Yeah, turns out she’s a fan of Chairman Mao….yep, that Chairman Mao.

Exit question: How can anyone be a fan of Chairman Mao…the guy who killed upwards of 70 million people?

h/t – Missy in the comments.

Today, multiple papers are reporting a combined attack, and this time…it IS an outright attack on the United States-not a mere probe.

Official: N. Korea believed behind cyber attacks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces in South Korea committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. Web sites, a lawmaker’s aide said Wednesday.

The sites of 11 South Korean organizations including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency. Agency spokeswoman Ahn Jeong-eun said 11 U.S. sites suffered similar problems.

Governments hit by cyber attack

A widespread computer attack has hit several US government agencies while some South Korean government websites also appear to be affected.

The US Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department were all hit by the attack that started on July 4.
…
The attack slowed down and, in some cases, shut government websites, including the site of the presidential office, for several hours.

President Obama hasn’t commented on having his website shut down by the North Koreans, but one can expect yet another “stern warning” like the twelve warnings NKorea got after they fired missiles, launched an ICBM, tested a nuke, threatened the entire United Nations, and declared the half century armistice as over.

On a more serious note, this is clear evidence that North Korea, China, and Russia are working together closely-even while President Obama is actually IN RUSSIA.

(from earlier)
Spies ‘infiltrate US power grid’

The WSJ reported that the intruders had not sought to damage the power grid or any other key infrastructure so far, but suggested they could change their approach in the event of a crisis or war.
US government computer
A report last year said China had been accessing sensitive US databases

Security watchers said that, if true, the involvement of the Chinese and Russians in such a scenario would show they were strategically thinking about how either to constrain the US or to inflict more damage if they felt a need to do so.

“I think that China recognises if in a very strategic sense you want to ensure you have the ability to exploit another country’s potential weakness or vulnerability, but do it in a way that isn’t confrontational or cause an international crisis, then this is a very good way of doing that,” Eric Rosenbach, of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center, told Reuters news agency.

The motives behind these potential attacks are undoubtedly military or political in nature, said Tim Mather, chief security strategist for the RSA Conference, the world’s biggest security event.

He told the BBC: “These countries are not doing this willy-nilly. There is a tactical reason for all of this and no doubt tied to a longer term strategic plan which is gosh if they need to jerk the chain of the US, then this is the way to do it.

“This is like having an ace in the hole for the Chinese or Russians, just in case,” said Mr Mather.

China has asked rather politely, that the U.S. maintain its creditworthiness. No kidding? That plea was less a wish that the U.S. not skip town on its debt (devalue the dollar dramatically), than it was a declaration of a deep desire for a return to excessive U.S. borrowing. When the U.S. borrowed, it bought. When it bought, China prospered. This is rather basic, however, what is not so evident, or obvious to many pundits and experts, it seems, is the fact that China became inebriated through the glory days of consumerism. China now suffers the consequences of its acquiescence to a surety that the intoxicating euphoria enjoyed around the globe for a generation, would never end.

China understood that to become America’s principal provider of goods, it had to manufacture less expensively than anyone else. China excelled at squeezing productivity out of its labor force. It rapidly implemented a sweeping expansion of the necessary infrastructure to manufacture products faster, better (sometimes), and cheaper (always). New plants sprouted at an unprecedented rate. China’s expansion of its machine was based on an enormous assumption – the rate of growth it was enjoying through exports would continue unabated. It is now shutting down plants faster than it opened them. The capacity that was preparing for demand twenty years out, is now shutting down, and the Chinese are not about to ramp up their own consumption to energize reopening of the plants. While China has become a major manufacturer, the majority of its manufacturing is for, and on behalf of foreigners, selling established brands. China’s authoritarian “system” has made the creation and recognition of its own brands, all but impossible.

American consumers are not returning to the binge behavior of the past twenty years, although their ambivalence on trade with Asia persists. As for China, it focused on creating trade surpluses, and it adroitly squeezed its workers, but it did not prepare them, or its industries for broad based consumption. It has not created a self-sustaining, stable economic environment. China will dip into its coffers to stimulate internal employment, spending on infrastructure, or investing in what it knows best – export industries. Endeavoring to attract foreign investments, China will claim improvements in efficiencies, forensics, accountability and accounting practices of its indigenous infrastructure. The claims are beyond its ability to deliver. Until such critical elements as property rights, or a welfare breadbasket are implemented through appropriate taxation, Chinese consumers will be more prone to save, as they must individually concern themselves with how to pay for tomorrow’s meals.

