Obama Refuses to Say Bombing Hiroshima Was the 'Right Decision'....

from Weasel Zippers
November 13, 2009



Want to shudder uncontrollably? Try and imagine Barack Obama as Commander in Chief during WWII.....

(Fox Nation)- Defending the decision of the United States to drop nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII is not a comfortable thing to do when you're in Japan. But if you're President of the United States, you must do it. Diplomatically, yes. With sympathy for the civilian victims, yes. But you must do it. But when it came time today for Barack Obama to fulfill that fundamental duty, he failed

North Korea Moves to Test-Fire Missiles

from The Korea Times
by Kim Jong-chan
5-22-2009
Assistant Managing Editor

North Korea is showing signs of preparing to test-fire short-range missiles, a defense ministry official said Friday.

The North began to relocate missile-related equipment and vehicles on its east coast, and banned ships from nearby waters, the official said on condition of anonymity.

``We've been seeing brisk activities along the North's east coastal area over the past two to three days, indicating trucks mounted with mobile rocket launchers are on the move,'' the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

``Judging from an analysis of military movements, the North appears to be preparing to test-launch short-range missiles,'' he said.

An official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that a shipping ban usually comes ahead of a short-range missile test or a live-fire drill.

According to the Japanese Coast Guard, North Korea advised ships to stay clear of waters within a 130-km radius of the northeastern city of Gimchaek until the end of this month, Yonhap said.

The ban, effective from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., follows Pyongyang's threats to conduct further missile tests to protest the U.N. Security Council condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch.

North Korea has said that the launch from its east coast put a satellite into orbit, while the U.S. and Japan say no object entered space.

Pyongyang has also threatened to conduct a second nuclear test ― it first tested a nuclear device in October 2006.
Click to read the article

OBAMA NO MATCH FOR COMMITTED ENEMIES

image from The Real World
article from The Real World
Saturday, April 11, 2009

The article that follows records one of the ever growing number of examples of how international state players opposed to American interests are manipulating and playing Barack Obama. To date, the President is no match in the game.

The United Nations is a fully corrupted, anti-American organization that stalls or opposes virtually anything that the United States brings forward that would accrue to the benefit of not only our nation but legitimate democratic nations around the globe.

The bad actors amongst the international community know exactly how to play the UN game. Naive political idealists like Obama have no chance to makeover such a failed institution into a force for the benefit of those who need it's support. Yet he wastes his political capital along with American power on an organization that is no longer meaningful or relevant.

The fact is that the UN has morphed into less of a force for good and more of a vehicle for malfeasance and unsavory agenda driven outcomes. The forces of evil are far more influential there on the shores of the Hudson than the interests of the greater good.

Obama is stuck in 1960's doctrine relative to the usefulness of such an awful institution. He cannot reinvent it and it will not respond positively to any American advocacy. The President is lost as often is the case in foreign affairs.

North Korea, Iran, Russia, China and a host of others will smile in his face while urinating on his shoes. Obama and his team are Utopians who are being played by state realists. He will not succeed.


North Korea Crisis Tests Obama's Reliance on U.N.
By JOE LAURIA

UNITED NATIONS -- The Security Council stalemate over North Korea's rocket launch is turning into an early test of the Obama administration's U.N.-focused multilateralism.
Six days after U.S. President Barack Obama called for swift punishment of North Korea, the Security Council hasn't acted.

While Japan is pressing for a quick response, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice has tried to downplay expectations of immediate progress.

China and Russia have resisted a draft Security Council resolution, put forth by the U.S. and Japan, that would at a minimum enforce military and financial sanctions imposed on North Korea after its underground nuclear weapons test in October 2006.

The sanctions were never fully implemented in deference to six-party talks among Russia, China, the U.S., Japan and the two Koreas to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons program. China and Russia say reviving the talks is the ultimate goal -- which shouldn't be jeopardized by punishment for the launch.

Pyongyang says its launch was an attempt to launch a satellite and not a U.N.-banned ballistic missile test as Washington contends. Before the launch, North Korea warned it wouldn't resume the six-party talks -- on hold since December -- if the Security Council acts against the country.
Japan's foreign minister arrived in New York on Thursday, saying he will join the U.N. negotiations for as long as necessary to break the stalemate.

