The North Koreans have taken a risk and bet the farm. That is an indication that the farm is in desperate condition. Kim has also come to the conclusion that the US is too tied down in Iraq to do much about it. Korea had to know that there would be a fierce world reaction, but must have judged it would fall short of any meaningful response. The payoff in the gamble would be if the world accepted North Korea as a full fledged member of the nuclear club and negotiated a sweet deal to bribe the Norks out of the club.Desperate men can make desperate decisons. Desperate decisions can have disasterous consequences. The Independent gives a reasonable rundown about how the gamble is going.
Even China criticises North Korea
AP
Published: 09 October 2006
North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear weapon drew world condemnation today, with Australia calling it an outrage and even close ally China saying it resolutely opposed the test.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the communist country's first-ever nuclear test, an underground explosion, was successfully performed "with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 per cent."
Beijing - a long-time supporter of the North but also the host of international talks aimed at persuading the fellow communist country to give up its nuclear ambitions - strongly criticised the move...
...The Danish Foreign Ministry said that the UN Security Council planned to meet later today to discuss North Korea. Denmark is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "Enormous damage has been done to the process of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the world."
Russia's foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said North Korea had "ignored the unanimous will of the international community" and called on all nations with an interest in the issue to "show restraint and self-possession in this difficult situation"...
...Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived in Seoul today for talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, expressed caution, saying they had yet to confirm that the test had taken place.
"We must collect and analyse information to determine whether North Korea actually conducted the test," Abe said. Japan's Kyodo News agency quoted him as calling the test "absolutely unacceptable".
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government would call on the UN Security Council to take "swift and effective action" against North Korea including financial, trade and travel sanctions.
"But if the United Nations fails to act effectively against this outrage from North Korea, it will represent a further diminution of its authority," Howard said.
Bush in his press statement empahasized:
- Bush spoke with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
- US will work to verify the fact of a nuclear explosion.
- Going to UN security counsel.
- Concerened about transfer of nuclear assets, will hold North Korea responsible for any transfer.
- US will meet military obligations in area.
- North korea will get no economic benefit from this threat.
"But if the United Nations fails to act effectively against this outrage from North Korea, it will represent a further diminution of its authority," Howard said.
ReplyDeleteTrue, no? Of course "UN" and "act effectivly" is an oxymoron.
Interesting, Howard has consistently come up as one the better leaders the west has. I like the "further diminution" implicit jab.
The Bush response was very similar to his mannerisms and speech patterns he used prior to attacking Iraq. He is clearly working with all the major players. It is very hard to believe the US will do anything without Chinese agreement and compliance.
ReplyDeleteNow, Russia Goes After Lithuania
ReplyDeleteHere We Go
Predicted this last week. Putin is putting the Soviets back in HIS order. And we can do a damn thing about it.
can't
ReplyDeleteIt astounds me, and it shouldn't, that given all that is going on, MSNBC is talking about a homosexual politician looking at dirty pictures, engaging in potty talk and fantasy with homosexual pages, with the possibility they gave each other blow jobs. Who the hell cares?
ReplyDeleteHabu, i got the impression there were a few posters that thought I was going on about it a bit much. I didn't think so then , still do not, and as our friend here from another Baltic state, peacekeeper, will attest, there are many in Europe who depend on us to raise the alarm about new Russian imperial designs.
ReplyDelete2164..
ReplyDeleteI do not say this because it is your site. I say what I mean and mean what I say.
I think in all cases those of us posting here(within the rules of decorum) should say what we want, as many times as we want. One would hope some of the facts and verbage would change but sometimes it takes more than one thrust to propel an idea or thought.
I wouldn't begin to second guess your cadence on a subject. Nor would I on my own. Much like TV those who think they know it will skip over the offering. Hit the mute button.
In the final analysis we do not have a captured audience. Each of our regular posters have their own take on things which is great.
I'd do what I wanted. This medium will change as all do. When, who knows? If you can't be free in your own enterprise, where can you be?
Just whip it
Whip it good.
Must take wife to Dr. office...later
ReplyDeleteIts not really new, this strongarm crap is going on all the time, and has been since about 1993 (there was a very short period of decent relations with team Yeltsin before they was captured by the ex-soviet bureacracy). Russia has been consistently pushing and prodding all their neighbors, its just more visible with the Baltics (and Poland for that matter) because we don't give ground.
ReplyDeleteGeorgias problem is that they don't have EU/NATO backing and can and have been pushed around much more directly. You may be surprised, but the EU has been rock steady in the face of Russian bluster and economic threats, particularly in respect to outrageous Russian demands in respect to Kaliningrad.In the past Georgia have been forced to back down, and has been humiliated repeatedly. The big change is not Russia's bad heart (which has been black through and through), but that Georgia is standing up to it.
