Foreign Confidential ™
Foreign News and Analysis Since April 2005 -- formerly China Confidential -- What's Really Happening in the World
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Sierra Leone Reviving Agriculture
Damon Van der Linde says a Sierra Leone government-run program "tries to draw people back to the countryside with the potential of better pay and a higher quality of life. And it may be working." Read more.
Israeli Report Supports Foreign Confidential™ Speculation Deal to End Iran Nuclear Standoff Could Allow it to Secretly Build Bombs
Guarded Reaction From China on India's ICBM
Iran: Ready to Fight Over Gulf Island
N. Korea Threatens South with 'Sacred War'
Seoul Deploys New Cruise Missile Capable
of Striking Deep into North; Tensions Rise
AFP reports
North Korea demanded Thursday that South Korea apologise for what it called insults during major anniversary festivities, or face a "sacred war", as Seoul unveiled a new missile to deter its neighbour.
Read more.
VOA reports South Korean military officials announced the deployment of the new cruise missile on Thursday at a news conference for South Korean reporters, apparently in reaction to the North's failed rocket launch and fears that it is again preparing to test a nuclear weapon.
South Korea's semi-official Yonhap News Agency reported that a senior Defense Ministry official, Maj.-Gen. Shin Won-sik, described the missile as having a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 621 miles) and a capability to strike anywhere in North Korea. Cruise missiles are designed to fly low to the ground and weave through enemy defenses in order to reach their targets.
South Korean Defense Ministry officials reportedly said the new missile was developed using entirely home-grown technology--comments clearly aimed at highlighting the contrast between their country's impressive technological achievements and the embarrassing failure of North Korea's three unsuccessful attempts to test long-range ballistic missiles.
Yonhap News quoted Shin as saying South Korea has also deployed a new tactical ballistic missile with a range of 300 kilometers.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
India Poised to Enter Elite Nuclear ICBM Club
UPDATE: INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TESTS AGNI 5 MISSILEMichael Richardson reports:
In a quantum leap over North Korea's controversial though unsuccessful long-range rocket launch on April 13, India plans to test not just one but three ballistic missiles in quick succession over the next week, including the first firing of its Agni 5 missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers.All three of the different range Indian missiles can be armed with nuclear warheads. But a successful launch of the Agni 5 would bring India close to membership of the elite club of nuclear-armed nations that have intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with ranges of more than 5,500 km. Even with a strike distance slightly below this threshold, the Agni 5 can cover the whole of China — India's strategic rival — which has ICBMs that can travel over 11,000 km. The Agni 5 is designed to carry multiple warheads that could hit widely dispersed targets.
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