"Ahead of NATO summit, Obama reaches out to allies; Says Europe and US must act together" by Helene Cooper, New York Times | April 4, 2009
STRASBOURG, France - President Obama, appearing on the eve of a NATO summit meeting here, told a cheering crowd of young people yesterday that "America is changing, but it cannot be America alone that changes."
The gathering resembled any of the countless, similar rallies held during his presidential campaign. But this one took place in the French-German border region of Alsace, not in a gymnasium in Iowa, and Obama seemed bent on repairing soured trans-Atlantic relations that began with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The event was labeled a town hall meeting, but Obama spoke at such length that there was time for only five questions from the 3,500 French and German students. He offered his thoughts on a wide catalog of global issues, drawing cheers when he spoke of shutting down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and reducing nuclear stockpiles. But he spoke mostly in a serious vein, characterizing the fight against Islamic extremists as one that Europe could not afford to leave to the United States alone.
"I think that it is important for Europe to understand that even though I'm now president and George Bush is no longer president, Al Qaeda is still a threat," Obama said. "We cannot pretend somehow that because Barack Hussein Obama got elected as president, suddenly everything is going to be OK. It is going to be a very difficult challenge. Al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity."
Earlier in the day, the president and Michelle Obama were warmly welcomed by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his wife, Carla. In a symbolic gesture, Sarkozy said that France would accept a single prisoner from the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to assist the United States with shutting it down.
"We can't condemn the United States because they have that camp and then wash our hands of it once they close it," Sarkozy said. "That's not what being allies is about."
Obama lavished praise on Sarkozy, thanking him for "being good to his word," while adding that the United States needed help in finding a place to send the 240 or more detainees at Guantanamo. Europeans nations have said that they will take some prisoners, but that they need to know the full details of each case, including the security risks, and that the United States will also have to take some detainees.
The NATO summit meeting today is likely to focus on the alliance's dismal track record in Afghanistan, and Obama sought to play down reports of US displeasure with France's commitment to the international campaign against the Taliban. Sarkozy confirmed that France would send no more combat troops to Afghanistan, but said it would assist further with money, officers, and police trainers, as efforts intensify to build up the Afghan Army and the police.
Obama praised France's military efforts, saying, "I've not had to drag France kicking and screaming into Afghanistan." British officials said that they would offer about 800 more troops to help stabilize Afghanistan for the August elections, but that the deployment would not be permanent. That offer could be matched by some other NATO countries, but the temporary deployments do not come close to matching the U.S. commitment of 30,000 additional troops.
This NATO summit meeting marks the full reentry of France into the alliance, and its two new members, Croatia and Albania, bring the total to 28 members. Germany and France are acting as hosts of the event, which got underway last night in Baden-Baden, Germany, with a dinner for the leaders. NATO officials said that Sarkozy had tried to keep the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, from attending the dinner, but was overruled.
Discussions continued about a successor to de Hoop Scheffer, whose term expires this summer. Turkey opposes the appointment of the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, because of his handling of the controversy over the publication in Denmark of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Turkey argues, according to a senior NATO official, that appointing Rasmussen would enrage Muslims, including those in Afghanistan, who would take out their anger on Turkey, NATO's only Muslim country.
During the town hall meeting, Obama was noticeably more subdued than he was during his news conference in London the night before, when he bantered at length with members of the international news media.
Related: Obama Sick of Public
In Strasbourg, he urged a shift in attitudes. In America, he said, there had been "a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world," and there had been "times when America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." But in Europe, he added, there had also been anti-American attitudes. "On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common," he said. "They are not wise."
--more--"
"Europe offers few new troops for Afghanistan; A polite rebuff to Obama; protests mar NATO summit" by Steven Erlanger and Helene Cooper, New York Times | April 5, 2009
Firefighters battled a blaze yesterday at a hotel in Strasbourg, France, set by demonstrators protesting the NATO summit. Protesters also set a border post on fire, and riot police used tear gas. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)
That hotel dropped into its own footprint, right?