Russia consistently has kind of a rapist/extortionist attitude - consent, or its your own fault if you get hurt.
and waiting and waiting and waiting
ReplyDeleteUnacceptable!
Grave consequences!
World will respond!
Same as Pakistan and it's bomb and technology development under Ronald Reagan & proliferation under GHWB and WJC.
Pakistan today's #1 US ally in TWAT
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletePeacekeepers, a lot of Americans are convinced that the reason the USSR collapsed is because of Reagan. I know for a fact that many, if not most of the nomenklatura and Communist Party officials were convinced that the economic burden of Chernobyl did the damage. In either case or both, there is a great desire to resurrect the empire. Putin was baptized by his experience in the KGB and chastened by watching the Chinese response to Tiananmen Square. My life experiences have been in total opposition to the Bolsheviks and their kin. When a young man I was very impressed by a KGB defector, Igor Gouzenko, who said, "The only thing the communists understand is a cocked gun to their head."
ReplyDeleteNothing bad can be credited to Mr Bush and his Administration.
ReplyDeleteIf the short term performance falls short, then it's a "Long War". If long term performance is under par, it's a historical problem, beyond solution.
Perhaps this NorK bomb, now said to be "small" in the 5 kiloton range, can fit on a missle.
Proliferation by Pakistan laid on a dying Doctors doorstep.
ReplyDeleteDr Khan, the cut out fall guy, just like Ollie North, takes the heat, fades it, and continues on.
Dr Khan, under "house arrest" in Pakistan, still at work, 'tween chemo treatments.
The Generals, in that Pakistani Police State, and their ever famous ISI, were all in the dark about their own Nuclear Program.
Give me a break.
To my understanding of the Nork's Mr Kim, this next story could be the "real" trigger to the detonationUNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Security Council officially nominated South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon to be the next U.N. secretary-general, the council president announced Monday.
ReplyDelete"The Security Council has just recommeded to the General Assembly that Mr. Ban Ki-Moon be appointed secretary-general of the United Nations" on Jan. 1 when Secretary-General Kofi Annan's second five-year term expires, Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima told reporters after the council voted at a private meeting.
Under the U.N. Charter, the 15-member Security Council makes a recommendation for the next secretary-general to the 192-member General Assembly, which must give final approval.
Here is the cutting edge of the television media. Mr Murdoch, FOX News owner has teamed up to create the first viewer produced content TV. YouTube plus?
ReplyDeleteAl Gore, the former US vice-president, is bringing his user-generated content television channel to the UK, courtesy of James Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting.
Mr Gore launched Current TV, the US channel made of clips created by viewers and producers, in August last year, and said that the channel was “democratising television.”
Mr Murdoch, who has claimed that BSkyB was the first media company in the world to go carbon neutral, and Mr Gore share their passion for the environment. Mr Murdoch invited Mr Gore to the gathering of News Corp’s executives at Pebble Beach, California, this summer. ...
... The pair have now come together to promote user generated content in the UK and Ireland. Current TV’s agreement for the channel to be carried on BSkyB’s satellite platform is its first international move outside the US.
This is the future of visual media, look who's ahead of the curve.
red,
ReplyDeleteThe US is at the UN, there will be a Resolution.
Then, perhaps, Mr Bush will act. What he does though, tougher Sanctions or such. But he'll have a permission slip. Just like Iraq.
Those Skull & Bones boys, they toe the line.
HUNDREDS of Iraqi policemen fell sick yesterday after breaking their daily Ramadan fast with food provided by an Australian contractor.
ReplyDeleteThe company provides the food and water at the base in Wasit province, Governor Hamad al-Latif said.
He did not identify the Australian firm.
Officials said they were investigating whether the poisoning was intentional.
An Environment Ministry official said 11 policemen had died, but Mr al-Latif denied there were any deaths.
He said some of the victims were in a critical condition.
Some of the policemen began bleeding from the ears and nose after the meal, said Jassim al-Atwan, an inspector for the Environment Ministry, who was serving as a liaison in the investigation between the Health Ministry and the base in the town of Numaniyah.
"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," Mr al-Latif said, referring to the meal that breaks the sunrise-to-sunset fast during the holy month. ...
... The suddenness and severity of the sickness raised speculation that the incident could be a new attack. The division is mainly made up of Shiites.
Between 600-700 policemen were affected depending on the amount of food they ate, Mr al-Atwan said.
Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from the meal, others fell "one after the other" as they left the refectory, he said.
Ambulances and helicopters sent by the US military rushed the policemen to hospitals in Numaniyah and Kut. ...
