North Korea Launches Short-Range Missile Again – Report

Source :  RIA Novosti

TOKYO, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – North Korea launched on Sunday another short-range missile, a day after firing three short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, Yonhap news agency reported, referring to South Korea’ Defense Ministry.

The missile was reportedly launched in the second half of the day from North Korea’s eastern coast and fell into the Sea of Japan. There were no reports about the exact time of the launch or the type of the missile.

North Korea launched three short-range guided missiles into the waters off its eastern coast on Saturday.

"A more detailed analysis will be needed but the missiles launched may be a modified anti-ship missile or the KN-02 surface-to- surface missile derived from the Soviet-era SS-21 that has a range of about 120 kilometers," Yonhap cited a Seoul official as saying.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said it had increased its monitoring of North Korea and was on standby to deal with any further developments.

The missiles are believed to have been launched from North Korea’s eastern coast and fallen in the Japanese Sea. Japan confirmed that North Korea had fired missiles, but said none of them had landed in Japan’s territorial waters.

Analysts suggested that the missile launches were part of military drills. Pyongyang routinely test-launches such missiles, but the latest tests followed several weeks of relative calm on the Korean Peninsula after tensions escalated earlier this year, following North Korea’s test of a long-range Taepodong 2 missile in December and its third nuclear test in February, to which the UN responded with sanctions.

After the start of the Foal Eagle joint military exercises between South Korea and the US in March, North Korea threatened to carry out a nuclear attack on the US mainland and on US forces in the region, and tested two short-range missiles off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. Later it denied entry to South Korean workers to the jointly run Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea, prompting South Korea to withdraw its remaining workers from the site.

Last week, reports emerged that two North Korean mid-range missiles, reportedly prepared for launch last month, had been withdrawn from their coastal positions.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday he was concerned over North Korea’s latest short-range missile launches and called on Pyongyang to return to six-party talks on its controversial nuclear program.

"I only hope that the DPRK authorities will refrain from taking further such measures. It’s time for them to return to dialogue, to reduce the tension, and resolve whatever grievances, complaints or concerns that they may have – try to resolve that through dialogue."

North Korea has been subjected to several rounds of UN Security Council sanctions since it declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The reclusive communist regime broke off talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia on its nuclear program in 2009, after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning its missile tests.

NATO looks for allies to station military contingent in Central Asia

Source : StratRisks

Not much time is left until 2014, when the withdrawal of NATO anti-terrorism coalition troops from Afghanistan is expected to take place; however, it still remains unknown what type of military contingent will remain in Afghanistan and Central Asia thereafter and which countries of the region will be selected by the West for this purpose.

The fact that military contingents will remain not only in Afghanistan but also in the region is doubtless and is openly stated by officials. On Tuesday, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said the fact of the coalition’s presence in Central Asia is unequivocal, adding that it is still not decided on what other transit points and bases will be maintained in the region.

Afghanistan is one of the main reasons why Central Asia is so interesting to the West, but other regional players such as China and Russia are also interested in close cooperation with the countries of the region.

Coalition military bases used to be located in the countries of the region, such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, but were later were closed down. These two countries and Tajikistan will most likely be the main choice for dislocations of Western troops in the region.

Turkmenistan, consistent with its policy of neutrality and the unwillingness of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to entice foreign policy vector to take sides will not host a military contingent. Kazakhstan may act as a transit country, but NATO’s close long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia is unlikely to give it hope for more.

However, things are not so simple with the remaining three countries. In mid-April, the President of Uzbekistan visited Russia, and some progress was witnessed then in relations between the two countries after a long cooling period. It is unlikely that the Tashkent leadership would go for talks with Russia if it has plans of placing Western military facilities on its territory in the near term.

Kyrgyzstan, with the former military base and present transit center Manas operating on its territory which must cease operation in 2014 due to the expiration of the lease agreement, also is quickly building up a partnership with Russia.

This can be seen by the frequent meetings of officials of the two countries, as well as desire to integrate alongside of Russia in the Customs Union. Bishkek has repeatedly said it would not renew the Manas agreement, which is a kind of message to Russia, in which it expresses its commitment to further cooperation with Moscow. It would be extremely illogical now to close down one transit center that brings economic benefits to the country only to open another one.

The situation is somewhat different with Tajikistan: some cooling has been observed in relations with its closest neighbor (Russia) and there has been an improvement of relations with NATO. Despite membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the presence of the Russian military and a Russian fiber optic node, Tajikistan is increasingly moving closer to NATO.

Western officials are increasingly visiting the republic, cooperation is developing in all areas, including through participation in NATO’s various programs. For example, two U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretaries of State will visit Dushanbe this week. Dushanbe does not receive tangible investment from Russia, despite the presence of military bases on the country’s territory of the Republic nor political support.

Perhaps if it were not for Tajik labor migrants, the country would long ago have completely turned away from cooperation with Moscow.

Assessing the situation and necessity for the presence of coalition forces in the region after 2014, one can conclude that the most appropriate partner for NATO today is Tajikistan. However, over time it turned out that countries in the region are able to redirect the vector of foreign policy in a very short time, and since there is still time left until 2014, unambiguous predictions on this issue are meaningless.

N.Korea Builds Barricades on Border with South

Source : RIA Novosti

SEOUL, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - North Korea has started building anti-tank barricade lines near the border with the South, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday citing a Chinese TV channel.

China’s Beijing TV showed footage of North Korean servicemen building structures from logs, stones and concrete. The report said the barricades were possibly intended to hold South Korea’s tanks and other military vehicles in case of a war.

The report suggested that the country’s leadership might be preparing for a military conflict.

