Cuba Iran Korea Review U.S. Human Rights Violations: Obama's Voluntary Shellacking

Barack Obama joined the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2009 and thus put us on the road to "universal periodic review" of this country's human rights.

For several hours, some 56 countries took to the podium and condemned the U.S.  Unbelievably, the hate for our republicanism is so intense, many "stood in line overnight to be near the top of the list of speakers.

Cuba said the U.S. blockade against them is a "crime of genocide." They harangued us about our "violations against migrants," and they didn't forget our rampant brutality against our mentally ill. We were advised to feed our people and keep them healthy.

Iran is deeply concerned by "systematic widespread violations" in the U.S. and warned us about our abuses against women.

North Korea wants us to take care of our "housing inequalities," and prohibit violence of law enforcement.

Libya points to our "racism.

In the Bush years, the U.S. delegation refused to join this farcical Commission, populated by the most heinously cruel human rights violators on the planet.

The Obama administration could not wait to subject us to the scrutiny of tyrants. Now they have until  Tuesday to accept or reject the recommendations also coming from Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia:

The whole list of criticisms and recommendations, as well as our response, will be put together in a document distributed globally by the U.N. for the edification of America-bashers around the world. 

The United Nations is a pit of vipers. We stroke them and coddle them, and fund their atrocities. We make a mockery of our own democracy by acknowledging their right of communist and totalitarian states to address the human rights of any other country. While their people starve, are tortured in prisons for speaking out about their oppressors, live with no electricity, have their children taken from them, and see women so unspeakably abused  - we submit to their scrutiny. Why would we join this hateful coalition?

At some point we must pull out of the United Nations, and form a body of true democratic countries. The sooner the better. Maybe the next President will have a heart for the benevolence of the U.S. and move to dump this obscene United Nations.

North Korea Torpedoed Gulf Oil Rig? US Blackout of North Korean Attack on Gulf Oil Rig?

This report is out there, but not in the mainstream media. I can't vouch for any of it. A site identifiying itself as an EU online source, says Obama has ordered a "blackout over North Korean Torpedoing of Gulf of Mexico Oil Rig."

Deepwater Horizon after Explosion

The EU TimesOnline report basically says the Russian's Northern Fleet reports that the Deepwater Horizon oil platform was built and financed by South Korea, and because South Korea refused to sign an Armistice to end the Korea War, it is "permissible" for North Korea to attack a South Korean interest. A North Korean vessel, supposedly, is staffed with a "suicide" sniper "corps that left the Port of Havana and "severely deviated" from its planned course, taking it 209 miles from the gulf oil rig that exploded and burned, and guess what? The claim is, they launched a mini-submarine, with the suicide snipers aboard, who attacked the oil rig with "2 incendiary torpedoes."

And the U.S. ordered a news blackout over the incident. Remember, I'm not vouching for anything in this report.

Richard Grenell Susan Rice Ineffective at UN: Damning Review of Susan Rice - Wildly Ineffective

Richard Grenell, the Ambassador to the UN during the Bush Administration wrote a damning review of Obama's Ambassador, Susan Rice. Writing in the Huffington Post, he said Rice had been "wildly ineffective" this past year. Grenell was extraordinarily frank. The "wildly ineffective" comment is just the beginning.

 

Susan Rice

Grenell charged that Rice has been a social butterfly [my interpretation] and ignored her duties on the UN Security Council. Mr. Grenell, as experienced as he is, misses the point. Rice and Obama have no intention of stirring up the Security Council. How uncomfortable would that be? The trouble-makers are all Islamic Countries, with the exception of North Korea, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) runs the place. The Council will not take action on Iran or North Korea so, why bother, unless showing up if you aren't sanctioning Iran?

Here's some snippets from The Hill:

Richard Grenell, who served eight years in the Bush administration as spokesman for four U.S. ambassadors at the U.N., wrote Monday on the Huffington Post that Rice has been more active "in the social scene of Washington and the White House" than at the U.N., as suggested by a Security Council Report study that notes a marked decrease in activity at the Security Council over the past year.