... The division normally operates near Baghdad.
Newest news, less than a kiloton.
ReplyDeleteI suggest reading this piece by Robert Kaplan:
ReplyDeleteWhen North Korea Falls
The furor over Kim Jong Il’s missile tests and nuclear brinksmanship obscures the real threat: the prospect of North Korea’s catastrophic collapse. How the regime ends could determine the balance of power in Asia for decades. The likely winner? China
I know that it does not matter, rufus.
ReplyDeleteNo oil, outside our Zone and Africa is unimportant, but any way:
MOGADISHU, Somalia Ethiopian troops briefly entered a strategic hilltop town in Somalia Monday alongside government fighters, residents and Islamic militia said, and Somalia's radical Islamic forces declared a holy war against Ethiopia.
"I urge all the Somali people to wage holy war against the Ethiopians," said top Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, wearing combat fatigues and holding aloft an AK47 assault rifle. "We need action rather than words," he told a brief news conference in Mogadishu, the capital his forces hold.
He also put the Islamic forces on full alert. "Ethiopian troops have intentionally invaded our land," Sheik Sharif said. "We will counter them soon." ... "
And Darfur, over taken by events
ReplyDeleteUlrich Schmack has a vision, based on sound data and realistic projections, even though many will be surprised to hear it: "In 2030 Germany will produce 40 billion cubic metres (1.4 trillion cubic feet) of biogas per year. By that time we don't need any gas from Russia any longer. The billions of Euros that flow out of the country now to Saudi Arabia and Russia, stay here and will benefit our economy." "Security of supply and buffers against price fluctuations are guaranteed", Schmack adds.
ReplyDeleteThere you go, the Russians have a deadline and need to act, now.
Pakistan has been "really" important from the beginning. It has not recently gained that position.
ReplyDeleteSad that the omni-power can not project it, effectively. Makes US powerless, a paper tiger.
There and everywhere.
If we do not project power
we project weakness.
Those are the options.
Here, there, everywhere.
What does this mean?
ReplyDeleteBush and Hu talked about their reactions to North Korea's reported nuclear test by telephone Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Hu told Bush that China has issued a statement condemning the North's nuclear test but warned against taking action which could further aggravate the situation, the ministry said.
Bush said North Korea's nuclear moves are dangerous but the United States still believes a negotiated settlement of the issue is possible, the ministry said.
-breitbart.com
24 days is a "life time" in electoral politics
ReplyDelete24 years is an eternity in the "Great Game"
Read Mr Kaplan's piece, it explains the challenge and why we will let it roll on, instead of bringing it to a head.
ReplyDeleteThe best of bad scenarios is Mr Kim, even if he has a new toy.
ReplyDeleteThe options are worse.
But easy the demonize as "useless" and Staying the Course to more NorK nukes when Mr Bush takes that course.
It is not easily explained, not by sound bite, regardless.
So it's Resolutions and not much else. Best of the bad choices.
Welcome roadtoserfdom. Well said and you get no argument from me. The US, Japan and Australia, amongst others, have been worried about North Korea's desire to spread missile technology and now nuclear technology with Iran. Others should be worried as well. Iran continues to ignore EU and other international pleas to abandon its nuclear program. If North Korea is not dealt with promptly and harshly, we will only make the problem worse. in the previous post, I argue that they may have done us a favor doing this now. We will see very shortly.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIan Bremmer, the "J-Curve" guy, is saying on tv that "clearly" NoKo wants to keep Japan & China from rapprochement, and that the timing of the test was related to the serious summit just ended between those two.
ReplyDeleteNBC development ain't gonna stop, no way ,no how. Somebody always wants the edge.
ReplyDeleteBut it's all good my brothers and sisters. So sing along.
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
Theres a choice we're making
We're saving out own lives
its true we'll make a better day
Just you and me
speaking of the Baltics, above, some Georgia-like Rus trouble in Lithuania?
ReplyDeleteBS said in part.
ReplyDeleteThis world has many more cycles of violence before we break the mold.
That mold will never be broken, sorry to disappoint the optimists but they've been wrong for , oh, all of history.
The relationship of North Korea to China is analogous to that of the Taliban and Pakistan. Japan in this situation being analogous to India. China is playing a card it doesn't want to acknowledge it is playing. The US should use that to its advantage and remove the North Korea card from the table, as it did with the Pakistani Taliban.
ReplyDeleterufus, I never did figure out what the thesis of "The J Curve" is, anyway, so I don't know whether bremmer is a thinker or a partisan. So, I was just reporting. Seems Bremmer thinks Japan will now have to amend constitution, and begin building an offensive capacity, and that China won't like that, and in the face-off, Kim can play both ends against the middle.
