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Bill Clinton Delivers in North Korea – Freedom for Journalists That Is
This frame grab from South Korean television taken in Seoul shows former US President Bill Clinton(R) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il posing for a picture in Pyongyang.Clinton arrived in North Korea on a surprise mission to free two jailed American journalists, the highest-profile visit by an American to Pyongyang for nearly a decade
Well,Bill Clinton got the journalists released.North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and released two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.
The announcement came after former U.S. President Clinton met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for their release.
“Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it,” the news agency reported. “Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view.
“The meetings had candid and in-depth discussions on the pending issues between the DPRK and the U.S. in a sincere atmosphere and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them.”
But, what did it really cost the United States? And, what did Clinton really negotiate?
We will see in time.
Technorati Tags: Bill Clinton, North Korea, Kim Jong-Il
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John Bolton: Bill Clinton Close To Negotiating With Terrorists
This frame grab from South Korean television taken in Seoul shows former US President Bill Clinton(R) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il posing for a picture in Pyongyang.Clinton arrived in North Korea on a surprise mission to free two jailed American journalists, the highest-profile visit by an American to Pyongyang for nearly a decade
Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton is NOT impressed with former President Bill Clinton meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il.The Obama administration is rewarding North Korea for its bad behavior by sending ex-president Bill Clinton to Pyongyang to win the release of two US journalists, the former US ambassador to the UN said Tuesday.
John Bolton, an outspoken hardliner in the previous administration of George W. Bush, told AFP that Clinton’s mission to Pyongyang undermines a number of public stands held by his own wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists,” Bolton told AFP when asked about Bill Clinton’s trip to secure the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
The pair were sentenced in June to 12 years in a labor camp for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified “grave crime,” after they were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 while working on a story.
“I think this is a very bad signal because it does exactly what we always try and avoid doing with terrorists, or with rogue states in general, and that’s encouraging their bad behavior,” Bolton said.
In a US television interview here on July 26, Secretary Clinton warned North Korea that even its traditional allies had turned against it and that the communist state’s rogue behavior will no longer “be rewarded.”
Bolton also scoffed the White House’s contention that Bill Clinton’s visit is “solely a private mission” when he said “this is a former president who is married to the secretary of state. There’s nothing private about this.”
Remember this was the same President who sent his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to visit Kim Jong-Il with a Michael Jordan autographed basketball.
North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Il and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Exit question: What is this diplomatic gesture by Bill Clinton going to cost the United States?
Technorati Tags: Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Kim Jong-Il, Barack Obama, North Korea
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North Korea Prepares to Launch Long-Range Missile Towards Hawaii
A Unha-2 rocket (Taepadong-2), supposedly carrying an experimental communication satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, as it is launched from Hwadae-gun in North Korea on April 5
Kim Jong-Il will probably show up President Obama again on Independence Day. Anyone want to bet?North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.
The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea’s Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan’s top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.
The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.
While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii’s main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.
So, what will be the latest “WEAK” response from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates?
This time will the United States position Aegis anti-missile ships in the region to ACTUALLY intercept the Taepodong-2?
Or will Obama allow Kim Jong-Il to have all of the 4th of July fireworks?
Technorati Tags: Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, Barack Obama, Robert Gates
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Hillary Clinton: United States May Relist North Korea as Terrorist State
Political cartoon by Michael Ramirez
Wow, this will show Kim Jong-Il that the United States means business.Concerned by North Korean behavior that she called “very provocative and belligerent,†Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview aired Sunday that the United States was considering putting North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a clear signal that any slim hopes once held for improved relations had been dashed.
“We’re going to look at it,†Mrs. Clinton said in an interview recorded earlier for the ABC News program “This Week†when asked about returning Pyongyang to the list.
She suggested that international concern over North Korea had clearly sharpened following its recent nuclear and missile tests. She said that both China and Russia, which had balked earlier, seemed more ready now to increase pressure on North Korea. A strong sanctions resolution against the North would most likely emerge from the U.N. Security Council, backed by both countries, she said.