STRASBOURG, France - European leaders offered few extra troops yesterday for President Obama's intensified effort in Afghanistan, with most of the soldiers only on temporary security assignment, underlining deep divisions within the alliance over the war.
For a NATO summit meeting intended to be without drama, marking the 60th anniversary of the alliance, the event has been fractious both inside the hall and outside. Thousands of protesters clashed with riot police during the session yesterday....
As expected, European allies agreed to provide up to 5,000 new troops for Afghanistan, the White House said yesterday. But 3,000 of them are temporary deployments to provide security for the August elections in Afghanistan. A further 1,400 to 2,000 soldiers will also be made available, to form embedded training teams for the Afghan Army and the police.
Obama is raising the number of US troops this year to about 68,000 from the current 38,000, which will significantly Americanize the war. But the new strategy, which the Europeans have pressed for, is aimed at creating larger and better-trained Afghan security forces that can defend and allow the West to leave....
What horse shit!! There is nothing stopping them from leaving now!
Yesterday morning, NATO leaders walked across a sweeping bridge over the Rhine between Germany and France to symbolize Europe's unity, but later in the day, masked protesters were battling police officers from both countries on another bridge nearby, called the Bridge of Europe. The protesters, who are a mix of antiglobalization and antimilitary activists, set a hotel and a border post on fire in Strasbourg, while the riot police used tear gas to keep them back.
I smell agent provocateurs!
Obama has been greeted warmly on a personal level, but his calls for a more lasting European troop increase for Afghanistan were politely brushed aside. And NATO leaders had struggled to choose their new secretary general, driving negotiations yesterday more than an hour past schedule.
NATO works by consensus, and the European-favored candidacy of Rasmussen was publicly opposed by Turkey, NATO's only Muslim country. The Turks said that Rasmussen was insensitive to Muslim concerns during the scandal over the Danish newspapers' publication in 2005 of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and that because NATO was fighting in Muslim Afghanistan, the symbolism would be all wrong.
Rasmussen has also said he does not think Turkey will ever become a full member of the European Union. Efforts to sway Turkish officials over the leaders' lavish dinner Friday at a casino in Baden-Baden, Germany, failed, as did a telephone call by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy to Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Berlusconi's effort yesterday morning also held up the other leaders as they waited to cross the bridge from Germany into France. Finally, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany set off with the others, leaving Berlusconi behind.
I resent the globalist's gorging themselves while people around this world are hungry!
But behind closed doors, in an extended meeting that ran more than hour over, the deal was completed. According to senior European diplomats, Turkey was given at least two NATO jobs. Turkey was also promised that two blocked chapters of its accession agreement to join the European Union would move forward and that Rasmussen would publicly address the concerns of the Muslim world about his response on the cartoons.
Obama was said to be important to the Turkish decision to give in, meeting with President Abdullah Gul of Turkey and Rasmussen, who also spoke to the leaders over dinner Friday night and was said to have impressed Obama. Rasmussen is a center-right politician who has provided strong support for the US war in Iraq and NATO's operation in Afghanistan and whose government has sent fighting troops there, as well as to Bosnia and Kosovo.
Yesterday's meeting began with niceties, with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France confirming his country's return to full membership in NATO, and with Obama welcoming Albania and Croatia to the alliance. Obama added that he expected Macedonia to join soon and that NATO's door remained open to other countries.
But he made no specific mention of Georgia and Ukraine, whose increasingly distant accession to NATO has contributed to a rift in Russia's relations with the West. At last year's NATO meeting in Romania, President George W. Bush pushed hard for membership accession for Georgia and Ukraine, but he was rebuffed by European leaders. Instead, NATO promised that both countries would eventually join NATO, but did not specify a timetable.
A few months later, the Russian Army occupied the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a move that most foreign analysts interpreted as a death knell for Georgia's NATO membership, because the European members of the alliance are loath to get into a fight with Russia.
Once again, the OMISSION in the AmeriKan jewsmedia that GEORGIA STARTED the WAR!!!!
While the United States has since then given lip service to continued support for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, Obama administration officials have privately indicated that they do not plan to put accession for those two countries at the top of the American agenda....