For Mr. Obama, who pledged renewed reliance on the U.N. during his presidential campaign, the North Korean crisis presents hard choices, analysts say.

Among the possible scenarios they suggest are walking away from the U.N. and six-party talks, and working with Congress to punish North Korea with more U.S.-only sanctions. Or, President Obama might consider forcing Russia and China to veto or abstain on a resolution -- and risk Pyongyang abandoning negotiations. The president also could compromise with a watered-down U.N. statement that could save the talks but lose face.

U.S. officials declined to comment on the administration's thinking or on details of U.N. talks with Russia and China.

Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a liberal think tank, said Mr. Obama's foreign-policy team had "no illusions about how long this would take" with Russia and China. "They are looking for sustained collective action, not an immediate slap on the wrist," he said.

Ted Galen Carpenter, an analyst at the conservative Cato Institute, sees U.S. foreign policy reverting to "the style of the Clinton administration," which believed in operating multilaterally when possible and unilaterally when necessary. "For the Bush administration it was exactly the opposite," he added.

Bush-administration unilateralists, some analysts say, regarded the U.N. as an obstacle to American foreign policy.

Although thwarted in seeking U.N. backing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration proceeded anyway. But on North Korea, Bush officials went from a rejection of the six-party talks to a decision that multilateral participation was the only way to end Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons ambition.
Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Click to read the article and comments

Thailand declares emergency, cancels Asian summit

By MICHAEL CASEY
from the Associated Press
April 11, 2009

PATTAYA, Thailand – Thailand declared a state of emergency in the city hosting a summit of Asian leaders and canceled the event for security reasons Saturday after more than 1,000 anti-government protesters stormed the venue.

The leaders were being evacuated by helicopter from the seaside city of Pattaya to a nearby military airport, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Abhisit Vejjajiva, smashed through the glass doors of the convention hall and ran through the building, overturning tables, blowing horns, waving Thai flags and screaming, "Abhisit get out!

All the leaders were safe, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat. Nine leaders from Southeast Asian nations were in a nearby hotel on the convention grounds at the time the protesters broke in.

"The meeting cannot go on. We have to consider the security of the leaders," government spokesman Supachai Jaisamuth said. "The situation is too violent and it is a security concern for the leaders."

The chaos dealt a major blow to Abhisit, who has been trying to project an image of calm and normality since taking power in a parliamentary vote four months ago after a court dissolved the previous government for election fraud.

It also scuttles a chance for the 16 regional leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, to confer on ways to combat the global slump that has battered Asia's export-oriented economies. North Korea's recent rocket launch also was to be discussed at the weekend summit.

The protesters are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup. They say Abhisit was not elected by the people and should step down so new elections can be held.

"We want to tell Abhisit himself that this meeting cannot go on," protest leader Arisman Pongreungrong said after leading the mob into the convention hall.

Abhisit, who has repeatedly refused to step down, went on national television and declared a state of emergency in the area surrounding the summit.

"I am using my power as the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in the area of Pattaya and Chonburi," he said.

The decree gives the military the right to restore order, allows authorities to suspend civil liberties, bans public gatherings of more than five people and bars the media from reporting news that "causes panic."

Earlier, organizers said all morning meetings at the summit had been delayed after protesters blocked traffic around the hotels where delegates were staying and amid clashes between anti- and pro-government groups. There were unconfirmed reports of protesters carrying guns.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said two or three people were injured in the clashes and that authorities were investigating reports of shots fired and an explosion.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was scheduled to meet with the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday morning. That was to be followed by meetings between ASEAN leaders and the president of South Korea, and later with Japan's prime minister.

A breakfast meeting of the foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea was also canceled.

After the protesters broke into the convention hall, a reporter saw at least three people with cuts from the glass and blood on the floor.

Panitan said protesters have been warned that "very tough standards will be applied to them very soon."
Click to read the article

North Korea Better Watch It or Obama Will, Well He'll, You know...