Any cash China spends outside will go to acquiring natural resource producers for pennies on the dollar in the present climate, and countries, including Canada will be happy to sell out. This will do absolutely nothing for the long-term health of the North American economy.

There are currently foreign reserves of around $7.5 trillion held around the world with particular concentration of dollars held in East Asia, where since the late 1990s there was perceived need to protect against currency speculations, and a tendency, no, make that urgency, to feed (finance) the American engine driving China’s growth. We should note that the size of China’s reserve accumulations have, in the past couple of years, attracted the very speculation they sought to themselves protect from, which has further accelerated the bloating imbalance. The size of China’s dollar reserves forces a tentative, even precarious, equanimity between the U.S. and China, but it is a potent equilibrium nonetheless. It will be a long road traveled before China finds sustainable balance in savings, consumption, exports, and internally stimulated (broad based) investment. It will also be a long wait before we witness demonstrations of international responsibility emerging out of China. Until then, China will continue to flex its new-found influence to push for such things as an independent currency a few degrees removed from the dollar.

The world’s economic history has been fueled by leaps from one bubble to the next, but the current recession may have a long wait for the next bubble of consequence that will yank the world out of the doldrums. Whatever its form, it is not likely to come out of the less than transparent, state owned, and controlled economy of communist China. China has created a massive middle class in a single generation, but it has yet to empower it. China will not soon be supplanting Americans, or Europeans, in the mall line-ups yearning for China-made-American-invented-branded-and-engineered products. American consumers are unconsciously pushing back the clock on that empowerment of the Chinese middle class through their dramatic behavior modification of the past year. Like it or not, global economic stability will for the foreseeable future depend on the West, and very particularly on America.

Crossposted from The Pacific Gate Post

Just when you thought they couldn’t do anything more idiotic, they prove us wrong:

The Obama administration is nearing agreement with the remote South Pacific island nation of Palau to resettle a group of Chinese Muslims now held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, The Associated Press has learned.