That study in the Report, which is affiliated with Columbia University, said Council decisions dropped by 26 percent in the Obama administration's first year to the lowest level since 1991.
"For an Administration that promised to utilize the UN and improve our reputation around the world, its dinner-party circuit strategy isn't making America more secure," Grenell wrote.

Grenell mentioned Rice's "larger than normal DC-based staff," plus her 200-person NY based staff, which he says she spends little time with. He spoke of her Annie Leibovitz "glamour spread in Vogue Magazine, shot in an empty Security Council Chamber. She didn't show for the Council's Haiti crisis meeting to expand the UN's peacekeeping mission, and failed to call an emergency meeting to put request more help for the devasted country

...it was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that came to the Security Council to request more troops - the American Ambassador hadn't bothered."

Nevertheless, Rice said she has had a very productive year.

Bunker Buster Funding: Massive Ordnance Penetrator - MOP Ready Within Months

Reports are citing the Pentagon's accelerated request to Congress for funding of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) Bunker Buster - a mega-bunker-buster. Apparently, the request has been approved. I would have bet money against that request with our current Congress.

According to this ABC report, the request was a part of a 93-page "reprogramming" request.

The comptroller said the Pentagon planned to spend $19.1 million to procure our of the bombs, $28.3 million to accelerate the "bomb's development and testing," and $21 million to accelerate the integration of the bomb onto B-2 stealth bombers.

The MOP can hit targets 200 feet below ground. It is 20 feet long, holds 5,300 pounds of explosives, and it has a special mission:

...defeat hard and deeply buried targets where our adversary would have the support structure for WMD-type systems.

Hard and deeply buried targets like North Korea's and Iran's Natanz centrifuge facility (about 130 miles south of Tehran) and wherever the newest known plant inside the country might be.

The DEBKAfile reported this story on September 8th saying that acceleration of 10-12 MOPs had been requested, which "trebeled" the original request:

Gen. Shackelford said: "These are purchases beyond just those needed to test their capability. In other words (the military is seeking to) build a small inventory of, I believe, 10-12 bombs."

B-2 Stealth Bomber

McDonnell Douglas was awarded a $51.9 million contract to modify the B-2 stealth bomber to carry the mammoth MOP. The Pentagon said at least one "bunker buster" would be ready within months.


More military/war news:

Combat Outpost Keating Relief Fund

American Troops Depressed, Disillusioned

Dubai Weapon Shipment Seizure: Emirates Stop NK Weapons to Iran

Good news. Dubai and the UAE stepped up and stopped a weapons shipment to Iran from North Korea. The UAE has "reported the seizure of the [North Korean] vessel to the UN." I wonder how long it will take before the UN orders the release and safe passage on to Tehran? If the Emirates can stop North Korean weapons shipments, then every shipment should be stopped. In fact, North Korean leaders should be quaking in their cognac that a "seized" shipment of banned goods will bring wrath down upon them - but that's not the way we keep people free from nuclear threats around the world. What a shame.

North Korean Ship Goes Free: U.S. Won't Inspect

Any U.S. credence given to the authority of the United Nations is not only laughable but dangerous. With all the bluster about U.N. resolutions keeping North Korean ships from delivering nuclear materials on either end - either to another rogue country from North Korea or bringing such materials into North Korea, was just so much talk, and of course, most of us saw the U.N. resolution for what it was...worthless.

North Korea Protests U.S.

The Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said "that Washington has ruled out use of military force to inspect the North Korean freighter." It is understandable that the U.S. and other free world countries have their hands tied by the ruse of a impotent resolution. What is not understandable is the weak statements released by our Defense Department. I would rather hear nothing than hear this garbage:

The U.N. resolution lays out a regime that has a very clear set of steps," Ms. Flournoy said, according to the Yonhap news agency. "I want to be very clear. ... This is not a resolution that sponsors, that authorizes use of force for interdiction."