Sarkozy and Merkel, the hosts, praised Obama. "We are very pleased to work with him," Sarkozy said. "We trust him."
I no longer do (if I ever did).
On his first overseas trip, Obama has been the star of the NATO meeting, with leaders jostling for time alone with him and photo opportunities with him and the local news media praising him for speaking in language that is both direct and substantive.
Yeah, yeah, he's a real rock star.
"Obama hails 5,000 more NATO troops for Afghanistan" by Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer | April 4, 2009
STRASBOURG, France --President Barack Obama hailed "strong and unanimous support" from NATO allies on Saturday for his stepped-up anti-terror strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and welcomed their "down payment" promises of 5,000 fresh forces.
Later they told us it was only 3,000.
The allies rebuffed U.S. appeals for more combat forces to join the war, but the backing Obama did gain at a European summit allowed him to claim an early victory on the world's foreign policy stage. NATO allies agreed to send up to 5,000 more military trainers and police to Afghanistan, including forces to help protect candidates and voters at upcoming elections.
Obama called that "a strong down payment" on both Afghanistan and NATO itself at the end of a gathering celebrating the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He waved off questions on whether the size and makeup of the commitments were disappointing in light of an anti-terrorism struggle he himself portrayed as daunting. Since becoming president, Obama has begun switching America's anti-terror emphasis to fighting al-Qaida in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area as the war in Iraq winds down.
The new president insisted that "terrorists threaten every member of NATO."
I'm so sick of this guy.
Obama weighed in on a controversial new law in Afghanistan, his remarks underscoring his administration's shift away from a U.S. focus on building democracy in the country. Asked about the law, which a United Nations agency says makes it legal for men to rape their wives, Obama called it "abhorrent." He also noted that the NATO conference's closing statement specifically states that human rights should be respected.
This as he drops bombs on their heads! What chutzpah!
But Obama said pointedly that, while improving conditions in Afghanistan is a commendable goal, people need to remember that the primary reason U.S. troops are fighting there is to protect Americans at home from terrorist attacks....
Related: Obama Buys bin Laden Myth
As for new troops, the White House said NATO countries agreed to send more personnel, including about 3,000 on short-term deployments, to help stabilize Afghanistan before elections in August. An additional 1,400 to 2,000 will provide training for Afghanistan's national army.
Obama said those figures should not be considered a ceiling, suggesting more could be sought and offered at some point to confront a threat that he emphasized endangers Europe as well as the U.S. "We'll need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals," he said....
The guy is as bad as Bush.
Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command and architect of the new military strategy, told Congress that the White House will soon be mulling a request for 10,000 more American troops to be deployed in Afghanistan next year....
I thought the American people "elected" this guy to END the WARS, not escalate them!
Along with the divide over troops and money, the Europeans have also long been reluctant to accept the U.S. view that al-Qaida and, to a lesser extent, the Taliban, remain a threat to the existence of democratic societies.
Oh, the EUROPEANS READING MY BLOG are they?
Not buying the USRAELI BULLSHIT anymore?
The war in Afghanistan more and more is looking like an American war, and the U.S. will continue to do the bulk of the heavy lifting....
It always was ours -- right down to the false flag of 9/11.
And yet he's ALL SMILES!
"Analysis: Plenty of cheers but mixed bag for Obama" by Jennifer Loven, AP White House Correspondent | April 4, 2009
US President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with Czech President Vaclav Klaus upon his arrival to the airport in Prague, Czech Republic, Saturday, April 4, 2009. Obama will attend a summit between the United States and the 27-member European Union in Prague on Sunday. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
STRASBOURG, France --Stop after stop, crowds are thronging, leaders gushing, headlines blaring. Even a roomful of foreign reporters applauded after President Barack Obama's London news conference.
They love him over here. But are they giving him anything else to take home?
It's a mixed bag: some success, several failures and much still to be determined.
The president hit the halfway point Saturday on a European trip that, by the end, will have him charming and listening (not lecturing) his way through five countries, three international summits, one-on-one meetings with at least 17 leaders, a Buckingham Palace audience, at least seven news conferences, three speeches, two question-and-answer sessions with regular-folk foreigners and three official dinners.
