Target Centermass

Category: Asia Pacific

  • World Leaders React to Four More Years

    Under the headline “Europe Allies Extend Olive Branch to Bush,” the AP has put forth a piece addressing the reactions of several international leaders. The responses seemed to range from “Crap! I guess we have to find a way to deal with you” to “We’re already dealing with you, but try to find a way to deal with the crap from these other countries.”

    French President Jacques Chirac:

    “We will be unable to find satisfying responses to the numerous challenges that confront us today without a close trans-Atlantic partnership,” wrote Chirac. He addressed the letter to “Dear George.”

    Shut up and get back to us when you show a greater willingness to address the radical Islamist movement outside your borders. And when you show a greater desire to have your decisions driven by anything other than setting France up as an alternative to U.S. leadership. Oh yeah, how about you try paying attention to which pieces of crap you deal your weaponry?

    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder:

    “The world stands before great challenges at the beginning of your second term: international terrorism, the danger of weapons of mass destruction, regional crises — but also poverty, climate change and epidemics threaten our security and stability,” Schroeder wrote. “These challenges can only be mastered together.”

    Shut up and let us know when you remove your lips from Chirac’s ass. It’s unseemly. Just break up with him and conquer Paris already; this time we might just let you. Oh, and wave goodbye to our bases.

    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:

    [His] government wants “a relationship of efficient, constructive cooperation with the U.S. government and with President Bush, respecting the ideas of each side.”

    Zapatero, who angered Washington by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq, stayed up most of the night to watch as Republican red crept across the U.S. electoral map.

    How about an “efficient, constructive” shut up, you yellow-bellied, short-sighted socialist piece of crap? Is that good for you?

    Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer:

    “We’ve had a very good relationship with them for the last four years and I’m sure we’ll be able to keep building on that over the next four.”

    Much love to the Aussies.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin:

    “I would feel happy that the American people have not allowed themselves to be scared and made the decision they considered reasonable,” Putin said at a Kremlin news conference

    We absolutely have to realize, as a nation and very damn soon, that the Russians are facing the same enemy of Islamist bastards that we face.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair:

    “A world that is fractured, divided and uncertain must be brought together to fight this global terrorism in all its forms and to recognize that it will not be defeated by military might alone but also by demonstrating the strength of our common values, by bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq as we have done to Afghanistan, by pursuing with the same energy peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine,” Blair said.

    Much love to Blair and the courage and fidelity of the Brits. He has been a stalwart ally since 9/11, and his people should rank him, in time, with the likes of Winston Churchill.

    Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka:

    “It is not natural to have — maybe not a cold war — but, in any case, a chilling of relations along theses lines …. I hope that European leaders and President Bush will show initiative in this area.”

    Poland needs to be rewarded for their valor and friendship. We earned it with Ronald Reagan; we need to repay it under Dubya.

    Terrorist Yassir Arafat:

    An ailing Yasser Arafat congratulated Bush and expressed hope that a second term would help give a new spark to the Middle East peace process, an aide to the Palestinian leader said.

    Arafat’s death may well be the spark needed for peace in the Middle East. That, or it could be the fuse that sets off the powderkeg he played a huge role in concocting. Either way, Bush cannot trust a living Arafat in any peace process.

  • North Korea Times Four

    Just as Sept. 2 was Syria’s big news day on Target Centermass, so too is today a big day for North Korea, as news swarmed all around the dictatorship.

    First, its sister to the south is ratcheting up security on its border.

    South Korea is stepping up security along the Demilitarized Zone frontier with North Korea after a hole was found cut in a border fence, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

    A ministry spokesman told a televised briefing the military could, if necessary, also mobilize reserve forces along the border, which is the most fortified frontier in the world. Any gap in the fence could mean North Korea agents have been infiltrated into the South.

    Because of this border breach, South Korea is also on the hunt for possible infiltrators from North Korea.

    South Korea imposed “Jindogye-1” around Yeoncheon, the highest level of vigilance the military can issue before an actual sighting of a communist infiltrator, said another ministry spokesman, who also refused to be named.

    Domestic media carried similar reports. Jindogye-1 reportedly requires military units to move troops for patrol and combat readiness. Soldiers also join police at checkpoints.

    Ministry officials refused to discuss details of the measures taken Tuesday.

    Police and soldiers tightened inspections in 54 checkpoints on the roads north of Seoul and established 16 temporary checkpoints, South Korea’s national news agency Yonhap reported.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. is working on a resumption of talks concerning North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

    US Secretary of State Colin Powell has wrapped up a three-nation Asia tour after having won vows from China and Japan to press North Korea to resume stalled talks on its nuclear weapons programs.

    Powell met President Roh Moo-Hyun and other top officials on the last leg of a three-nation Asian tour aimed at forging a joint strategy with Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul to get Pyongyang to return to the table unconditionally.

