Ex-president Bill Clinton was successful in his trip to North Korea to obtain the release of two American women that worked for Al Gore's TV station. The women were serving 12 year sentences in a North Korean jail.
What type of concessions were given to North Korea by Bill Clinton will probably not be known ever.Yjis is because the transparency promised by Obama pre-election, have never materialised! But I am glad these two women were freed!

But what about the three women who are held prisoner in Iran's jail as potential spies? Will this result in another "diplomatic" trip that Mr.Clinton takes in place of his Secretary of State wife?

The American hikers were detained by Iran after allegedly straying across the border, and now have been moved to Tehran, according to a report from ABC News. This may be a signal that their ordeal will continue if the USA does not intercede.

Kurdish officials in Iraq, said the three contacted a colleague to say they had entered Iran by mistake on Friday and were surrounded by troops. Iran's state television countered this claim later, saying the Americans were arrested after they did not heed warnings from Iranian border guards.

A newscaster on state television also cast doubt on whether they were hikers who had lost their way, saying Western media had also reported some of them were journalists.
And as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle; they are! Source:KRONTV.com

Sarah Shourd of Oakland and Shane Bauer who graduated from U.C. Berkeley are two of the three Americans being held after they accidentally crossed into Iran while hiking in Northern Iraq. Joshua Fattal from Oregon is the third U.S. detainee.
Shourd is a writer and teacher based in the Middle East. She's written for the Matador Pulse. Bauer, a fluent Arabic speaker, is a correspondent for New America Media. He's also written for the San Francisco Chronicle and other U.S. papers.

So far our State Department has only contacted the Swiss to "confirm" (the arrest) reports with Iranian authorities and, if true, to seek consular access" to the two men and one woman.

The U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, and the Swiss represent U.S. interests there.

My suggestion is that since Obama has already extended his offer to meet with the "little tyrant" Ahmadinejad with no pre-conditions, he now negotiate the release of these three Americans.

The following story explains the present situation going on in Iran.
"Iraq has appealed to Iran for information about the detention of three Americans who crossed the border while hiking in the Kurdish north, the foreign minister said Saturday.

The request came as the three entered their second week in captivity facing the possibility of an investigation on spying charges despite the insistence of U.S. and Kurdish authorities that they accidentally went astray.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he raised the issue Thursday during a meeting with Iran's ambassador to Iraq.

"He did confirm that they have been arrested for entering the country without proper visas and they are now being interviewed to determine more details," Zebari told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, promised to pass the request for more information to his government, Zebari said.

Iranian lawmakers were scheduled to discuss the case Sunday during the weekly meeting of parliament's foreign policy committee, according to Press TV, the English language Iranian state television.

"We will discuss the additional information (handed to us) and the details of the case," said Hossein Sobhaninia, the deputy chair of the commission, in a report on the channel's Web site.

While these American citizens languish in a Tehran prison, there is a trial ongoing that is unlike any other trial in Iran's judicial history.

A young French academic and local employees of the British and French embassies appeared before an Iranian judge Saturday along with dozens of opposition figures accused of involvement in the country's postelection unrest that turned violent in the streets.

The extraordinary mass trial in Tehran's Revolutionary Court demonstrates the government's resolve to discredit Iran's pro-reform movement as a tool of foreign countries. Particularly Britain and the United States, who allegedly are trying to spark a revolution to topple Iran's Islamic system. It sounds to me like a good time for Obama to demonstrate if his silvery tongue works as well on our known enemies as it does on the people who put him in the Oval Office!

"Time is running out fast and we will be lucky if it doesn't happen in the first term of this president. If he gets elected to a second term -- which is quite possible, despite whatever economic disasters he leads us into-- our fate as a nation may be sealed".
Thomas Sowell

It appears that our current president has a lot on his plate with the determination to pass Cap and Trade and socialize our health Care System, despite his repeated denial that he wants to substitute free enterprise medicine with a government plan.
So it is not surprising that his press conference yesterday had no reference to the threats that KimJong sent his way in the last few days.

