Tag Archive: North Korea


Clash over the seriousness of AP leak continues as the depth DOJ’s secret subpeona is revealed

Filed under: bureaucracy, Freedom, The American Constitution, Government, Unconstitutional, Government Overreach, Invasion Of Privacy I, Corruption, Hypocrisy, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Freedom of Information, Special Interests, Surveillance, Power Struggle, Secrecy, Lack Of Transparency — Leave a comment
May 20, 2013

AP, DOJ clash over seriousness of leak that prompted phone records seizure

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls on a reporter during a news conference at the Justice Department on Tuesday.

By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News

Justice Department and Associated Press officials clashed Tuesday over leaked classified information that led the government to seize AP phone records, with Attorney General Eric Holder saying it “put the American people at risk” and the news organization’s chief executive insisting it delayed publishing its story until it was assured “national security concerns had passed.”

The day of back-and-forth public sallies came as new details emerged about negotiations between the AP and U.S. officials over the unauthorized release of classified information on a foiled bomb plot in Yemen, information that apparently triggered the investigation.

“This was a very, very serious leak,” Holder said at a news conference. “I’ve been a prosecutor since 1976 – and I have to say that this is among, if not the most serious, in the top two or three most serious leaks that I’ve ever seen. It put the American people at risk – and that is not hyperbole.”

Holder defended the secret subpoena for about two months of AP phone records on 20 separate telephone lines without prior notice as a necessary step, saying that trying to find the source of the leak “required very aggressive action.”

Holder’s comments and a letter from Deputy Attorney General James Cole defending the seizure of the AP records – without notifying the news organization until last week –  drew a stern response from AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. He  blasted the action as “overbroad under the law,” saying  that “more than 100 journalists work in the locations served by those telephones.”

“Rather than talk to us in advance, they seized these phone records in secret, saying that notifying us would compromise their investigation,” Pruitt said in a statement late Tuesday. “They offer no explanation of this, however.

 

Read Full Article Here

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DOJ’s secret subpoena of AP phone records broader than initially revealed

Information has emerged  in the Justice Department seizure of Associated Press phone records as well as the news that reporter for Fox News is now a target of a leak investigation concerning North Korea.  NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports.

By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News

The Justice Department’s secret subpoena for AP phone records included the seizure of records for five reporters’ cellphones and three home phones as well as two fax lines, a lawyer for the news organization tells NBC News.

David Schulz, the chief lawyer for the AP, said the subpoenas also covered the records for 21 phone lines in five AP office lines — including one for a dead phone line at  office in Washington that had been shut down six years ago. The phone lines at four other offices – where  100 reporters worked — were also covered by the subpoenas, Schulz said.

Although AP had given general information about the subpoenas last week, it provided new details Monday about the number of cell and home phone records as it considers possible legal action against the Justice Department.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Paul Rosenberg – Don’t Fear The Collapse: The Future Will Be Better

Filed under: Activism, Jobs, Community, Population, Faith, Entrepreneurship, Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It, History, Coexistence, Creativity — 1 Comment
May 9, 2013

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By Paul Rosenberg, FreemansPerspective.com

Yes, we’ve all seen scary post-apocalyptic films like Mad Max, or TV shows like Jericho. A real collapse, however, will be quite different from such dramas. And beyond that, there’s a good chance the future will be better.

From where I now live, you could draw a 25 mile arc which would include competent people of almost any imaginable specialty: The guys who know how to build and repair refrigerators, machines of all types, cars and roads and houses and windows and computers and a thousand other things.

So, I’m not overly worried about the dollar going to zero – as long as these guys have two critical things:

  1. They must be able to communicate with each other.
  2. They must be left alone, with no one telling them “you can’t do that without our permission.”

If either one of these two things are missing, we’re screwed, but as long as we have them, we’ll be okay. Sure, there will be some bad days, a few tragedies, and a surfeit of terror from the fear factories (that is, the mainstream media), but in general, we productive people will be okay.

I knew men who ran a business through the Great Depression, in precisely my specialties (contracting and engineering). We discussed the difficulties they faced and how they coped with them. They worked through the depression end to end, and did some pretty impressive projects – with absolutely no credit available anywhere.

They paid for things creatively – in sections, with barter, and on trust – but they also got the job done, from the beginning of the depression to the end.

Our period of difficulty (which most of us presume will be coming somehow or another) will be different from the Great Depression, but so long as we retain the two items mentioned above – and I will tell you precisely how we can keep them below – we’ll get through it.

