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For Russia's Putin, knockabout with Obama is just the ticket

While much of the world celebrated Obama's US presidential win, a stony-faced Russian reaction was a reminder of Cold War-style tensions between Washington and Moscow.

On the Internet, Russian bloggers portrayed the victory of a black candidate as evidence of American decline. On an official level, President Dmitry Medvedev chose the day of Obama's win to announce the deployment of short-range missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian outpost in Europe.

Numerous analysts said Medvedev's response was clearly authored by Putin, no longer president himself but powerful in the prime minister's post and long the spearhead of Russian attacks on the United States.

"Putin is of course number one in this tandem," said Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office of the US Heritage Foundation, a research centre.

The announcement of missile deployments to Kaliningrad is meant "to test Obama -- whether he really is a strong and efficient leader," said Volk.

Although he stood down as president in May in accordance with the constitution, Putin has kept a high profile.

He has released a judo training video, has "saved" a group of journalists from a loose Siberian tiger using a tranquilizer dart, and still meets world leaders such as Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, whom he hosted this month in the Kremlin.

Analysts said Putin's natural role was in baiting a United States cast by state media in the role of aggressor and that the 56-year-old could return to Russia's presidency.

Russian analyst Andrei Piontkovsky, who currently works at Washington's Hudson Institute, said Putin was beset by economic worries in the prime minister's post and wanted to "flee" for the safety of the presidency, a tsar-like role generally seen as beyond criticism.

. . . Volk said the Russian perception of Obama was of a politician inexperienced in foreign affairs who might be made to back down on US plans to place missile defence facilities in eastern Europe, which Moscow has portrayed as a threat.

This perception of a weak Obama was driven home on Saturday by a photograph on the front page of the Kommersant newspaper that showed his humiliating detention at an airport in the Ural Mountains on a 2005 visit he made as part of a nuclear disarmament programme.

In similar vein, the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets featured reminiscences of Obama's tour, saying "for a large part of his visit, Obama kept quiet and smiled."

Volk said Russia would follow up last week's threats with further high-profile shows of strength.

Does Putin see the Messiah or "evidence of American decline."

In a not-so-friendly start of talks between the United States and Russia, in the presents of the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to abandon a key nuclear missile treaty while demanding the U.S. back off it's plans to deploy an anti-missile defense system in eastern Europe.

If the U.S. does not, it risks relations with Moscow, Putin said.

Secretary Rice told reporters on Thursday on her flight to Moscow that the United States would go ahead with the missile defense program as planned.

Putin warns U.S. in missile talks

Addressing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Russian president appeared to mock the U.S. missile defense plan, which is at the center of a tangle of arms control and diplomatic disputes between the former Cold War adversaries.

"Of course we can sometime in the future decide that some anti-missile defense system should be established somewhere on the moon," Putin said, according to an English translation.

"But before we reach such arrangements we will lose the opportunity for fixing some particular arrangements between us."

Putin also said Russia might feel compelled to pull out of a 20-year-old arms control deal unless it is expanded.

The Russian government sees the U.S. missile defense plan, which Washington describes as a hedge against the threat of missile attack from Iran, as a worrisome step toward weakening Russian security. It has been a longstanding dispute, and Putin's remarks seemed to raise the level of tensions.

Rice and Gates appeared taken aback at the firm tone and forcefulness of Putin's remarks, which were made from notes in the presence of American and Russian news media before they began a closed-door meeting around an oval table in an ornate conference room at his country house outside the capital.

"We will try to find ways to cooperate," Rice said in response. "Even though we have our differences, we have a great deal in common because that which unites us in trying to deal with the threats of terrorism, of proliferation, are much greater than the issues that divide us."

After Putin addressed further comments about U.S.-Russian military cooperation to Gates, the American defense secretary responded by saying the Pentagon was ready to intensify a dialogue on military relations.

"We have an ambitious agenda of security issues that concern both of us, including, as you suggest, development of missile systems by others in the neighborhood -- I would say in particular, Iran," Gates said.

Gates did not directly comment on the missile defense dispute.

After keeping Rice and Gates waiting for 40 minutes, Putin began the session with a lengthy monologue in which he also said that Russia may feel compelled to abandon its obligations under a 1987 missile treaty with the United States if it is not expanded to constrain other missile-armed countries.

Referring to the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that was negotiated with the United States before the breakup of the Soviet Union, Putin said it must be applied to other countries, including those "located in our near vicinity." He did not mention any by name, but in response, Gates said Washington was interested in limiting missile proliferation in Iran.

Putin said the treaty must be made "universal in nature."

The Russian President appears to be more comfortable playing the adversary role, while flexing his new found "Oil Muscles," than work with the U.S. on these very serious issues.

Stay tuned.

A year 2000 Congressional report on the "current and future military strategy of the People’s Republic of China," by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, summarized with:

China’s rapid rise as a regional political and economic power with global aspirations is an important element of today’s strategic environment – one that has significant implications for the region and the world.