    Despite success on his first two stops, North Korea shows no sign of dropping its boycott of the talks and is threatening to bolster its military deterrent to counter “hostile” US acts.

    As a show of force for North Korea’s sake, the U.S. and others are conducting a saber rattling by sea.

    Ships from Japan, the United States, Australia and France steamed out to sea under cloudy skies on Tuesday for Asia’s first naval exercise to clamp down on weapons of mass destruction, a drill that communist North Korea has called hostile and provocative.

    The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) drill in waters off Tokyo is the 12th of its kind in the U.S.-led initiative but the first to be held in the backyard of North Korea, a clear focus of the exercise.

    ….

    “What we’re trying to do is safeguard our innocent civilians from rogue states and terrorist groups trying to acquire WMD (weapons of mass destruction),” [Washington’s main anti-proliferation point-man John] Bolton said as the ship headed for Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo.

    “We’re sending a signal to everybody who wants to traffic in WMD that we have zero tolerance for that,” he added.

    The anti-proliferation initiative, under which ships and aircraft suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction can be intercepted, has the support of more than 60 countries, although some legal experts say it could contravene international law.

    Regarding the talks, do not expect any budging on North Korea’s part until the U.S. presidential election is resolved and the commies see what they will be facing over the next four years. Will it be continued international pressure under Bush or bilateral talks (and probably another round of gifts and promises) with Kerry? Powell is playing the game he has to, but certainly he holds no hopes of progress before the electoral cloud has settled.

  • Chinese President Rules Out Reclassifying Tiananmen Events

    Continuing their Orwellian repainting of events, the Chinese stand by their view of 1989’s massacre at Tiananmen.

    Chinese President Hu Jintao says Beijing has no intention of reversing its view of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

    Mr. Hu made the comment Saturday in Beijing at a news conference with French President Jacques Chirac.

    When asked about the Tiananmen events, President Hu said there has been no consideration of re-classifying the official view that they were a subversive riot. He said the government’s decision to put down the protests led to China’s later economic growth.

    The statements were Mr. Hu’s first public comments on the Tiananmen protests since he became head of the Chinese military last month.

    Second verse, same as the first.

    Mr. Hu, ask Lenin, Stalin, et al., about their control of history. Their versions held true only for a time. However, today’s more accurate view of history is not on their side of the story. And the world moves ever quickly onwards. Your spin of history may not outlast your days.

  • The Elections that MAY Decide the Election

    Can Afghanistan pull off an election? Will the appeasement win in Australia?

    This will be an interesting weekend. Dems will be spinning for Kerry; the worst of Afghanistan will get more play over the historical enormity of the moment; a Howard affirmation in Australia will be relatively quiet while a slight upset will be portrayed as a brutal rejection of Bush.

    Let’s sit back and watch. And hope. I honestly believe much of our civilization hangs in the balance. I have faith in the Aussies, though; for some reason, there’s always seemed a sort of kinship between Texans and Australians.

  • U.S. Navy to Deploy Ships Near N. Korea

    The AP is reporting that the first pieces of the U.S.’s planned defenses against a ballistic missile threat are readying to sail into place.

    In the first step toward erecting a multi-billion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

    The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy’s 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by “rogue nations.”

    Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years.

    “We are on track,” Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. “We will be ready to conduct the mission when assigned.”

    The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high on President Bush’s defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses.

    He said protecting America from ballistic missiles was “my highest priority as commander in chief, and the highest priority of my administration.”

    Cry not for the demise of the ABM Treaty, a piece of trash that only the good guys felt obliged to follow. The article goes on to detail criticism of the defense system on these vessels.

    The project — likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, only at three times the speed — is exceedingly complex, prompting many critics to argue that it will never be reliable or effective. It is also expensive, with an estimated price tag of US$51 billion over the next five years.

    I see no validity in attacking the cost, especially if ones holds $51 billion to the cost of a successful missile strike on a major U.S. city. Also, I think “hit a bullet with a bullet” comparison is akin to saying there’s no point in attempting something difficult. I disagree with this and would rather put my faith in the growing might of our technology.

    Quite simply, a missile defense can be made to work. It won’t be easy, it won’t be fast, but it won’t be a waste to protect our homeland.

  • South Korea Moves into Third Place in Iraq

    For at least a few months.

    The much-delayed deployment of South Korea’s brigade to Iraq has gone ahead, the Defense Ministry announced Wednesday in a move that is expected to improve ties with the United States. The unit needs its mandate renewed by the National Assembly, however, to stay beyond December.

    South Korea has deployed 2,800 troops and will add 800 once the brigade has expanded its base in Erbil, in northern Iraq, the ministry said. Battalion-sized South Korean forces previously deployed in southern Iraq were absorbed into the brigade. The unit is the third-largest foreign force in the country, after the contingents from the United States and Britain.

