Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout

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North Korea’s Rocket Man Might Be Ukrainian: A new study published Monday by Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, makes a harrowing argument for how North Korea may have advanced its intercontinental ballistic missile program with such unexpected speed after several fiery failures: black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines, very likely from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile program. Analysts studying photographs concluded that North Korea’s new rocket motors derive from designs that once powered the Soviet Union’s missile fleet, which had engines so powerful a single missile could hurl 10 thermonuclear warheads between continents. Investigators focused on a state-owned factory, Yuzhmash in Dnipro, Ukraine, on the edge of territory Russia is fighting to break off from Ukraine. During the Cold War, Yuzhmash made the deadliest missiles in the Soviet arsenal, but suffering hard times today, it may have begun selling its technologies abroad to survive. Elleman said in an interview: “The big question is how many (rocket engines) they have and whether the Ukrainians are helping them now. I’m very worried.”

Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout: Last week the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released an annual report detailing various global weather measures and trends. The results are alarming. Predictably, 2016 was the third consecutive hottest year on record, accompanied by the highest sea level (up a quarter inch worldwide from 2015) and lowest sea ice at the poles. Other grim stats for both of you that still don’t believe global warming is real: One-eighth of the world is in severe drought (well above average, apparently), 2016 saw 13 percent more tropical cyclones than normal, glaciers shrank (by three feet) for the 37th year in a row, and Greenland lost 341 billion with a b tons of ice. It is 71 times more likely that these trends were due to greenhouse gases rather than the natural cycle of Earth’s warming and cooling.

Three CEOs Resign from Trump Advisory Council Over Charlottesville Response: Three top business executives resigned from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday. Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of drugmaker Merck & Co Inc., Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned their positions following the president’s much-criticized response to the violence in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend.  The AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions that represents over 12.5 million US workers, also announced it was considering pulling its representative from the committee. Trump reacted to Frazier’s resignation by tweeting: “Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!”

“A Generation Is Protesting” in Ethiopia: For the last decade, Ethiopia has been one of Africa’s most stable nations and a reliable Western ally with a steadily growing economy. American military and intelligence services have worked closely with the Ethiopian government to combat terrorist threats across the region, especially in Somalia, and few countries in Africa receive as much Western aid. But in recent months, anti-government protests have taken place throughout the country.Over the last week, thousands of people demonstrated in the streets, demanding fundamental political change.

With the use of smartphones to communicate and coordinate protests, Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, the Oromos and Amharas, are challenging what they view as the outsized influence of the Tigrayan ethnic group, which comprises about 6 percent of the population but dominates the military, commerce, and politics. Another reason for the country’s current political unrest is the loss of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister for 17 years. He died in 2012 and was considered “a tactical genius, a man who could see around corners,” while his successor, Hailemariam Desalegn, is said to be leading a much less savvy and effective government.

Saudi Arabia’s Missing Princes: Since 1932, when Ibn Saud founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it has been ruled by an absolute monarchy that has zero tolerance for dissent, especially amongst the privileged royal family. Public dissent while abroad is a sure-fire way to get yourself beckoned, abducted, and incarcerated in an underground prison. Case #1: In 2003, Prince Sultan bin Turki is drugged (via syringe to the neck, no less) and sent home to prison for condemning the KSA’s corruption and human rights record, and calling for reforms in interviews. Case #2: Prince Turki bin Bandar is jailed in Morocco in 2015, then deported to the KSA after repeatedly uploading videos calling for reforms and criticizing human rights abuses back home. Case #3: Also in 2015, Prince Saud bin al-Nasr is duped into getting on a plane after being told he’s to broker a business deal in Rome. Unfortunately, he’dpublicly criticized KSA officials who backed a coup in Egypt, then endorsed letters calling for the overthrow of the KSA King. Buh-bye, bin al-Nasr. There is one dissident prince left in Europe, Prince Khaled bin Farhan. He’s been in Germany since 2013, but is (or really should be) looking over his shoulder. Here’s to you, Prince Khaled.

Trump Campaign Volunteer Urged Meetings With Russians: The Trump campaign has turned over to congressional committees more than 20,000 pages of emails that show exchanges made by George Papadopoulos, the youngest and arguably least experienced new campaign advisor (as of March 16, 2016), as he tried repeatedly for months to set up meetings between Trump, campaign officials, and Russian leadership, including Putin. Papadopoulos, a campaign volunteer with scant foreign policy experience who nonetheless claimed he was acting as an intermediary for the Russian government, appeared to hold little sway within the campaign. Higher level campaign officials reacted to his meeting requests with either concern or indifference, and he was apparently never successful at arranging such a meeting. A spokesperson for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said the email chain provides “concrete evidence that the Russia collusion narrative is fake news.” However, to experts in Russian intelligence gathering, the Papadopoulos chain offers definitive evidence that Russians were looking for entry points and using connections with lower-level aides to penetrate the 2016 campaign.

• Today, India Celebrates 70 Years of Independence. A timeline of one of history’s largest mass migrations (CNN)
• At least 18 people have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants at a restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital of Burkina Faso (The Guardian)
• Half a Million People in Yemen Had Cholera This Year, the Worst Outbreak Ever Recorded (TIME)
• China imposes import bans on North Korean iron, coal, and seafood (BBC)
• Mudslides in Sierra Leone Kill at Least 200 People (TIME)
• Rouhani Says Iran could quit nuclear deal in ‘hours’ if new U.S. sanctions imposed (Reuters)
• President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela had become a pariah among fellow Latin American leaders as his beleaguered country staggered toward dictatorship. But a threat by President Trump to use the American military against Mr. Maduro’s government has united those leaders in a different direction: demanding that the United States keep out of the region’s affairs(NYT)

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Your Daily Pnut Team: CEO–Tim Hsia. Editor in Chief–Vanessa Wu. Political Junkie at Large–Penelope Lary. Occasional Contributors: Clark Kent, Peter Parker, and rambunctious interns.