The locals have chased his motorcade, strained across rope lines to shake his hand and gawped at Michelle Obama's sleek, multihued travel wardrobe. Leaders as reserved as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and as competitive -- potentially even hostile -- as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have raved about his leadership style. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, trying to stave off his own political demise, was delighted to stand beaming at his charismatic guest's side, burbling about "exchanging ideas."
"Your first 70 days in office have changed America, and you've changed America's relationship with the world," Brown said enthusiastically. In turn, Obama said repeatedly that the U.S. must learn as well as lead, a welcome sentiment for a world that's sick of what many see as American bullying. Still, lest the folks back home think he's gone soft in Europe, he declared on Saturday that the U.S. "has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity."
Beware, world.
Obama even engineered a solution to a dispute over the final communique at the London summit on the global financial crisis, conducting shuttle diplomacy between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao. He came up with a compromise between the two leaders' opposing positions on offshore tax havens and shepherded each one's signoff. Deal done.
Nearly every day has brought requests for Obama to grace the world with more of his presence. Almost like dropping rose petals as he goes, the president has been saying yes. With Medvedev, Obama announced he would go to Moscow in July. With Hu, he promised a trip to the Asian powerhouse in the latter half of the year. And Sarkozy finally secured what he wanted -- a walk on the beach in Normandy with Obama to mark the June 6 D-Day anniversary.
Gee, how come he doesn't stroke us, 'murka?
He's breaking promises all over the place!
Europe was oh so ready for a change. "Anyone else but Bush is better," said Lene Gade, a 43-year-old teacher in Copenhagen.
I disagree.
The 20-nation global economic summit in London didn't yield what Obama most wanted, big new outlays of stimulus spending by other nations. European wariness toward rising debt is one reason. There's also a reservoir of anger here toward America that euphoria about the election of the first black man to the U.S. presidency can't erase -- as expressed by huge protests in London....
So the blogs were right: despite the pr propaganda and puff pieces, he came back empty-handed.
Here in Strasbourg, the main agenda item was Afghanistan, in Obama's conversations with the French and German leaders and, even more prominently, at Saturday's NATO summit. And what the U.S. wanted was something much more robust than the vast majority of the 28 nations of the trans-Atlantic alliance, many populated with voters deeply opposed to war engagement, were willing to give.
Time and again, Obama said Europe is in as much danger from al-Qaida extremists developing footholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan as is the United States, and so must contribute to uprooting them. "Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," Obama declared.
Worse than Bush, booga-booga!
But only the U.S. and a handful of other countries are engaged in the dangerous fighting in Afghanistan's southern and eastern provinces -- and, in a rebuke to Obama's plea, that won't change with the summit. Still, he declared the meeting a success, with its commitments from allies to send a total of about 5,000 troops to help train the Afghan National Police and Army and to provide short-term election security, even though many will not see combat and none will go to the heavy fighting....
Many NATO nations prefer to focus on repairing relations with Russia.... Neither U.S. foreign policy nor that of other nations tends to change all that much when a government shifts to a different party.
What?
And, as, Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, put it, the Obama that came to Europe wasn't exactly what Europeans expected. Instead, he was still in many ways the kind of risk-taking American they thought his election had left behind.
Isn't it nice that a neo-con is turned to for expertise -- and that he tells the truth about NO-CHANGE OBAMA?
So Obama brought an agenda to Europe, Kagan wrote in a
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, said Obama couldn't go home empty-handed -- and won't....
"Police, protesters clash in France at NATO summit" by Scott Sayare and Thomas Seythal, Associated Press | April 04, 2009
First lady Michelle Obama and other spouses canceled a visit to a cancer hospital out of concern for security, the French president's office said, after hundreds of protesters took up positions near the hospital they were to visit.
Most protesters marched peacefully, calling for an end to war and decrying NATO as a tool of Western imperialism. But a demonstration that began calmly turned violent around noon (1000 GMT) in east Strasbourg about a mile from the Rhine River and the German border. An AP reporter saw police in body armor and helmets hoisting shields as they were pelted by several hundred protesters with rocks, sticks and then Molotov cocktails.