President Pantywaist - there is a new surrender monkey on the block…

from Don Surber
April 10, 2009

Gerald Warner of the Times of London: “Watch out, France and Co, there is a new surrender monkey on the block…”

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t think Warner is too impressed with President Obama’s performance in Europe.

In fact, Warner pointed out that the world leaders in public lavished praise on the young president — and then did nothing for him in private.

Help in Afghanistan?

Warner wrote: “The One retired triumphant, having secured a massive contribution of 5,000 extra troops — all of them non-combatant, of course — which must really have put the wind up the Taliban, at the prospect of 5,000 more infidel cooks and bottle-washers swarming into the less hazardous regions of Afghanistan.”

That does free our troops from having to pull KP duty, I suppose.

But Warner’s real point is our president’s reaction to the North Korean missile launch was decidedly wanting: “President Pantywaist is hopping mad and he has a strategy to cut Kim down to size: he is going to slice $1.4bn off America’s missile defence programme, presumably on the calculation that Kim would feel it unsporting to hit a sitting duck, so that will spoil his fun.”

I let Warner use the British newspaper stylebook.

I must agree that at a time when we are squandering trillions on stimulus packages that are spooking investors, cutting any spending in Washington is like emptying the ocean by the spoonful.

President Pantywaist.

Wrote Garner: “Watch out, France and Co, there is a new surrender monkey on the block and, over the next four years, he will spectacularly sell out the interests of the West with every kind of liberal-delusionist initiative on nuclear disarmament and sitting down to negotiate with any power freak who wants to buy time to get a good ICBM fix on San Francisco, or wherever. If you thought the world was a tad unsafe with Dubya around, just wait until President Pantywaist gets into his stride.”
His column is here.
Click to go to Don Surber article

57% Wanted a Military Response to North Korea Missile Launch

57% Wanted Military Response to North Korea Missile Launch - It's too bad 52% decided to elect a coward for Commander in Chief!

from Rasmussen Reports

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North Korea’s missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose a military response while 28% are not sure.

North Korea defied international pressure and launched a missile last night. Officials from that country claim a satellite was placed in orbit. U.S. defense officials confirm that a missile was launched but that no object was placed in orbit.

"With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations,” President Obama said. (But he did NOTHING!)

The telephone survey was conducted Friday and Saturday, April 3-4, the two days immediately prior to North Korea’s launch. The question asked about a military response if North Korea actually did launch a long-range missile.

Support for a military response comes from 66% of Republicans, 52% of Democrats and 54% of those not affiliated with either major political party. There is no gender gap on the issue as a military response is favored by 57% of men and 57% of women.

Overall, 75% of voters say they’ve been closely following news stories about the possible launch. That figure includes 40% who’ve followed the news Very Closely.

Seventy-three percent (73%) are at least somewhat concerned that North Korea will use nuclear weapons against the United States. That’s up just a few points from 69% who held that view in October 2006. Prior to that survey, North Korea had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test.

Currently, 39% are Very Concerned about a possible nuclear attack from North Korea.
Just three percent (3%) of voters view North Korea as an ally while 46% say it’s an enemy.

Click to read the article

Satellite launch sparks conflicting claims

By Wang Linyan (China Daily)

2009-04-06

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Sunday it launched a satellite into orbit which was circling the Earth transmitting songs - but the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) said it had failed to enter orbit.

The "Taepodong-2" rocket was launched at 11:20 am local time (0220 GMT) from the East Sea Launch Ground in the east coast of the country, the DPRK's Korean Central News Agency said.

The "Kwangmyongsong-2" satellite was sent into orbit at 11:29 am local time (0229 GMT), the agency said.

But North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command officials issued a statement disputing any success.

"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan," the statement said. "The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan."

ROK Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said that Seoul had judged that the DPRK had failed to put its satellite launched into orbit, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

"Based on our judgment made so far, all first, second and third (stage) rockets fell into the ocean, and thus nothing has been put into orbit," Kyodo quoted Lee as telling a parliamentary session in Seoul.