However, much uncertainty surrounds the future course China’s leaders will set for their country, including in the area of China’s expanding military power and how that power might be used.

It's common knowledge that China has been pumping large amounts of money into their military for several years now and has been working on some very high tech projects of late. Now it sounds as if China is making a move to be a front runner in the next generation of military warfare. Cyber Warfare!

Remember the shocking episode of the shooting down of an orbiting satellite with a Chinese ballistic missile, back in January of 2007. This came just months after the U.S. announced the United States 8th Air Force would become the new Air Force Cyberspace Command.

This is a serious situation for the U.S. and the entire world. It very well may be the start of a Global Star Wars build up. The building of an anti-satellite shield? A satellite defense system in space? A missile defense system set up in one part of the world to simply take out an incoming or out going missile will not work, because satellites orbit the earth, which means it could be taken out when it is over a particular country.

Chinese Cyberwar Alert!

The Air Force has been tracking aggressive cyber incursions by computer technicians in China, primarily focused toward gathering information on military network infrastructure and American trade secrets, the Air Force's cyber warfare commander said this week.

"China has put a lot of resources into this business," said Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of Air Force Cyberspace Command. "China, at this point, is not interested so much in attack as they are in using the Internet to pull [industrial] data."

"They're interested in doing this in a way that they can be dominant without even having a fight," he added.

A recently-released Pentagon report on Chinese military development said Beijing is crafting an aggressive computer network operations strategy that the People's Liberation Army "sees as critical to achieving 'electromagnetic dominance' early in a conflict."

While his newly-established command is focused primarily on the defense of military information networks, communications nodes and command and control systems by "peer competitors" such as China, Russia and Iran, Elder told reporters during a June 13 breakfast meeting in Washington his cyber warriors don't see much of a threat from terrorist-initiated attacks.

"If you have a terrorist operating on their own they're going to have less capability than if they had nation-state sponsorship," Elder explained. "To seriously disrupt us, you're not going to be able to do this with a 'teenage hacker' capability."

Aside from the defense of Air Force cyberspace from would-be attackers, Elder said his command is focused on developing tactics to render adversaries' computer systems inoperable, dropping cyber bombs on enemy sensors, databases and battle management systems.

"Everything I talk about we're trying to do to an adversary we're trying to defend for ourselves," Elder said.

"We want to go in and knock them out in the first round," he added.

The Air Force formally established Cyberspace Command in November after the Pentagon-crafted Quadrennial Defense Review designated cyberspace as an emerging battlefield where American forces increasingly will have to fight in the future.

The vulnerability of networks and the disruption computer hackers can cause to a country's infrastructure was demonstrated in early May after cyber attacks on a wide range of civilian and government networks in Estonia crippled state-run banks, telecommunications companies and news organizations for weeks.

Estonian government officials allege the attacks were launched from state-owned networks in Russia, though the Kremlin denies they had anything to do with the computer assault. But the accusation raises questions about how Elder's command should respond to similar attacks against Air Force cyber infrastructure.

The service is working to develop doctrine on how to defend - and counter-attack - cyber adversaries who can potentially shield their identities or seek cover in networks that have no knowledge of the attack.

"We are looking to provide very precise effects - you want to minimize collateral damage," Elder said. "Would a civilian target be a legitimate target? Generally ... you don't go after civilian targets."

The Air Force has instituted security procedures to ensure individual workstations can't serve as gateways for an adversary into military networks, an effort Elder hopes will prompt Airmen to "recognize that this is not a safe neighborhood."

The Cyberspace Command has already begun to build its cadre of cyber warriors, drawing upon the nearly 45,000 Airmen already tasked with information technology-related duties in the service.

Air Force instructors will keep an eye out during initial training for potential cyber warriors to fill out the ranks, and Elder intends to establish a viable career path for his Airmen in hopes of keeping Cyberspace Command strong in the future.

"We're trying to get someone trained who can work on a production line who's an expert on doing their part, and over time you expand that," Elder said. "It's going to be really critical for us to be able to retain these people into continuing in the force."

ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS - Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007

UPDATE: Aug. 29, 2007 - Chinese see military dependence on computers as weakness

UPDATE: Sept. 3, 2007 - Chinese military hacked into Pentagon

UPDATE: Sept. 4, 2007 - Pentagon: Chinese military hacked us

Could this be the start of the build up to the inevitable Iran/Saudi conflict in Iraq?

Many Sunni regimes in the region have felt vulnerable since last years election of the Iranian-backed Shiite government in Iraq. Saudi Arabia in particular has said that it would not allow Iran to build a puppet government in Iraq.

"There's a sense here and in the region of the need to build up defenses against Iranian encroachment," said a U.S. official familiar with the deals.

US 'plans huge Saudi arms deal'

The United States is reported to be preparing a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth $20bn (£9.8bn) over the next decade.

