North Korean antics catch Bush administration off guard

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=3e057336a7519ab2

The Bush administration is reeling from the pronouncement by North Korea that it has nuclear weapons.

With military operations in Afghanistan entering a fourth year, 150,000 troops in Iraq, sanctions being proposed against Syria, and presssure building on Iran, the last thing the U.S. needs is a conflict with North Korea.

Ironically the Bush administration has spent all its time claiming Iraq had nuclear weapons when it didn't, while ignoring North Korea which was saying it was going to develop them, but now admits it already has them, and will expand them further.

Confronted with the news in Nice, France on Thursday, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was quick to throw confusion into the validity of the Korean state's claims. He said he couldn't confirm authoritatively that North Korea had nuclear weapons. "I'm told that today in the press they indicated they do, but they've indicated other things from time to time that haven't necessarily proved out," he said. "I know there are countries whose intelligence (estimates) say that they have them, and they say that they have them, and they may have them," he said, "but I don't want to confirm that because I just can't do that."


more...

Bush's really been caught in a trap with Ping Pong!!!

[rpannier]

1. Thanks Donald

for that precise, concise and lucid statement. What a putz. The scrub foreign policy fails again.

[TheFarseer]

2. Wow, double standard, anyone?

Saddam says he doesn't have nukes, doesn't have weapons of mass destruction and we don't believe him. We invade him and turns out he was telling the truth. N. Korea says they DO have nukes and we don't believe them. We believe they've been reconstituting their nuke program because of something Clinton's penis did, but the idea that they already have nukes under our great leader's watch is simply unbelievable. Does their hypocrisy know no ends?

[radfringe]

17. Wait Wait -- don't answer -- there's more

Iran says their nuke activities are for peaceful uses -- but we don't believe them and refuse to participate in multi-lateral diplomatic talks

meanwhile -- North Korea wants bi-lateral talks but we only want mult-lateral talks

from the way-back machine -- bush* said there were no plans to invade Iraq on his desk -- but he invaded Iraq anyways -- guess he did it without a plan from the looks of things

now - Rice-a-phoney says with one lip - there are no plans to invade Iran, and with the other lip says all options are still on the table. If no plans exist to invade Iran -- does this mean there the non-existent Iranian Invasion plan is on the table?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. walking and chewing gum at the same time

catches them off guard

[Not_Giving_Up]

4. What doesn't catch them off guard?

I mean, really! 9/11 "caught them off guard", the fact that Iraq did not go smoothly "caught them off guard". Are they ever ON guard?

[buddysmellgood]

7. Thank you. I was just scanning the posts to make sure that point was made.

[CoffeeCat]

5. North Korea proves that Iraq was a farce...

We rushed into a war with Iraq for two primary stated purposes:

1. We had to invade Iraq because they had WMD, and in this day and age (post 9/11) we cannot wait for Iraq to strike us (mushroom clouds, etc).

2. Iraq was run by a brutal dictator, and brutal dictators are dangerous post 9/11.

Ok great. The United States declares preemptive war because of WMD and because of brutal dictators. With North Korea, we have a brutal dictator who announces that he has WMD.

The United States does nothing.

Doesn't this make our justifications for Iraq a bunch of obvious, glaring, ridiculous lies?

[Laurab]

6. Well, yes

but we already knew they were a bunch of obvious, glaring ridiculous lies.

I think most everything this administration says would fit that definition, as well.

[CoffeeCat]

8. Yeah, we know it...

...but maybe now those freaks who voted for * will finally connect the dots.

Many of you here are trailblazers. You figured this stuff out way before I did.

For the dominoes to continue to fall--we need some glaring, obvious lies and f*ck-ups before the red-staters will turn into believers.

I'm hoping that North Korea will help moderates and Republicans see the lies--like many of us do.

[Wilber_Stool]

9. I guess we'll have to

bring all that artillery and all of those tanks back to South Korea.

[Melynn]

10. Looks like Bush has finally found those WMDs

they were just in the wrong country.

North Korea knows America will never invade them. They have no oil.

[bamacrat]

11. Democracy: The New Domino Theory

[Rex]

12. Maybe we can get Colon Blow to come back and hold up a vial

of NOTHING in front of the U.N.