US, ROK and Japanese officials - who monitored the launch from nearby warships and high-resolution spy satellite cameras - have said they suspect the DPRK was testing long-range ballistic missile technology that could be used to carry a nuclear warhead to Alaska or beyond.

The US insisted it was a missile launch, but the ROK, in a U-turn, said it was a satellite. Japan used "flying object" to describe it.

Click to read the article

N. Korea Threatens to Retaliate With 'Thunderbolt of Fire'

from Fox News.com
Thursday, April 02, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's military on Thursday threatened immediate retaliation if "even the slightest effort" is made to intercept a long-range rocket it has begun fueling and that it plans to launch in the next few days.

President Barack Obama warned the liftoff would be a "provocative act" that would generate a U.N. Security Council response, but North Korea's military threatened those who opposed the launch with a "thunderbolt of fire" if they interfered.

A Korean Central News Agency report made a veiled threat against the U.S. In an apparent reference to American warships that have reportedly set sail to monitor the launch, the Korean-language version of the report said: "The United States should immediately withdraw armed forces deployed if it does not want to receive damage."

An unidentified senior U.S. military official said Pyongyang has started to fuel the rocket, a move that indicates final preparations for the launch. Experts say the missile can be fired about three to four days after fueling begins.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying the North had moved a squadron of MiG-23 fighter jets to a base near the launch site in what appeared to be a response to Japan's deployment. Seoul's Defense Ministry declined to confirm the reports.

An English version said the U.S. forces could be hit in a retaliatory strike against Japan.

North Korea says it will send a communications satellite into orbit on a multistage rocket sometime from Saturday to Wednesday. The U.S., South Korea and Japan think the reclusive country is using the launch to test long-range missile technology; they've warned the move would violate a Security Council resolution banning the North from ballistic activity.

Regional powers have also begun to deploy ships to monitor the launch, and Japan is preparing to intercept any debris that might fall if the launch goes awry — moves that have prompted several threats of retaliation from Pyongyang, including one Thursday.

The North countered with its own warnings against any efforts to intercept the rocket, take the issue to the Security Council or even monitor the launch. It says its armed forces are at a high level of combat-readiness.

The North has said debris from the rocket could fall off Japan's northern coast, so Tokyo has deployed battleships with anti-missile systems to the area and set up Patriot missile interceptors. It says it has no intention of trying to shoot down the rocket itself.

"If Japan imprudently carries out an act of intercepting our peaceful satellite, our people's army will hand a thunderbolt of fire to not only interceptor means already deployed, but also key targets," said a report Thursday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency that quoted the general staff of its military.

Click to read the rest of the article

Obama Should Shoot Down North Korea’s Missile

photo of Aegis missile firing

The danger to America will multiply if Obama is perceived as weak and indecisive early on.

April 2, 2009
by Nicholas Guariglia

Vice President Biden once warned that the world would “test” Barack Obama. According to a multitude of reports, that slimy toad Kim Jong Il will be the first to take up the challenge. North Korea is preparing a launch of its Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which would constitute an unjustified provocation from North Korea, although it would be entirely consistent with Kim’s previous patterns of behavior.

Victor D. Cha, the former director for Asian affairs in Bush’s White House, describes these North Korean escalations as “coercive bargaining” in his 2003 book Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies. Cha explains:

These provocations are deliberate pinpricks — i.e., they fall short of all-out war but are serious enough to rattle the allies and raise concerns about escalation. Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo are thus manipulated into the awkward position of wanting to respond punitively to DPRK misbehavior, but are constrained by fears of provoking an unnecessary and costly larger conflict.

As a result, the allies usually issue a denouncement of the DPRK act, but still come to the negotiating table to reduce tensions. From Pyongyang’s perspective, the purpose of these provocations is not to win some military advantage but to create a crisis, disrupting the status quo and initiating a coercive bargaining process that eventuates in a new status quo on current or new negotiations more favorable to the North.

It is high time we stop playing Kim’s game. There is no better person than a new president — and no better time than an economic crisis — to take serious and swift action against such a tyrannical despot hell bent on nuclear proliferation.