It is said to be part of a strategy for countering Iran's growing strength.

Defence officials quoted by US media and the AFP news agency said it would include missile guidance systems, upgraded fighter jets and naval ships.

To counter objections from Israel, they said, the Jewish state would be offered significantly increased military aid.

But the New York Times says Bush administration officials are concerned that the size of the package and broader concerns about Saudi Arabia's influence in Iraq could prompt critics in Congress to oppose the package.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates is said to be planning to discuss the proposals in a visit to Saudi Arabia next week with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The officials said discussions with Congress on the arms package had just begun, and that no announcements were expected during the visit.

Other US allies in the region - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - could receive equipment and weaponry as part of the deal, the officials said.

The writing's on the wall, or is it just graffiti?

While the United States works to get approval from the Czech government to build a U.S. anti-missile system in the Czech Republic, Russian leaders are all up in arms, calling it a "a mistake which will bring about negative consequences for international security."

The U.S. system proposed to be built near the Russian border with the Czech Republic is intended to protect European countries from the threat of Russian made, long-range missiles currently being supplied by Russia to the Iranian government. Iran continues building it's arsenal of WMD.

The U.S. base would be manned by approximately 200 U.S. military personnel, and could be operational by 2011.

Russia to raise European anti-missile plan with U.S.

Russia said on Friday a U.S. plan to deploy an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic was a "mistake" which would have negative consequences for international security.

The State Department announced on Sunday the two countries had agreed to start detailed talks on allowing their territory to be used for the system, designed to shoot down missiles with rockets.

U.S. officials say the system is intended to counter a long-range Iranian missile threat, not Russia.

"This issue will be a subject of our detailed analysis and dialogue with the United States and their partners."

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov rejected Washington's reassurances on Wednesday, saying Iranian missiles could not reach Europe.

The Russian military say they have modern missiles which can neutralize the planned U.S. missile defense system. But political leaders insist any NATO activity near Russian borders carries broader geopolitical threats for Moscow.

Russia, whose reviving self-confidence is backed by a windfall of oil and gas revenues, suspects Washington and NATO of trying to surround it and replace Moscow as a patron of ex-Soviet states.

"The creation of a U.S. anti-missile base in Europe can only be viewed as a considerable change in the configuration of the American military presence in Europe," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

"The presence of such a base near our borders will be a factor we will have to take into account when planning the next military and political steps, building national defense," it added.

We can't just sit back while Russia continues to supply our enemies with WMD.

With the successful testing of a ground-based medium-range ballistic missile to destroy an aging weather satellite in space, the Chinese government may have started a space arms race that could force many countries like the United States to develop anti-missile systems to protect their satellites in space.

The United States and other countries have expressed their concerns to Beijing. US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the US "believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of co-operation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area".

According to the Associated Press (AP), Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said in his annual address to Congress last week that China and Russia are the "primary states of concern’’ regarding the U.S. military space program.

So far, China has not confirmed or commented on the shooting down of the weather satellite. (Updates below)

US Calls On China to Explain Anti-Satellite Weapon

A senior State Department official says the United States wants China to explain why it developed an anti-satellite weapon, calling the move "inconsistent with the constructive relationship" on the use of space agreed to by the two countries' presidents.

The official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity, said the ability to use space is vital to U.S. national security, economic and foreign policy interests. And he said the hundreds of pieces of debris that resulted from the Chinese test endanger other vehicles in space, including manned vehicles, and may endanger people on the ground when they eventually fall to earth.

The official said the Chinese test did not violate any international treaties, but did violate what he called the "the intent and the spirit" of the international Space Treaty, which guarantees free access to space for all peaceful purposes. He said the United States "reserves the right to defend and protect its space systems with a wide range of options from diplomatic to military."

In a VOA interview before the Chinese test was conducted, the head of strategic planning and analysis at the U.S. Air Force Space Command said U.S. policy calls for the protection of the country's access to space. Brigadier General Robert Worley would not discuss any potential threat from any specific countries, but he said the need for free access to space requires his command to consider how to preserve that access. "We all know that there are some actors out there, whether they be nations or non-state actors, that might wish to do us harm in this area. And so we, like any other nation, preserve and reserve the right to take action to prevent people from doing bad things to us," he said.

General Worley says the United States is not interested in developing any space weapons, and may not have to in order to deter attacks on its space assets. The general says the U.S. ability to track everything that happens in space may be enough. "I think there's a significant deterrent effect of everyone knowing that we could attribute a hostile act in space to a particular state or non-state actor," he said.

Still, General Worley acknowledges that Space Command has the responsibility to look at additional ways to prevent attacks on U.S. satellites, ground stations and communications links. He would not provide details. The United States ended its anti-satellite weapon program more than 20 years ago after one successful test. It currently has no space-based weapons or weapons designed to attack targets in space. But experts say a powerful U.S. laser weapon could be used to blind satellites, although it was not developed for that purpose.