BOOGA BOoGA!!!!!

[MADem]

13. Love the headline!!

ANTICS!!!! Antics are what you see on SNL, antics are what the Stooges engage in...NK has NUKES!!!

Now, Saddam, trying to pretend he had a better military infrastructure than he actually did, that might qualify as an antic. Certainly not an invasion-worthy antic, but an antic, of sorts.

Who knows, maybe they threw Jimmy-Jeff Gannon, nee Guckert to the wolves to try to take the heat off this story. This is really very serious, it changes the entire perspective in the Far East. I'll bet the Japanese are not quite so eager to get rid of all those US bases now, and the South Koreans have got to be thinking "Awww, SHIT!" too--reuinifcation is fine when you can be the more developed, more educated, more well fed, "noblesse oblige" bunch, but not when the skinny, hungry, paranoid and pissed off brothers up north have NUKES!

I find the administration's (as well as the news media's) relative silence on this development interesting, and really telling, and most of all, disturbing. It's almost as though we aren't supposed to discuss it--can't get in the way of going after more oil in the middle east, can we???

[lovuian]

21. Ya this is serious and yet Rumsfeld ignores NKorea and goes

for Iran!!!

[PsychoDad]

14. Perhaps...

N.K. can now generate some much needed capital by selling off nukes to other WMD challenged nations (ne: Syria, Iran, Luxumborg, etc)

I think I'll email the embassy and see if I can get a cut of the soon to be "HOT" sales action :P

[UL_Approved]

15. This site looks to be the next Talon News

I've been watching this site, and its take on news is fairly parallel to the infamous Talon News service. They are pro-military without good facts and corroboration.

And in this article, look at the insert about the Euro:

It is now 6 years since the EU launched its single currency, the Euro. Despite Europe performing poorly economically, the Euro is at near record highs. Compared to other nations like the U.S. and Japan it is a fact that Europe's productivity and growth rate has fallen well behind. (Click on photo for full story).

Kind of loaded, huh? Most news organizations wouldn't put that kind of authoritative phrase into their published material.

We need some sleuth blogging. Any takers?

[applegrove]

22. All western nations have matured - growth is in East. War helps deflation.

America is in the same boat as Europe. Only they are in a War (so you cannot tell) and they are going into debt (when you can tell - you will really be able to tell).

[sorechasm]

16. Did anyone watch those Gunsmoke episodes where....?

JONGSMOKE

Dick N’ Boots suggests
In his State of the Union Address
That diplomacy can take a rest.
‘Cause we’re the fastest gun in the west.

Kim Il Jong replies,
(and Iran readily complies)
By amassing nuclear stockpiles.

As James Arness often showed:
Only disrespect will flow
From a diplomacy that grows
Through the end of a rifle scope,
(while cornered animals strike their pose).

I guess the Bushies missed those episodes.

[applegrove]

18. Like they didn't think the psychopath would take advantage of

Like they didn't think the psychopath would take advantage of the little 'troop numbers' problem they are having in Iraq?

This reminds me of the surprise they felt when insurgent terrorists started exploding and kidnapping after Mission Accomplished.

Rumsfield needs to take his "assumptions" and stuff them up his ass!

[teryang]

19. N.Korean policy is predictable

Every time they perceive the Americans are going out on a limb militarily they raise the stakes. This new posture is directly related to American intransigence in their negotiating posture vis a vis Pyongyang and American threats of attack on Iran. This is an Asian wide policy issue not strictly a northeast Asian security problem.

Pyongyang knows that this posture aids its major protector, China, which is opposed to American strikes or efforts to the China friendly government in Iran.

China is N.Korea's insurance policy against conventional American attack. The alleged development of nuclear weapons by N.Korea permits Pyongyang to decouple China strategic deterrence responses and make offensive operations on the Korean peninsula even more costly and unpredictable to the military regime in Washington.

China can sit back and say, well we can't control this guy, you need to deal with him, and be as disingenuous as any neo-con. By the way got any coal, oil or molybdenum you'd like to sell us?

[dandrhesse]

20. Did bush really think he could hold the world hostage?

[tanyev]

23. Don't worry.

Our perky new Secretary of State will go in there and "unstick" everything.