Archive for the 'Politics' Category

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Continuing developments in the far east.  First, Seoul denounces Japanese Cabinet:

“It is nothing other than a grave situation that Japanese Cabinet ministers repeatedly raised the possibility of launching pre-emptive strikes and the justification of armed actions on the Korean Peninsula,” presidential spokesman Jung Tae Ho was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying. 

What a strange world we live in.  North Korea launches missiles over Japan, Japan then discusses the right of self defense, and then South Korea denounces Japan.  Get the order?  Again, N. Korea launches, Japan talks self defense, S. Korea denounces Japan.

South Korea has relied on U.S. troops to be the defense against Kim Jong Il for many years now, and essentially caves to N. Korean pressure by denouncing Japan.  Is South Korea anything but a lap dog?  Want more?

North Korea has walked out of the “negotiations.”  South Korea has frozen aid to the impoverished North Korea as a result of the launches:

PUSAN, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea stormed out of talks with South Korea on Thursday and Seoul froze food aid to its impoverished neighbor, as regional fissures over how to deal with Pyongyang’s missile tests widened.

Pyongyang also appeared to have stood up to its closest ally, Beijing, which has sent a “friendship delegation” to North Korea.

“So far they don’t seem to be interested in listening, much less doing anything,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing. “I think the Chinese are as baffled as we are.”

I still don’t buy this about China being powerless or “baffled.”  But regarding South Korea, can someone tell me why they have been supplying aid to their enemy — the ones sworn to recombine the Korean peninsula?

Finally, after thinking about it, I still hope that all this talk about sending in a few Japanese fighters to take out missile sites is just that — talk.  Japan needs to rearm itself, go nuclear and then effect whatever defensive posture it feels that it needs.  I still think that it is not currently ready.

***** UPDATE *****

The Strategy Page has this (Japan has the right to a preemptive strike):

Japan has a stronger military than it advertises. In May, 2003, it quietly launched the first or a series of spy satellites into orbit, the better to keep tabs on potential threats like North Korea. Ignoring North Korean threats of “disastrous consequences,” Japan successfully launched a rocket carrying two military spy satellites, giving the island nation its own space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Tokyo is also accelerating development of missile defenses, building its commando forces, and working on creating an in-flight refueling capability for its fleet of F-15 aircraft, which would give them the ability to strike North Korea on a large scale. There is even a suggestion from some in the Japanese government that the country should build nuclear weapons – a call that may be heard more loudly now that North Korea is threatening to launch its own nukes at neighboring nations. A second set of satellites was subsequently launched. The four orbit at an average altitude of 500 kilometers, allowing Japan to photograph any part of the world at least once a day. The satellites carry optical- and radar-imaging capabilities, and it would be surprising if they did not also possess at least some electronic-intelligence capabilities. The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force has approximately 45,800 sailors, 146 warships, 179 airplanes, and 135 helicopters. Its fleet is divided into four flotillas, each around a 7,200-ton Kongo-class guided missile destroyer with AEGIS-capable surface to air missiles. The Kongos carry the SPY-1D AEGIS radar. The four Escort Flotillas have 2-3 air warfare ships and 5-6 anti-submarine destroyers, plus ASW helicopters. The JMSDF also fields twenty-three other guided missile destroyers, a number of gun-only destroyers and escorts, and 17 modern diesel-electric subs, perfectly suited for warfare in the Sea of Japan. In possibly confronting North Korea, Japan’s Air Self Defense Force has 46,000 airmen and force of over 330 combat aircraft, including F-15J/DJs, F-4E/EJs, F-2A/Bs, and F-1s. That Japan – a nation traditionally and strictly limited to a defensive military since 1945 — has so publicly declared its intention to “get buffed” and not be cowed by a rogue state is an interesting turn of events in an age of asymmetric warfare.

Maybe I’m wrong about Japan not being ready to make a preemptive strike.  However, it still seems to me to be prudent to go nuclear before anything like this happened.  Going nuclear would cause pause to China in any potential response it might make over North Korea being attacked by Japan.