British officials have also raised their concerns with China on Wednesday saying that Britain did not believe China had broken international law, but thought the test was "inconsistent" with Beijing's earlier assurances to the United Nations on the military use of space.

Update: The Times Online is reporting that China is claiming that it's missile strike against an orbiting satellite two weeks ago was not an act of provocation but was instead intended to try and bring the United States into talks aimed at abolishing weapons in space.

In talks with Chinese officials about the UN sanctions recently placed on Iran, Iran's nuclear chief said, with regard to obtaining nuclear capabilities for peaceful means, "if we are threatened, the situation may change."

Threaten us and we will nuke your ass! That's what I hear.

Anyone who doesn't believe Iran's mission is to build several large nukes to threaten others, including the U.S., is being naive to say the least. (Hat tip: LGF)

Iranian official: If threatened, we will use nuclear weapons

Iran's chief nuclear envoy Ali Larijani said on Friday that Iran is committed to the peaceful use of nuclear technology but warned the situation could change if his country is threatened.

"We oppose obtaining nuclear weapons and we will peacefully use nuclear technology under the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty, but if we are threatened, the situation may change," He told a news conference after two days of talks in Beijing.

Iran's nuclear chief said his country has produced and stored 250 tons of the gas used as the feedstock for uranium enrichment, state-run television reported Friday.

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who is also the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Iran has kept the uranium hexaflouride gas, or UF-6, in underground tunnels at a nuclear facility in Isfahan to protect it from any possible attack.

"Today, we have produced more than 250 tons of UF-6. Should you visit Isfahan, you will see we have constructed tunnels that are almost unique in the world," State-run television quoted Aghazadeh as saying.

Regional crisis in the making while libs talk.

On the heels of the Iranian nuke statement, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, if Iran attains nukes, Egypt will also have to in order to defend itself.

Is Egypt declaring its intentions to develop nuclear weapons? Thus it appeared in a speech delivered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday on the occasion of meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Sharm e-Sheikh.

“We don’t want nuclear weapons,” Mubarak stated, “But since they appear highly present in the area, we must defend ourselves."

Nice!

A U.S. interceptor missile was launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base and successfully destroyed a mock warhead launched from Alaska in a key test of the U.S. missile defense system.



U.S. missile defense interceptor hits target in test over Pacific

The 54-foot interceptor shot out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast at 10:39 a.m., 17 minutes after a target missile was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, said agency spokesman Rick Lehner.

A refrigerator-sized "kill vehicle" separated from the interceptor. Moving at 18,000 mph, it struck a 4-foot-long mock warhead released by the other missile. Lehner said both disintegrated more than 100 miles above the Earth and a few hundred miles west of Vandenberg. The interceptor's flight lasted 13 minutes.

It was the most realistic test of the systems that would be used against a real attack, according to Lehner.

More than $100 billion has been spent on America's missile-defense system since 1983 and it has been the subject of criticism by those who call it a costly boondoggle. There also have been allegations that very early tests were rigged or their success exaggerated. The Pentagon says the technology used in those tests is not part of the current research program.

Critics also argued early on that the demise of the Soviet Union made a full-scale missile attack on the U.S. unlikely. Supporters say the U.S. still is vulnerable to missiles from rogue states.

In July, North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a missile that was believed capable of reaching the northwestern U.S. coast.

Update - 9/2/06: North Korea has accused the U.S. of threatening war by conducting a anti-missile defense test and vowed to strengthen its self-defense in response.

More @
Ace of Spades with Missile Test Successful [AnalogKid]

A senior Iranian official, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker warned that Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if international pressure against its nuclear program continues.

At the same time the U.S. has said it may go it only if the UN Security Council does not vote for sanctions against Iran. And in response to that statement several anonymous experts warned that a win by proponents of immediate sanctions carried grave risks. "Doing so would put the U.S. on the slippery slope towards military action, because none of America's allies believe that U.N. sanctions will be effective."

***Scroll down for Updates***

Iran may pull out of NPT; U.S. weighing sanctions without UN

By Yossi Melman and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies

Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if international pressure against its nuclear program continues, a senior Iranian official warned yesterday.

The statements made by Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar mark the first time a senior Iranian official specifically mentioned the development of nuclear weapons as part of the country's nuclear program, which to date Tehran had insisted was for peaceful purposes.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that his country poses no threat to Israel, and that no one can deprive Iran of its right to nuclear technology.

"No one can deprive a nation of its rights based on its capabilities," he said in a speech to inaugurate a new phase of a heavy-water reactor project southwest of Tehran.

"Iran is not a threat to anybody, not even to the Zionist regime," he said.

"They may impose some restrictions on us under pressure. But will they be able to prevent the thoughts of a nation? Will they be able to prevent the progress and technology of a nation? They have to accept the reality of a powerful, peace-loving and developed Iran. This is in the interest of all governments and all nations, whether they like it or not," he said.