“What is going somewhere is additional sanctions in the United Nations — arms embargo, other measures taken against North Korea with the full support of China and Russia,†she said. “We think we’re going to come out of this with very strong resolution, with teeth, that will have consequences for the North Korean regime.â€
How stupid to think the United Nation’s resolutions mean a RAT”S ASS to the North Koreans. In the meantime, President Obama, Hillary’s boss, has already asked for cuts in national missile defense, including the installation of more ground based interceptors in Alaska.
Remember when President Bill Clitnon sent his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to
visitappease Kim Jong-Il with a Michael Jordan autographed basketball?President Obama should immediatley reinstate the national missile defense budget and start equipping South Korea and Japan for an inevitable conflict.
Weakness in foreign policy from Obama and Clinton may start a war.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea
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Day By Day by Chris Muir May 28, 2009 – Cackle Cackle
While President Obama is raising campaign cash for Dingy Harry Reid at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and then runs out to Hollywood for a cool $4 Million, Hillary Clinton is left to North Korea.Under President Bush, Flap thought North Korea had negotiated away its nuclear weapons program and agreed to stop missile tests.Now, with an apparent disengaged Obama who has cut funds for national missile defense, North Korea pushes up the military alert for South Korea’s military as the North renounces a 50 year old plus armistice.
Obama is in denial.
North Korea is an imminent threat and Hillary’s cackles have NOT been effective.
Mr.President, you will not be able to deal with Kim Jong-Il via teleprompter and popularity in the polls.
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Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, North Korea, Kim Jong-Il
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Shocking: Russia Opposes United Nations Sanctions Against North Korea
Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans at a demonstration to denounce the North’s rocket launch and to demand U.N.’s sanctions against North Korea near the National Assembly in Seoul April 7, 2009. Japan called for a strong response on Tuesday from the U.N. Security Council to North Korea’s rocket launch, which analysts say was a test of a long-range ballistic missile, but Tokyo acknowledged that divisions remained. The yellow banners read, “Support U.N.’s sanctions against North Korea”
No, it is not shocking.Moscow is concerned by Pyongyang’s recent rocket launch, but believes that imposing sanctions against North Korea would be counterproductive, the Russian foreign minister said on Wednesday.
North Korea launched a multistage rocket that it said was carrying a communications satellite on Sunday morning, defying pressure from the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries, which suspect the launch was a cover for a test of a Taepodong-2 long-range missile.
“We are definitely concerned by the recent rocket launch and believe it does not offer grounds for stabilizing the situation in the region,” Sergei Lavrov said, adding that “we also believe that any threat of sanctions would be counterproductive.”
The 15-member Security Council convened for an emergency meeting late on Sunday at Japan’s request, to discuss sanctions against Pyongyang following the launch, but strong opposition from Russia and China prevented the adoption of even a preliminary statement of condemnation.
The top Russian diplomat said Moscow will not change its stance concerning proposed sanctions against Pyongyang.
“We will not change our stance and our position is reflected in all those consensus decisions, which have been made in recent years concerning ways of resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,” Lavrov said.
Welcome to the REAL WORLD, President Obama. The Russians may have glad handed you at the recent G-20 economic summit meeting but stab you in the back once they are out of face range.
So, back to where the United States was with North Korea, except now Kim Jong-Il’s missile program has a successful test of an ICBM with all of those Iranian missile negineers observing and collaborating.
Obama’s response = FAIL.
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Barack Obama, Russia, Kim Jong-Il
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North Korea Begins Fueling Taepodong-2 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
This DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite image taken on March 29, 2009 shows the North Korea rocket launch facility in Musudan Ri, North Korea
Apparently, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s warnings to Kim Jong-Il have landed on deaf ears as North Korea proceeds to fuel their Taepodong-2 ICBM space launch vehicle.North Korea has begun fueling its long-range rocket, according to a senior U.S. military official.
The fueling signals that the country could be in the final stages of what North Korea has said will be the launch of a satellite into space as early as this weekend, the senior U.S. military official said Wednesday.
Other U.S. military officials said the top portion of the rocket was put on very recently, but satellite imagery shows a shroud over the stage preventing a direct view of what it looks like.