The following is an excerpt from the Tokyo Times editorial page,
and it illustrates that the little mad man who runs North Korea wants the World to know that he is now a member of the Nuclear Weapons club.

"North Korea has confirmed the worst suspicions of those who fear the destabilizing consequences of nuclear proliferation by announcing that it will become a full-fledged nuclear state, able to build both uranium and plutonium bombs and fit them to the nose cones of its missiles.

In its latest act of defiance, Pyongyang is reportedly preparing a new series of ballistic missile launches and another nuclear test, after a long-range missile test in April and the second test of a nuclear explosive device in May.

These and other actions have reversed steps the North had taken to abandon its nuclear program, coaxed by security, aid and other incentives offered in six-party negotiations with the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China.

North Korea's breakout announcement June 13 followed the unanimous approval by the U.N. Security Council the day before of a resolution demanding that North Korea halt nuclear weapon tests, suspend its ballistic missile program and rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The resolution marked a significant hardening of Chinese and Russian positions toward Pyongyang. They had previously counseled patience and opposed sanctions. China was particularly concerned about upsetting North Korea in the midst of a sensitive leadership transition, as its ailing leader Kim Jong Il reportedly prepares the country for rule by one of his sons.

The Security Council resolution extends penalties on North Korea by targeting its financial transactions and arms industry. It authorized U.N. member states to inspect suspect sea, air and land cargo going to or from North Korea. They are required to seize and destroy goods shipped that violate the sanctions, including nuclear or missile supplies. Pyongyang has financed its weapons' program with the sale of missile technology.

But as recent history has shown there is little affect on those who are placed on sanctions by the United Nations. Case in point, Saddam Hussein and the Mullahs of Iran.
And to provoke the USA even more this item was found in the North Korean offical paper.
"On Monday, North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper called it "nonsense" to say the country is a threat to the US, and instead claimed Washington was the one threatening the North. The paper also warned in a commentary that the country is prepared to strike back if attacked.

"As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the US should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with," the editorial said. "It would be a grave mistake for the US to think it can remain unhurt if it ignites the fuse of war on the Korean peninsula."

The North Korean newspaper also denounced Obama's recent pledge to defend and protect South Korea - even vowing to keep Seoul "under the US nuclear umbrella" - as an attempt to attack North with atomic bombs. Obama made the pledge in a joint statement after a summit last week with the president of South Korea Lee Myung-bak.

I believe a total embargo on all commerce is in order as the first move toward stopping North Korea from becoming a nother 1941 Japan. If that does not work. It is time to re-evaluate what we are doing in Afghanistan, and possibly turn our miltary attention to North Korea.
Of course the "talker" president will never do this until we are attacked and many people have paid the ultimate price!

All the media are highlighting the fact that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is pleased with the UN resolution "condemning" North Korea for the nuclear tests and the provocative missile launches.

But it appears to me that Clinton is either putting on a good face for the Obama administration, or is naive enough to believe that the UN resolution is more than just useless words on paper!

The Wall Street Journal has an article on the Web today that illustrates how weal the watered down version of the UN reprimand had to be to get China, Russia and other Communists nations who sit on the UN Security Council, to sign on to the worthless document.

"Friday's UN resolution was weaker than the one the U.S. and its allies initially sought.

The new text prohibits the export of all North Korean weapons and the import into North Korea of all arms, excluding small arms, if they are reported to the U.N. That exception was a key demand of China, which exports small arms to North Korea, a Western diplomat said.

Moscow and Beijing agreed to the U.S. draft after language on inspecting North Korean cargo ships in international waters was diluted. Russia and China feared that inspections on the high seas could spark a military conflict with Pyongyang, a Western diplomat said.

"We believe sanctions such as cargo inspections are very complicated and sensitive and countries involved must act prudently and with sufficient grounds," said Zhang Yesui, China's U.N. envoy.

Under the compromise, the resolution says the Security Council "calls upon" -- instead of the earlier "authorizes" -- all U.N. nations to inspect the ships for nuclear-related material and other contraband, with the consent of the vessel's flag state. Flag states that refuse to have a ship boarded must direct the vessel to "an appropriate and convenient port" for inspection -- a loophole that could allow nations both to avoid inspections or to deny ships entry.