Ahmadinejad inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, near Arak, 190 kilometers southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

The pressure Iran is concerned with includes plans by the U.S. administration to bypass the Security Council and impose economic sanctions on Iran because of Tehran's refusal to abide by the United Nations resolution ordering it to cease its uranium enrichment program, sources at UN headquarters in New York said on Friday.

According to the sources at the UN, American officials are convinced the chances of passing a Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions on Iran are flimsy because Russia and China have decided not to support the proposal.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said yesterday that it is too early to discuss economic sanctions against Iran and went as far as to say that Moscow opposed any form of sanctions.

Update:
Iran Test-Fires Sub-to-Surface Missile

Iran on Sunday test-fired a sub-to-surface missile in the Persian Gulf during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported.

"The army successfully test-fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf," the Army's Navy commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said on state television.

A brief video clip showed the missile, fired from a submarine, hitting a target on the surface of the water within less than a mile.

The test came as part of large-scale military exercises under way throughout the country. Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to test equipment including missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Sounds like it was a dud. I can't imagine the target was less than a mile away. That's just where it landed.

As annual war games between the U.S. and South Korea commence this week, North Korea claims it reserves the right to pre-emptive actions against the U.S. and/or South Korea, acting in a defensive mode in order to protect itself and it's people.

This latest rhetoric from Pyongyang comes on the heels of a newly released report that a U.S. intelligence agency had observed suspicious vehicle movements at a suspected North Korean nuclear test site, which caused the Bush administration last week to put out a strong warning against any underground nuclear test.

North Korea threatens attack due to war drills

North Korea said it had the right to launch a pre-emptive attack to counter a U.S.-South Korean joint military training drill, its official media reported on Tuesday.

U.S. and South Korean troops began military exercises on Monday dubbed Ulchi Focus Lens that are aimed at testing command structures and communications.

The annual exercises have been held without incident since they began in 1975 and the North usually brands them as a prelude to invasion and nuclear war.

But the drills this year are being held with tensions high on the peninsula after North Korea test-fired a barrage of missiles on July 5 and reports last week it may preparing to test a nuclear weapon.

In its KCNA news agency, North Korea said the drills were "an undisguised military threat and blackmail against the DPRK (North Korea) and a war action."

"The Korean Peoples' Army side, therefore, reserves the right to undertake a pre-emptive action for self-defense against the enemy at a crucial time it deems necessary to defend itself," the agency cited an army spokesman as saying.

South Korea has more than 650,000 soldiers in its armed forces, who are supported by about 30,000 U.S. troops on the peninsula. North Korea has a 1.2-million-strong army, mostly stationed near the heavily fortified border with the South.

They are just itchin' for a fight.

President Bush on Friday warned that North Korea would pose a serious threat to the world if it continued with a suspected underground test of a nuclear bomb, following reports that the North Korea government was considering such a move.

Quoting an unidentified State Department official, ABC News is reporting that U.S. intelligence observed suspicious vehicle movement at a suspected North Korean nuclear test site and that an underground nuclear test was a "real possibility."

North Korea warned on N-test

AUSTRALIA last night warned that any move by North Korea to test a nuclear bomb would be extremely dangerous and provocative and would pose a serious threat to regional stability.

US State Department officials were yesterday quoted as saying there were signs that North Korea may be preparing for a historic underground test of a nuclear bomb.

"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility," a senior official of the State Department told ABC News in the US.

One US intelligence agency was said to have recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.

The activity included the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility in northeast North Korea which could be used to connect an underground nuclear test site to outside observation equipment.

Although North Korea is believed to have enough nuclear material to build up to a dozen bombs, it has never tested one.

An Australian government official last night described the US media reports as "extremely concerning". "A nuclear test would be an extremely dangerous and provocative step and a direct threat to regional security and stability,' the official told The Weekend Australian.

"Australia would support very strong action by the international community in response to any tests."

The White House did not confirm or deny the reports, but said any nuclear test by the reclusive Stalinist state would be an "extremely provocative" act that would be denounced around the globe.

It appears that the tidal wave of nuclear proliferation is truly upon us and the one sole individual most responsible for it is Abdul Qadeer Khan. Aka, the “father of Pakistan's bomb.” It is a know fact that AQ Khan sold Pakistani nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya and may have sold them to other countries we don't know about.

"Thanks to the Khan network, much of the equipment and knowledge for developing nuclear technology is no longer controlled by states - it is back in the marketplace," writes Gordon Corera. "Putting this genie back in the bottle may be impossible."

Gordon Corera is the author of "Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity and the Rise and Fall of the A.Q. Khan Network."

Our friend and ally, Russia, continues to assist every rogue country in the world with Nuclear technology. This time it's their old friend and Soviet-era ally, North Korea they wish to support. While the rest of the world expresses deep concerns after North Korea test-fired seven missiles last week, Russia secretly offers them the technology to help hide and protect their Nuclear program from the rest of the world, like they did in Iran.

Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology

Filed: 09/07/2006 - Russia is facing criticism after secretly offering to sell North Korea technology that could help the rogue state to protect its nuclear stockpiles and safeguard weapons secrets from international scrutiny.

Russian officials touted the equipment at an IT exhibition in Pyongyang a fortnight ago - just days before the Communist state caused international alarm by launching a salvo of short and long-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

In what appear to have been unguarded comments, Aleksei Grigoriev, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Information Technologies Agency, told a reporter that North Korea planned to buy equipment for the safe storage and transportation of nuclear materials, developed by a Russian government-controlled defence company.

The company, Atlas, also received interest from the North Koreans in their security systems and encryption technology - which were kept from display at the exhibition for security reasons.

In remarks made to the Russian Itar-Tass news agency - hastily retracted after publication - Mr Grigoriev said that the main aim of the June 28 exhibition was "establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future co-operation". Last week Russia, along with China, opposed a draft UN Security Council resolution, proposed by Japan and backed by America, that would bar missile-related financial and technology transactions with North Korea because of the missile tests.

As tensions over the missile tests mounted, the US government yesterday deployed its USS Mustin, equipped with so-called Aegis missile-tracking technology that is geared towards tracking and shooting down enemy missiles, to Yokosuka, home port to the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

On Friday, George W Bush called for the issue of the missile tests to be put before the Security Council. He said he wanted to make clear to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, "with more than one voice" that the rest of the world condemned Wednesday's launches.

Sources close to the proposed sale of the equipment - which would have civil and military uses - said that it was evidence of Russia's secret support for its Soviet-era ally, which was once a bulwark against Chinese influence in the Far East. It was reported that the North Korean military interest in the exhibition stemmed from the dual purpose of many of the products and technologies on display.

After the show, which led to plans for further meetings between the Russian and North Korean delegations, Mr Grigoriev said Pyongyang's primary interest in buying the equipment was to combat the "threat posed by international terrorism". However, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang immediately denied the report, claiming that it was "disinformation". Mr Grigoriev subsequently denied ever having spoken to the journalist concerned.

Disclosures of a possible deal are at odds with official Russian policy towards North Korea's nuclear programme. On June 22, North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Park Yi Joon, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow and informed that -Russia "strongly objects to any actions that can negatively influence regional stability and worsen nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula".

There was also some anger domestically at Russia's opposition to the UN sanctions resolution. Although the Russian foreign ministry expressed anger that Moscow had not been notified of the launches, it went no further than issuing an anodyne statement expressing concern that the tests endangered Pacific Ocean shipping and "violated the commonly accepted world practice of giving a warning".

Western experts were not surprised that the two countries might be discussing sensitive military deals.

Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that Russian policy towards North Korea had long been influenced by the desire to restore its Cold War-era influence.

"Russia often seems more ambitious to restore that influence than to play a positive role in international affairs," he said. "We've got no reason to doubt that Moscow is playing a double game with North Korea. It's not entirely surprising considering Vladimir Putin himself came up with the harebrained suggestion some years ago that Moscow, as a protector and provider for the North Korean regime, launch a North Korean satellite."

It appears the U.S. is the only country that Russia has no interest in helping.

Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation has set out a "Comprehensive Set of Military Options for Countering North Korea’s Growing Missile Threat"

Four Military Capabilities for Countering North Korea

North Korea is pursuing an array of military capabilities for a number of specific purposes. Its large and aggressively deployed conventional military forces are designed to hold South Korea hostage by threatening it with widespread destruction. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is particularly vulnerable to this threat. North Korea wants to undermine the U.S.-South Korea alliance, while reserving its long-sought goal of unifying all of Korea on its terms through intimidation or force.

North Korea’s medium-range missile force, whether armed with conventional warheads or weapons of mass destruction, is designed to intimidate and isolate Japan. While isolating Japan serves North Korea’s immediate purpose of complicating the ability of the U.S. to intervene militarily in East Asia, it also appears that North Korea is doing the bidding of its long-time friend China. China seeks to isolate Japan because it sees Japan as a barrier to achieving regional hegemony in East Asia.

The long-range missile system, particularly when armed with nuclear warheads, is designed to deter the U.S. from intervening militarily in East Asia. Specifically, North Korea wants to hold the U.S. homeland hostage to the nuclear threat.

The U.S., in partnership with its allies, can respond to the North Korean military threat by pursuing four different military capabilities of its own. The overall effort should be seen as parts of a larger damage limitation strategy. This strategy would lessen both the likelihood and potential impact of military aggression by North Korea on the U.S. and its allies. The successful execution of this strategy will leave North Korea in a position where its threat of military aggression provides little political leverage and ultimately loses credibility. The U.S. should pursue these four military capabilities:

Capability #1: A conventional defense of South Korea. North Korea’s aggressively deployed conventional forces are designed to impose widespread destruction on South Korea. Since the Korean War armistice, U.S. and South Korean policy has been to deter the resumption of the conventional conflict by convincing North Korea and particularly its Soviet patron that such a conflict could lead to escalation and a nuclear confrontation. With the Soviet Union gone and China apparently unwilling to assume a role in restraining North Korea, North Korea is becoming increasingly aggressive in threatening conventional attack.

