Secretary of State John Kerry touched down in South Korea earlier today to renew support for South Korea and regional allies as North Korea gets more desperate for food and cash. The boisterous rhetoric from the North is pretty much out-of-control. That said, Kerry – and maybe many others – can’t seem to agree if North Korea is a nuclear power or not.
At a United Nations nuclear nonproliferation conference this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out our nuclear cards, expecting Iran and North Korea to have a “come to Jesus” moment and start playing nice.
After changing up and narrowing the when-we-would-use nuclear weapons policy on April 6, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revised – or clarified – the policy this morning. I think the administration is trying to put together a game plan that could never be used in reality.
President Obama will announce support for a new nuclear power plant in Burke, Georgia this week. In reality, he is approving the federal loan guaranty that would be required to build the expensive plant, but will he really go to bat against anti-nuke groups?
I know we’ve been playing this game with the Russians for a long time. We inspect their nukes, they inspect our nukes. We both smile and nod knowingly that we’ve hidden some stuff and chuckle about it. Fox News has the story of a tentative inspection agreement, but I can’t find the part in the story concerning reciprocity.
To ensure everyone likes the USA, President Obama’s approach is to set an example – for Russia, Iran, North Korea and other nuclear states – by cutting our own nuke arsenal and denying missile defense systems for Poland and the Czech Republic. There will be no peace without strength.
At least that’s how I read President Obama’s statement he made during a BBC interview yesterday. The United Nations have strongly worded resolutions (1696, 1737 and 1747) demanding Iran suspend uranium enrichment and applying sanctions for ignoring them, but Obama has completely invalidated all three by stating that Iran may have a right to nuclear energy.
Of course, here in the United States, there is no plan what-so-ever concerning building nuclear power plants during the global energy crisis.
From the Washington Post…
President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.
In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbor.
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. But the U.S. and other Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
“What I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations,” Obama said, adding that the international community also “has a very real interest” in preventing a nuclear arms race.
I think our president just may be disillusion if he thinks that Iran will quickly – within six months – make nice with the world. This is proving to be a direct threat to Israel – one of our closest allies – and it’s becoming clear that Obama is fighting to improve relationships with the Muslim world at the peril of our Jewish friends.
Elections readers, have consequences.
Obama is off to Egypt this week, in a continuation of his apology tour.
“What we want to do is open a dialogue,” Obama told the BBC. “You know, there are misapprehensions about the West, on the part of the Muslim world. And, obviously, there are some big misapprehensions about the Muslim world when it comes to those of us in the West.”
I’ll argue that there is a lot less misapprehensions about the Muslim world in general here in the United States, it’s the Islamic Fundamentalists that we need to be concerned about.
Gateway Pundit starts off … “So long Israel”. Geller at Atlas Shrugs has more. Ed at Hot Air too.
I’ll add links to other bloggers as they pick this up.
We have identified the international issue that may haunt the Obama administration in the future. It’s the not-so-far-fetched possibility the Taliban – who have been migrating from Afghanistan into Pakistan – will soon have access to nuclear weapons.
The negotiation for “peace” with Taliban leadership will be a devastating mistake. Within the past three months, the Pakistani government reached an agreement with the Taliban that allows them to uphold strict Islamic sharia law throughout a large portion of northwest Pakistan. But it is important to note the government has been giving up control of Pakistani land along the Afghanistan border for years.
The very crude (approximate) maps that I’ve tried to put together shows the Taliban in control of more than 15 percent of the country.
Now, we’ve got reports of Taliban monitoring and patrolling areas outside of the agreed territory. If you think Iran getting nuclear weapons would be a bad thing, how do you feel about the Taliban having the same – really more advanced – technology? From the AP, with my emphasis added.
ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants have extended their grip in northwestern Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles from the capital. Police and officials appear to have fled as armed militants also broadcast radio sermons and spread fear in Buner district, just 60 miles from Islamabad, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.
It started in mid-2006, and has been getting worse.
INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS woke up on September 5 [2006] to unsettling news. The government of Pakistan, they learned, had entered into a peace agreement with the Taliban insurgency that essentially cedes authority in North Waziristan, the mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Just ten days later, the blow was compounded when the government of Pakistan released a large number of jihadists from prison. Together, these events may constitute the most significant development in the global war on terror in the past year–yet the media have taken little notice.
So, just what is the Taliban’s version of sharia law? Just to start…
So far, the Pakistani Taliban’s interpretation of sharia has included banning girls from school, forcing women inside and outlawing forms of entertainment.
Yeah, that’s going to go over really well, but it’s nothing considering the Taliban could get their hands on operable nuclear weapons within a few weeks if the country falls.
We need to be discussing this and not ignoring the obvious problem.
Update: Allah at Hot Air thinks it may be time to start freaking out about Pakistan.
Because you can never increase your moral standing too high when you are trying to deal with a megalomaniacal, holocaust denying, homosexual jailing, Israel annihilating leader. Thus, says the one, let’s start disarming because then we’ll have firmer ground to stand on when we deal with Ahmadinejad. Oh and make special note, he would like to be known for defeating the terrorists. Once again, albeit briefly, channeling “W”.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t18sYZBiZ9o
I hope he wins the war on terror too. But I can assure you, nuclear disarmament will not get Iran to stand down.
For your info … The Teleprompter did make an appearance today. You can check his blog on the front page.
How else can you put it? When I first read the Reuters story, I thought that his position on Iran going nuclear sounded a lot like our current administration’s position on Iran going nuclear.
During his visit to Israel, Obama spoke with a group of reporters and let them know – in no uncertain terms – that Iran becoming a nuclear power would be a “grave threat.” This international policy answer seems to come from the buy-them-off-at-any-price chapter. Read more