In short, we should blow the North Korean missile out of the sky. Here’s why:

Struggling through an economic downturn, Americans are more worried and anxious about domestic issues. The world’s tyrants sense this and look on advantageously. Additionally, President Obama is perceived around the world as a borderline pacifist. His is not only a new, untested administration, but he himself is a new, inexperienced face on the international scene. (In case you’re wondering, the tyrants like that, too.)

Kim Jong Il no doubt feels more comfortable provoking Obama than he would have, say, John McCain. It should be President Obama’s mission, then, to force Kim out of his comfort zone by taking a hard line against Pyongyang. Standing up to North Korea in a brazen fashion would be unexpected at this time and would be unexpected from this administration. It would come as a surprise to Kim’s inner circle — and to dictators all over the globe — which is all the more reason why Obama should consider doing it.

But we shouldn’t hold our breath. Secretary of State Clinton has talked about a “response” to the looming missile launch and the “range of options available … in the wake” of such a provocation. Secretary of Defense Gates has said, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”

Nonsense. Admiral Timothy J. Keating, commander of PACOM, has explained in great detail the military’s capacities and capabilities. There are 18 U.S. Navy ships off the Korean peninsula with the Aegis missile defense system; Japanese and South Korean warships have the system, as well. Navy vessels with interceptor missiles are prepared to fire “on a moment’s notice,” according to Admiral Keating. “Should it look like something other than a satellite launch, we will be fully prepared to respond as the president directs. … Odds are very high that we’ll hit what we’re aiming at. This should be a source of great confidence and reassurance for our allies.”

Keating’s right. And have no doubt this is not a mere benign “satellite launch” — despite what Pyongyang claims. Missile experts from the Iranian theocracy are present at the launch site to “help” the North Koreans. Ahmadinejad has sent a letter to Kim, stressing the importance of cooperation in nuclear and missile technology. And remember, Pyongyang was caught red-handed in the A.Q. Khan black-market network and was also caught helping the Syrians with their nuclear program. Kim’s is a cash-strapped nation and his nuclear program is for export — in other words, for cash.

Even if the Obama administration, by some divine miracle, convinces Tehran to forgo its pursuit of atomic bombs and to embrace values derived from the Enlightenment, the mullahs can still ascertain a nuclear arsenal on a moment’s notice — with the appropriate intercontinental ballistic missile technology to go along with it — should the North Koreans make the price right. Therefore, stopping North Korea’s export business should be atop the list of our concerns.

In July 2006, the North Korean regime fired two Taepodong-2 missiles, both of which fell into the Sea of Japan minutes after their launch. Although it remained unclear at the time whether or not the test launch was a “success” for the regime, it still allowed Kim’s hermit enclave to perfect intercontinental ballistic missile capability. At the time, Bill Clinton’s former Pentagon chief William Perry and his assistant Ashton Carter actually recommended destroying North Korea’s missiles at their launch site.

Of course, no such action was taken. The result was an unpredictable dictatorship armed with nuclear weapons and capable of testing an ICBM, thereby violating international accords and threatening regional peace. The previous administration took no adequate measures to prevent the launch or to punish thereafter.

President Obama should not repeat this mistake. Unlike President Bush, he should shoot North Korea’s missile down — or, if he truly wants to send a message, blast the ICBM off the launch site before Kim is able to conduct the test.

Yes, risks are involved. A war on the peninsula would be disastrous. But I’m convinced action can be taken to stop North Korea’s proliferation racket and we can still walk back from the precipice of full-scale conflict with Pyongyang. It has been our inaction and inability to confront Kim Jong Il that has emboldened him to this extent and has brought us to this point.

Mr. Obama has made it known that he wants to champion diplomacy during his presidency. He can do that cause a great long-term service if he draws a line in the sand now. Future diplomacy with the North Koreans, with the Iranians, with the Palestinians — with whomever — will carry a lot more credibility in 2010, 2011, and 2012 should Obama prove himself to be no pushover in 2009.

This is a perfect opportunity. Obama should seize it.
Click to read the article

N.Korea to Crush Intercetors

N Korea to 'crush Interceptors

31/03/2009

Seoul - North Korea will view any interception by Japan of its satellite launch an aggressive act and respond as with its "most powerful military means", the communist state's news agency said on Tuesday.