The Bad Stuff

Okay, so if we have a complete dollar collapse, what can we expect? Here are a few thoughts:

  • Fear. Scaring the populace will be the first and essential tool of the rulers. Government relies far more on legitimacy than on force, so the rulers will be very keen on using their number one tool to keep people clustering around them for safety. That’s a primary strategy for them.
  • Welfare riots. This is possible, and even probable in some places, presuming that government checks either stop, or no longer matter due to massive inflation. However, we all know which areas are likely to be hit and we can avoid them. (If you’re in one, do something about it now.) And, as horrifying as such a thing may be (and should be!), Americans, Canadians and a serious number of Europeans do have guns, and will eventually shoot rioters as they are beating down their neighbor’s door.
  • Supply chain disruptions. Since the big corporations are so tightly associated with governments, they will not likely adapt as quickly as small companies do. They may lock-up while waiting for instructions. This is why stores of key commodities (like food) and communication will be necessary.
  • War. This is the traditional distraction from disappointments and government failures. Syria seems to be the leading candidate at the moment, or perhaps North Korea or some other distant monster will fit the bill.
  • No credit. As scary as this seems to some people, the reality won’t be nearly as debilitating as imagined (except for the mega-corps); people will adapt and go back to a 19th century way of buying and selling. Adjustment will be required, but farmers will still need to sell their food, and they will find ways for productive people to pay them.
  • Lack of currency. Dollars will fail in this scenario (along with Euros, Pounds, etc.), but there will be not be a debilitating lack of currency, for two reasons: 1) Lots of people have silver and gold, which are always good. 2) We have Bitcoin, which is good currency world-wide.
  • Shuttered fire departments. The rulers won’t close too many police stations, since they want to retain their image as saviors and because they need people to fear them, but fire departments and other things may be let go. (The scarier things first.) But again, so long as we can communicate and adapt, we can just arrange for necessary services in different ways. Remember, most of us are blowing 20-30 hours per week on TV – we have WAY more free time than we think we do.

The Future Will Be Better if We Take Care of THESE TWO BIG RISKS

There are very simple solutions to our two crucial issues. But remember, simple isn’t always easy. Here are the solutions:

They must be able to communicate with each other.

This one is actually easy. The solution is mesh networks. (You can find a nice PDF primer here.) These are local networks, built with simple wifi devices. These, combined with a few longer links, can create a very nice communications network. You won’t be able to use it for videos, but it will work well for basic communications. (Though you really should keep a small electric generator and some gas.)

They must be left alone, with no one telling them “you can’t do that without our permission.”

The solution to this one is very simple: Do it anyway. Whatever you think of your local government, I very much doubt that you think they have a right to starve you – which is what failing to act in your own survival comes out to. If it’s moral, do it. Stop waiting for permission.

So, while the big collapse (assuming that it does come) will be terrifying to inveterate TV watchers, the reality will be far less apocalyptic than promised… assuming that we productive people act like producers.

And as producers, we have so much more choice than the others. Indeed, in one way, we could see the collapse as an opportunity to start fresh. The future will be better if we ultimately say so.

[Editor's Note: Paul Rosenberg is the author of FreemansPerspective.com, a collection of insights on topics ranging from Internet privacy to economic freedom, the purpose of life to alternative currencies. Join our free e-letter list to receive other articles like this one... and immediately get a report that explains in a unique way how the US Government got into the mess it's in, the dangers that creates for us, and how to protect ourselves from it.]

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Electromagnetic pulse weapons : The Politics of Doomsday and It’s Ramifications

Filed under: Government, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Wars and Rumors of War, Weaponry / Armament, World News — 2 Comments
April 29, 2013

E-bomb – The real doomsday weapon

April 26, 2013 Rakesh Krishnan Simha
Electromagnetic pulse weapons that can paralyze a country in a nanosecond are already in the possession of several states. By 2015, North Korea is likely to acquire one. If you are not sweating, check your pulse.
E-bomb – The real doomsday weapon
As terrorists get smarter, doomsday becomes more realistic. Source: Getty Images / Fotobank

A nuclear weapon explodes 300 km above Nebraska, the geographical centre of the United States. The blast is far too high to kill people by heat or radioactivity. But it does something far worse – it sends the world’s most advanced country into the Stone Age.

This isn’t science fiction. The technology for launching this version of Armageddon exists and is ridiculously low tech. Even an ordinary, low-yield nuclear bomb exploded in the upper atmosphere by terrorists, with help from dysfunctional nuclear powers such as North Korea or Pakistan, would unleash a deadly electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that will take only a nanosecond to knock out an entire country’s electrical grid.

That means every microchip will be fried and all electronic systems will fail. The result would be “fundamental collapse” as the United States EMP Commission describes it. All phones and mobiles will stop functioning, the transport system would come to a halt, the banking system, airports, food and fuel distribution systems would collapse. The fabric of modern society would be ripped apart.