I SMELL AGENT PROVOCATEUR!
About 100 officers responded by lobbing concussion grenades and volleys of tear gas into the crowds of demonstrators, many dressed in black and wearing masks or balaclavas. "I've never pulled so much metal out of people," said Ramon Schmidt, a medic tending to injured demonstrators.
Members of the violence-prone "black bloc" -- named for their black clothes and hoods -- then headed toward the Europe Bridge over the Rhine river.
OH, STINK!!!!!!!
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie condemned the violence, telling France-3 television that some of the protesters were "very violent." "There was a band of hoodlums, you must call them by their name, who were there only to destroy," she said.
Hours earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and two dozen other NATO leaders had walked across the bridge from Germany to France to open the main session 60th-anniversary summit with a photogenic display of European cooperation. As the leaders met behind closed doors near Strasbourg's center, the black-clad demonstrators set fire to the customs station on the French side of the Europe Bridge and sprayed graffiti on the walls of buildings.
German police used used water cannon to extinguish the blaze, but French fire fighters had to be called in. As the crowd dissipated, a convenience store was overrun and ransacked.
French police said approximately 1,000 of the estimated 10,000 demonstrators in Strasbourg were "particularly violent" and "had not stopped attacking." They reported about a dozen injuries in the series of clashes that lasted until the late afternoon.
AP photographers saw protesters storm a budget hotel about a 5-minute walk from the Europe Bridge, setting fires and pilfering alcohol from its bar. Police said that a local pharmacy was also gutted, along with a building that housed small businesses.
The MORE YOU READ the MORE IT STINKS!!!!
Stacks of old tires were also set ablaze, unleashing thick plumes of black smoke that could be seen from across the river. Near the bonfire was a sign welcoming visitors to Strasbourg.
Around 2:45 p.m. (1245 GMT), the protesters, throwing rocks, tried to storm a massive police blockade at the d'Anvers bridge. They were driven back by water cannon, tear gas, flash bombs and rubber bullets. Across the canal, nearly 1,000 people gathered to watch the fracas.
Across the Rhine in Kehl, Germany, an estimated 7,000 demonstrators gathered peacefully and hoped to cross into Strasbourg but were diverted by scores of police. Protest organizers said 10,000 people were on hand. German authorities had estimated that up to 25,000 protesters would take part in demonstrations but many were frustrated by the presence of some 15,000 German police and 9,000 French police, some in helicopters and fast boats patrolling the Rhine.
--more--"I love so-called western freedom, don't you?
How come Muslims always have way more people at their marches and rallies?
"Obama to Muslim world: No US war with Islam" by Tom Raum and Jennifer Loven, Associated Press Writers | April 6, 2009
ANKARA, Turkey --Declaring the U.S. "is not and never will be at war with Islam," President Barack Obama worked Monday to mend frayed ties with NATO ally Turkey and improve relations with the larger Muslim world.
Even as we are slavishly serving Israel's interests rather than our own!
Ummm, could you quit ordering bombing runs on innocent people please sir.
Obama acknowledged still-raw tensions over the Iraq war but said Muslims worldwide have little in common with terrorists such as al-Qaida....
Well, yeah, seeing as a lot of it is "Al-CIA-Duh!" That knowledge is never going back, folks. It's all a staged-managed theatre for you.
Turkey's role in maintaining security will be pivotal after U.S. combat troops are gone, despite the Turks' lingering problems with Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. Turkey also has important leverage with both Afghanistan and Pakistan and has served as a broker between Israel and several Arab states....
Many reasons you rarely hear about Turkey's current genocide.
When Was the Last Time You Heard About.... Armenia?
Mossad Uses Ergenekon Against Erdogan
The president spoke for about 25 minutes from a small white-marble-and-teak rostrum in the well of a vast, airy chamber packed with Turkish lawmakers in orange leather chairs. Except for a few instances of polite applause, the room was quiet during his speech.
