Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (338976)	1/7/2003 12:37:28 AM
From: Thomas A Watson	Respond to of 769667

LOL,, comparing bill, the stupidest that ever was clinton with PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH. ROTFLOL...

To: American Spirit who wrote (338976)	1/7/2003 3:11:02 AM
From: jmhollen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Golly gee....................... Looks like GDubya's plan is working (...as usual...): U.N. Nuclear Agency Warns North Korea U.N. Nuclear Agency Chief: North Korea Can Abandon Its Weapons Program or Face Security Council The Associated Press VIENNA, Austria Jan. 7 — VIENNA, Austria (AP) Opting for compromise but warning of confrontation, the U.N. nuclear agency on Monday demanded that North Korea abandon its atomic weapons program voluntarily or face escalated pressure from the Security Council. The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board, which includes the United States, Russia and China, agreed to censure the North for reactivating suspect nuclear programs and eliminating agency controls meant to ensure that materials are not being used to make atomic weapons. It stopped short of the next step reporting North Korea in breach of its international nuclear obligations to the Security Council, a move that could open the way to sanctions on the renegade communist country. But the resolution warned the North would be declared in "further noncompliance" of international obligations unless it lets the IAEA reimpose monitoring of its nuclear activities. North Korea expelled the agency's inspectors last week. Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency's director-general, told reporters any declaration of "further noncompliance ... means under our statutes (automatically) reporting the matter to the Security Council." Diplomats at the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the board decision was dictated in part by concern that an escalation could force North Korea, which is suspected of possessing nuclear weapons, over the brink. Although the IAEA warned beforehand that it was taking a "zero tolerance" approach toward the crisis, its resolution did not explicitly set a deadline for Pyongyang to comply. But a senior U.S. diplomat said the urgency of the language used in the document that the North had no more than a "few weeks" to comply. The resolution, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, used strong diplomatic language to make that point. It "deplores in the strongest terms the DPRK's unilateral acts to remove and impede the functioning of containment and surveillance equipment at its nuclear facilities." The North's decision to expel the IAEA inspectors "renders the agency unable to verify ... that there has been no diversion of nuclear material," the resolution said. It called for an immediate meeting between the North Korean leadership and the agency. In Washington, the Bush administration reacted positively to the resolution. "The president views this as the appropriate course of action," said Ari Fleischer, spokesman for U.S. President George W. Bush. "The nations involved in this decision today are very broad. ... It takes a lot of work to get condemned by Iran and Cuba and North Korea has done it." ElBaradei warned North Korea to comply, saying the latest events "further aggravate the situation." "North Korea has to come clean," ElBaradei said. "There are two options for North Korea: Comply with your international obligations ... or continue defiance that will escalate into a crisis situation and go to the Security Council." Monday's closed-door meeting came amid new diplomatic efforts to ease the standoff. High-level delegations from South Korea and Japan brought their concerns over North Korea's nuclear program to the Bush administration on Monday in Washington and were assured the United States would "work shoulder to shoulder" with them to ease the crisis. "We view this as an issue that we need to work together on, and work shoulder to shoulder on," Fleischer said. The two Asian U.S. allies would be vulnerable to North Korean missiles and are seeking a diplomatic solution before Pyongyang adds to the two atom bombs it is believed to possess. South Korea also pressed Russia one of North Korea's few allies to help persuade the North to back down, and Moscow agreed to step up its contacts with Pyongyang. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday that Russia wants stability on the Korean peninsula and called for "quiet diplomacy" to defuse tensions. North Korea, stung by an energy crisis, insists it needs the power. The United States says the 5-megawatt reactor in question would produce a mere trickle of electricity and could be used to produce nuclear weapons. The Vienna-based IAEA had maintained two inspectors in North Korea from 1992 until New Year's Eve, when they left after the North said they were no longer welcome. Last week's expulsions came after the North removed IAEA seals and surveillance cameras from its nuclear complex at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, the capital. Although he denounced North Korea for its "nuclear brinkmanship," ElBaradei said the country should be given one more chance to pull back. If North Korea does step back from the brink, "then all the doors will be open," including negotiations on security and meeting the impoverished country's energy and food needs, ElBaradei said. On the Net: IAEA, www.iaea.org/worldatom If you weren't so busy flapping your fat, ignorant Hillary-mouth - you might actually learn something. Twit. John :-) .