The day after Boston

If the Boston bombings have proved anything it is that low tech warfare can bring a high-tech nation to its knees. Two Chechen brothers, not very well-equipped or professionally trained but nevertheless motivated by Islamic zeal, forced an entire city to close down.

Pressure cooker bombs are cheap; flying stolen aircraft into skyscrapers is free (other than the cost of flight training) and sending a bunch of raiders into a modern metropolis (as the Pakistanis did in Mumbai) takes only a few thousand dollars. But at the end of the standoff, the terrorists always lose and often die. No modern state has ever buckled under terror.

Terrorists and terrorist states, therefore, want something that will give them more bang for the buck. It makes you wonder, what next?

Your worst nightmare

The Russians were the first to understand the implications of EMP as a weapon. Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov proposed using this principle in a bomb in the 1950s. On October 22, 1962, during one of their ABM tests, the Russians detonated a 300 kiloton hydrogen warhead (20 times more powerful than Hiroshima) at an altitude of 300 km over Kazakhstan.

The blast deliberately targeted two cable lines. The first one was the 550 km East-West telephone line – all the fuses in the line which was 7.5 m above the ground were destroyed. The second, the 1,000 km Aqmola-Almaty power line, carried electricity from a power station in the city of Karaganda. It was a lead-shielded cable protected against mechanical damage by spiral-wound steel tape, and was buried at a depth of 90 cm. This cable succumbed completely to the EMP within seconds of the blast, overheating and setting the power station on fire.

The United States military realised EMP’s potential as a weapon the same year, in the Starfish Prime test of a much larger 1.44 megaton warhead at a height of 400 km over the Pacific Ocean. The pulse knocked out street lights and damaged telephones in Hawaii. Four days after the explosion the UK satellite Ariel was unable to generate sufficient electricity to function properly.

People are more vulnerable today because virtually everything now runs on microchips, which are a million times more vulnerable to a power surge than the thermonic valves used in electronics in 1962. Today most people around the world are unable to function normally without access to mobile phones and computers.

How does it work?

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Gingrich, the Times and the E-Bomb

The Politics of Doomsday

by CONN HALLINAN

In a recent New York Times article the newspaper’s senior science writer, William J. Broad, takes a dig at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s obsession with the possibility of a “nightmarish of doomsday scenarios: a nuclear blast high above the United States that would instantly throw the United States in a dark age.”

The phenomenon that Gingrich refers to is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), one side effect of a nuclear explosion. EMPs can destroy or disrupt virtually anything electrical, from computers to power grids. As the Times points out, Gingrich has used this potential threat to advocate bombing Iran and North Korea. “I favor taking out the Iranian and North Korean missiles on their sites,” he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2009. Gingrich has also talked up the EMP “threat” on the campaign trail.

Broad dismisses EMPs as “a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age” and quotes Missile Defense Agency spokesman Richard Lehner poo-pooing the damage from an EMP attack as “pretty theoretical.”

While the Times is correct in dismissing any Iranian or North Korean threat—neither country has missiles capable of reaching the U.S., Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, and both have never demonstrated a desire to commit national suicide—what Broad does not mention is that the effects of EMP are hardly “poorly understood”: the U.S. has an “E-bomb” in its arsenal.

More than that, the Pentagon considered using it during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Asked directly if the U.S. was considering using an EMP weapon, then
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld answered, “You never know.”

The U.S. has known about the effects of EMPs since 1958, when a series of nuclear tests in the Pacific knocked out streetlights in Hawaii and radio reception in Australia for 18 hours. In large enough doses, EMPs can fry every electrical circuit in range, many of them permanently. One would essentially go from the 21st century to the 19th century in a few nanoseconds.

The U.S. began researching how to use EMPs as weapons shortly after the Pacific tests, and, while the details are classified, the Livermore and Los Alamos national labs have apparently come up with a working version of an “E-bomb.”

The principle is simple enough: a tube filled with explosives, wrapped with copper wire, encased in a metal shell. The copper wire is used to create a powerful magnetic field and when the explosives are fired, they compress the magnetic field to produce a powerful burst of electromagnetic energy called the “Compton effect.”

A large enough device can generate up to two billion watts, about what Hoover Dam turns out in a day.

The weapon is attached to a cruise missile. Any piloted craft would run the risk of frying its own electronics, because EMP waves can bounce off objects, like the ground, and be reflected back at the attack craft.

Britain’s Matra Bae Dynamics has produced an artillery shell that generates an EMP wave and is capable of knocking out electrical systems for several square miles.

The idea behind the “E-bomb” is that it would blind and disable any military force, but not inflict casualties (except if you are wearing a pacemaker or have electrical implants).  “The electromagnetic pulse generator is emerging as one of the strongest contenders…to find effective weapons to defeat an enemy without causing loss of life,” writes David Fulghum, an EMP expert.