If Japan dares to shoot down the satellite, the Korean Central News Agency said, "our military will consider it as gunfire from the war criminal Japan that signals a re-invasion 60 years after World War II".

The North Korean military will "mercilessly crush all interceptors... with our most powerful military means", it added.

The North has said it will launch a communications satellite some time between April 4-8. The United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

North Korea has warned that the first booster rocket would likely plunge into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) off Japan's northern Akita prefecture, while the second stage would drop into the Pacific between Japan and Hawaii.

Japan has deployed land- and sea-based anti-missile systems to try to bring down the rocket, should it start falling toward Japanese territory. The North has previously said it would regard a rocket interception as an act of war.

On Tuesday Japanese lawmakers passed a resolution denouncing the planned launch as a threat to peace in Northeast Asia.

Japan colonised Korea from 1910-45 and is regularly vilified by North Korea.

Click to go to the article

N.Korea Rodong Missiles Have Nuclear Warheads!

N. Korea miniaturized nuclear warheads for Rodong missiles

SEOUL
March 31, 2009
from KYODO News

The U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities have obtained information that North Korea has succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear bombs made using plutonium extracted from its Yongbyon nuclear complex, a senior analyst at an international research institute said Tuesday.

The intelligence circles have also obtained information that North Korea produced nuclear warheads that could be mounted on medium-range Rodong missiles and they were stored in two underground facilities in the northern part of the country, Daniel Pinkston, a senior analyst at the Seoul-based Northeast Asia office of International Crisis Group, told Kyodo News.
Click to go to the article

Gates: U.S. Not Prepared to Respond to North Korea Missile Launch

Photo of U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System

Why would the Secretary of Defense even say something like that?

Is it that 'we're not prepared to respond' or that 'Obama lacks the will to do so?' Which is it?

GATES SHOULD SUMBIT HIS RESIGNATION IMMEDIATELY

The defense secretary told "FOX News Sunday" that the United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from thumbing its nose at the international community by test-firing a long-range missile.

The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

Appearing on "FOX News Sunday," Gates said North Korea "probably will" fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: "And there's nothing we can do about it?"

"No," Gates answered, adding, "I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it."

Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is "fully prepared" to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.

The Obama administration has signaled it wants to scale back the deployment of a missile defense system that was initiated by former President George W. Bush. The White House is also talking about dropping plans for missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Gates lamented the futility of diplomatic efforts toward North Korea and Iran, another nation with nuclear ambitions. Despite the Obama administration's talk of ramping up diplomatic overtures toward Tehran, Gates was pessimistic about that strategy.

"Frankly, from my perspective, the opportunity for success is probably more in economic sanctions in both places than it is in diplomacy," Gates said. "What gets them to the table is economic sanctions."

Click to read the rest of the article

Mr. Obama: Shoot That Missile Down!

North Korea launch threatens to undo disarmament talks (as if they weren't already dead in the water)


from Yahoo News
By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's plans to launch a rocket as early as this week in defiance of warnings threatens to undo years of fitful negotiations toward dismantling the regime's nuclear program.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan have told the North that any rocket launch — whether it's a satellite or a long-range missile — would violate a 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from any ballistic activity, and could draw sanctions.

North Korea said sanctions would violate the spirit of disarmament agreements, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its sovereign right to send a satellite into space.

"Even a single word critical of the launch" from the Security Council will be regarded as a "blatant hostile act," a spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday, according the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. "All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken."

That would be a sharp reversal from June 2008 when the North made a promising move toward disarmament, dramatically blowing up a cooling reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
But the regime routinely backtracks on agreements, refuses to abide by international rules and wields its nuclear program like a weapon when it needs to win concessions from Washington or Seoul, analysts say.

"History has shown them that the more provocative they are, the more attention they get. The more attention they get, the more they're offered," Peter M. Beck, a Korean affairs expert who teaches at American University in Washington and Yonsei University in Seoul, said Sunday.