As they attempt to fulfill President Barack Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo facility by early next year, administration officials are looking to Palau to accept some or all of the 17 Uighur detainees due to fierce congressional opposition to releasing them on U.S. soil, officials said.

~~~

Asked Tuesday about discussions with Palau on the Uighurs, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly declined to comment beyond saying the United States is “working closely with our friends and allies regarding resettlement” of detainees at Guantanamo. He said the department would not comment on talks with individual countries.

Two of the officials said the United States was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

Hmmmm, almost sounds like a threat to me. Take the AQ members or we defend you no more.

The island itself has a population of 21,000 and as already noted, it’s main trade is tourism. Think that could be a problem? Especially seeing as how these are Muslims who wanted to break away from China to form a land where Muslims could resettle. Oh, and as Ed Morrissey notes, there are few Muslim inhabitants in the country. 17 trained fanatical Islamic terrorists settled into a country with few Muslims who want a land to call their own.

Whoa boy.

Last thought. Aren’t we in a economic crisis? Sending 200 million to a country to take terrorists we captured is just one more in a long line of mis-steps by this administration.

Well, as Mike wrote about earlier we can see how well that “good” judgment has worked out so far:

North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out a second underground nuclear test, less than two months after launching a rocket widely believed to be a test of its long-range missile technology.

John Bolton predicted this a few days ago:

The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, “North Korea Outwits the United States.” Despite Kim Jong Il’s explicit threats of another nuclear test, U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth said last week that the Obama administration is “relatively relaxed” and that “there is not a sense of crisis.” They’re certainly smiling in Pyongyang.

And what does Obama do?

Today, North Korea said that it has conducted a nuclear test in violation of international law. It appears to also have attempted a short range missile launch. These actions, while not a surprise given its statements and actions to date, are a matter of grave concern to all nations. North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons, as well as its ballistic missile program, constitute a threat to international peace and security.

By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation. It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community. We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the U.N. Security Council in the days ahead.

Warrants action huh? Judging by your “good” judgment so far I’m guessing that’s going to be a stern lecture via the UN. I’m sure Russia and China will go along with that.

Nope….the days of using the UN to accomplish anything has been over for sometime but we know Obama’s history, what little there is of it, and that is the only tool he will use….unsuccessfully. He has no backbone, and no stomach to be ill thought of by the world, the days of the paper tiger have come back, and our allies know it:

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese ruling party panel is to propose that pre-emptive strikes against enemy bases be allowed despite the country’s pacifist constitution, Kyodo news agency said on Monday, weeks after a North Korean missile launch.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile in April that flew over northern Japan after warning that it planned to launch a satellite, prompting the government to deploy missile interceptors to the area .

” Japan should have the ability to strike enemy bases within the scope of its defence-oriented policy, in order not to sit and wait for death,” Kyodo quoted the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) committee as saying in its proposal.

Thanks lefties……you helped to elect a totally inexperience community organizer as our President during the 2nd inning of a war on terror. But what do they do when the heat starts getting turned up? Why they make excuses.

Bolton:

…Iran and other aspiring nuclear proliferators will draw precisely the same conclusion: Negotiations like the six-party talks are a charade and reflect a continuing collapse of American resolve. U.S. acquiescence in a second North Korean nuclear test will likely mean that Tehran will adopt Pyongyang’s successful strategy.

It’s time for the Obama administration to finally put down Kim Jong Il’s script. If not, we better get ready for Iran — and others — to go nuclear.

What a laugh….Obama put down the script of Kim Jong Il! Face it, with this man at the helm there is no more getting ready for a nuclear armed Iran, it WILL happen.

“2. Demands that the DPRK not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile;”

But they went ahead and launched a missile anyways and what does the UN do? The same crap they did with Saddam….talk talk talk talk and more talk….and then nada, zip, zilch. NOTHING!

An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council concluded Sunday without an official reaction to North Korea ignoring repeated international warnings and launching a long-range rocket, the council president told reporters.

“Consultations will go on among members to see what is the appropriate position that the council will take,” said Claude Heller, the current Security Council president, and Mexico’s U.N. ambassador. When the council would reconvene wasn’t clear, but Heller said it would be “as soon as possible.”

“I think that there is a very strong call for dialogue, to reconvene, and I think there is consensus in saying that the Security Council regretted the government of [North Korea] disregarded the call by [the] international community to suspend the launching,” he said.

What does Obama want to do? Well, after some tough talk:

“Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now’s the time for a strong international response,” the president said during a speech before a huge crowd in Prague.

(kinda like the rules from 13 resolutions against Iraq eh?)

He wants……wait for it…….another resolution:

“The launch constituted a clear-cut violation” of the resolution, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. North Korea’s action “merits a clear, strong response” and in the U.S. view, that would come in the form of a council resolution, Rice said.

Pathetic with a capitol P.

Meanwhile Bolton has some strong words:

Prior to North Korea’s launch yesterday of a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, President Barack Obama declared that such an action would be “provocative.” This public statement was an attempt to reinforce the administration’s private efforts to urge the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) not to fire the missile.

That effort failed, as have countless other attempts to deal softly with Pyongyang. Incredibly, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth revealed — just a few days before the launch — that he was ready to visit Pyongyang and resume the six-party talks once the “dust from the missiles settles.” It is no wonder the North fired away.

Once the missile shot was complete, the administration’s answer was hand-wringing, more rhetoric and, oh yes, the obligatory trip to the U.N. Security Council so that it could scold the defiant DPRK. Beyond whatever happens in the Security Council, Mr. Obama seems to have no plan whatever.

