**US/South Korea will blow up more shit and blame midget puppet next week

[Dig]

US, SKorea to conduct military drills next week
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7115761.html
By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
July 20, 2010, 6:04AM

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. and South Korea will launch joint military exercises Sunday to sharpen their readiness against North Korean aggression, the allies' defense chiefs said Tuesday, despite warnings from Pyongyang that the drills would only deepen tension on the Korean peninsula.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington and Seoul want to send a "clear message" to North Korea by holding military exercises after the March sinking of a South Korean warship.

Forty-six South Korean sailors were killed in the sinking, which an international investigation pinned on a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine near the Koreas' tense sea border. The waters have been the site of several bloody skirmishes in recent years.

"These defensive, combined exercises are designed to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior must stop, and that we are committed to together enhancing our combined defensive capabilities," Gates and South Korea's Kim Tae-young said in a joint statement issued Tuesday after their talks.

North Korea flatly denies the accusations, and has warned that any punishment would trigger war.

Gates arrived in South Korea late Monday for a series of high-profile security talks with South Korean officials. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will join a conference with Gates and their South Korean counterparts on Wednesday.

South Korea's foreign minister, Yu Myung-hwan, told the YTN television network in an interview Tuesday that Washington is considering additional sanctions against North Korea. He said he expected a U.S. announcement on the issue on Wednesday.

The U.S. and South Korea say North Korea must pay for the sinking of the Cheonan, the worst military attack on South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas remain in a state of war because the conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Gates said he and Clinton are to visit the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas on Wednesday to demonstrate their "steadfast commitment" to South Korea. The DMZ serves as a buffer between the two Koreas and is strewn with land mines and guarded by hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops.

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council approved a statement condemning the sinking of the Cheonan, but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea. The U.N. Command, which oversees the armistice, separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce but has not disclosed the findings.

South Korea and the U.S. plan to conduct a four-day combined maritime and air readiness exercise, dubbed "Invincible Spirit," off the Korean peninsula's east coast from July 25-28, their militaries said in a separate joint statement.

About 8,000 South Korean and U.S. troops, more than 20 alliance warships and submarines including the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington and 200 military planes are to take part in next week's drills, it said.

More joint drills would follow off Korea's east and west coasts in the coming months, it said.

South Korea and the U.S. have said the drills are defensive-oriented, but the North has warned the training would only intensify tension because it is nothing but a preparation to invade the regime.

"The warmongers would be well advised to behave themselves, bearing deep in mind the consequences to be entailed by the above-said war moves," the North's government-run Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary carried Tuesday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

[Dig]

Scientists raise doubts over North’s hand behind sinking of S. Korean ship ‘Cheonan’
http://breakingnews.gaeatimes.com/2010/07/09/scientists-raise-doubts-over-norths-hand-behind-sinking-of-s-korean-ship-cheonan-38435/
By ANI
Friday, July 9, 2010


LONDON - New research has suggested that North Korea may not have been responsible for the sinking of a South Korean warship, ‘Cheonan’ on 26 March 2010.


According to the Nature News, on 20 May, two months after the sinking of a South Korean warship, the country released a report blaming its northern neighbour. The Joint Investigation Group (JIG), composed of civilian and military experts from Korea and some advisers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden and Australia, concluded that North Korea had torpedoed the ship and was responsible for the deaths of 46 crewmembers.

That report soon came under fire from South Korean opposition politicians and an influential South Korean civil liberties group. Now some scientists are lending their weight to the critique.

The group’s evidence included “Fragments of a torpedo found near the ship which had the same dimensions as torpedoes pictured in North Korean munitions pamphlets and had ink markings identifying it as North Korean,” the report said.

“In the JIG’s report, electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis shows the samples to be nearly identical to each other and with those produced in a simulated test explosion: each has similar-sized peaks showing the presence of aluminium, oxygen, carbon and other elements. X-ray diffraction analysis likewise shows the torpedo sample to have the same signature as the ship sample. But on one point, the EDS data and X-ray data are different, the X-ray data lack any sign of aluminium or aluminium oxide,” the journal quoted Seung-Hun Lee, a Korean physicist at the University of Virginia, as saying.

Experiments carried out independently by Panseok Yang, a technician specializing in mass spectrometry at the geological sciences department of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, found that the ratio of oxygen to aluminium in the rapidly cooling aluminium would be much lower than suggested by the JIG.

Lee also said that the JIG did not explain why the blue ink on the torpedo that apparently identified it as North Korean did not melt, as the temperatures following its detonation would have been high enough to melt the paint.

The People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a Seoul-based organisation that acts as a watchdog on government authority, in its letter to the United Nations Security Council alleged that the report’s claim that a torpedo-induced water column sank the ‘Cheonan’ contradicted earlier testimony from survivors that they did not see a water column or only felt water droplets on the face. It also questioned why the supposed torpedo launch was not detected, despite active sonar equipment aboard the Cheonan, the journal said.

