Author Archive
Moscow’s Korea Policy: Priorities and Trends in the Think Tanks
What do we know about what the Russian government knows about North Korea, and what policy advice is coming out of Moscow and the Russian Far East? Anthony Rinna pivots back to this question and emerges with some surprising conclusions.
Wither the Wonks? American Think Tank Research on Moscow’s Policy Toward the Korean Peninsula
To what extent do American policy analysts cover connections between the Russian Federation and the the Korean Peninsula? Not much, Anthony Rinna shows in his first part of a two-part series on the state of Korea-Russia analysis in major US think tanks.
The Short Arm of the Law: Sanctions and North Korean Laborers in Russia
Anthony Rinna examines the stark reality that it is not clear who is available to replace exports of North Korean labor in Russia, making it hard to imagine the Russian government weaning itself off them.
Lumps of Coal: How China’s Demand for Russia’s Natural Resources Affects North Korea Sanctions Enforcement
Anthony Rinna investigates the Russian role in the DPRK sanctions system, focusing on the country’s potential to export high-quality coal to China as a replacement for the DPRK.
The Russian Sanctions Policy: Reflecting the Long View
It makes little sense for Russia to divest itself of economic ties to the northern half of Korea at the request of the United States. What Putin and his government fear is that new sanctions will cut Russia off from having a presence in a reunified Korea. Anthony Rinna looks at Russia’s long game.
Targeting North Korea, Scratching Russia: HR 1644
Russia’s economic interactions with North Korea are attracting the attention of the United States. In May, a bill emerged from the US House of Representatives that targets labor exports and the activities of North Korean vessels using third-country (including Russian) ports. Russia is not pleased. Anthony Rinna investigates.
THAAD and the Great Power Context III: The Quiet Exception in Russian Geopolitics
Continuing his analysis of Russia’s position on THAAD from a regional security perspective, Anthony Rinna seeks to extrapolate some of the economic and geopolitical issues lying behind the THAAD factor in Russia-South Korea bilateral relations.
THAAD and the Great Power Context II: Missile Defense and China-Russia Defense Cooperation
In the second part of his series on Great Power politics in Northeast Asia, Anthony Rinna looks at the question of whether successful China-Russia defense relations in the region are possible beyond mere rhetoric.