In 2006, when Pyongyang last lit off a volley of missiles and then exploded a nuclear device, the Security Council responded unanimously with Resolutions 1695 and 1718, which imposed extensive military and some economic sanctions. Unfortunately, the impact of these resolutions was dramatically undercut by subsequent Bush administration diplomacy, which effectively let North Korea off the hook. By re-engaging Pyongyang diplomatically rather than increasing the external pressure, George W. Bush relegitimized the North and gave it yet more time to bargain.

Yesterday’s launch is attributable to prior failures, but the global consequences now unfolding are Mr. Obama’s responsibility. In fact, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is expected to announce today deep cuts in the U.S. missile defense program, an extraordinarily ill-advised step.

The initial draft Security Council resolution responding to yesterday’s missile launch, written by Japan and the U.S., is weak. It essentially only reaffirms Resolutions 1695 and 1718, and minimally tightens existing enforcement mechanisms. Moreover, China and Russia made it plain before the launch they had no interest in stricter sanctions — even arguing with a straight face that Pyongyang was only interested in peaceful satellite communications.

He scolds Bush as well as Obama….rightly so. No negotiations should have resumed, but now the North Koreans have launched their longest flying missile to date and it’s Obama’s crisis to solve. And so far it’s just more of the same. At least with Bush the world knew he was capable of pulling the trigger. Not so with this weak gollum we have in the White House today

Iran has carefully scrutinized the Obama administration’s every action, and Tehran’s only conclusion can be: It is past time to torque up the pressure on this new crowd in Washington. Not only is Iran’s back now covered by its friends Russia, China and others on the U.N. Security Council, but it sees an American president so ready to bend his knee for public favor in Europe that the mullahs’ wish list for U.S. concessions will grow by the minute.

Israel must also be carefully considering how the U.S. watched North Korea rip through “the international community.” The most important lesson the new government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should draw is: Look out for No. 1. If Israel isn’t prepared to protect itself, including using military force, against Iran’s nuclear weapons program, it certainly shouldn’t be holding its breath for Mr. Obama to do anything.

Russia and China must also be relishing this outcome. They will have faced down Mr. Obama in his first real crisis, having provided Security Council cover for a criminal regime, and emerged unscathed.

Well, as Biden said would happen….Obama has been tested and failed completely.

UPDATE

Brian T. Kennedy at The Corner:

…does anyone seriously think it is possible that the North Korean missile test was not designed to embarrass Mr. Obama? While he is preening about a world without nuclear weapons, and beginning his justification for doing away with our rudimentary missile defense systems, the North Koreans launch a missile that further demonstrates their intention of being able to attack the United States or Japan.

The Chinese vessels involved were one Navy intelligence collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries Patrol Vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel ,and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers.

The Pentagon reports that five Chinese vessels stalked the USNS Impeccable while in international waters… approaching within 25-50 feet of the ships hull, moving into it’s path, attempting to snag the LF sonar equiment, and throwing debris into the water.

The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of “increasingly aggressive conduct” in the past week.

During the incident, five Chinese vessels “shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters,” the Pentagon said in a written statement.

The crew members aboard the vessels, two of which were within 50 feet, waved Chinese flags and told the U.S. ship to leave the area, the statement said.

“Because the vessels’ intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself,” the statement said. “The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet.”

After the Impeccable alerted the Chinese ships “in a friendly manner” that it was seeking a safe path to depart the area, two of the Chinese ships stopped “directly ahead of USNS Impeccable, forcing Impeccable to conduct an emergency ‘all stop’ in order to avoid collision,” the statement said.

“They dropped pieces of wood in the water directly in front of Impeccable’s path.”

The Pentagon reports this is one of the most aggressive incidents they’ve seen in some time, and the US Embassy in Beijing lodged a formal protest with the Chinese government. The Chinese have refused comments.

This is the third of similar incidents over the past week.

The Pentagon cited three previous instances of what it described as harassment, the first of which occurred Wednesday, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the the ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious.

In that incident, which occurred about 125 miles from China’s coast in the Yellow Sea, the Chinese ship “crossed Victorious’ bow at a range of about 1,400 yards” in darkness without notice or warning. The following day, a Chinese Y-12 maritime surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys of Victorious at an altitude of about 400 feet and a range of 500 yards.

The next day, a Chinese frigate approached Impeccable “and proceeded to cross its bow at a range of approximately 100 yards,” which was followed less than two hours later by a Chinese Y-12 aircraft conducting 11 fly-bys of Impeccable at an altitude of 600 feet and a range of 100 to 300 feet, the statement said.

“The frigate then crossed Impeccable’s bow yet again, this time at a range of approximately 400-500 yards without rendering courtesy or notice of her intentions.”

And on Saturday, a Chinese intelligence collection ship challenged Impeccable over bridge-to-bridge radio, “calling her operations illegal and directing Impeccable to leave the area or ’suffer the consequences,’ ” the statement said.

The USNS Impeccable is an Ocean Surveillance Ship, part of the Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) Special Mission Ships Program. Most special mission ships are operated by civilian mariners who work for private companies under contract to MSC. The Impeccable, launched in 1998, and delivered to the Navy in 2001, deploys LF passive sonar while underway, requiring a combined crew of merchant marines, surveillance towed array sensor system operations (SOC) technicians, and U.S. Navy sonar technicians.

The merchant marines operate, navigate and provide all the maintenance of the ship while the SOC techs are responsible for the sonar itself. They handle the maintenance of the sonar and the operational equipment that the Navy sonar technicians use to gather the data.

Ocean Surveillance ships’ missions work in accordance with the Navy’s Sea Shield initiative by sustaining access for maritime trade, coalition building, and military operations. One of six programs of the ONR Future Naval Capability (FNC) program, the Sea Shield focuses on missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures and fleet/force protection technologies that support projecting global defensive assurance… and their main tasks are to identify and track undersea threats.

At the time of the incident, the Impeccable was sited about 75 miles south of Hainan, China… well outside any possible claim by China for territorial waters.

As the US economy remains fragile, and the Obama administration’s lofty ambitions require vast spending and borrowed money, I expect we can see increased flexing of Chinese muscles in our future.