Despite years of negotiations and impoverished North Korea's growing need for outside help, it's clear the talks have done little to curb the regime's drive to build — and sell — its atomic arsenal, experts say.

"If this is Kim Jong Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday."

North Korea, a notoriously secretive country, has been challenging the international community with its atomic ambitions since 1993, when the regime briefly quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid suspicions it was secretly developing atomic weapons.

In 1994, North Korea and the U.S. worked out an agreement that promised Pyongyang oil and two light water nuclear reactors if the country would give up its nuclear ambitions. The power-generating reactors cannot be easily used to make bombs.

Four years later, North Korea fired a multistage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The North pledged in 1999 to freeze long-range missile tests, but later threatened to restart its nuclear program and resume testing missiles amid delays in construction of the reactors.

In 2002, Pyongyang admitted to a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement, prompting the U.S., Japan and South Korea to halt oil supplies promised as part of the pact. The North withdrew again from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, and announced it had reactivated its nuclear power facilities.

That August, six nations — the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. — began negotiations on disarmament now known as the "six-party talks," eventually resulting in a landmark accord on Sept. 19, 2005. The agreement called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for economic aid, diplomatic recognition and a security guarantee from Washington.

As the talks continued in fits and starts, the North in 2006 carried out a surprise 5 a.m. test-fire of six missiles, including its Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which U.S. and South Korean officials believe has the potential to strike Alaska.

The rocket fizzled just 42 seconds after takeoff but the launch, denounced as "provocative" by Washington, angered even North Korea's longtime ally and main donor, China, which agreed to a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Resolution 1695 condemning the move.

Later that year, an underground nuclear test prompted U.N. Resolution 1718, which bans the North from any ballistic activity. The U.S., South Korea and Japan say that sending satellites into space since the technology for launching a satellite and a missile are virtually the same.
By February, Pyongyang agreed to concrete steps toward disarmament: disabling its main nuclear facilities in exchange for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other concessions. Disablement began that November.

But the North halted the process in 2008 amid a dispute with Washington over how to verify its 18,000-page account of past atomic activities. The last round of talks — in December 2008, weeks before President Barack Obama moved into the White House — made little apparent progress.

Analysts speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was holding out for talks with Obama. But in forming its North Korea policy, the fledgling Obama administration has made it clear it will work through the six-party process.

The rocket launch scheduled for April 4-8, at a time when Pyongyang has custody of two American reporters detained March 17 at North Korea's border with China, could provide the opening North Korea needs to force direct talks with Washington, analysts said.

"The timing couldn't be better for North Korea. It strengthens the North's bargaining position with the U.S. in dealing with the nuclear issue. They can try to link these two issues in some way," said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group.

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kwang-tae Kim contributed to this report.
Click to read the rest of the article

Kim Jong-il - Watch The Evening News!

Timely BMD Test: Aegis Downs 2 Missiles Off California

As North Korea nears the brink with the scheduled launch of its longest range ballistic missile, the Aegis destroyer USS Benfold achieved another first for US missile defense --- successful simultaneous intercepts of a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) and a cruise missile:

During the event, Benfold's Aegis Weapons System successfully detected and intercepted a cruise missile target with a SM-2 BLK IIIA, while simultaneously detecting and intercepting an incoming short range ballistic missile (SRBM) target with a modified SM-2 BLK IV. This is the first time the fleet has successfully tested the Aegis system's ability to intercept both an SRBM in terminal phase and a low-altitude cruise missile target at the same time.

While this SM-2 test did not demonstrate the capability to intercept an ICBM (that's the job of larger SM-3's), it once again showed the Navy's skill at fleet protection against Scuds and cruise missiles, the original mission of Aegis.

Combine North Korea's historical tendency to salvo multiple shorter range missiles in tandem with its long range Taepodong tests (as it did in both 1998 and 2006) with the very busy naval action in the Sea of Japan (South Korean, Japanese and US Aegis fleets moving into position) and this successful test could not be more timely.
Click to read the rest of the article

North Korea Warns The World

North Korea readies missile, makes new threat

from Reuters
By Jonathan Thatcher
March 27, 2009

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday that if the international community punishes it for next month's planned missile launch it will restart a nuclear plant that makes weapons grade plutonium.