Tensions have risen sharply on the Korean Peninsula since December, when North Korea tested a long-range Taepodong 2 missile, and in February carried out its third nuclear test.

The UN responded with sanctions. The start of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States last month further irritated the North, which threatened to carry out a nuclear attack on the US mainland, as well as on US forces in the region.

In recent weeks, North Korea recommended all foreigners on the peninsula to evacuate to avoid the threat of war.

Nuclear Weapon Use ‘Suicidal’ for N.Korea - Colin Powell

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) - The North Korean regime would be committing suicide if it used nuclear weapons, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Moscow on Thursday.

“Any use of such weapons - or if we think that those weapons are about to be used…the North Koreans will be held to account,” Powell said on the sidelines of the Russia Forum 2013, adding the United States has “the capacity to destroy that regime.”

The threat from Pyongyang should taken seriously, he said, but “we shouldn’t get hysterical” about it because “in my own judgment, I don’t think they yet have a nuclear weapon that is deliverable.”

“I hope sooner or later they will come to their senses,” he said. “The regime would be committing suicide if it used those weapons.”

Tensions have risen sharply on the Korean Peninsula since December, when North Korea tested a long-range Taepodong 2 missile, and in February carried out its third nuclear test.

The UN responded with sanctions. The start of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States last month further irritated the North, which threatened to carry out a nuclear attack on the US mainland, as well as on US forces in the region.

North Korean EMP Attack 'Unstoppable'

Source : War and Conflict

If North Korea were to launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the United States, it could use a long-range missile to orbit a satellite over the South Pole, putting it in line to fly over Omaha, Neb., and explode it at a 300-mile altitude where U.S. Aegis anti- ballistic missile systems cannot reach, sources have told WND.

In addition, these sources say, there is no way to determine whether a missile is carrying a dummy or real nuclear warhead, obviating the need to shoot down any missile that is launched from North Korea, given the public warning by Pyongyang that it intends to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the U.S.

The U.S. has positioned Aegis ships near North Korea and Japan6, but a political decision apparently has been made not to attempt to shoot it down if it is heading for open water.

Sources say, however, that a missile to be launched toward the U.S. would take a trajectory over the South Pole, and it is questionable whether the U.S. has Aegis assets anywhere along the southerly path such a missile would take.

In addition, the missile would need to be shot down almost after lift-off, since the missile would launch the satellite relatively quickly into an orbit of 300 miles, which was the altitude of its satellite launch last December.

North Korea, meanwhile, announced in a statement that it has drawn the “arrows” for “merciless retaliatory strikes” at the U.S. mainland, U.S. military bases in the Pacific and “all other bases where the U.S. imperialist aggression forces station.

“The powerful strike means of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] have been put in their places and the coordinates of targets put into the warheads,” a North Korean statement said. “Just pressing the button will be enough to turn the strongholds of the enemies into the sea of fire.”

Bolivia’s president says US planning coup in Venezuela

Via : Strategic-Culture.org

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales says the United States is planning to stage a coup in Venezuela, condemning Washington’s questioning of the Venezuelan presidential election results as interference.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the Bolivian president said that the US is getting ready for a coup d’état in Venezuela.

He also rejected the White House’s moral authority to question electoral results worldwide, after Washington demanded Caracas to hold a full vote recount.

“I am certain that behind those remarks, the United States is preparing a coup d’état in Venezuela,” said Morales.

“I would like to express that this is a flagrant US interference in Venezuela’s democracy, as neither that spokesperson nor the US government has moral authority to question electoral results in any Latin American country or around the world.”

Morales also confirmed that he would attend Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration ceremony next Friday as a sign of support to the president-elect.

Since the electoral authority declared Maduro the winner, the opposition has staged several violent protests, leaving at least seven people dead and over 60 others injured.

Defeated Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles cancelled a planned protest march for Wednesday after Maduro vowed he would not allow the rally to go ahead.

Maduro won the Sunday’s presidential election by 50.8 percent of the votes against the opposition leader’s 49 percent.

On March 8, Maduro became Venezuela’s acting president, following the death of late President Hugo Chavez, who lost a two-year-long battle with cancer on March 5.

Maduro has promised to continue the socialist policies of the former leader.

Obama says DPRK has no nuclear missile capability

Source : Xinhua

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) does not have the ability to arm a ballistic missile with nuclear warhead.

In an interview with NBC, when asked if Pyongyang has "the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile?", Obama responded: "Based on our current intelligence assessments, we do not think that they have that capacity."

But he also stressed that Washington is preparing for "every contingency out there."

"That's why I've repositioned missile defense systems to guard against any miscalculation on their part," Obama said.

He warned that Pyongyang can make "more provocative moves over the next several weeks." But Obama said he was in the hope that " we can move into a different phase in which they try to work through diplomatically some of these issues."

On Thursday, U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn said at a hearing that intelligence indicated the DPRK may have acquired the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead with its ballistic missile.

"DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles," Lamborn read from, according to him, an unclassified intelligence assessment by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). " However, the reliability will be low."

However, in the same day, Pentagon spokesman George Little said that it would be inaccurate to suggest that the DPRK has fully demonstrated the capability to launch a nuclear-armed missile.

Tensions have been heightened on the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test on Feb. 12 in protest against joint military drills between the Republic of Korea and the United States.

The DPRK has declared "a state of war" with the South and threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear strike for self-defense, and urged all foreign organizations, companies and tourists in the South to evacuate in case of war, saying the DPRK "does not want to see foreigners in South Korea fall victim to the war" as the situation on the peninsula "is inching close to a thermonuclear war."