Gates has an epiphany on missile defense budget cuts

This is a great article. Too bad Gates is being reactive instead of proactiive. Closing Velocity is always finding information like this that you don't see in the Maimed Stream Media. Obama doesn't want to be accused of taking a mulligan.
Rees

from Closing Velocity
June 02, 2009

Gates At Greely: Saaaaay, On Second Thought, Maybe These GBIs ARE A Good Idea

Gates Inspects a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) at Fort Greely, Alaska (photo credit)

As the ballistic missile threat to the US crisply materializes by the second, Secretary of Defense Gates begins to doubt his and Obama's spectacularly ill-tilled budget cuts to missile defense:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not ruled out pumping more funds into the nation's anti-missile defense budget if North Korea threatens the United States.

Gates was visiting Fort Greely which houses parts of the US anti-missile defense shield -- a land-based system with about 20 interceptors -- and said of Pyongyang that its "behavior has certainly alarmed people."

In the past Gates proposed slicing a billion dollars off the anti-missile system budget and freezing the development of interceptors at 30, instead of the 44 originally planned. But he indicated he might re-examine his proposal.

"My recommendation to the president was for the fiscal year 2010 budget, it's not a forever decision," the defense secretary said.

"And if capabilities in one of these rogue states should develop faster, or on a more worrisome way than anybody anticipates right now, then I think the way is opened in the future to add to the number of silos and interceptors up here."

Good thing it only took hectic North Korean missile and nuclear weapons testing to make Gates reconsider his stance. Geez.
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North Korea thumbs its nose at Obama

N. Korea tells the U.S. to change policy

from The Korea Herald
May 17, 2009

North Korea will not come back to the negotiation table unless the United States and South Korea give up their "hostile policy" toward the communist nation, North Korean state media said Sunday, according to Yonhap News.

"No matter what nonsense the Lee group may say under the clutches of the U.S., the DPRK remains unchanged in its determination and declaration made to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the nation," North Korea's Cabinet newspaper, the Minju Joson, said in a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

It also said the North will never attend the six-party talks aiming to end Pyongyang's nuclear program, and will strengthen its nuclear power no matter what other nations have agreed in the six-party talks that also include the U.S., China and South Korea.

Since its rocket launch last month, the North has pledged to carry out its second nuclear test despite U.N. sanctions. It has also threatened to shut down an industrial complex run jointly with the South, a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation achieved by former liberal South Korean governments.
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Iran keeps pace with North Korea, plans a second, bigger satellite launch

DEBKAfile Special Report
April 14, 2009

As North Korea reactivated its nuclear weapons facilities in defiance of UN resolutions, Tuesday, April 14, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinjad announced plans to send a second satellite into space, this one on a rocket with a range of 1,500 km.

The launch of its first home-made satellite Omid in February, ostensibly for "peaceful telecommunications," demonstrated Tehran's acquisition of long-range ballistic technology usable for delivering nuclear warheads. Addressing students, Ahmadinejad said that the next satellite would be bigger than Omid and have a longer range.

Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea was expelling its inspectors and reactivating all its nuclear facilities in retaliation for the unanimous UN Security Council's unanimous condemnation Monday of its long-range Taepodong 2 missile launch last week. Pyongyang also announced its withdrawal from the six-power talks on its nuclear program. The White House again called on North Korea to cease "its provocative threats."

Adopting a more lenient stance, the Obama administration and European powers were disclosed by DEBKAfile last week as considering dropping their longstanding demand for Tehran to shut down uranium enrichment as a pre-condition for negotiations on its nuclear program.

Clearly, both North Korea and Iran are moving ahead on parallel courses with their military nuclear programs, impervious to Western condemnation (of North Korea) or concessions (to Tehran) for the sake of diplomatic engagement.

Their courses undoubtedly intersect. Of late, several Western intelligence organizations are investigating whether a ship that travelled from North Korea to Iran last December had several dozen tons of enriched uranium hidden in its cargo. Some intelligence officials suspect an effort to hide traces of the highly enriched uranium (HEU) program to develop nuclear weapons, which the US believes North Korea is secretly pursuing.

If confirmed, North Korea's transfer of the materials to Iran would only add to rising proliferation concerns stirred by the country's long-range missile launch last week.

Iran is conducting low-level enrichment for use in nuclear power plants under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency. "The bulk of the (transferred) materials appears to be medium-level enriched uranium," the source said. "It could be further enriched to weapons grade in Iranian facilities."
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North Korea Expelling Nuclear Inspectors

from Sky News
Tuesday April 14, 2009

North Korea is expelling the UN's nuclear inspectors and has vowed to reactivate its nuclear reactor, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said

Pyongyang told the monitors to remove seals and cameras from the Yongbyon site, which makes bomb-grade plutonium, and leave the country as quickly as possible.

It also said it was ceasing all cooperation with the energy agency, which is the UN's nuclear watchdog.

North Korea's move came after it declared it would leave six-party talks on scrapping its nuclear programme.

The communist state has faced heavy criticism after recently launching a long-range rocket which some believe was a disguised ballistic missile test.

Pyongyang said the rocket was carrying a satellite and the mission was peaceful.

After news of the expulsions, the United States called on North Korea to "cease its provocative threats" and respect the will of the international community by honouring its international commitments.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Il

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Pyongyang's vow to restart its nuclear reactor and boycott international disarmament talks is a serious step in the wrong direction.

Britain's Foreign Office said North Korea's decision to cease co-operation with the watchdog was "completely unjustified".

It urged the country not to pull out of the so-called six-party talks with the US, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.

On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the rocket firing on April 5. It said it contravened a UN ban and demanded enforcement of existing sanctions against the country.

UN nuclear watchdog spokesman, Marc Vidricaire, said the small inspection team had been ordered out of the country "at the earliest possible time".

He said: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has today informed IAEA inspectors in the Yongbyon facility that it is immediately ceasing all cooperation with the IAEA.

"It has requested the removal of all containment and surveillance equipment, following which IAEA inspectors will no longer be provided access to the facility."

He added: "The (North) also informed the IAEA that it has decided to reactivate all facilities and go ahead with the reprocessing of spent fuel."
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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.
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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."

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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.
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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.
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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.

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