But EMP waves would also paralyze ambulances, hospitals, power plants and water pumping systems, a specific violation of the Geneva Conventions.  Article 54, for instance, explicitly forbids rendering “useless” any “drinking water installations.”

There are ways to shield devices from EMPs, but they are expensive. So-called Faraday Cages intercept EMPs and redirect them into the ground, much like  lightening rod.

While the exact details of the U.S. “E-bomb” are classified, its existence is hardly a secret. Nor is the U.S. the only nation currently researching the uses of EMPs. Any country with a nuclear weapon—Great Britain, France, Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea—is undoubtedly aware of its capabilities.

The fact that the effects of EMPs are well known, and that the U.S.—and apparently a number of other nations—has weaponized the phenomena, make it all the more curious that the Times treated the issue so lightly and failed to mention the U.S. program. Indeed, Broad says, “many scientists consider it yesteryear’s concern.”

Read Full Article Here

 

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Chaos from the Sky: Why the EMP Threat Is Real

March 12, 2013 at 2:30 pm

Newscom

Two scholars from the congressionally mandated 2010 Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack make the case to protect the U.S. from a potentially catastrophic nuclear EMP attack on the U.S. by terrorists or rogue states.

William Radasky and Peter Vincent Pry rebut Yousaf M. Butt’s charge that the EMP threat is “overblown.” They point out that the EMP Commission report was a collaborative effort between “the Intelligence Community…the military services…the National Nuclear Security Administration laboratories…the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security,” all of which concluded that the nation is unprepared for an EMP attack.

An EMP is a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by the rapid acceleration of charged particles. An EMP can change the magnetic field in the earth’s atmosphere to disrupt electronic devices by a pulse flowing through electricity transmission lines, overloading and damaging transmission distribution centers. According to Heritage’s James Carafano, in the event of an EMP, “communications would collapse, transportation would halt, and electrical power would simply be nonexistent.”

Butt charges that terrorists have access only to low-yield weapons and that such a weapon “would be restricted to only a small region of the country.” This premise is wrong on three counts:

  1. If terrorists do obtain a nuclear weapon, it will likely not be a one-kiloton weapon but a far more sophisticated one from Russia or a rogue state;
  2. The “brain drain” from Russia enabled North Korea to make (and potentially test) “Super-EMP” low-yield nuclear weapons that can generate very powerful EMP fields over wide geographic areas; and
  3. Even a low-yield weapon could knock out the entire Eastern seaboard if detonated from a higher altitude than the 40-kilometer level needed for peak EMP field results

 

Read Full Article Here

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Boston Bombing : Distrust of the media and government is at an all-time high. Our society is deeply fractured…..What Is Truth?

Filed under: Black Ops, Corruption, False Flag, Government Overreach, Greed, History, Hypocrisy, Lack Of Transparency, Legislation, Main Stream Media Manipulations/Lies, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Psy - Ops, Secrecy, Special Interests, Terror Plots / Suspects — 1 Comment
April 25, 2013

Boston Terror – Another Red Pill / Blue Pill Moment for America

 

Sigmund Fraud
Activist Post

Americans love to be entertained, and we love to watch other people’s lives unfold in chaos, scandal and violence. We love narratives about conquering evil with overwhelming firepower. We love scripts and adventures, and swashbuckling gun battles, underdogs, dead bad guys and heroic gunfighters. We love to suspend disbelief and open ourselves to fantasy.

Lately the mainline media narrative offered up by the big few media companies has given us a lot to take in. Just a couple of weeks ago, North Korea was targeting us with nukes, then on we went to the terrible Boston bombings and ensuing manhunt. The prevailing message is that Americans are increasingly being targeted for political reasons, we are insecure and vulnerable in a dangerous world … so get used to it.

By keeping ideas like these at the forefront of our consciousness, and constantly switching up the narrative to add more bogeymen, more intrigue, more detail, and more potential for disaster, our mainline media directs our collective conversation and steals our attention away from whatever it does not wish for us to discuss. It fills the role of 24-hour culture-creator and idea-nanny, forever plotting the course for our social anxieties, ensuring that we are never without big, big concerns.

The real events and interests in our lives seem to have little connection with, or impact on, the events taking place in the mainline media narrative. Yet, this ongoing story certainly does have a real effect on our lives. The narrative instructs us, and speaks at us, while our interests and desires have zero effect on the direction the narrative takes.
It works this way to dis-empower the individual, so that the collective can be more easily molded by those with the intent to exploit us.

With all this high production media security theater how do we know what’s real and what is not? How do we know what genuinely affects our lives and what does not?

After last week’s tense drama over the Boston bombings, a few key truths about life in America have emerged so far.

