North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands after meeting at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore on June 12. The pair became the first sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders to meet. SUSAN WALSH/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands after meeting at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore on June 12. The pair became the first sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders to meet. SUSAN WALSH/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands after meeting at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore on June 12. The pair became the first sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders to meet. SUSAN WALSH/AFP/Getty Images

5 Top Reads

Our Best Weekend Reads

What to look for at next week’s meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, and trouble filling key U.S. government vacancies.

As U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepare to meet for a second time, concerns are rising over what the two will discuss at their summit in Vietnam.

As U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepare to meet for a second time, concerns are rising over what the two will discuss at their summit in Vietnam.

From Foreign Policy’s Michael Hirsh, Colum Lynch, and Robbie Gramer: Trump is pushing for peace with Pyongyang while Kim continues to proliferate arms, including chemical weapons materials, in the Middle East.

Going into the summit, both Trump and Kim have no reason to trust each other, Doug Bandow writes. But at this point, they’ve got to try.

Bennett Murray writes that Hanoi—the host city for the summit—sees the meeting as beneficial for Vietnam itself.

Below are five more essential pieces from Foreign Policy from the week gone by.


U.S. President Donald Trump and then-Defense Secretary James Mattis attend a cabinet meeting in the White House on March 8, 2018. (Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

1. Does Anyone Want to Be Secretary of Defense?

From FP’s Lara Seligman: The search for a permanent replacement for former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is not going well—in recent months, at least four potential candidates approached about the job have demurred.


People celebrate in Bangalore on Sept. 6, 2018, after India’s top court struck down a colonial-era law that penalized gay sex. (Aijaz Rahi/AP)

2. Inside the Battle to Decriminalize Homosexuality in India

On this week’s podcast, the human rights lawyer Menaka Guruswamy sits down with host Sarah Wildman to describe the 10-year fight for LGBT rights in India.


Migrants camp on the road in the vicinity of the Maljevac border crossing with neighboring Croatia, near the northern Bosnian town of Velika Kladusa, on Oct. 24, 2018. (Elvis Barukcic/AFP/Getty Images)

3. In Bosnia, a Migrant Way Station Is Becoming a Winter Prison

Since January 2018, more than 23,000 migrants and asylum-seekers have arrived in Bosnia. But now, they’re hitting a bottleneck in the Balkans on their journey to the European Union, Dariusz Kalan writes.


Pro-Scottish Independence supporters with Scottish Saltire flag masks pose for a picture at a rally to call for Scottish independence from the U.K. in George Square in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 30, 2016. (Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images)

4. Scotland’s Marriage of Inconvenience

In the wake of Brexit, it may be up to Scotland to write its own future. FP’s Amy Mackinnon reports.


State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert at a ministerial meeting on religious freedom in Washington on July 26. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

5. Trump’s U.N. Envoy Post Is Up for Grabs Again

ICYMI: Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News anchor, announced last Saturday that she was withdrawing from consideration for the vacant United Nations ambassador post. Now, the race is on to fill the position, FP’s Robbie Gramer and Colum Lynch report.

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
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The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.