The U.S. and South Korea should obtain capabilities that will allow them to prevail in a conventional conflict with North Korea in ways in which destruction to South Korea is kept to a tolerable level. A credible defense of Seoul must be a part of this plan. This defense will require developing systems, such as next generation laser weapons, for defending against and rapidly destroying artillery and rocket systems. U.S. and South Korean forces must be prepared to stop North Korean armored columns dead in their tracks at the border. Technologically superior ground forces and the achievement of air dominance to support precise air-based attacks on enemy armor must remain in place. The Army’s Future Combat System and the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor are logical steps forward in these areas.

Capability #2: A global, layered missile defense system. North Korea already has an arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles and is seeking to obtain a working long-range missile. The short- and medium-range missiles are for threatening Japan and the long-range missiles for threatening the U.S homeland. In early 1991, the Department of Defense proposed the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS), a global, layered missile defense deployment plan or architecture. This architecture included ground- and sea-based interceptors, primarily for countering short- and medium-range missiles. It also included ground-based interceptors for countering long-range missiles. The architecture also expected that the sea-based interceptors could be refined to provide a defense against long-range missiles in the midcourse and ascent phase of flight. Most importantly, the architecture envisioned the deployment of individual space-based interceptors that could counter all but the shortest-range missiles, including in the boost-phase. Sensors would include surface-based radar and space-based sensors. All elements of the plan were to be tied together with a flexible command and control system.

The U.S. could have had this system in the field today, but the Clinton administration abandoned essential portions of it, and the Bush administration has not revived many of them. This architecture could undermine the confidence North Korea’s leadership has in its ability to impose widespread destruction in the U.S. and its allies by means of missile delivery systems. The U.S. should move quickly to revive all elements of GPALS and facilitate direct Japanese and South Korea participation in the effort.

Capability #3: A new nuclear deterrent. Nuclear deterrence remains essential to U.S. and allied security, but the U.S. nuclear arsenal has been carried over from the Cold War and is not well positioned to deter regimes such as North Korea’s. The Bush administration’s 2002 Nuclear Posture Review did put a policy in place for adapting the U.S. nuclear deterrent to the requirements of the post-Cold War world. Thus, the policy direction is in place to make the U.S. nuclear deterrent as effective as possible in addressing the kind of nuclear threats embodied by the North Korean nuclear weapons program. Now the task is to execute the policy.

A key element of the new policy is the recognition that the threat of widespread destruction in North Korea has little deterrence value to a leadership that has no concern for the well-being of its populace. The U.S. nuclear deterrent needs to be capable of holding targets at risk that are valued by the North Korea leadership as means for personal and regime survival. These targets include strategic weapons, personal security systems, the instruments for domestic repression and the intelligence apparatus, among others. Further, U.S. leaders need to learn how to manage and operate a new nuclear deterrent in balance with defensive forces, including missile defenses, and in a strategic environment defined by nuclear multipolarity. In the latter case, this means understanding the deterrence value of U.S. nuclear forces relative to aggressive nuclear partnerships. Such a partnership between China and North Korea is relevant to this requirement.

Capability #4: Preemption. Bush administration policy has been clear in stating that the U.S. will not wait to be attacked and the U.S. reserves the option of striking preemptively. Clearly, the U.S. needs to have this option, and it should have been used if U.S. intelligence believed that the Taepo Dong-2 missile in particular had been armed with a nuclear warhead. It is important, however, not to underestimate the risk of a preemptive attack leading to a resumption of armed assaults in a Korean War that is still not officially over. A preemptive capability must be paired with a capability to provide an effective conventional defense of South Korea, as described earlier.

Maintaining a preemptive capability requires systems for locating the relevant targets and directing weapons against them on a timely basis. The weapons should include attack aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. These weapons should be armed with conventional warheads when there is high confidence that they will destroy the targets in question, but should also include existing or new nuclear warheads when they are required.

Conclusion
North Korea’s salvo launch of ballistic missiles on the Fourth of July, serves to define the kinds of national security threats that can emerge in the post-Cold War world. These threats can arise with little notice and are likely to be complex when they do emerge. Further, the stakes involved for the American people are exceedingly high. Indeed, they are potentially much higher than those involved in the atrocity of September 11, 2001. The option of building the military capabilities to address these threats does not exist because the threats themselves cannot be fully assessed in advance. The best the Department of Defense can do is to assess the capabilities of those who may come to threaten the U.S. and its allies. Using these capabilities-based assessments, the Department then should seek to obtain countervailing military capabilities.