Distrust Is Higher Than Ever

Distrust of the media and government is at an all-time high, and rightfully so, since they continue to discredit themselves by arrogantly refusing to discuss details about the bombings that are questionable to even novice Internet sleuths. Equally notable, however, is the distrust that Americans are showing for one another these days. Our society is deeply fractured, and for every movement big or small there is an equally motivated group of people working in direct opposition. For every belief out there, there is a corresponding and fanatical anti-belief. The proliferation of values in our world is so diverse that unity in any area is an enigma. Distrust, skepticism and paranoia carry the day.

The Media Narrative Works

The general public’s willingness to believe, identify with and internalize media events like these is also at an all-time high. The ongoing story effectively induces people into a hypnotic state of shock and paralyzing fear. It occupies us completely by gripping our lowest levels of consciousness. This too, is understandable, as Americans are under an increasing amount of stress, while experiencing record poor mental and physical health. Record numbers of people are ‘snapping’ these days. Entertainment is our great escape from the madness in this world, and the unbeatable drama of being at the mercy of evil-doers while having an ever-watchful guardian protect us from all possible harm is too tantalizing to pass up.

What Is Truth?

Truth is more difficult than ever to identify. It looks different to everyone, and it changes from day to day. With so many perspectives on current events, and so many actors and agendas involved, it is impossible for a single truth to gain momentum. A stalemate. The fracturing of trust and truth means that the biggest, loudest and most repeated lies will fill the void and become truth for most.

Security Is an Illusion

 

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A US Black Hawk helicopter has crashed near the North Korean border during military exercises

Filed under: Military Maneuvers, Wars and Rumors of War, World News — Leave a comment
April 15, 2013

US Black Hawk helicopter crashes near North Korean border during military exercises

  • AFP
  • April 16, 2013 3:22PM
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US Black Hawk

  Picture: Gary Ramage

A US military helicopter has crashed near the North Korean border, a South Korean defence official says, with no reported casualties.

The helicopter, identified by the Yonhap news agency as a UH-60 Black Hawk, came down in Cheolwon county, which touches on the border with North Korea, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

The precise cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but the incident occurred during ongoing South Korea-US joint military exercises.

Yonhap quoted emergency rescue workers as saying the 12 service personnel on board the helicopter had survived the crash, which comes at a time of heightened military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has condemned the joint exercises as a rehearsal for invasion, and made a series of dire threats of military retaliation.

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North Korea Shifts Missile Locations Ahead of Imminent Launch

Filed under: ReBlogged — Leave a comment
April 10, 2013

Reblogged  from LeakSource

In News, North Korea on April 10, 2013 at 11:03 PM

Musudan-class missiles being displayed during a military parade in Pyongyang

04/10/2013

As South Korea and the United States brace for a possible missile launch by North Korea, the communist nation appears to be moving several missiles repeatedly on its east coast in an apparent attempt to interfere with intelligence monitoring, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

According to intelligence analysis, the North has moved two Musudan intermediate missiles, which had been concealed in a shed in the eastern port city of Wonsan, in and out of the facility. Four or five wheeled vehicles, suspected to be so-called transporter erector launchers (TEL), were also spotted being moved around in South Hamgyeong Province.

“There are signs the North could fire off Musudan missiles any time soon,” an intelligence source said, asking for anonymity. “But the North has been repeatedly moving its missiles in and out of a shed, which needs close monitoring.”

See More Here

 

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Reblogged  from  LeakSource

 

North Korea Missile Launcher In Raised Position – Japan Defense Official

In News, North Korea on April 10, 2013 at 10:54 PM

04/10/2013

A North Korea missile launcher has moved into the firing position with rockets facing skyward, Kyodo reports, citing a Japan defense official.

The Japanese government is on high alert, citing indications that Pyongyang might soon launch ballistic missiles at its island neighbor.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Thursday morning that so far Tokyo was responding by “gathering a variety of information … with a sense of tension,” according to Kyodo.

Several Patriot Advance Capability-3 missile interceptor units have been deployed in Japan over the last few days to defend key military units and the country’s capital city, Tokyo. One of the units was set up at the Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Ichigaya, in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

The Patriots’ deployment followed Japan’s deployment of Aegis destroyers equipped with SM-3 interceptor missiles.

Japan authorized its forces to shoot down anything fired at it from North Korea.

 

North Korea Maximum Rocket Range

The indication of the new North Korean readiness follows South Korean and US forces’ announcement of an upgrade of their surveillance alert status to the highest possible level before coming into a state of war.