There was a more hearty ovation toward the end when Obama said the U.S. supports the Turkish government's battle against the Kurdish rebel group PKK, which both nations consider a terrorist group....
Yup, when you STAND UP and APPLAUD STATE TERROR and GENOCIDE it's OKAY!!!!!!
Obama.... also met, separately, with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, In a news conference with Gul, Obama stood by his 2008 assertion that Ottoman Turks carried out widespread killings of Armenians early in the 20th century. But he stopped short of repeating the word "genocide" that he has used. "Well, my views are on the record and I have not changed views," Obama said.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in the years leading up to and during World War I, event viewed by many scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, claiming the toll has been inflated....
That's Holocaust denial, right, ADL?
In his speech to Parliament -- formally the Turkish Grand National Assembly -- Obama said, "History, unresolved, can be a heavy weight. Each country must work through its past. And reckoning with the past can help us seize a better future."
9/11 Truth, numbskull!! Stop touting 'Al-CIA-Duh!"!
Turkey maintains a small military force in Afghanistan, part of the NATO contingent working with U.S. troops to beat back the resurgent Taliban and deny al-Qaida a safe haven along lawless stretches of the Afghan-Pakistan border....
Yeah, don't tick off the Turks or "Al-CIA-Duh" will come get ya!
--MORE--"
And if it ain't "Al-CIA-Duh" it will be the cwaaaaaaazzzzzy Korean!!!!
These articles disappointed me on several levels -- and that's saying a lot by someone whose faith in AmeriKa's MSM has evaporated.
What bugs me the most is this: North Korea Telling the Truth About Missile Launch
When I sat down and read these accounts, well, see how you do.....
"US, allies condemn launch by N. Korea; Security Council divided on response; Missile failed to exit the atmosphere" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | April 6, 2009
WASHINGTON - The United States and its key Asian allies yesterday condemned North Korea's launching of a multistage rocket, saying it was a test of a long-range missile in violation of United Nations resolutions and calling for tougher international sanctions against the reclusive regime, which is suspected to have enough material for several nuclear bombs.
At the request of Japan, the UN Security Council convened an emergency session in New York, but was divided on how to respond, with China, North Korea's strongest ally, and Russia calling on all sides to show restraint.
So sad that an AMERICAN has to line up with the RUSSIAN and CHINESE for PEACE!!!! Remember, the US IS LYING!!!!!
I'm SICK of the ENDLESS WAR PROPAGANDA, and it is why: The MSM Monitor Looks Into the Mirror
The launch appeared to be timed to upstage a highly anticipated speech by President Obama in the Czech Republic, in which he laid out an ambitious arms control agenda, including reducing the number of nuclear weapons, banning nuclear testing, and halting the production of bomb material. Obama, responding to the early test of his presidency, used the occasion to condemn the act and urge other nations to join in punishing the Communist nation.
"North Korea broke the rules once again by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles," Obama said during the speech. "Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean some thing. The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now is the time for a strong international response."
Tell it to you-know-who, dick-s***!
********************
American, Japanese, and other militaries that were tracking its trajectory by radar reported that the missile did not exit the atmosphere, and all of the components appeared to have landed in the Pacific Ocean, some as far as 2,000 miles away.
Then NO MORE BOOGA-BOOGA when the Korean shoots off his POP GUN, 'kay?
TIRED of the WAR HYPE, LIES and PROPAGANDA, got it, MSM?
Start TELLING the DAMN TRUTH!!!!!!!
A number of specialists said the test, by failing to launch the satellite, was a major setback for the North Korean program, and said it underscored how far the regime remains from mastering the science of intercontinental ballistic missiles and being able to threaten the United States with a missile attack.
Besides, how many nuke bombs we got in quiver? 7,000?
Even so, the missile, which US and allied intelligence officials fear is being designed to carry a nuclear weapon....
The little guy is a dictator who wants to hold on to power -- like any government, really. Just a bit more brutal and secretive, but not all that different from the various panapoly of coercions available to the masters of the universe.
