Love at First Sight
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) greets Venezualan President Hugo Chavez in Tehran July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN)
At this point, they are still in the planning stages, with Chavez explaining, “not to worry, folks”:
“I say it before the world: Venezuela is going to start the process of developing nuclear energy, but we’re not going to make an atomic bomb, so don’t be bothering us afterward … (with) something like what they have against Iran,” Chavez said Sunday. Read the rest of this entry »
President Obama has chosen to continue President Bush’s policies regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He’s “tried” to talk to Iran but it’s not like he’s flown there himself to really reach out. President Clinton flew to North Korea and actually accomplished more than President Obama has. And with that…how are the hated Bush policies viewed by Americans (albeit with a different face marketing them)?
President Obama is worthy of admiration for his efforts to improve relations with America’s adversaries Iran, North Korea and a few others. But for most of those states, it’s time to give it up, and the Obama administration appears to realize that.
I agree. There’s no point in trying carrots or stick diplomacy with Iran or North Korea. Diplomacy has failed. I do wonder, however, how the writer plans to deal w NKorea’s nukes and Iran’s nukes+terrorist ties? Just live with it, and wait for something to go wrong/hope that “sane” people like Kim and Ahmadinejad can be trusted w nuclear weapons? Or is the writer advocating support for military action since it’s obvious that Iran and NKorea cannot be trusted w nuclear weapons, and obvious that diplomacy has failed.
So what is it? Now that we’ve established the long-held “neocon” claim that diplomacy w NKorea and Iran isn’t possible-what is it? Read the rest of this entry »
A few days ago, I read this article “Spies ‘infiltrate US power grid’ “, and I thought, “Wow, that’s hardly a surprise,” but I blew it off. I disregarded it-not because Michael Jackson’s funeral was on TV, or because I was preparing/partying/recovering from 3 days of straight BBQ party for the Fourth of July. No, I blew it off because we all suspected this kind of thing was always happening, always possible, and it’s like the threat of nuclear war: awful, not something one wants to think about, and we kind of already know the consequences.
Today, multiple papers are reporting a combined attack, and this time…it IS an outright attack on the United States-not a mere probe. Read the rest of this entry »
The heir apparent’s only known official position in the North Korean government is as a minor functionary for the National Defense Commission, the nation’s top military body.
He is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 198 pounds, according to Yonhap, which reported that he has high blood pressure and diabetes.
“if North Korea launched a missile or two against us, we wouldn’t sit back and say, ‘I wonder if we have enough test data in order to launch,’” McQueary said. “We would launch.”
The only thing missing is the will to defend the United States; to give the order
It would be hard to imagine President Obama ever standing only a few feet from the North Korean border and warning its leaders that if they ever used nuclear weapons, “it would be the end of their country.”
Mr. Obama is not the threatening kind. He prefers “soft” power to win over his adversaries. In fact, after North Korea’s May 25 test of a bomb close in size to the one dropped on Hiroshima, he said the US would merely “work with our friends and allies to stand up to this behavior.”
What a contrast to the last Democratic president.
It was President Clinton who actually spoke those threatening “hard power” words – within earshot of North Korean soldiers – in 1993.
At the time, Pyongyang was revving up its nuclear-bomb program.
Mr. Clinton knew something back then that Obama is learning on the job: Tough talk against an enemy is sometimes needed simply to reassure America’s allies that the US will live up to its defense promises. Those commitments include its unique role to provide nuclear deterrence, or promised retaliation, if an ally is attacked.
By his actions and his words, Obama is sending worrisome signals to Japan and South Korea that they might be left alone in a confrontation with North Korea or even perhaps China.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, en route to an annual security summit in Singapore Friday, signaled as much, saying North Korea’s actions so far do not warrant sending more US troops to the region.
If something does happen w DPRK during the rest of President Obama’s reign…these words will be the catalyst for the next version of a 911 Commission. In the meantime, South Korean children continue to practice for the NON-threat of a North Korean chemical weapons artillery attack.
WASHINGTON – The United States could fight an old-fashioned war against North Korea if necessary, even while newer forms of conflict against terrorists and extremists continue, the Army’s top officer said Thursday.
Asked whether the United States would be prepared to fight if war broke out between South Korea and North Korea, Gen. George Casey replied, “The short answer is yes,” then added that “it would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears” away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army.
Casey said his usual rubric for how long it would take the Army to gear up for a new “conventional” war is about 90 days. That doesn’t mean it would take 90 days for the U.S. to effectively fight the North’s million-man army, he said.
“We’d move forces as rapidly as we could get them prepared,” Casey said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
North Korea has threatened war following condemnation of its underground nuclear test this week, and the United States has a long-term commitment to South Korea’s defense.
“Nothing that the North Koreans did surprised us,” Jones said. “We knew that they were going to do this, they said so, so no reason not to believe them.”
But the Obama administration is in a tough position with regards to North Korea and in the coming weeks administration officials will try to reach a “global consensus” on how to handle North Korea, Jones indicated.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert Thursday to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels.
The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North’s underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier this week.
In response, Seoul decided to join more than 90 nations that have agreed to stop and inspect vessels suspected of transporting banned weapons.
I’m sure many of you remember this ad Obama put out in response to the 3am Clinton ad:
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.
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.
On Friday, President Obama told the graduates at the Naval Academy:
“We uphold our fundamental principles and values not just because we choose to, but because we swear to — not because they feel good, but because they help keep us safe.”
It was the culmination of a week of high minded Obama talk about national security and how his make nice campaign with the world promised peace.
On Monday, the North Koreans did this:
NKorea says it has conducted a second nuclear test
By JEAN H. LEE Associated Press
May 24 11:47 PM US/Eastern
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – 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. Read the rest of this entry »
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct nuclear and missile tests and start an uranium-enrichment program in addition to its existing plutonium-based one, unless the U.N. apologizes for criticizing its recent rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programs.
Call me crazy, but it appears that President Obama’s rhetoric didn’t stop the last missile test. So…why would he be able to do the same exact thing and get different results?
