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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (2116)	1/12/2003 5:12:24 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 15987

Any comment on whether, and/or how, the US should accomodate N. Korea's "peculiar" form of negotiation and brinksmanship?? Is it any different that dealing with a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum??: North Korea warns of 'sea of fire' as U.S. envoy arrives in Seoul Sun Jan 12, 1:28 PM ET By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea (news - web sites) insisted Sunday that it never admitted having a secret nuclear program — the latest conflicting signal it has given in the escalating crisis over its alleged plans to build nuclear weapons. "The claim that we admitted developing nuclear weapons is an invention fabricated by the U.S. with sinister intentions," South Korea (news - web sites)'s Yonhap news agency quoted the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper as saying. It wasn't clear if the statement was aimed at influencing a new round of talks on resolving the crisis. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly arrived in South Korea on Sunday to meet President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who believes diplomacy is the only solution. Kelly also planned to meet Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong and two presidential security advisers. Kelly will travel Tuesday to China, and then to Singapore, Indonesia and Japan. The United States believes North Korea has one or two nuclear weapons and could make several more within six months if it extracts weapons-grade plutonium from spent fuel rods at a reprocessing plant. The newspaper blamed the United States for the current crisis and warned: "If the United States evades its responsibility and challenges us, we'll turn the citadel of imperialists into a sea of fire." The latest standoff began in October when the United States said the North had admitted to having an atomic weapons program in violation of a 1994 accord, under which Pyongyang pledged to freeze operations at its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy supplies. In response to the admission, the United States suspended fuel shipments, and the North said it would bring reactors at its Yongbyon nuclear facility back online. In recent days, North Korea ratcheted up tensions even further by withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and suggesting it might resume missile testing. On Saturday, North Korean leaders vowed at a rally attended by a million people to "smash U.S. nuclear maniacs" in a "holy war," while North Korean Deputy U.N. Ambassador Han Song Ryol told New Mexico's state governor, Bill Richardson — a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (news - web sites) — that the country had no intention of building nuclear bombs. "He told me that in a dialogue with the United States, North Korea would discuss America's concerns over verifying its nuclear program. I think that's positive," Richardson said, ending three days of meetings with North Korean envoys. In an interview with ABC television on Sunday, Richardson said North Korean is ready to negotiate directly with the United States, and he thinks that talks could start soon. "They don't negotiate like we do. They don't have our same mentality," said Richardson, whom North Korea chose as an intermediary between the two countries. "They believe in order to get something they have to lay out additional cards, step up the rhetoric, be more belligerent." Also Saturday, a North Korean official said its nuclear plant north of Pyongyang was ready for operation. The threat of new missile tests came from the North's ambassador to China, Choe Jin Su, who said tests could resume if relations with the United States don't improve. New tests would be the first since 1998, when North Korea fired a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. Pyongyang later set a moratorium on tests which was to last into 2004. Another official left open the possibility of the North reprocessing spent fuel rods from its nuclear reactor to make atomic bombs. Son Mun San, who oversees Pyongyang's relations with the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said in Vienna the reprocessing plant now stands in a state of "readiness." Since the nuclear standoff resumed, the North has removed seals placed on one of its nuclear facilities by IAEA monitors and expelled two U.N. inspectors. South Korea vowed again Sunday to pursue a diplomatic solution, after National Security Adviser Yim Sung-joon returned from a visit to Washington and Tokyo. "The government's consistent position is that it will do its best to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully through diplomacy," Yim told the Yonhap news agency. During a visit to Russia that ended Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged North Korea to rescind its decision to pull out of the treaty. "That is what's best for North Korea, for the international community," he said. "And this is true for the United States as well." Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Sunday that although North Korea's decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "is not a threat to the security of Russia ... we are definitely advocating the status of a non-nuclear power for North Korea." The Kremlin is pushing for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, he said. "Russia is coordinating its policy with China, Japan, the United States and both Koreas," Ivanov said. story.news.yahoo.com`

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (2116)	1/13/2003 6:56:49 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 15987

Hawk, Re: So I'm having a problem trying to find a Zionist who actually has sufficient power to carry out the diabolical plan you claim they have in store for the Middle East.. So I'm having a problem trying to comprehend how you can so conveniently forget Ariel Sharon's deliberate provocation by walking the Temple Mount with a mere 2,000 meek peace seekers a couple of years ago that started this latest intifada. You want a Zionist, you got a Zionist. He runs the country. What is it about Sharon you don't understand? That he's a war criminal? That he's an imperialist and colonizer? That he wants nothing more than to completely dispossess the Palestinians and send them into exile in the Transjordan? Re: So call us back on this "zionist conspiracy" when they are able to achieve 65% of the vote in Israel. Remarkably weak and disingenuous red herring. You usually do much better than this throwaway line. *************** Is Israel an imperialistic bully? You bet your life. Here's what Moshe Dayan had to say about the matter in 1955: "[Israel] must see the sword as the main, if not the only, instrument with which to keep its morale high and to retain its moral tension. Toward this end it may, no - it must - invent dangers, and to do this it must adopt the method of provocation-and-revenge...And above all - let us hope for a new war with the Arab countries, so that we may finally get rid of our troubles and acquire our space.*" Quoted in Livia Rokach, "Israel's Sacred Terrorism." Plus ca change, la plus l'meme chose, n'est pas?* Territorial fascists? Yes. Bullies? Yes. Sharon is merely the latest criminal to lead this despicable war of territorial aggression. ***************** "If you care about truth, and not just what you've been told all your life, then you may come to believe, as we have, that one of the greatest injustices the world has ever known has been done to the Palestinian people." cactus48.com

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (2116)	1/15/2003 4:06:29 PM
From: Elmer Flugum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Hawk, I have not labeled Zionism a conspiracy. That is the second time you allude to me saying so. I say Zionism is a political movement. I use to term Zionism, to avoid slamming Jews and Judaism, (even though Zionism is not restricted to those who call themselves Jews). I am coming to your house tonight, I am going to confiscate your house and its possessions, and in a call for peace with you Hawk, I am going to offer you use of your spare bedroom, the half bath and all of the basement. I will however restrict the use of the water since all my relatives are going to be moving in and we will need most of it for our hot tubs. Oh, I forgot to mention, we are putting in six hot tubs in the backyard, a backyard you will also need to have an ID to visit. We want to make peace, for we are humanitarian and peace-loving folks. len