The secretive state this week put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for past weapons tests.

The planned launch, seen by some countries as a disguised military exercise, is the first big test for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the prickly North, whose efforts to build a nuclear arsenal have long plagued ties with Washington.

North Korea warned that any action by the U.N. Security Council to punish it would be a "hostile act."

"... All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ... will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken, "the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official KCNA news agency.
Click to read the rest of the article

The Stench of Incompetence

Hillary Clinton: "US Has No Plans To Intercept North Korean Missile"

from Closing Velocity
March 27, 2009

Well, that's that:

The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Jill Dougherty, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch.

It's rare I get to say this, but I told you so.

Perhaps it never dawned on Hillary and Obama that the very threat of intercepting the North Korean missile may have very well kept the thing on the ground. And perhaps she could have played coy with CNN and just silently left a menacing arrow in her diplomatic quiver. But she didn't.

Excellent work, Hillary.

Cick to go to the article

Japan readies N.Korean rocket launch response

from Reuters

March 25, 2009

TOKYO (AFP) — The Japanese government's powerful security council will meet this week to prepare for the shooting down of a North Korean rocket if it threatens to hit the country, the premier said on Wednesday.

The isolated Pyongyang regime has said it will launch a communications satellite over Japanese territory in early April, but the United States and its Asian allies suspect the launch is a ballistic missile test.

Tokyo, which has developed a missile defence system with the United States in recent years, has warned it will attempt to shoot down any missile or debris that threatens to hit its territory.

North Korea, which has announced a launch window of April 4 to 8, says it would regard a rocket intercept as an act of war.

To prepare for the launch, "the government will summon the security council this week," said Prime Minister Taro Aso. "It is the government's obvious duty to prepare to the best standard so people don't have to worry."

Japan's security council includes the premier, chief cabinet secretary, defence and foreign ministers as well as other cabinet ministers.

It will decide how to respond to a North Korean launch -- either the cabinet would make an instant decision after any missile lifts off or it could give the military approval in advance to shoot it down.

The government will likely choose the latter option, said Kyodo News and Asahi Shimbun daily reports, which added that Tokyo will likely issue an order Friday for its armed forces to prepare to intercept the rocket.

Click to read the rest of the article

North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war

Reuters News Agency
from the Ottawa Citizen
March 24, 2009

SEOUL - North Korea said on Tuesday any attempt by the UN Security Council to punish it for trying to put a satellite in space would mean the collapse of international disarmament talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme.

North Korea has said it would launch a satellite between April 4 and 8. Regional powers see the launch as a disguised test of its longest-range missile and a violation of UN sanctions forbidding the reclusive state from firing ballistic missiles.

"It is perversity to say satellite launch technology cannot be distinguished from a long-range missile technology and so must be dealt with by the UN Security Council, which is like saying a kitchen knife is no different from a bayonet," state media quoted a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

The unidentified spokesman said "such an act of hostility" would be in defiance of the Sept. 19 joint statement, a disarmament-for-aid deal the impoverished North reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

"If the Sept. 19 joint statement is nullified, there will be neither the foundation nor the meaning for the existence of the six-party talks," the spokesman said.

North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket’s planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.

Analysts said the notice was given to help the North argue the rocket launch does not violate UN sanctions put in place after it test-launched a series of missiles in 2006.

South Korea, Japan and the United States have all said they want to press sanctions against the North for a launch and see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile launch because they use the same rocket — called the Taepodong-2.

"ACT OF WAR"

Japan may deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers, capable of shooting down missiles, to waters between North Korea and Japan, Japanese media have said. The United States also has naval ships deployed in Asia that can intercept missiles.

North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war.

Japan’s foreign minister said it would be difficult to intercept debris falling from the rocket.

"Our country has not done this before. We don’t know how or where it will fly," Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters.

The first and only time the North test-launched the Taepodong-2 in 2006, it fizzled shortly into flight and blew apart after about 40 seconds.
Click to read the entire article