At a White House news conference, Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., acknowledged that the sanctions don't guarantee a North Korean ship will divert to a nearby port, and the resolution doesn't allow the use of military force"
So essentially the sanctions are worthless!



Complicating the North Korean nuclear situation,until now, South Korean presidents have unreservedly backed the six-party talks -- a forum that includes the U.S., the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia. The multilateral group was launched by the Bush administration in 2003 after Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and it has been enthusiastically supported by the Obama White House. All six parties say they agree about the need to "denuclearize" the Korean peninsula. Yet the North is believed to have two nuclear programs: a plutonium program and a highly enriched uranium program that Pyongyang alternately denies or boasts about.

The talks -- only the latest iteration of an over twenty year effort to stunt North Korea's nuclear program,haven't worked. And Mr. Lee, speaking at the president's private offices, is the first national leader to publicly acknowledge their failure.

"The North Koreans have gained, or bought, a lot of time through the six-party-talks framework to pursue their own agenda. I think it's important now, at this critical point in time, for us not to repeat any past mistakes," he says. Now, it's "very important for the remaining five countries -- which excludes North Korea -- to come to an agreement on the way forward."

Mr. Lee is obliquely referring to the conflicting goals of the six-party talk participants. South Korea's stated goal is the denuclearization and ultimate reunification of the Korean peninsula. This was the U.S. position under Bush, but now that Obama has indicated that we can accept Iran having a nuclear program.It is not clear that the Obama administration will strive for this result.

China and Russia don't want to see the Kim regime fall, fearing floods of refugees, weapons proliferation, and, most importantly, the potential collapse of a buffer state between them and the democratic nations of North Asia. China has proved an especially difficult negotiating partner since it has served as the North's main economic support since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
And I believe that Putin's Russia was complicit in aiding North Korea with their nuclear program.

South Korea's President, Mr. Lee says, "the United Nations resolution calling for increased sanctions looks weak".

What about stricter financial sanctions, like the kind the U.S. Treasury successfully leveled against Banco Delta Asia (a North Korea enabler) in Macau in 2005? That is "one type of sanction that we can level." Should the U.S. add the North to the list of terror-sponsoring nations? "That in itself may have some symbolic meaning. But in actuality, having North Korea on the list or not will not make really much of a difference," he says.

Mr. Lee added that the bottom line: "Our ultimate objective is to try to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, but we must also ask ourselves: What do the North Koreans want in return for giving up their nuclear weapons program? I think this is the type of discussion that the five countries should be engaging in now."

It is not even on the table for consideration, but I believe the USA cannot talk, talk, talk until the North Koreans have the nuclear weapons that can be fitted to the long range missiles that they are developing, before we consider a pre-emptive strike on their missile bases. Or do we wait until the missiles start falling on Alaska and Hawaii?

And to highlite the type of reaction that North Korea had to the UN sanctions there is this from the Japoanese News Agency,Kyodo News Agency.
"North Korea reacted with anger Saturday to a U.N. resolution meant to punish the country for its latest nuclear test, saying it will ''weaponize'' more plutonium, begin uranium enrichment and react militarily to blockades.
In a Foreign Ministry statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea also called the resolution, "yet another vile product of the U.S.-led offensive aimed at undermining North Korea's ideology and system".

THE REPORT FROM SOUTH Korea, THAT NORTH Korea HAS THREATENED TO CONSIDER ANY INTRUSION INTO IT'S "SEA SPACE", AS AN ACT OF WAR!
Should be a wake-up call for president Obama!
This came after they violated the UN negotiated agreement not to produce nuclear weapons. They did it by setting of a nuclear device yesterday and followed with a barrage of five missiles that were intended to intimidate South Korea.North Korea wants to move the "Treaty" Line between North and South Korea further South.

An article by Hyung-Jin Kim includes this quote from North Korean leaders. "North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Korea's' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime's underground nuclear test.
Pyongyang, reacting angrily to Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation, called the move tantamount to a declaration of war.
Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots," North Korea is "compelled to take a decisive measure," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by state media.