Retired Admiral William J. Fallon, who was commanding US military forces in the Pacific when North Korea conducted its first underground nuclear test in October 2006, called the development worrisome. "They are trying to get a capability to intimidate more than just their immediate neighborhood," Fallon, who is now a senior fellow at MIT's Center for International Studies, said. "They couldn't get to us [with their missiles] before. Now there is much more potential to do so." He added: "It would not surprise me if they are looking to marry a nuclear capability to the missile."
This the same guy that Bush buggered out over Iran or was that just shit-show fooleys, too? These guys all cut from the same cloth, and I'm tird of the pretend in-fighting for konsumer konsumption?
However, other analysts urged caution yesterday, saying that North Korea still has far to go to be able to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile, which would have to travel three times as far to strike the western-most parts of the United States. North Korea already has a missile force that can threaten its Asian neighbors.
"I am appalled at the hype about this rocket launch," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation dedicated to reducing nuclear dangers. "By far the more important news story is the president's speech. They are years and many technological achievements away from having a nuclear-tipped missile that could threaten the continental United States."
Yeah, SO WAS I for other reasons, but!!!!
While the same type of rocket that can launch a satellite into space can also carry a nuclear warhead thousands of miles, Cirincione said that North Korea's ballistic missile program appeared capable of carrying only a small satellite into orbit, and it apparently failed to do even that. To carry a nuclear warhead, North Korea would need a far bigger missile, he said.
And here the AmeriKan MSM made it sound like the Korean -- I use that term, btw, as a homage to the former president who would never actually say the man's name -- was just waiting to press the button for two days!!!!
Cirincione cited analysis by Ted Postol, an MIT scientist, that suggested North Korea was trying to launch a satellite that weighed no more than 440 pounds into an orbit about 340 miles above the earth. By contrast, a small nuclear warhead, according to experts, weighs about 2,200 pounds.
Yeah, I KNOW -- and they failed (if this report is to be believed)!!! So NO MORE BOOGA-BOOGA about Korea -- and GET THEM SOME FOOD, FAST!!!!!!!!!
In a sign of how far behind they are, Cirincione pointed out that the United States last week launched a nearly 13,000-pound satellite into an orbit roughly 22,000 miles above the earth.
"This sense of panic just plays into the North Korean game," Cirincione added, noting that the government in Pyongyang wants to gain more concessions in ongoing talks with the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan over ending its nuclear program. "They played us like a fiddle on this."
Or somebody's (who controls the message of the MSM and what do they alternately promote and censor? I'll give you a few minutes on that one).
Still, yesterday's launch drew swift condemnation.
I'm SO SICK of seeing THOSE WORDS in my NEWSPAPER!!
Could be, still, if, may be, might be, however, it never stops!
US officials said before the meeting they would urge the Security Council to punish North Korea, which is the subject of international sanctions for its missile program and efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, told ABC's "This Week" yesterday that the Obama administration would be pushing the UN to "toughen existing [sanction] regimes." "This is serious, it's a violation, and it merits an appropriately strong United Nations response," she said.
Hey, WHO KNEW Obama appointed Condoleeza Rice as ambass.... oh, wait, that's a different Rice? Sure sounds like the last one.
Others echoed the tough US stance.... But support for tougher international measures will require the support of Security Council members Russia and China, which wield a veto and expressed caution yesterday about taking drastic steps....
Related: Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Aren't you ashamed, USraeli, I mean, AmeriKan?
Fallon said both Russia and China have valid concerns that pushing the unpredictable North Korean leader too hard could force him to act out further and make matters worse.
--more--"Even the Admiral agrees with me?
LAST STOP!!!!!!!
"Obama outlines sweeping goal of nuclear-free world; Rocket launch by North Korea upstages talk" by Jennifer Loven, Associated Press | April 6, 2009
PRAGUE - Declaring the future of mankind at stake, President Obama said yesterday that all nations must strive to rid the world of nuclear arms and that the United States had a "moral responsibility" to lead because no other country has used one.
Hey, 'bamer, first place to look: DIMONA. They are threatening us all.
“We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force…We have the capability to take the world down with us, and I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”
And that's sort of the reason we shouldn't be leading, imho.