ReplyDeletea Marxist state with a heriditary ruler, it's against the laws of nature. Reminds me of that Thornton piece, on Robt Conquest's appreciation of how the otherwise all-powerful west can ding-dong-think itself off any cliff, no matter how improbable.
ReplyDeleteTheodore Roosevelt, answered in an October 8, 1895 interview in the New York Times, "There is much talk about 'jingoism'. If by 'jingoism' they mean a policy in pursuance of which Americans will with resolution and common sense insist upon our rights being respected by foreign powers, then we are 'jingoes'."
ReplyDeleteI want my Patton back.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteRepresentitive Kolbe, retiring Gay Repub Rep from AZ8.
ReplyDeleteReports that he confronted Mr Foley in 2000 about other "friendly" e-mails. Meanwhile, according to FOX News, Mr Foley is "out of the country" and unavailable for comment.
The Koreans spent their reasearch build mini not maxi bombs. More the worry, seems to me. If they are authentic nuclear blasts, not just hundreds of tons of chicken shit.
Teddy, Bull Moose, the issues of the 1912 election (two years before "some damn fool thing in the Balkans"):
ReplyDeletewiki
Do you all realize that Every Nobel Prize that's been given out this year has gone to "Americans?"
ReplyDeleteExcept the Nobel Peace Prize, that will probably go to Hugo Chavez if past winners (Arafat, Carter) are any indication.
Hugo faces election in December--and the oppo was in the streets in great number this past weekend. Pray to the Lord to keep his self-anointed Saint Jimmy occupied elsewhere--perhaps lusting in his heart for a Killer Rabbit or somethin.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, a Fox poll asks "will NoKo sell nukes to terrorists?" Answer "yes", 91%.
Ed Royce is saying, we have no choice but to search every ship that leaves the place. Rorbacher is adding, "do not believe China's protestations."
However, Chinese financial markets took a heavy, major hit today.
Dr. Strange Kim
ReplyDelete(ht Peter UK & Blackfive)
October 9, 2006
ReplyDeleteKim Triggers Nuke, Pelosi Calls on Hastert to Quit
by Scott Ott
(2006-10-09) — In the wake of the weekend detonation of North Korea’s first atomic bomb, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, called for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL.
“It’s important that lawmakers keep the main thing the main thing,” said Rep. Pelosi. “We can’t get so distracted by debates about North Korea’s sovereignty that we forget that Dennis Hastert is still on the loose, indirectly endangering America’s children."
"Reporters should be asking how Bush knew that the Foley scandal would break now?”
Mrs. Pelosi said the timing was “beyond coincidence, and has all the earmarks of another cynical Republican ploy to distract people with trivial national security issues so that they don’t hear our progressive Democrat plan to improve America by getting Hastert to quit.”
Robert Kaplan up next on Hewitt
ReplyDeletehttp://www2.krla870.com/listen/
THAT was funny--
ReplyDeletethe WaPo doodle--
ReplyDeletebuddy, a fourth school incident, but the AK jammed. Crazy, but it's an extended cycle
ReplyDeletea second set--now two more.
ReplyDeleterat, extended comment from Taranto re AZ:
ReplyDeleteMr Kolbe knew of Foley's folly, six years ago.
ReplyDeleteMr Kolbe and the Lavender Mafia? I do not really know. But Kolbe fit his District's profile, internally conflicted.
The beginning of a second cycle? What a thought.
ReplyDelete"The staffs on Capitol Hill increasingly are a power in their own right, and that should concern both members and voters. Many have accumulated so much influence that they can "micromanage" the executive branch, create pork-barrel "earmarks" out of thin air, and subject officials to relentless investigation. Ernest Hollings, a former Democratic senator from South Carolina, once described what he called "the staff infection": "I heard a senator the other day tell me another senator hadn't been in his office for three years; it is just staff [there]. Everybody is working for the staff, staff, staff, driving you nutty, in fact."
ReplyDeletemeanwhile, DC employees of Dept of Interior logged 104,000 work hours on internet porn & gambling sites over the one year studied.
help!
LOL--right--at least they weren't writing regulations--
ReplyDeleteYou know there has been a lot of new technology and ideas that got their start for sex reasons. drive-in movies, polaroid cameras, VCR's, digital cameras, AOL, altoids.....
ReplyDeletepenicillin, the legal profession,
ReplyDeletecosmetic industry, medical industry, entertainment industry--gawd, it's ALL SEX!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought Sex Started in Drive In Movies.
ReplyDeleteIt's a Mad(die) World
We Don't Need No Stinking Missile Defense! (2003)