Seoul's decision comes at a time when "the state of military confrontation is growing acute and there is constant danger of military conflict," the statement warned.And a memo to president Obama from me. Please understand that tyrants like they have in North Korea and Iran do not pay any attention to UN sanctions or care to discuss accommodation with the USA as this quote illustrates.
The current leader Kim Jong-il, the late president Kim Il-sung's son had this to say about UN sanctions.

"It is a laughable delusion for the United States to think that it can get us to kneel with sanctions," it said. "We've been living under U.S. sanctions for decades, but have firmly safeguarded our ideology and system while moving our achievements forward. The U.S. sanctions policy toward North Korea is like striking a rock with a rotten egg."
His "achievements" as he calls them, are nuclear weapons and long range missiles. He has also beefed up his Naval capability with new warships and submarines that threaten our Fleet in the Sea of Japan, or as the Koreans call it,"the Sea of Korea".
There are some 650 vessels in the North Korea Navy including 3 frigates and 23 submarines (total displacement of approx. 107,000 tons).Source:Wikapedia

This type of provocative rhetoric resonates with the "little mad man" of Iran. Who will be emboldened if the Obama administration lets Kim Jong-Il continue to rattle his sabres without some reactive radical measures. Such as freezing the Jong-Il bank accounts and blockading North Korean waters to in coming and out going commercial shipping unless they stop nuclear weapons production.

I do not worry that North Korea will launch a nuclear weapon against the USA or it's ally South Korea, but I do envision the North Koreans selling "nuke" weapons to terrorist states that will use them against US or our allies in the form of "suitcase" bombs that will be much worse than the disaster we sustained on 9/11/01!

while Obama MAKES THE ROUNDS OF MAJOR TELEVISION NETWORKS. Actually they come to the White House for his speeches, but you get the point. There are two disturbing events that occurred this week that should be in the minds of all Americans.

Today the Iranians launched a satellite into orbit using a three stage rocket that was constructed with the help of the Russians.
And Communist North Korea is preparing to test a long ranged rocket capable of reaching the United States!

The following are direct quotes from "The New Media. com"
"The launch of Omid (Hope), Iran's first home-made satellite into orbit early Tuesday, Feb. 3, is a breakthrough demonstrating the Islamic Republic has managed to develop long-range, three-stage, solid-fuel ballistic rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Israel and Western officials have been playing down this fast-developing capability while proving helpless to hold back Iran's nuclear weapons program. Omid was launched by the Safir rocket, whereas a previous launching was boosted by a Russian rocket. DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report the new satellite is designed for tracking, research, telecommunications and carries digital measuring instruments. They stress that it is a feather in the hat for Iran's "Military Group" – the team of scientists and technicians working on its clandestine nuclear bomb program. They are clearly moving ahead undisturbed by UN sanctions or technical difficulties toward rapidly finishing work on nuclear warheads for their ballistic rockets. In weekend interviews, International Atomic Energy Agency director Muhammad ElBaradei contributed to the international effort to talk down Tehran's nuclear advances. He admitted Iran was in the process of constructing nuclear weapons despite his agency's monitoring efforts. But in his view it needed another two to five years to attain this objective.

And to emphasize the problem even more, Dave Eberhart of News Max is reporting that: "A panel of experts has concluded that time is dangerously running out for the U.S. to put in place a protective anti-missile umbrella. The biggest threat is Iran, which the panel forecasts will have the A-Bomb this year".

"North Korea is preparing to test fire a long range missile capable of striking the United States, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan this morning. The Yonhap News Agency in Seoul quoted South Korean officials who described satellite image showing a long cylindrical object being transported on a train through the North Korean countryside. The sinister object has been identified as a Taepodong-2, an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 4000 miles, capable of crossing the Pacific and striking targets in Hawaii or Alaska. It is impossible to confirm independently reports from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and hard-line dictatorships, where government of information is almost total. But the country is known to have an active missile program, as well as nuclear warheads – although crucially it probably does not have the technology to mount a nuclear device on a long range missile. The unnamed sources quoted by Yonhap said that any test launch was unlikely for at least a month or two. The train appeared to be heading from a missile factory in North Pyongan province in the country’s north-west to a newly constructed launch site on the west coast".