I have received this press release from Joseph Casas:

Hamdania: Press Release from Legal Counsel Joseph Casas

Representing PFC John J. Jodla III

July 11, 2006

“Perplexing Lack of Official Cooperation in Hamdania Case”

* Today is day 60 of confinement for PFC Jodka and the rest of the Pendleton 8.

* We have requested tons of evidence and have received nothing but the preliminary investigation – we have yet to get a full autopsy report.

* We’ve made several key expert/investigator requests and a site visit request – all of which are still unanswered … yesterday we requested a status on our requests and I have yet to receive a reply.

* The grave concern is that we have an Article 32 in early August (either week 1 or week 2) to prepare for and we don’t have what we need to defend this case.

* To make matters worse, appointed military defense counsel is out of the area (in 29 palms) and most of the military defense counsel are being recalled to active duty (i.e., reservists), out of area, and don’t have a place to work out of.  If the military is going to appoint defense counsel to assist the civilian counsel, then they can’t just do so using smoke and mirrors, they must appoint defense counsel that can truly assist in the defense.

* Time is of the essence in this case, the Marines are facing the death penalty!

Joseph N. Casas, J.D., M.B.A.

Casas Law Group, P.C.

Attorneys & Counselors at Law

www.casaslaw.com

End of Press Release, beginning of my comments.  This is all still current with the caveat that Casas has been contacted by the prosecutors who have told him that they are working on his requests.  Overall, my impression of all of this is that this is just plain wrong.  I keep hearing that the military justice system is the best on earth.  The military will not allow the guilty to go unpunished nor the innocent to be punished.  They are the fairest of the fair.

Well, tell me when all of this fairness starts.  Is there a date that I should be on the lookout for?  Good grief!  Legal wranglings begin soon and no one from the defense team has been able to get to the scene of the alleged crime (through no fault of their own).  How do you properly defend a case like this?  How do you take pride in a system that so far has given the defense nothing, not even an opportunity to see Hamdania?

Well, looky here!  Surprise, surprise.  Cooperation between Iran and North Korea.  I am sure that both Iran and North Korea need the missiles and nuclear technology to protect themselves against all of those threats (you know, Kuwait’s threats against Iran, and Liechtenstein’s threats against N. Korea).

In followup to my “Liberals Say the Darndest Things” where I summarized the jaw-dropping position of the liberals on North Korea (“its all Bush’s fault”), its nice to hear someone step up and say the truth.  Tony Snow steps up (hat tip to Polipundit):

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that Bill Richardson, who served as United Nations ambassador and Energy Secretary under Clinton, “went with flowers and chocolates, and he went with light-water nuclear reactors … and a basketball signed by Michael Jordan and many other inducements for the ‘dear leader’ to try to agree not to develop nuclear weapons, and it failed.”

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Jihad Watch is reporting that the recent bombing of the commuter rail in Bombay, India, has the appearance of being Kashmir Jihadists.  If so, then we should look for tensions over the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan to heat up again.

Remember the most recent spate of tensions there?  India and Pakistan almost went to war over Kashmir (all the while, the U.S. was courting Pakistan in order to gain assistance with the war in Afghanistan).  While I think that Dick Armitage is mostly a lackey, he apparently managed to suppress the tensions and pull a nuclear India and nuclear Pakistan back from the brink of war.

It would be better for world stability if this was an internal affair within India rather than the work of Muslim terrorists.  Michelle Malkin thinks that this is possible (reference here).

We’ll see.

 **** UPDATE #1 ****

The arrests make it currently look like it is Islamic Terrorists.  From Fox News:

The Indian home minister said on Indian television that authorities had information of an attack but did not know when or where it was to occur.

“There is no information about who is behind these blasts,

See this interesting article over at Fox News on the EU being a “leaderless superpower.”  It is right in so far as it goes (i.e., without a leader).  But the EU is so far from being a superpower that it is really surprising that anyone would have written a piece hinting at such a thing.

A few comments on the EU.  First of all, quoting from the link above:

Europe’s current climate of “Christianophobia

Here is a very, very, very strange post.  It is called the “Dark Side of the Blog” over at MSNBC.com.  One of the examples used as “dark” is of Glenn Reynolds.  The quote on the blog says:

One example that comes to mind is Glenn recently encouraging readers to contact the Egyptian embassy on behalf of an imprisoned blogger.