Ms. Flournoy said the U.S. still has "incentives and disincentives that will get North Korea to change course."

"Everything remains on the table, but we're focused on implementing the resolution fully, responsibly and with our international partners," she said.

Some 100,000 North Koreans reportedly gathered and threatened the U.S. with "a fire shower of nuclear retaliation" and shouts of "Let's crush them." Our Navy has been shadowing a North Korean ship and wasting manpower and fuel for what? The Kang Nam I is on it's way to Myanmar, and there is speculation about what is aboard: are there nuclear materials aboard, as they know the Kang Nam I has carried in the past - and carried directly to Myanmar? Who knows. Officials are "guessing." Maybe artillery...may other "conventional weaponry." Maybe "missiles." We pay the Defense and State Departments to do what you and I would and could do, for free - come up with answers to thwart the North Korean menace to the world, and our solutions would have nothing to do with the U.N. Our Defense Department and State Department should be leading the way...berating the United Nations for it uselessness, for its ongoing work to promote dictators and lawless countries. Freedom comes at a price and the price should be the demise of the U.N.

U.S. Eyes North Korea Ship: Calling U.N. Bluff - UPDATES

North Korea has set a ship to sail, even though U.N. sanctions threatened that all vessels into and out of North Korea will be monitored by the world. So the U.S. has ships in the area and we are indeed "monitoring." So what's next? Are they calling the U.N.'s bluff? See updates below.

North Korea Ship

Reports are that we are not saying what Kang Nam, which has now reached international waters, is carrying. What could we do anyway? What if we know it is exporting weapons, missile parts and nuclear materials? Would we stop them? Would we board them? Would we arrest them on the high seas? Would we fire on them? This might answer the question:

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, ...stressed the U.N. resolution would allow the U.S. Navy to search a ship only with its flag country's consent.

So no, we wouldn't search because North Korea wouldn't allow it. What can we do but "monitor?" North Korea has said they will attack if we try to stop their cargo. I hope I'm proven wrong, but...I think they've called our bluff. UPDATE: 6-19-09, 10:30 am CDT: Fox News reports that the USS John McCain, a Navy destroyer, is positioning to "intercept" the North Korean ship, Kang Nam, as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China.

North Korea has said that any attempt to board its ships would be viewed as an act of war and promised "100 - or - 1000-fold retaliation if provoked.

A U.N. resolution does not allow the boarding of a country-flagged ship without that country's permission, which is unlikely in this case. Here's another possibility:

If there is cause to pursue the ship, sources told FOX News the U.S. military would instead likely follow the slow-moving vessel until it goes into port to refuel.

At that point, sources said, the U.S. military could request that the host country not provide fuel to the ship.

One U.S. official said that the U.S. military could be waiting for the ship to distance itself from China before confronting it, to avoid agitating the Chinese.

More when available. In the meantime, praying for the safety of those aboard the USS John McCain is a good idea.

North Korea Nuclear Offensive a Merciless Offensive: Businesses Leave North Korea

North Korea today said it's nuclear arsenal will be used as an offense, remarking that when that offensive comes, it will be a "merciless offensive." Experts say this is the first time North Korea has referred to their nuclear power as anything but defensive in nature. See details about this intriguing map of the Koreas below.

North and South Korea Map

The U.N. Security Council is debating how to properly punish North Korea, through sanctions, for recent nuclear tests. Do we have any doubts that North Korea is quaking with fear? President Obama has said for diplomacy to work with North Korea, it has to "involve the other side," and "we have not seen that reaction from North Korea."

I don't think there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we continue to act in the same ways.