It also comes amid revelations from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, with a government source saying Pyongyang is preparing multiple launches of shorter-range Scud and Rodong missiles. “There are clear signs that the North could simultaneously fire off Musudan, Scud and Nodong missiles,” an anonymous military source was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

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International Media and Governments, including Russia, Cover-Up True Reasons for Korea Crisis

Filed under: Corruption, Excessive Use Of Force, Government Overreach, Indoctrination, Lack Of Transparency, Main Stream Media Manipulations/Lies, Military Maneuvers, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Provocation / Incitement, Secrecy, Special Interests, Wars and Rumors of War, World News — 1 Comment
April 6, 2013

North Korea Declares State of War after US Simulated Nuclear Attack with B-2 Stealth Bomber

NSNBC International

B-2 Strategic Nuclear Long Distance Stealth BomberChristof Lehmann (nsnbc),- The Democratic Peoples´Republic Korea has declared a state of war with its southern neighbor. The North Korean leader Kim Yong-Un has signed a decree, putting the country´s strategic missile command on highest alert. The measures were taken after an unprecedented provocation by the USA, flying B-2 strategic, long-distance  stealth bombers over a distance of 10,000 Km, to practicing for a nuclear attack on the North. The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov addressed the USA, warning it to stop the provocations in a situation, which could easily get out of hand. Russia however, along with other Security Council members, fails to address the true reasons for the Korea Crisis.

Subsequent to the simulated nuclear attack by the US strategic bomber command, with a highly sophisticated B-2 strategic stealth bomber, the military high command of the Democratic Peoples´ Republic Korea, which has previously warned, that the ongoing, one months military exercises in the region may be a precursor and cover for mounting an actual attack on the country, has seen itself forced to put its strategic missile command on highest alert to counter the perceived and very real risk of a nuclear attack on North Korea.

However, the North Korean Statement, that North Korea has entered a “state of war” which almost all eastern and western mainstream media and top diplomats interpret as bellicose positioning by North Korea, is more an assessment of the actuality and the situation, as it is a bellicose threat.

With tensions between the USA, South Korea and the DPRK being high, and in a situation, in which the USA, South Korea and allied forces continue exercises, which the North Korean military leadership repeatedly has described as reckless and dangerous, it is principally just a recognition of the fact that the country is in a state of war. Rather than being a “declaration of war” it is a recognition of a fact.

According to the DPRK´s state news agency KCNA, a statement from the country´s military high command reads “From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering a state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly…. The situation in the Korean peninsula, which is neither peace nor war, has come to an end”.

The statement, as bellicose as it may sound when quoted out of context, is also a recognition of facts because the North and the South of Korea have technically been in a state of war since 1950. No peace treaty has been signed between the North and the South when armed hostilities ended in 1953. The only agreement signed was an armistice agreement, which both the Republic of South Korea and the USA have violated hundreds of times. The event that prompted the DPRK to declare the armistice agreement null and void earlier this year was the deployment of nuclear armed US aircraft carriers and nuclear armed submarines, with a strike capability of at least 100 nuclear weapons, into theater of the military exercises.

While reactions from the USA are ambiguous. A spokesperson of the US national security council, Caitlin Hayden stated on one hand that the DPRK has a long history of “bellicose rhetoric”, while she also stated, that the USA is taking the threats seriously.

Russia´s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned, that the situation, with the DPRK´s ballistic missile forces on high alert, targeting American bases, could easily spiral out of control. Lavrov emphasized that the Russian position on the situation is, that both the USA and the DPRK bear responsibility for the recent, substantial escalation of tensions, and called on both sides to “stop flexing their military muscle”.

The Russian Foreign Minister referred to the recent round of sanctions against the DPRK, saying, “We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the UN Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity”. The unilateral action Sergei Lavrov has referred to, are US plans to upgrade its missile defense against the DPRK, the joint US-South Korean contingency plan in the event of an attack, as well as the recent and ongoing military exercises with unprecedented nuclear attack drills.

“The situation could simply get out of control” said Sergei Lavrov, when addressing journalists on Friday. Lavrov called for the resumption of the six-party discussion of North Korea´s nuclear arsenal within the framework of the country´s international obligations.

There are however, also problems with the Russian position. According international law, the DPRK is not prohibited from developing nuclear weapons capabilities. Likewise, it was perfectly legitimate for the DPRK to develop satellite technology and to launch a satellite. The problem with the Russian position is, that the rounds of sanctions against the DPRK, following the DPRK´s satellite launch and nuclear test are, although they have been approved of by the UN security Council, are illegal. The mere fact that the security council has adopted a resolution with the concurrent vote of all of its permanent members, does not imply, that the resolution has primacy over international law.

 

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‘North Korean nuclear threat to US is a bogus one’

Filed under: Corruption, Government Overreach, Harassment, Irrational Violence, Military Maneuvers, Politics, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Power Struggle, Provocation / Incitement, Psy - Ops, Wars and Rumors of War, World News — 3 Comments
April 6, 2013

Published on Apr 6, 2013

North Korea: Beyond the cold war theatrics, is there really a nuclear threat to US?