Um, excuse me?  Once again, um, excuse me?

Encouraging people to contact the Egyptian embassy on behalf of an imprisoned blogger is a “dark” example of blogging?  If so, then “Lord, please let me be a dark blogger who becomes a thorn in the side of the Islamo-fascist Mubarrak who imprisons not only bloggers but Christians as well.”

Here is Zarqawi from the CENTCOM web site (page “What Extremists are Saying“):

“”Why do not you tell them that your soldiers cannot sleep without taking drugs and hallucination pills …

Barbara Boxer, as shown and discussed on The Factor with Bill O’Reilly, July 10, 2006:

“Our soldiers are having to take anti-depressants …”

The context made it clear that she was discussing forward-deployed soldiers and Marines.  In Fact, the always enjoyable Col. David Hunt had to refute this claim.

I also know that our boys cannot have any drugs, alcohol, women or anything else that would interfere with the performance of their duties or otherwise adversely effect them when deployed.  The only thing they can have is tobacco.

There you have it.  Zarqawi and Boxer – extremists.  Boxer slams our boys in harm’s way because they use smokeless tobacco.

Nice job, Barbara.  Do you feel proud?

Here is a link to the current goings-on over Japan and North Korea.  This is a followup post to my “Will Japan go Nuclear?”

Japan is indeed worried, and they are talking big on rethinking a first-strike option for North Korea.  I just have four words for them: they had better not.  They are not prepared, do not have the air force or navy to pull it off, and do not have the missile defense capabilities right now to properly defend themselves from a North Korea missile attack.

They should go nuclear first.  It might take some time (a half a year to a year, I would guess, to make the weapons grade fissile material).  In the mean time, they can be beefing up their offensive and defensive capabilities.  Nuclear capability in Japan is the penultimate strategic defense (and it would forever modify the politics of the far east).  North Korean nuclear capabilities would not hold a candle to Japanese capabilities (I say this based on two things: (1) the availability of fissile material in Japan from commercial nuclear fuel, and (2) the capabilities of Japanese nuclear engineers).

An interesting thing appears in this little article I posted a link to at the top.  We hear this from Christopher Hill:

Still, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill questioned just how influential Beijing was with the enigmatic regime.

“I must say the issue of China’s influence on DPRK is one that concerns us,” Hill told reporters in Tokyo. “China said to the DPRK, ‘Don’t fire those missiles,’ but the DPRK fired them. So I think everybody, especially the Chinese, are a little bit worried about it.”

I am not buying it for one second.  This is bluster from China.  They want the appearance of having tried to reign in Kim Jong Il.  They could do it quickly if they wanted.  Too much aid comes from China across the boarder to N. Korea.  The country would quickly starve without China.

So why did Hill repeat this?  Does he believe it, or does he know better but want the rest of the world to believe that China tried to stop the missile launches?

While Bill O’Reilly was on vacation last week, John Kasich filled in for him.  When discussing North Korea, he had the always sensible Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney and the mostly nonsensical P.J. Crowley on the show.

After the Lt. General spoke, Crowley said something to the effect that he disagreed with McInerney and that he believed that the period of time during the Clinton years had managed to “pull us back from the brink of war and give us a number of years of stability.”

When I first heard this, I was going to post on it but decided not to.  After all, Crowley was security advisor to Clinton and any commentary he makes has a personal side.  The North Korea debacle is largely the responsibility and fault of Crowley and Clinton and the politics of appeasement and ignorance.  We will engage in talky-talk with them, give them things and hope that they don’t lie to us.  So I figured that I would give him some grace.  He was embarrassed and simply defending himself.  We must remember that it was during the Clinton years that North Korea went nuclear.  No matter when they got the technology from Pakistan, the fissile material to actually use in bombs became available during the Clinton years.  This is important to remember.

So having dismissed Crowley as personally involved, it was interesting  to see that over at MSNBC.com, where the Eric Alterman blogs, we see this commentary on North Korea:

The tone of Powell’s tenure was set early in the administration when he announced that he planned “to pick up where the Clinton administration had left off