Friday, September 24, 2010
Dear Leader's 'Big Son' Enjoys Life in Macau
US Gold Futures Hit Record Above $1,300
Over $1,300 an ounce.China Demands Japan Apologize
Power Struggle in North Korea
India's Communists Criticize Government for Deepening Defense, Security Ties With Israel
'Strong Possibility' Real IRA Will Attack Britain
There is a "strong possibility" that dissident Irish republicans--terrorists opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland--will attack mainland Britain in the near future. Click here for the report.Japan Will Release Chinese Captain
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Ahmadinejad Accuses US of Orchestrating 9/11
Obama Presses for Yuan Appreciation
Obama at UN Endorses Demographic Argument for Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Problem
Russia Confirms China Confidential Analysis: New Korean War Possible, Conflict Could Begin Any Day
Russia's deputy foreign minister seems to be echoing China Confidential. Click here for his starkly and unusually undiplomatic analysis of the Korean situation.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
The eldest--exiled--son of North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong Il enjoys a pampered exile in Macau, as reported here.
China Confidential gold analysts stick by their prediction: gold at $1,400 an ounce--the next big milestone--before the end of 2010, with the precious metal climbing still higher, to $2,000 an ounce, before the end of 2011.
Japan releases China's fishing boat captain; but China demands an apology, again escalating tensions over the incident. Click here for the story.
Fierce in-fighting has broken out among North Korea's Communist/Kimist/criminal ruling class, as reported here.
Amid rising tensions, Japan says it will release the Chinese fishing boat captain, as reported here.
Comment: Japan (a great democracy) is not Iran; China is not the United States. But the speed with which China is managing to free its national contrasts sharply with U.S. inability to liberate its remaining two hostages in Iran.
For decades, terrorists and their state sponsors have acted as if an open season had been declared (by the pro-terrorist United Nations?) on hunting, capturing and holding, killing and torturing U.S. citizens--from ordinary tourists and business travelers to military personnel and CIA officers. Contrary to all the empty vows and headline-making pronouncements and sound-bites by U.S. presidents and other senior government officials, the perpetrators of these crimes have rarely been "brought to justice."
So much for engagement.
As the spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations put it, Iran's president on Thursday used the world body to spread "vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs"--only a few miles from Ground Zero.
Click here to read the Reuters report.
An aide to U.S. President Barack Obama says the President has warned Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that his government must do more to ease tensions over the value of China's currency.
Obama's top East Asia adviser, Jeff Bader, told reporters that economic issues occupied most of the leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Bader described the tone of Thursday's meeting as candid. He said Obama talked about the importance of trade issues in general and the currency issue in particular.
Bader said Obama stressed that the United States expects more significant movement from China on the value of its currency.
"In the last few weeks, you have seen the president, the administration bring a couple of WTO cases against Chinese practices," Bader said. "So the president made clear, through that and in his meeting that he will protect US economic interests, and that we look for the Chinese to take actions. If the Chinese do not take actions, we have other means to protect U.S. interests."
President Says Killing 'Innocent Israelis is Not Resistance'
Click here for the story. The speech mixed support for Israel with an implied warning that the movement for a one-state solution to the (Islamizing) Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict--which would by definition mean the end of Israel as a Jewish State in fulfillment of Jewish national aspirations--could eventually surpass the international consensus for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel (actually, for formation of a second Arab state in Palestine, given that Jordan, with a Palestinian Arab majority, is an Arab state located within the boundaries of historic Palestine).
Question: How does one define "innocent?" The qualifier could be used to justify and rationalize attacks on Israeli military personnel--including members of the reserves--and residents of the disputed West Bank territories.
Related news, which could be cause for cautious optimism, over here. Bear in mind that there is a difference between engaging in diplomacy as a tactic, in order to stall, play for time, and extract concessions from adversaries and the world community, and sincerely seeking long-term improved relations. Barring regime change, North Korea will never abandon atomic arms (and its partner in proliferation, Islamist Iran, will never stop trying to develop weapons of mass destruction).
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