According to the journal, Jae-Jung Suh, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University working in Washington DC) has suggested possibilities that the warship might have been hit by a mine, probably a South Korean one or rammed by another ship.

“South Korea should reopen an investigation, and the parliament should open an investigation into the JIG on suspicion of fabricated data,” Suh said. (ANI)

[Dig]

US Professors Raise Doubts About Report on South Korean Ship Sinking
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/US-Professors-Raise-Doubts-About-Report-on-South-Korean-Ship-Sinking--98098809.html
Akiko Fujita | Tokyo 09 July 2010


A new study by U.S. researchers raises questions about the investigation into the sinking of a South Korean navy ship. International investigators blamed a North Korean torpedo, raising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Researchers J.J. Suh and Seung-Hun Lee say the South Korean Joint Investigation Group made a weak case when it concluded that North Korea was responsible for sinking the Cheonan.

Speaking in Tokyo Friday, the two said the investigation was riddled with inconsistencies and cast "profound doubt" on the integrity of the investigation.  "The only conclusion one can draw on the basis of the evidence is that there was no outside explosion," Suh said. "The JIG completely failed to produce evidence that backs up its claims that there was an outside explosion."

Suh is an associate professor in international relations at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, where he runs the Korean studies program.

International investigators said in May that an external explosion caused the South Korean ship to sink last March, killing 46 sailors. The report said a North Korean-made torpedo caused the explosion.

Suh and Lee the cracked portion of the bottom of the ship does not show the signs of a large shock that are usually associated with outside explosions. They add that all the ship's internal parts remained intact and few fragments were recovered outside the ship.

"Almost all parts and fragments should've been recovered within about three to six meters within where the torpedo part was discovered," Lee says, "The fact that only the propeller and the propulsion part was discovered doesn't make any sense to me."

Lee is a professor of physics at the University of Virginia in the United States. Lee also points to a blue mark on a fragment of the torpedo to question the validity of the study. South Korean scientists say that part of the torpedo was marked "number one" in Korean, with a blue marker.

Suh and Lee say the writing would not have survived the intense heat of an explosion.  "This can not be taken as evidence. Because any Korean, North and South, can write this mark," Suh said. "Also, it does not make sense that this blue ink mark could survive so freshly when the paint all around was all burned at the explosion."

Both researchers say their findings do not prove that North Korea did not sink the Cheonan. But they say it is irresponsible for the South Korean government to reach its conclusions based on an inconclusive study.

They are calling for a new international investigation to re-examine the Cheonan's sinking. They also want the United Nations Security Council to pressure the South Korean government and request an "objective and scientific" report before the council deliberates on the incident.

[stangrof]

 China has shown off its growing military strength with naval exercises off its eastern coast, shortly before Washington and Seoul are expected to carry out their own drills which Beijing has criticised.

State television broadcast images on Tuesday it said showed the East Sea Fleet on recent manoeuvres, including helicopters and a submarine launching a long-range missile underwater.

It did not say exactly where or when the pictures were taken and it was not clear if they showed a drill that the official Xinhua news agency said took place over the weekend.

Xinhua said four rescue helicopters and four rescue ships were deployed in the two-day drill in the Yellow Sea, where the United States and South Korea are planning manoeuvres aimed at sending a message of deterrence to North Korea.

Beijing has condemned those drills, which many in China feel are also aimed at their country.

Zhu Chenghu, a strategic studies professor at the National Defence University, told the China News Service that the U.S.-South Korean drills were clearly aimed at sending Beijing a message as much as they were directed at North Korea.

"They will take place in the Yellow Sea, which is the entry point to China's house, and they obviously want to show off their military strength," he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed concerns on Tuesday, saying the drills were routine.

Neither Xinhua nor state television mentioned the U.S.-South Korean exercises. But the official China Daily quoted experts downplaying the Chinese drill, which started on Saturday.

"The nature of the drill is very different from that of the US-ROK joint military action," Beijing-based military analyst Peng Guangqian was quoted saying.

China's exercises rehearsed how to defend against long-distance attacks, as well as exploring ways to integrate troops and civilians to tackle emergencies, Xinhua said.

Tensions in the Korean Peninsula have risen since the sinking in March of a South Korean warship killed 46 sailors. An investigation launched by Seoul but including international experts concluded a North Korean torpedo had hit the ship.

North Korea has denied responsibility and long-time ally China has not accepted the findings of the investigation.

China has repeatedly criticised the U.S.-South Korean drills.

"We resolutely oppose any activities in the Yellow Sea that may threaten China's security," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang told a routine news conference last Thursday.

China's growing military clout and rising defence spending have raised concern in Asia, especially in Japan.

Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its own, warned this week that its huge neighbour was still aiming missiles at it, despite warming business and trade ties.