Related: The Boston Globe's Stupid Ideas: Nuclear Disarmament
A North Korean rocket launch upstaged Obama's idealistic call to action, delivered in the capital of the Czech Republic, a former satellite of the Soviet Union. But Obama dismissed those who say the spread of nuclear weapons, "the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War," cannot be checked. "This goal will not be reached quickly - perhaps not in my lifetime," he told a cheering crowd of more than 20,000 in the historic square outside the Prague Castle gates. We "must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, 'Yes, we can.' "
Why is this guy's "change" -- despite the flowery rhetoric -- always for the worst?
Few analysts think it's possible to completely eradicate nuclear weapons, and many say it wouldn't be a good idea even if it could be done. Even backward nations such as North Korea have shown they can develop bombs, given enough time.
Yeah, I wonder who would say that.
And they ain't the greatest, but I'm wondering how many millions they've killed over the years. I mean, invader AmeriKa killed 7-10 million Native Americans, half-a-million in the Philippines, millions of Japanese, millions of Vietnamese, and now Afghans, Pakistanis, and Iraqis. We just keep moving west. Africa next?
But a program to drastically cut the world atomic arsenal carries support from scientists and lions of the foreign policy world. Obama embraced that step as his first goal and chose as the venue for his address a nation that peacefully threw off communism and helped topple the Soviet Union, despite its nuclear power.
Yeah, did you notice that was one of the few peaceful collapses of empire in world history? Most are violent, as I fear AmeriKa's will be.
But he said his own country, with its huge arsenal and its history of using two atomic bombs against Japan in 1945, had to lead the world. He said the United States has a "moral responsibility" to start taking steps now. "To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year," he promised.
And PROMISE NOT to USE THEM-- EVER!!!!!
The nuclear-free cause is more potent in Europe than in the United States, where even Democratic politicians such as Obama must avoid being labeled as soft or naive if they endorse it....
Translation: worship the war beast -- or else.
While espousing long-term goals, Obama took care to promise that America would not lower its defenses while others are pursuing a nuclear threat.
Like WHO!!!!
He warned both North Korea, which has tested a nuclear weapon, and Iran, which the West says is developing one, that the world was against them.
STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!!!!!!!!
Obama gave his most unequivocal pledge yet to proceed with building a missile defense system in Europe, so long as Iran pursues nuclear weapons, a charge it denies.
Sir, PLEASE!!!!!
That shield is to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Those countries are on Russia's doorstep, and the missile shield has contributed to a significant decline in US-Russia relations.
In the interest of resetting ties with Moscow, Obama previously had appeared to soft-pedal his support for the Bush-era shield proposal. But he adopted a different tone in Prague.
Sounds the same to me.
"As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven," Obama said, earning cheers from the crowd.
That's an MSM LIE (see Part 1).
After the speech and a round of private meetings with foreign leaders, Obama arrived in Turkey, the final stop of his trip. On the broader anti-nuclear issue, more than 140 nations have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. But 44 states that possess nuclear technology need to both sign and ratify it before it can take effect and only 35 have done so. The United States is among the holdouts, along with China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan.
Yeah, I KNOW IRAN is in there, but they aren't building a bomb. Notice how quiet the jewsmedia is on the others -- save Pakistan, another candiadte for attack and occupation.
Ratification was one of several "concrete steps" Obama outlined as necessary to move toward a nuclear-free world. He also called for reducing the role of nuclear weapons in American national security strategy and seeking a new treaty to end the production of fissile materials used in nuclear weapons.
I say we BOMB 'EM with PALLETS of FOOD!!!!!!
Obama said the United States will seek to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation treaty by providing more resources and authority for international inspections and mandating "real and immediate consequences" for countries that violate the treaty.
I'm not to crazy about the globalist grid being justified off these lies, and if the U.S. wanted to strengthen the thing the first thing they could do is abide by the thing. Second, open up Israel!
He offered few details of how he would accomplish his larger goal and acknowledged that "in a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up."
--more--"
Gee, that's RATHER CRYPTIC!!!!
What does HE KNOW that YOU DON'T, world?
