What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted on CNSNews.com-By Patrick Goodenough-On July 22, 2011:
“(CNSNews.com) – A new report assessing the security challenges posed by North Korea draws fresh attention to two-way collaboration between the Stalinist state and Iran on developing long-range missiles designed to carry a nuclear payload.
The report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank, due for release in Washington on Monday, evaluates North Korea’s non-conventional and missile programs as well as its conventional forces, internal dynamics including those relating to the leadership succession, and various scenarios for eventual Korean unification.
The report indicates that Iranian missile development is steaming ahead, with the Islamic republic developing ever more sophisticated weapons.
While North Korea is taking advantage of Iranian technology, Iran is benefiting from Pyongyang’s advances in uranium-enrichment equipment, it says. The West suspects Iran is working on a nuclear weapons capability, under the cover of a nuclear energy program that Tehran insists is for solely peaceful purposes.
According to Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the IISS’ non-proliferation and disarmament program, North Korea helped Libya and Syria to take forward nuclear weapons programs and may do the same for Iran and Burma.
(Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2003 negotiated a deal with the U.S. and Britain renouncing his weapons of mass destruction programs and handed over nuclear bombmaking technology including thousands of centrifuges; Syria’s alleged facilities were destroyed in an Israeli bombing in 2007, and the U.N. nuclear watchdog recently referred the Syrian activities to the U.N. Security Council.)
The IISS report says estimates of North Korea’s plutonium stockpile range from 4-12 bombs’ worth
“It cannot be confidently said that North Korea has developed reliable, deliverable nuclear weapons,” it argues. “Nevertheless, it will eventually be able to develop a warhead capable of fitting on a ballistic missile with satisfactory re-entry technology, especially if it conducts further nuclear tests to refine its weapon design.”
The report says that despite having limited indigenous missile production capabilities, North Korea “continues to show considerable interest in developing a satellite-launch capability, as well as longer-range ballistic missiles, possibly including an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile]. North Korea has the wherewithal to develop these systems if it so decides.”
‘Iran, North Korea already have ICBM technology’ With Iran’s own missile development progressing, it would be an obvious source of help for North Korea in this area.
After Iran early this month held a 10-day military exercise called Great Prophet 6, during which it fired a number of missiles with claimed ranges that could threaten Israel as well as U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, a former head of Israel’s missile defense agency warned that Iran had overtaken North Korea in the development of sophisticated long-range missiles.
“The Iranians’ missile program is running ahead, and the moment they have a nuclear weapon, they will have the means to launch it,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Uzi Rubin as saying on July 14.
Another recent warning about the threat posed by both rogue states came from a top Russian missile technology expert.
In an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant on July 6 Yuri Solomonov, until recently the head of Russia’s leading strategic ballistic missile facility, disputed the official defense ministry position about North Korea and Iran not posing a potential missile threat.
Both countries already possessed the technology to develop functioning ICBMs, he was quoted as telling the paper.
With missile development high on the military agendas of North Korea and Iran, and both regimes subjected to arms-related sanctions, reports of collaboration between them come as little surprise. A missile partnership appears in fact to have been in place since at least the early 1990s.
When North Korea in May 1993 tested its medium-range Nodong missile, Iranian experts attended the launch, according to media reports at the time. Iran subsequently developed the Shahab-3, testing it in 1998 with North Koreans officials this time reportedly observing.
Iran insisted that the Shahab-3 was “entirely” Iranian-made, but experts said it was clearly modeled on the Nodong. (Similarly, Iran’s earlier Shahab-2 was essentially the same as an earlier North Korean Scud missile, the short-range Hwasong-6).
In July 2006, after North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 as well as several Nodongs and Hwasongs, Bush administration officials told U.S. lawmakers that Iranian officials had witnessed the tests. (The Taepodong-2 aborted 40 seconds after launch.)
Hardware observed in a televised military parade in North Korea last October showed that Iranian missile improvements were now starting to show up on North Korean weapons, further reinforcing suspicions about ongoing joint development.
A dangerous time:
The IISS report says the dynastic succession underway in North Korea and uncertainties arising from the process make this a risky time.
North Korea could become “an even more dangerous nation, more inclined to engage in further military provocations, to cling to its weapons of mass destruction and to offer them for sale to any would-be buyer,” it says.
“The Kim family will have to rely heavily on physical power exercised by the military and the state-security apparatus in order to ensure a successful succession. In pursuit of the goal of becoming a ‘strong and prosperous great nation’ by 2012, the centennial of the founding father’s birth, such military capabilities are all that the regime can summon.”
The report offers several scenarios for unification of the Korean peninsula The first two “positive” scenarios are viewed as unlikely – a “soft landing,” with the regime gradually ending aggressive behavior and seeking reconciliation and possibly eventual peaceful integration with the South; or a “German-style reunification by absorption and a voluntary or peaceful collapse of the Kim regime.”