Baker Spring is F.M. Kirby Research Fellow in National Security Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, at The Heritage Foundation

North Korea today, test-fired another missile in spite of the worlds condemnation of yesterdays five six missile firings. Among the seven missiles tested is the long-range Taepodong-2, which may have the capacity to reach U.S. territories like California and Alaska.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo today that the situation is extremely volatile and that further missile tests could not be ruled out.

The Prime Minister went on to say, "The fact that North Korea launched these missiles despite warnings from the international community is a grave issue not only regarding Japan's security but peace and stability for the international community and non-proliferation, and we will make a stern protest and express our regret to North Korea."

World condemns North Korean missile tests

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea test-fired a seventh missile Wednesday, intensifying the furor that began when the reclusive regime defied international protests by launching a long-range missile and at least five shorter-range rockets earlier in the day.

An official at the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that North Korea had tested a seventh missile that was either short- or medium-range. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing agency rules, had no additional details.

Japan's Kyodo News agency reported that the missile landed six minutes after launch, but did not say where. The chief of Russia's general staff said that Russian tracking systems showed that Pyongyang may have launched up to 10 missiles during the day, the Interfax news agency reported.

The missiles, all of which apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan, provoked international condemnation, the convening of an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and calls in Tokyo for economic sanctions against the impoverished communist regime.

North Korea remained defiant, with one official arguing that the country had the right to such launches. The tests and the impenitent North Korean attitude raised fears that further firings could follow.

U.S. officials said North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 early in the day, but that it failed shortly after takeoff, calling into question the technological capability of North Korea's feared ballistic missile program. Pyongyang last fired a long-range missile in 1998.

The bold firings came under close international scrutiny of the North's missile launch facilities. The North American Aerospace Defense Command monitored the launches as they progressed but soon determined they were not a threat to the United States, a spokesman said.

China and Iran continue supporting North Korea with it's missile program, specifically the development of the three-stage solid rocket motor for the Taepo-Dong-2C/3 ballistic missile.

North Korea took a large gamble yesterday and it lost. Had the test firing of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile gone well they would be in a better position to threaten the world with their Nuclear weapons program.

We know more today about North Korea's missile program than we did before the tests, and would have learn more had the Taepodong-2 missile stayed in the air longer so we could have shot it down.

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The Korean Central News Agency is reporting today that Korea, in a ruling party report, threatened to “mercilessly wipe out” US forces in the event of war.

North Korea is reportedly preparing to test-fire it's most advanced, Taepodong 2 long range missile, despite strong protests from the United States and Japan.

N Korea threatens to ‘wipe out’ US

SEOUL: North Korea: A missile launch by North Korea would inflame a region already tense over the North’s continuing nuclear weapons development. The North is believed to be planning a test of its most advanced missile yet, the Taepodong 2, which could reach parts of the United States with a light payload.

The US expects North Korea to renew its moratorium on long-range missile tests and return to six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions, the White House said on Sunday. Reports of an imminent North Korean missile test has drawn warnings from the US, Japan and South Korea, but Japanese officials were quoted as saying Sunday that a test was unlikely.

Japan warned North Korea of “a harsh response” from Tokyo and Washington if it went ahead with the launch of a long-range missile.

The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported that North Koreans had been instructed to raise the national flag and watch television in anticipation of a "message to the people."

UPDATE: Rice warns N. Korea against missile test

"It would be a very serious matter and, indeed, a provocative act should North Korea decide to launch that missile," Rice said amid indications that the North Koreans could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at any moment.

UPDATE: Australia warns N Korea on missile test

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Suspicions are growing that North Korea is about to launch a long-range missile. The United States and Japan have told Pyongyang that severe consequences would follow a test firing. Canberra has also been quick to react: the North Korean ambassador to Australia was called in to hear warnings that North Korea was making a grave mistake. North East Asia correspondent Shane McLeod reports from Tokyo.

What is wrong with this picture?   Am I missing something here?

U.S. to put their head on the chopping block. That's what I'm hearing.

We did this with North Korea and look what happened. They continued down the Nuclear road while enjoying the benefits of the U.S. economic and incentive package offered to them by the Clinton administration.

Iran: Incentives proposal needs study

World powers on Tuesday gave Iran a package of incentives that includes U.S. nuclear technology to persuade Tehran to curb its uranium enrichment program, and the Islamic republic's initial reaction was relatively upbeat.

Larijani, who met with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, called the talks "constructive" and said Iran would respond after studying the incentives.

Diplomats told The Associated Press that the package includes a provision for the United States to supply Tehran with some nuclear technology if it stops enriching uranium — a major concession by Washington.

The incentives package offers other economic and political rewards, but also contains the implicit threat of U.N. sanctions if Iran remains defiant.

Of course, Iran would like this proposal. It put's us right where they want us.

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