South Korea has attempted some friendly business relations with the North, with South Korean businesses operating out of the North. A South Korean business, Skinnet (a fur maker) has announced they are pulling out of the country, quitting their business which is located in the the North's border town of Kaesong. The company operates out of an industrial complex, and is one of 106 South Korean companies operating in the park. Within the South's businesses, some 40,000 North Koreans hold jobs, making a wide variety of products from "electronics and watches to shoes and utensils." Talks between the two countries to plan additional joint projects have been suspended:

A Skinnet company official said the decision was primarily over "security concerns" for its employees, and also because of a decline in orders from clients concerned over possible disruptions to operations amid the soaring tensions. The industrial park's fate has been in doubt since last month when North Korea threatened to scrap all contracts on running the joint complex and said it would write new rules of its own and the South must accept them or pull out of the zone.

It will be interesting to see if Skinnet leaves everything to the North or is actually able to dismantle their company and move it back to the South. To ramp-up concerns, a South Korean man working in the industrial complex has been held by North Korea, since March, for speaking against the North's political regime. The sentencing of two American women this week (Laura Ling and Euna Lee) to twelve years hard labor, has intensified worries. Reports are that South Korea has "doubled the number of naval ships around the disputed sea border with the North..." About the map above: This photo taken from space clearly shows the lack of electricity available to the people of North Korea.

North and South Korea have been separated at the 38th parallel ever since the Korean War (1950-1953), which has never officially ended. In the ensuing ‘ceasefire’, North Korea developed into a communist dictatorship with a centrally planned economy, while South Korea became a capitalist democracy with a free market economy.

Economic hardship in the officially ‘self-reliant’ North has led to mass starvation, while the South has a vibrant economy able to compete with the best of the world. In 1996, the per capita GNP in the North was $920, while it was $11.270 in the South. A 1999 estimate of per capita GNPs put the South’s at 13 times that of the North. More recent figures will probably show an even wider gap.

Due to the different economic results on either side of the Demilitarized Zone, the ethnically quite homogenous Koreans have even begun to diversify physically, with the average North Korean male almost 7 cm shorter than his Southern counterpart (165,6 cm vs. 172,5 cm). North Korean females are on average 4 cm shorter than Southern women (154,9 cm vs. 159,1 cm). By 2025, the height difference is projected to increase to 11 cm for men, 6 cm for women. Unless the North’s economic situation changes drastically, that is.

So the South dwarfs the North, not just numerically (50 vs. 27 million), but also economically and even size-wise. Another stark reminder of the different worlds both Koreas now inhabit, is this map, a picture of the night-time illumination on the Korean peninsula.

The metropolitan area of Seoul, the South’s capital, holds 23 million people and is the second-largest conurbation on the planet (after Tokyo). Its huge lit-up area, close to the border with the North, is clearly visible from space. Other Southern cities, while quite a lot smaller than Seoul, are also clearly distinguishable on this satellite map, for example Gunsan on the western coast, directly below it the inland city of Gwangju, the cities of Masan and Busan on the southern coast, and several other cities, much smaller still.

By contrast (quite literally, even), the only speck of light north of the DMZ is the North’s capital of Pyonyang, a single, neat pinprick of white punched through an otherwise completely black canvas. The minimal lighting belies the fact that Pyongyang is home to an estimated 3 million people. Gunsan, in the South, has under 300.000 inhabitants.

There is only one bright side to this darkness that I can think of: North Korea must be a fantastic place for stargazing…

Map's origins found here at Imageshack. Read how ChicagoRay thinks we should "take Jung Il Out of the World Equation"

American Women Sentenced in North Korea: Laura Ling, Euna Lee Twelve Years Labor

American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee were just sentenced to twelve years in prison in North Korea. The seriousness of the plight of these two defies description. According to the North Korean court, they are sentenced to "12 years of reform through labor." Sigh.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling

The Kim Jong Il court, which allows no chance of appeal, or representation by a lawyer, said the women were convicted of an unspecified "grave crime" against the nation, which Fox News says is the illegal crossing of the border into North Korea. The women deny that they were inside the country. The sentence was feared to be ten years in prison. Fox believes the two years were tacked on to add some emphasis to the verdict. The women have been in the North Korean prison since March, and the hope now is that perhaps North Korea is bluffing, will keep Ling and Lee for a short time and then release them to the West. For background read this comprehensive report.