    Look, we stood firm with South Korea for a little while, roughly over half a century and counting. They had better give us a little more of a time commitment. It’s not like we’re asking their troops to wear orange and patrol barefoot in the Sunni Triangle.

  • Terrorist Group Claims Two Aussies Kidnapped

    A terrorist group in Iraq is claiming to have nabbed two Australian nationals.

    Two Australian security contractors yesterday became the latest foreigners to be kidnapped in Iraq after militants apparently ambushed their convoy on a road outside Baghdad.

    In a statement, a group calling itself the Islamic Secret Army said it would execute both men “without a second chance” unless their government pulled its troops out of Iraq within 24 hours.

    The group said it had seized the Australians, together with two east Asian nationals, in the town of Samarra, a Sunni militant stronghold effectively in the hands of the insurgents.

    Is no news since the claim actually good news?

    IT WAS a good sign that those claiming to have kidnapped two Australians in Iraq had not released the names of their alleged hostages, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

    ….

    Mr Howard said the Department of Foreign Affairs was yet to verify whether a kidnapping had actually occurred, or whether it was a hoax, but said in past kidnapping cases, the names of those held had been released and their passports displayed on television.

    In fact, maybe the claim holds as much water as CBS’ Killian documents.

    Australia has accounted for all its nationals known to be working in Iraq following a claim by a radical Islamic group to have kidnapped two Australians, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday.

    “At this stage we can find no evidence that any Australians are missing or have been kidnapped, but nevertheless we’ve got to be cautious in what we say because further information could turn up as the day goes on,” Downer said.

    He said the Australian embassy in Baghdad had accounted for all 88 civilian Australians registered with it.

    “We have also checked with four companies that we know employ Australians and those companies have all accounted for the Australians,” Downer said in a television interview.

    “There is, though, one of those four companies that is doing a recheck to finally clarify the situation,” he said.

    Let’s hope that this is nothing. However, with elections pending in Australia, one would expect that further moves by the scumbags against our allies are likely to be attempted thanks to the Spanish example.

  • ‘Large cloud’ Seen Over North Korea

    CNN is reporting a mysterious cloud in North Korea that may or may not be the result of a nuclear test.

    A large cloud appeared over North Korea in satellite images several days ago, but a U.S. official told CNN it is “no big deal” and not the result of a nuclear explosion.

    South Korea’s Yonhap news agency is reporting a mushroom cloud over two miles (4 km) wide and a massive explosion in North Korea’s northernmost province on September 9 — the 56th anniversary of North Korea’s founding.

    South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Sunday the government was aware of the reports and is checking them.

    The U.S. official said the cloud could be the result of a forest fire.

    None of North Korea’s known nuclear sites are in the country’s northernmost provinces.

    However, The New York Times Saturday reported that President Bush and his top advisers recently received intelligence reports that could indicate North Korea is preparing a nuclear test, citing senior officials with access to the intelligence.

    With so little definate, I’ll refrain from comment at this time other than to say I doubt little will be made known about this any time soon. I also note that the American official suggests forest fire while CNN’s URL includes “blast.”

  • Arroyo Leading Philippines into Hell

    As if her please-don’t-hurt-us retreat from Iraq (and the accompanying $6 million payoff to terrorists) wasn’t enough, now there’s this little tidbit.

    Philippine President Gloria Arroyo says she has ordered the country’s defense minister to begin work on strengthening military ties with China.

    Ms. Arroyo told reporters Tuesday that Defense Minister Avelino Cruz will travel to Beijing soon to discuss defense and security matters with Chinese authorities and help set a framework for bilateral military cooperation.

  • How Not to Fight Terror

    Today’s lesson is in two parts, both involving the U.S.’s staunch allies, the Aussies.

    Part 1: Philippines object to criticism

    The Philippines are whining about being called out on weak anti-terror policy by Australia. The Aussies had rightly said that the Philippines’ policy of running away while emptying their pockets is reckless and could only send the wrong message.

    Meanwhile, Philippine weakness continues.

    Earlier, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news – web sites) said she would not apologize for her decision to withdraw the troops and explained that her move was meant to protect the 1.5 million Filipino workers in the Middle East, including more than 4,000 in Iraq.

    “The Philippines has no policy that demands sacrifice of human lives,” Arroyo said in her state-of-the-nation address Monday.

    Part 2: Australia ID’s trained terrorists, does nothing

    Meanwhile, the Aussies have issues of their own after identifyinng ten indivuals in Sydney who attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan but cannot legally be touched.

    The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday it had learned Australia’s domestic intelligence agency ASIO had established the 10 trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (news – web sites) and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan between 1999 and 2001.

    But authorities had been unable to prosecute them because they did their training before Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba were outlawed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

    Australia’s counter-terrorism offensive was stepped up further in the aftermath of the Bali bombings which claimed 202 lives in October, 2002.

    Australia would also have been unable to prosecute two Australian terrorist suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are being prosecuted under US laws.