April 6, 2013 By 2 Comments

PHPatrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire

The recent show of force by the United States marks one of the lowest points in modern diplomacy, but beyond the geopolitical threatrics it turns out that very little is actually known about the North Korean threat.

North Korea’s recent series of weekly verbal provocations towards Seoul and their ally the US – should be taken seriously in diplomatic terms, but is Pyongyang’s bark worse than its bite?

Instead of taking the high road of international diplomacy, Obama’s war hawks chose a more neoconservative approach by baiting the North with a nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth flyover of the country by the US, by F22 aerial exercises and a US Navy Destroyer parked off the South Korean peninsula this week. Further fanning the flames, China also mobilised some of its own troops and military assets along the North Korean border.

Dear Leader: N.Korean propaganda is bolstered by Washington DC’s own validation of it.

The regime in Pyongyang is clearly one on the brink of collapse. The reality is that the crypto-Marxist North Korean nation is one of the planet’s most marginalized states, not only on a diplomatic level, but also on an economically too – as evidenced by the state’s extreme internal propaganda designed to reinforce the state’s unworldly narrative for its own population.

Knowing full well that North Korea is already being strangled economically – effectively being starved by blanket UN and other sanctions, is it such a wise move for the US to poke them further?

As the young Kim Jung-un carries on his late father’s tradition of surreal state-run propaganda campaigns, so does the United States carry on with its own, slightly more sophisticated brand of propaganda as well. For the average American, their general grasp of geopolitical risk and strategy is still on the level of the film Team America, and Washington knows this, and has regularly attempts to pass off shallow intelligence as definitive, and building its foreign policy on top of this.

Still, amongst all the public war chatter back and forth between the US, South Korea and North Korea, one serious question is being mostly ignored – with regards to Pyongyang, what is exactly real, and what is fiction? If we ask this question, then the next most logical question naturally follows: to what degree is Washington DC inflating the threat from North Korea, and why?

The US ‘War Economy’

One can also be argued that there a very powerful vested interests in the US corporate structure who have and will continue to benefit from a heated arms build-up, and will certainly use the North Korea threat as a justification to push forward in spending, especially in light Washington’s new-found austerity culture ushered in through recent budget sequestrations. America’s new pivot towards Asia provides the catch-all policy net, while the two-way propaganda duel between the two countries provides the fear needed to justify a new military build up in the region.

In recent weeks and months, experts in Washington and the UN have been at pains to clarify and actually prove the full scope and ability of the North Korean nuclear threat, which so far are mostly theatre and little substance.

Pyongyang’s nuclear tests

Beyond all the flamboyant rhetoric from the succession of Dear Leaders, and beyond all of their spectacular military parades, there is very little proof that North Korea is advanced in its military prowess and nuclear abilities than many are led to fear in the United States and Western Europe. Their recent nuclear test on February 19th of this year was a perfect example of this.

US officials have speculated that North Korea has upgraded its nuclear capabilities from plutonium, to much more effective enriched uranium ‘HEU’ type warhead.

When no such evidence, or tell-tale physical data, was picked up from North Korea’s recent test – including readings taken from Japanese aircraft and multiple monitoring stations in South Korea, it prompted US officials to claim that the North Koreans merely “went to some length to try to contain releases. One possible reason to try to contain releases is secrecy, so we don’t know very much about their nuclear testing.”

In a recent report published in the Washington Post this week, a former senior Obama administration official admitted there is no evidence of any such advancement, saying, “We’re worried about it, but we haven’t seen it”.

These type of statements leaked into the media are seemingly always done under anonymity, perhaps because those people issuing them are in fear in of losing their jobs because their intelligence assessment does not jibe with US foreign policy rhetoric, nor does it promote the need for an expensive arms race.

Likewise, following North Korea’s previous test in 2009, US officials were on record as saying that unfortunately, the blast ‘left no detectable traces’.

Not convinced that North Korea’s capabilities are anything less than the most advanced, one U.S. official with access to the classified data on the tests derides the lack of evidence, claiming that: “Still, it would not be surprising for North Korea to take extra steps to prevent outsiders from gaining insights into its nuclear capability”.

As is the case with Iran, politicians in Washington and their corporate media partners have sought to validate the nuclear threat in such a way that suggests a pre-emptive strike may be necessary in order to save lives. Although we are used to hearing this every day in the US and Europe, that concept of a preemptive strike has been used as far back as Japan, and most recently in the context of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq and now again in Syria.

Constantly, we see US officials sculpting the narrative in order to fit into a preconceived conclusion. Very sophisticated propaganda indeed.

