Category: Intl Security

WMD Report Card

In WMD Report, U.S. Gets A C, (Washington Post)…Spencer S. Hsu

Seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the federal government has made only limited progress toward preventing a catastrophic nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil and combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction abroad, according to a report card to be issued tomorrow by 22 former U.S. officials.

 

nK: 6PT, Anniversary Parade

Lack Of Written Agreement Snags Pyongyang Talks
(Washington Times)…Nicholas Kralev
The Bush administration may have contributed to the latest impasse with North Korea by failing to get a written agreement that links Pyongyang’s removal from the U.S. terrorist blacklist to a plan to verify the country’s nuclear disarmament.

 

N. Korean Military Parade To Mark Anniversary
(USA Today)…Unattributed
North Korea plans to stage a military parade today in Pyongyang to mark the communist state’s 60th anniversary, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae Jae said. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the parade would be North Korea’s largest in terms of number of troops and military hardware.

nKorea: “…this process does go up and down”

U.S. Plays Down North Korea Threat, Washington Times, August 28, 2008, Pg. 2, unattributed

The U.S. is shrugging off North Korea’s threat to backtrack on an agreement to dismantle its nuclear program.

North Korea says it stopped disabling its nuclear complex this month because the U.S. failed to remove it from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Wednesday that the U.S. “can’t get overly excited by a down in the situation right now, because this process does go up and down.”

North Korea‘s move threatens a six-nation agreement to abandon nuclear weapons in return for energy aid and political concessions.

Removing North Korea from the terrorism list was a U.S. concession, but the U.S. says it will not go forward until North Korea agrees to a plan to verify its nuclear declaration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fall-Out: Russia’s conflict with Georgia

 Georgia War Shows ‘Weak’ Russia, U.S. Official Says,(Washington Post)…Glenn Kessler

Russia’s conflict with Georgia is the sign of a “weak” Russian nation, not a newly assertive one, and Moscow now has put its place in the world order at risk, the top U.S. diplomat for relations with the country said in an interview yesterday.

 

    China’s Unease With Russian Actions Strains Ties
    (Wall Street Journal)…Gregory L. White, Andrew Higgins and Andrew Osborn
    Russia’s efforts to redraw the map of the Caucasus received a frosty reception from China, a further sign of how Moscow’s conflict with Georgia is scrambling diplomatic alignments in place since the end of the Cold War.

Getting it right

Charlie Wilson’s Peace, (Washington Post), Aug 28, 2008, pg.19…by Charles Wilson

…Defense Secretary Robert Gates was spot-on when he said last month, “The Foreign Service is not the Foreign Legion, and the U.S. military should never be mistaken for a Peace Corps with guns.” We’ve got to get this right.

The writer, a Democrat, represented Texas’s 2nd District in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1997. He is an adviser to the Center for U.S. Global Engagement.

Six World Powers Offer Incentives: Iran’s Response

Iran: Letter On Nuclear Program,  (New York Times)…Helene Cooper, August 6, 2008

The Bush administration said Tuesday that Iran’s response to an offer of incentives by six world powers seeking to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions was unacceptable, and American and European officials said their next step would be to go back to the United Nations Security Council to seek additional punitive sanctions.

Clashes and Call for Cease Fire

Clashes With Rebels Deepen War Fears, (Washington Post)…Unattributed, August 8, 2008, Pg. 11

The capital of Georgia’s separatist region of South Ossetia came under heavy fire early Friday, just hours after Georgia’s president declared a unilateral cease-fire, news reports and the rebel government said.

“The assault is coming from all directions,” said a brief statement on the separatist government’s Web site. Officials in South Ossetia and Georgia could not be reached by telephone by the Associated Press for confirmation early Friday.

The Interfax news agency, reporting from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, cited Vladimir Ivanov, an official of the peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, as saying the fire included salvos by truck-launched Grad missiles.

A week of clashes and escalating tension in South Ossetia has raised fears of an all-out war that could draw in Russia, which has close ties with South Ossetia’s separatist leadership.

At Russia’s request, the United Nations Security Council began meeting in emergency session starting at 11 p.m. Thursday in New York.