USFPS18G5

Memorandum Memorandum on United States Foreign Policy Regarding North Korea To: President Donald Trump CC: Professor Shirk From: Foreign Policy Analyst, Victoria Hassan Subject: The North Korean Nuclear Arsenal Dilemma Issue: If not already, North Korea is very close to achieving nuclear armed international ballistic missile capability that is capable of reaching the United States and other regions of North America. Even to experts, North Korea’s motive and intentions for building up a nuclear arsenal have been quite unclear and unpredictable. Recently, there has been much debate as to whether or not the United States should take military action regarding North Korea’s reluctance to denuclearize the entire Korean Peninsula. However, U.S. military action and complete U.S.  inaction are not the only options for dealing with North Korea. Option 1: Trump-Kim Summit Peaceful Negotiations Avoiding military action and possibly the use of nuclear weapons agai...

Memorandum on U.S. Foreign Policy Towards North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program TO: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo CC: Mark Shirk FROM: Foreign Analyst Rachael Feldhausen DATE: March 25th, 2018 SUBJECT: Foreign Policy Regarding North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program It is currently believed that North Korea may finally have developed a functioning nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States mainland. Given the threat that North Korea poses to the United States and U.S. allies, it is important that the U.S. work to denuclearize North Korea. Plans have been made to summon a summit between the U.S., North Korea, and thirteen other countries, to initiate talks of denuclearization. There have also been talks of taking direct military action against North Korea to encourage them to denuclearize. However, Trump and his administration should pull out of the summit, not engage militarily unless provoked by North Korean military action, and continue the Obama ad...

   One purpose of NATO in the 21st century would be to keep doing what it has done well in the first half-century, which was to provide political and military cooperation between the United States and Europe. Such alliance would focus on collective defense and also tasks beyond the defense of territory. Since the collapse of Soviet Union, the importance of Europe to American interests has declined.     Instead, U.S security interests would focus more on other non-European regions, especially Asia. Therefore, it is also NATO's purpose to expand, work and collaborate with other regions both inside and outside of Europe. With the expansion, NATO would have to face the question whether or not to intervene in wars and conflicts to protect democracy and collective security of the Alliance.      As an organization of values, NATO would have to promote and enforce the common norms and standards including rule of law, principles of sovereignty, protectio...

After the end of World War II, relations between the western Allies and Russia quickly became hostile. Russia was a powerful communist nation while much of western Europe was still rebuilding from the Second World War. In order to counter the Soviet threat, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949. This organization allowed the smaller countries of western Europe to band together in case there was a Soviet invasion of Europe. Although it was established at the beginning of the Cold War, it is still important in U.S. foreign policy. One of the reasons why it is still important today is that Russia is still a threat. Russia has always been looking for weaknesses in western Europe by looking to invade the much smaller, weaker countries closer to its borders. We have seen Russia’s aggression relatively recently with the annexation of the Crimea region of the Ukraine. Had NATO not been around, Ukraine might now be part of Russia. NATO is the only thing that ...

Victoria Hassan Professor Shirk American Foreign Policy 14 March 2018 NATO’s Purpose in the 21st Century The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 and initially unified twelve countries, including Iceland, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and Portugal. The original purpose of the NATO Treaty was to bring these nations together to provide security against the agressions and spread of communism by the Soviet Union. Besides defending these twelve nations from the Soviet Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also sought to put an end to militarism in Europe -- specifically an end to communism, authoritarianism, and fascism --  and allow for European integration. However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization currently serves a different purpose in the 21 st century. After the Cold War era, NATO has focused on expanding the number of member countries within the organization itself. For example, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hung...

Rachael Feldhausen American Foreign Policy Professor Shirk 3/13/18 1) What is NATO's purpose in the 21st century?             NATO was originally designed to combat the power of the Soviet Union, communism, authoritarianism and fascism. However, in the 21st century these elements are no longer a pressing threat to Europe. The Soviet Union has collapsed, and most European countries have an established democracy of some form or another. These factors call into question the importance of NATO in today’s society. While the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia is still a global power that poses a great threat to many smaller countries in Europe. An example of this is Russia’s recent attempts at regaining control of the Ukraine. While the Ukraine is not currently a part of NATO, it is a country that was under the control of the Soviet Union. Russia’a actions in Ukraine proves that they are attempting to expand their power and...

TO: President Donald Trump FROM: Matt Fitzgerald DATE: March 4, 2018 SUBJECT: Memorandum on US policy on relations with North Korea For years North Korea has isolated itself from the rest of the world. It is a small country with no real allies anywhere in the region. It is also a rouge state that has nuclear capabilities and has threaten numerous times to use them on the U.S. and allies. Presidents throughout the years have tried many different tactics to deal with the issue. President Clinton’s Attempt The Clinton administration attempted a “dovish” (Lohschelder 2016) approach in which resulted in an agreement in 1994 in which the nuclear powerplant, Yongbyon, was closed down and sanctions gradually phased out. In return for closing the powerplant down, the U.S. would give oil deliveries to North Korea and help build “a light water reactor for energy production.” however, due to the lack of follow-through, the agreement failed and the powerplant was reopened.   Pre...