Attaching North Korea to Iran

The big danger with Washington and its allies’ polarising approach to foreign policy today is that it is eerily remnant of the type of power-politics that led the world into two previous world wars.

In order to joint North Korea and Iran at the hip, links are needed, and speculation is then used in order to build the type of theoretical case that one often sees emanating from the mouths of both hosts and guests on networks such as FOX News, CNN and the BBC, which is then taken on by the general populace as a genuine threat, skillfully articulated by an official source. Although less blunt than Kim Jung-un’s style of state-run propaganda, it’s just as effective in the end.

Iran has been attached to North Korea through Washington DC’s ‘Axis of Evil’ concept, after pursuing its own nuclear power program.

Still, there is no actual hard evidence to show that North Korea and Iran are sharing uranium enrichment technology, which is of course countered by US officials by claiming that, ‘the sharing of enrichment know-how would be harder to spot than missile know-how’, and also admitting, “ and adding, “They cooperate in many areas, especially missiles. Why it hasn’t yet extended to the nuclear program is frankly a mystery.”

Again with Syria, the North Koreans are thought to have signed a technology exchange agreement with Damascus over a decade ago, which U.S. officials ‘think’ led to the construction of a secret reactor near Deir al-Zour which the Israelis bombed in 2007. Did this facility have anything to do with nuclear weapons? We’ll never know for sure, and neither will the intelligence community based on the ambiguous comments by US officials.

 

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6.2 magnitude earthquake shakes Russia close to China and North Korea

Filed under: Earth Watch Report, Earthquakes, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
April 5, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Earthquakes

 
Edited time: April 05, 2013 15:09

6.2 magnitude earthquake shakes Russia’s Far East, close to China and North Korea

…

6.2 9km N of Zarubino, Russia 2013-04-05 13:00:02 42.713°N 131.105°E 561.9

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M6.2 – 9km N of Zarubino, Russia 2013-04-05 13:00:02 UTC

Earthquake location 42.713°N, 131.105°E

Event Time

  1. 2013-04-05 13:00:02 UTC
  2. 2013-04-06 00:00:02 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
  3. 2013-04-05 08:00:02 UTC-05:00 system time

Location

42.713°N 131.105°E depth=561.9km (349.1mi)

Nearby Cities

  1. 9km (6mi) N of Zarubino, Russia
  2. 28km (17mi) SW of Slavyanka, Russia
  3. 62km (39mi) ENE of Aoji-ri, North Korea
  4. 63km (39mi) ESE of Hunchun, China
  5. 608km (378mi) NE of Pyongyang, North Korea

…

Instrumental Intensity

ShakeMap Intensity Image

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Russia’s UN envoy has warned that Moscow might not sign the first treaty on global arms trade

Filed under: Guns, National Sovereignty, Politics, Legislation and Economy News, Self_Defense / Crime Prevention / Security, Special Interests, Weaponry / Armament, World News — Leave a comment
April 4, 2013

Russia and UN Arms Treaty photo RussiaandUNArmsTreaty_zps8154effe.jpg

Submitted  by  Roy  McDade

Russia Warns It May Not Sign Landmark UN Arms Treaty

03 April 2013 | Issue 5101
The Moscow Times

Russia’s UN envoy has warned that Moscow might not sign the first treaty on  global arms trade, even though it was overwhelmingly approved by the UN General Assembly.

Russia, the world’s second-largest arms supplier with an estimated $8 billion in sales last year, abstained in Tuesday’s vote.

The final vote tally for the treaty meant to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers was 154 in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Chirkin, complained that the draft treaty lacked a clause banning the supply of weapons to non-state entities.

“Despite persistent appeals from many states, it still does not contain a ban on arms supplies to unauthorized nonstate entities,” Churkin told reporters. “This is a considerable systematic flaw that will unavoidably affect the effectiveness of the implementation of the arms-trade treaty.

He said Moscow would take a hard look at the treaty before deciding whether to sign it.

China, the world’s third-largest arms supplier with $1.8 billion in sales, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, also abstained Tuesday.

No. 1 arms supplier the United States voted in favor despite fierce opposition from the National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement the UN adopted “a strong, effective and implementable Arms Trade Treaty that can strengthen global security while protecting the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade.”

But it was unclear whether the U.S., whose arms sales totaled $8.8 billion last year, would be able to win congressional approval to join the treaty.

Several UN delegates said the treaty’s effectiveness would be limited if major arms exporters refuse to sign it.

The Iranian, Syrian and North Korean delegations cast the sole votes against the treaty.

Iran, which is under a UN arms embargo over its nuclear program, is eager to ensure its arms imports and exports are not curtailed, while Syria’s government is embroiled in a two-year civil war and relies on arms from Russia and Iran, envoys said.

North Korea is also under a UN arms embargo due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

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