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On June 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. The historic visit by President Putin to General-Secretary Kim Jong Un sent a shockwave through the world and will have enormous impacts on Asian security. While media outlets are ringing alarm, signs of the realignment were in plain view in the runup to the historic meeting.
The Putin-Kim meeting and outcome is classic horizonal escalation. International relations analyst refer to horizontal escalation as a means of striking or escalating against…