments that appeared to backtrack on previous support for Ukraine joining NATO. She argued that extending the alliance’s mutual defense guarantees to Ukraine without granting it membership would ensure “stable, lasting and effective security.”
Sweden on Friday marked its first anniversary as a member of NATO, with posts on social platform X from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Neither mentioned Trump’s comments but focused on “a more secure Sweden and a stronger NATO.”