(Additional reporting by Huang Yan, editing by Andrew Marshall)

(For more news on Reuters India, click in.reuters.com)

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-50252920100720

[Hawkwind]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b7a_1279624266

"jump, jump nelson ...hey youre looking like a damn clown son"

[chris jones]

Does this sound like a thousand point of lights?

Depopulation and enslavement, it has come full circle........

This charade with the attack on the S.K. vessel, a FF..TFM.  heaven help the children of this world the true innocents......

[citizenx]

Well, here we are again.  Just went rafting on the Hantan river last week in Cheorwon with my co-workers.   That's about a stone's throw from the DMZ.  The river actually flows out of North Korea.

Saw three helicopters fly over one right after the othe in formation.

Anyway, here's my take for what it's worth.

Kim Jong Il just executed his own liaison to Seoul, as if to say, "Look oh my people I save you from another evil official who was cutting secret deals with the South/going soft on the South"  and "We are not going to be talking, as I have just executed my own messenger."

Not a good sign.

Things can't really go south, however, unless American -Chinese relations completely go down the toilet.  Grant it they are bad, but not as bad as they could be.  Downgrading our debt isn't exactly Kruschev banging his shoe on the table.

As for the exercises which were post-poned  and the new sanctions, we are definitely doing everything possible to re-stoke the fires of war, though.  Soetoro and company are giving it the old college try.  That is for sure.  (I am actually a little glad I am buggin' out for a few weeks soon.)

All in all, on the other hand, I think the chances of the SHTF in SK right now are pretty low.

I also thought the LA riots weren't going to happen.  Boy was I surprised when my old unit was guarding the telephone company on the corner.

So, basically, I guarantee nothing.

[stangrof]

US spy chief nominee warns of N Korea 'direct attacks'
James Clapper at a Senate confirmation hearing (20 July 2010) James Clapper served in the US intelligence community for 46 years

North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship may herald a "dangerous new period", the nominee to be US director of national intelligence has warned.

James Clapper told a Senate hearing that Pyongyang might seek "to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks".

President Barack Obama chose the retired general and under-secretary of defence to be the new DNI in June.

If confirmed, Mr Clapper will replace Adm Dennis Blair, who resigned the previous month after a series of national security failures, including the failure to detect the Christmas Day airline bomb plot.

The DNI is charged with overseeing the 16 agencies that make up the US intelligence community, including the CIA and the NSA.
'Important lesson'

At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Mr Clapper chose to highlight the growing concerns within the agencies about North Korea's recent actions.
PROFILE: GEN JAMES CLAPPER
Continue reading the main story

    * Vietnam War veteran
    * Retired three-star Air Force general
    * Former director of Defense Intelligence Agency
    * Former head of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
    * Current Pentagon intelligence official

    * Profile: James Clapper

He said the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March, which a South Korean-led inquiry found was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack, and unsuccessful attempts to assassinate a senior North Korean defector reminded him of the bombing of Korean Airlines Flight 858 in 1987.

"The most important lesson for all of us in the intelligence community from this year's provocations by Pyongyang is to realise that we may be entering a dangerous new period when North Korea will once again attempt to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks on our allies in the Republic of Korea."

"Coupled with this is a renewed realisation that North Korea's military forces still pose a threat that cannot be taken lightly," he added.

Earlier, the US and South Korea said they would hold large-scale joint military exercises next weekend in a show of force intended to "send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behaviour must stop".

Pyongyang has insisted it had nothing to do with the Cheonan's sinking.
'Hood ornament'

Testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr Clapper also brushed aside suggestions that he would beholden to the Pentagon and reluctant to share information about intelligence activities with Congress.

"I would not have agreed to take this position on if I were to be a titular figurehead or a hood ornament," he said.

He also noted that he had been out of uniform for almost 15 years and was once removed as director of the National Geospatial Agency by Donald Rumsfeld for being "too independent".

Mr Clapper said his 46 years of experience working in intelligence made him uniquely qualified for the post of DNI and that he would be able to exercise effective oversight without "going through the trauma" of another reorganisation.

The DNI was created by Congress in 2004 in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks. Before Mr Blair's departure, the president's Intelligence Advisory Board reported that that the department was overstaffed and dysfunctional.

Some critics also say it is not clear whether the DNI has the authority to override decisions made by the individual intelligence agencies.

However, when asked whether he thought he had the power to overrule the CIA director in matters of intelligence, Mr Clapper answered: "I do."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10707396

[citizenx]

Well, normally being fired by Rumsfeld would be a point in his favor, in my book.

I think he is telegraphing his moves her though, once he is confirmed.

Thx for the article.

BTW, the sinking of the Cheonan by N.K. was in all likelihood complete B.S.  Most likely, it hit a reef and sunk as per first reports.

[muggl3z]

RUN FOR THE HILLS!

But sir, they're coming from the hills...

RUN AWAY FROM THE HILLS, AWAY!

[Monkeypox]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDd-GXkMrJs