Sorry it took me so long:
"North Korean to visit US for rare talks" July 25, 2011|By Chico Harlan, Washington Post
SEOUL - North Korea’s vice foreign minister is to visit New York this week for a rare meeting that could pave the way for a resumption of multinational denuclearization talks, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday.
Related: Korea Throws Wrench Into WWIII Plans
The meeting between Kim Kae Gwan and US officials, arranged at Washington’s request, represents a chance for the first diplomatic progress with North Korea in more than two years.
Hey, what is one more distortion?
But breaking that long stalemate also comes with a risk; the Obama administration has long been wary of the six-party talks and doubtful of Pyongyang’s willingness to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
Clinton described the upcoming meeting as “exploratory.’’ The United States and other involved nations - China, Russia, Japan and South Korea - can reopen the six-party talks if Pyongyang stands behind its 2005 agreement to abandon its nuclear efforts, Clinton said.
“We are open to talks with North Korea, but we do not intend to reward the North just for returning to the table,’’ she said in a statement. “We will not give them anything new for actions they have already agreed to take. And we have no appetite for pursuing protracted negotiations that will only lead us right back to where we have already been.’’
I get that deja vu feeling every time I read a Globe.
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In recent weeks, though, US officials have pushed for reengagement with North Korea, requesting that Seoul lead the way. Some officials have also expressed concern about the consequences of failing to reengage.
Related: Korea Throws Wrench Into WWIII Plans
Have you had enough of the lies yet?
At a hearing on Thursday for Sung Kim - a nominee to become the next US ambassador to Seoul - Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said, “Make no mistake: Given North Korea’s recent irresponsible conduct, staying in a diplomatic holding pattern invites a dangerous situation to get even worse.’’
What a tool he turned out to be.
If North Korea makes concessions on its nuclear program, it stands to gain food or economic aid at a time when a quarter of the country, according to the World Food Program, is in need of food assistance.
U.S. using hunger as a weapon.
North Korea analysts in Seoul and Washington say such desperation is largely self-inflicted; the government spends money on imported luxury cars, watches, and weapons, flouting United Nations sanctions and ignoring the needs of its people.
SOUND FAMILIAR, 'murkn?
But leader Kim Jong Il, specialists say, also has fresh incentive to improve quality of life for those outside the elite.
No such thing from AmeriKa's leaders.
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"Clinton addresses South China Sea rifts" Associated Press / July 25, 2011
BALI, Indonesia - Increasing and sometimes violent encounters between China and its neighbors with competing claims in the South China Sea are driving up shipping costs and risk getting “out of control,’’ Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned yesterday, underscoring the urgent need to resolve disputes over resources and territory in the strategic waters.
Anytime the agenda-pushing government and media cry urgency I say STOP!
Just TOO FAMILIAR a SALES PITCH when ALL the RESULTS are BAD!
Clinton spoke in Bali, where China and the Association of Southeast Asian nations took a first step toward establishing a binding code of conduct for the South China Sea last week.
Codes of conduct are binding for everyone 'cept USrael.
She said dangerous incidents were on the rise and the international community has a vested interest in ending them because they threaten the stability, economic growth, and prosperity of the entire Asia-Pacific.
“The rest of the world needs to weigh in because all of us have a stake in ensuring that these disputes don’t get out of control,’’ Clinton told reporters at a joint news conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Clinton said increasing incidents of intimidation, such as the ramming of boats and cutting of vessels’ cables, were ratcheting up tensions and raising the “cost of doing business for everyone who travels through the South China Sea.’’
Clinton was in Bali to attend Asia’s largest security conference ahead of which China and ASEAN reached agreement on a declaration intended to pave the way for a code of conduct. But achieving that goal is fraught with difficulty as China has for years rejected such a formal mechanism, preferring to deal with individual countries where its sheer size and strength gives it an advantage.
Much like the AmeriKan empire, 'eh?
As she did at the conference on Saturday, Clinton urged all parties to show restraint and to comply with international law.
From a country that has done neither.
She said all claimants should submit documentation establishing their claims consistent with the UN Convention of the Law of the Seas....
Isn't that what started all this?
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Related:
"China’s first aircraft carrier swept through fog-shrouded waters yesterday to begin sea trials that underscore concerns about the country’s growing military strength and its increasingly assertive claims over disputed territory....
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Also see: Chinese Calm South China Sea
I'm really getting sick of the AmeriKan war media.
"The less news, the better" July 25, 2011
SECRETARY OF State Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Turkey didn’t grab headlines around the world, but that’s probably for the better....
Related: Clinton Takes Turkey to Task
Turkey remains a reliable but complicated partner for the United States....
They are on board with Syria and Libya, and have troops in Afghanistan.
On Iran, Turkey has led the way in increasing diplomatic and economic relationships with its regional competitor in order to influence Iranian policies. This is to America’s benefit.
But there are less encouraging trends....
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent behavior - storming out of a World Economic Forum meeting on Gaza, demanding that Israel be shut out of the United Nations - has gone from odd to disturbing. And he is playing to an anti-Semitism rarely seen in Turkey - even dismissing reports by US media outlets about Gaza because they are all “controlled by the Jews.’’
Related:
Six Jewish Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
I don't make up the facts; I just report them.
Turkey is an Islamic country that has always looked west, and its willingness to be a bridge to the Middle East has helped guard US interests. The United States cannot excuse Erdogan’s rants, but it also cannot afford to lose Turkey. It is a complicated balance, best made in a quick and headline-free visit.
The newspaper editorializing in favor of censorship. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
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I'm sure this didn't make the Zionist War interests any happier:
"Turkish military chiefs resign in protest of generals’ arrests; Move may signal end of institution’s role in politics" July 30, 2011|By Gul Tuysuz and Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s top military commanders resigned en masse yesterday, a move without precedent in Turkish history that many analysts considered a failed effort by a beleaguered institution to exert what is left of its dwindling political power....
The biggest blow to the military’s clout has been a sprawling series of investigations and trials in which a number of senior military commanders, as well as journalists and others, were charged with conspiring to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Also see: Mossad Uses Ergenekon Against Erdogan
No wonder they are not too happy with Israel.
The resignations were the culmination of a year of frustrations, in which more than 40 generals - roughly a tenth of the senior military command - were taken into custody, an assault that has infuriated the military but left it essentially helpless to fight back.
Right, the military is helpless. Pffft!
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"Turkey names new military leaders" by Associated Press / August 5, 2011
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey appointed commanders yesterday to posts left vacant by the resignation of the military’s top brass in a dispute with the government that showcased the elected leaders’ strengthening control over the once-mighty military.
President Abdullah Gul approved the appointment of a new chief of staff as well as new commanders to head the navy, army, and air force at the end of a key four-day meeting to discuss military promotions and dismissals, said his spokesman, Ahmet Sever. The commanders will take their posts after a final Cabinet approval, he said.
The military chief of staff and the leaders of the navy, army, and air force stepped down last week, frustrated over the arrests and prosecution of hundreds of officers for allegedly trying to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted government.
Erdogan’s government adamantly opposed promoting generals implicated in the alleged plots, prompting the resignations of the top brass, who said that the officers were being punished before a verdict and that the military was being portrayed as a “criminal’’ institution.
The new appointments show how the government is gaining the upper hand over the military, breaking with the tradition in which the military made its own decisions on promotions and dismissals within the ranks, having the government rubber-stamp the decisions.
The staunchly secular military has overthrown three governments since 1960 and pressured an Islamic-led government to step down in 1997.
The loss of an ally?
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