It seems to me that while President Obama "fiddles" with his massive budget busting "stimulus" package, the rest of the "evil empire" is devoting their time, money and energy to prepare weapons that will surround the USA. When Iran, China, Russia and North Korea have the capability of killing tens of thousands of Americans in a Milli-second. They will not have to fire one missile if we are not properly prepared to target and destroy them with nuclear weapons that are targeting their cities.
It is called nuclear deterrence, and unfortunately we elected a President who believes in talk not military preparedness. He even is rumored to be considering calling a halt to the placement of a missile defense system in Poland because of the sabre rattling of the Russians.

While they fight in Congress how to spend money we do not have. The Russians are visiting Cuba and Venezuela with a small fleet of war ships. For all I know they are making agreements with these countries to establish naval bases in our hemisphere in the near future!

Combining this possible threat with the dedicated radical Islamists who are dedicated to bringing terror and damage to US. This is a time to concentrate on spending money to defend ourselves, not spend a trillion dollars to guarantee that the Democrats can build a voter base of government dependents that will guarantee their power for decades to come!

Not only the impending threat of Iran's gaining nuclear weapons capability in the next year, but the threat of North Korea attacking South Korea,hangs in the balance.

Afghanistan seems to be the "chosen one's" target for military action if at all, but one cannot ignore the possibility that the Koreans and the Iranians realize Obama's disdain for force of arms, and take advantage of his preference to talk to our enemies, to advance their military ambitions.
What will Obama do if Communist China threatens to launch nuclear weapons against Taiwan if it does not swear allegiance to the Chinese? Or if the Koreans are not just bluffing, and do advance south of the demilitarised zone while launching ICBMs on Seoul?

And it not entirely impossible that Putin will invade the Ukraine with his tanks and ground forces as he did recently, into The oil-rich region of Georgia, and earlier into Chechnya, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea,that forms a southwestern corridor of Russian territory. Will Obama give aid to the Ukrainians as Bush did for Georgia?

WE are replacing a "hawk" with a "dove", and apparently the Media and a little more than 50% of Americans are ecstatic about the CHANGE!
But will a "peacenik" Commander in Chief be able to talk those who await the "talker" with baited breath, be able to negotiate the peace we have had here at home, even while we waged a war in Iraq? Or will the despots take advantage of the advance warnings that Obama is anti-war and begin there quest for power over the geography they covet?

This story out of Great Britain, illustrates the potential for a hot spot flaming up again after over fifty years of Cease Fire!


The Guardian,UK. Is reporting "that North Korea today, threatened to "shatter" the conservative South Korean government in Seoul, as reports emerged that Pyongyang claims to have weaponised enough plutonium stocks to produce four or five nuclear bombs.

Relations across the heavily fortified border have turned frosty since South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, came to office last year promising to get tough on his communist neighbour after a decade of attempts by liberal governments to engage with Pyongyang. In December, North Korea closed border crossings and accused Seoul of plotting to assassinate the North's leader, Kim Jong-il.

But today's rare statement from the Korean People's Army – read on television by a uniformed officer – is likely to further raise tensions on the divided peninsula.

"Now that traitor Lee Myung-bak and his group opted for confrontation, denying national reconciliation and cooperation, backed by foreign forces, our revolutionary armed forces are compelled to take an all-out confrontational posture to shatter them," the statement said.

"Strong military measures will follow from our revolutionary armed forces," the spokesman added, warning of a clash along a disputed maritime border. Disagreements over the boundary triggered naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2000.

The statement came as an American scholar said North Korean officials had told him Pyongyang has weaponised 30.8 kg (68lb) of plutonium, enough for four or five bombs.

Selig Harrison, a North Korean expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said the North Koreans had told him the weapons cannot be inspected.

The officials were vague about what weaponisation meant, but it appeared most likely the plutonium would be fitted in missile warheads, Harrison said."

Is now the time when our resolve to defend all freedom loving Countries from aggression to be tested? And will we fail to respond?