The officials said the payload appears to have a “bulbous” cover, which could indicate that there is a satellite loaded on it. Such a cover protects a satellite from damage in flight.
Although the sources did not know for sure what the payload is, they said there is no reason to doubt that it is a satellite, as indicated by North Korea.
Pyongyang has said it will launch the rocket between April 4 and April 8. A launch would violate a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution banning the reclusive state from launching ballistic missiles.
Pentagon officials worry less about the payload and more about the launch itself, saying that any kind of launch will give the North Koreans valuable information about improving their ballistic missile program.
And, the United States has been silent after the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, said that there is nothing America can or will do about the launch.
Hillary Clinton continues to maintain should North Korea launch that there will be “consequences.”
Whatever that means.
More toasts with Kim Jong-Il like, Madeleine Albright, one of Hillary’s predecessors who was appointed by President Bill Clinton below?
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- Will the United States Do Anything About North Korea Missile Launch? Secretary of Defense Gates – “NOPEâ€
- Shocking: United States Has NO PLANS to Intercept North Korea Missile – Hillary Clinton
- United States Deploys USS McCain and USS Chafee With Aegis Anti-Missile Technology Off North Korea
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Warns North Korea Over Taepodong-2 Missile Launch
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong-Il, Taepodong-2
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Will the United States Do Anything About North Korea Missile Launch? Secretary of Defense Gates – “NOPE”
Secreatry of Defense Robert Gates on Fox News Sunday yesterdayThe Secretary of Defense has made the Obama Administration’s position on the looming North Korea Taepodong-2 missile test later this week quite clear. They plan to watch and do nothing.
The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
Appearing on “FOX News Sunday,” Gates said North Korea “probably will” fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: “And there’s nothing we can do about it?”
“No,” Gates answered, adding, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is “fully prepared” to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.
“I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it,” Gates said. “But I don’t think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point.”
North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.
Gates said while he doesn’t think North Korea has the capability yet to shoot off a long-range nuclear-tipped missile, “I don’t know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
Flap looks forward to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s trip to see Kim Jong-Il to bring him some autographed basketballs like her husband’s Secretary of State did. Maybe Kim will stop his ICBM nuclear weapons program to put them in his trophy case.
How unbelievably WEAK is this crazy Obama policy toward North Korea. The Iranians who are in North Korea taking notes must be laughing their asses off.
Watch the Fox News Sunday panel discuss North Korea’s long range missile capabilities here.
Technorati Tags: Robert Gates, North Korea, Kim Jong-Il
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Shocking: United States Has NO PLANS to Intercept North Korea Missile – Hillary Clinton
Not really a shocker from a Secretary of State whose husband’s Secretary of State used to toast Kim Jong-il and give him autographed basketballs. Yet, the United States has deployed assets off the coast of North Korea.The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Jill Dougherty, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch.
“We are doing our best to dissuade the North Koreans from going forward, because it is provocative action,†Clinton said. “It raises questions about their compliance with the Security Council Resolution 1718. And if they persist and go forward, we will take it up in appropriate channels.â€
Flap’s bet: Japan WILL shoot down the missile while Obama and Hillary try to talk it out of the sky with the United Nations.
Technorati Tags: North Korea, Hillary Clinton, Kim Jong-il, Missile Defense
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United States Deploys USS McCain and USS Chafee With Aegis Anti-Missile Technology Off North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (C) visits to the construction place for the Heechon power plant at an undisclosed place in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA March 26, 2009. North Korea has put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions already imposed on the reclusive state for past weapons tests
The United States Navy has stated that two destroyers (USS McCain and USS Chafee) which are fitted with Aegis anti-missile technology have left port in Japan to patrol the waters off of North Korea in the event of a missile launch.The US Navy spokesman said the two destroyers – the USS McCain and USS Chafee – equipped with Aegis technology capable of tracking and destroying missiles had left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan. “I would say we are ready for any contingencies,” he added.
And, Japan has previously stated that they would shoot down the Taepodong-2 missile should North Korea launch it (Target dates: April 4 – 8).
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: North Korea, USS McCain, USS Chafee, Kim Jong-il, Missile Defense, Aegis