A third scenario envisages “unification through North Korean collapse the hard way,” triggered by an internal challenge or South Korean military retaliation to further provocation from the North.
A fourth, similar, scenario is “reunification through war.”
Finally, the IISS report says a potential outcome that should not be ruled out would see the Pyongyang regime survive, propped up by Beijing and becoming a de facto satellite or client state of China.
“China seems to have made a strategic decision that a unified Korea under Seoul leadership and allied to the U.S. goes fundamentally against its interests,” it says.”
Source:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/report-highlights-iran-north-korea-missi
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
I. Iran Developing Bombs that Can Hit US East!
What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted on Israel National News-By Fern Sidman, A7 New York-On July 22, 2011:
“Elliott Chodoff, an American born political and military analyst and an IDF reserve major, spoke at the “Middle East Briefing” session of the sixth CUFI national summit in Washington this week.
Citing Israeli military intelligence, Chodoff was quite forthright in his analysis of a possible attack by Iran. “Israel cannot survive a nuclear attack. You cannot trust a nuclear deterrent. Israel cannot wipe out Iran’s nuclear arsenal but the US can.” Chodoff added that the Iranian regime has been developing bombs that have the capability of hitting US cities on the East coast.
He delivered an account of the history of radical Islamism, saying, “The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 and its leader imbibed the Nazi ideology that focused on the extermination of the Jews.” Noting that Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran who came to power during the Islamic revolution of 1979 was active in disseminating the Muslim Brotherhood ideology to school children, he said that it was Khomeini who was the first to label Americas as “the great Satan” and referred to Christians as the enemies while declaring that America is run by Jews.
American perception of Khomeini was skewed according to Mr. Chodoff, who revealed that at the time, the US representative at the United Nations Andrew Young said that Khomeini was “a great humanitarian” and dismissed his flagrant hostility. He added that Hizbullah (the party of G-d) that was founded in 1980 is currently “the most dangerous organization on earth” and is responsible for developing the terrorist strategy of suicide bombings with most of them directed at American targets. Chodoff said that it was weakness on the part of the US as manifested by their decision to leave Lebanon in the throes of terrorism that emboldened the enemy. “When Hizbullah saw that Americans were taking leave of Lebanon they knew they could push us out,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the session via satellite from Jerusalem. Greeted with over 10 minutes of applause and enthusiastic cheers, Mr. Netanyahu extended his appreciation to those Christian supporters of Israel who have the “courage to stand up and speak the truth.”
Drawing the largest applause was Netanyahu’s reference to the biblical connection of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland. “The Jewish people are not occupiers in the land of Israel. We have returned to the land of our forebears; of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon and we are here to stay.” Speaking of Israel as America’s only reliable ally in the Middle East, Netanyahu underscored Israel’s initiatives at the peace table. “This conflict is not about Israel refusing to accept a Palestinian state. Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, but we can’t build a peace based on lies.”
Colonel Ben Tzion Gruber of the Israel Defense Forces took the audience through a video and slide presentation that described how the IDF takes great pains to avoid civilian casualties during military strikes and during wartime. He said that the nomenclature of the code of ethics can be divided into three categories. “Necessity,” he said, means that force is only employed for accomplishing the mission, and “Distinction” means that every measure is taken so that innocents will not be harmed, and “Proportionality” means that collateral damage is only used in proportion to the threat.
Also addressing the session was Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations who said, “We have begun a three week period of mourning for the Jewish people as we remember the destruction of our Holy Temple and other calamities that befell us throughout history.” He asked his biblically well-versed audience: “If I would ask you to provide the names of those spies who returned from the land of Israel with a negative report, would you remember their names? The answer is no because those who stand with Israel are remembered for posterity and those who decry Israel are forgotten.”
On the international campaign to abrogate the biblical and religious heritage of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, Mr. Hoenlein said, “Those who would dismiss our past also risk our future. For example, there are those who question Judaism’s undeniable ties with Rachel’s Tomb and thus would like to transform it into a mosque. There are those who say that our Temples never existed. Our bible tells us that Abraham purchased the city of Hevron, in broad daylight, in full view of all, because he knew that in the future its ownership would be challenged. Today there are regular archeological discoveries which serve as concrete proof of the fact that when you open your bibles, the land of Israel comes to life. We must ask ourselves: why did G-d give this generation the privilege of uncovering this Jewish connection. What does it mean for us in the future?”
Mr. Hoenlein concluded by telling the members of CUFI that when they stand for Israel, they stand for America and will be thanked by their grandchildren for doing so.”
Source:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145975#replies
II. Hezbollah Gaining Strength in Latin America!-Posted on ShutKing.BlogPost.com-On July 17, 2011:
http://shutking.blogspot.com/2011/07/hezbollah-gaining-strength-in-latin.html
III. Video: Hezbollah Foothold Growing on Mexican Border!-Posted on ExposeObama.com-On July 20, 2011:
IV. Video: Hezbollah On the Border!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0VuDfZoMYA
V. Iran’s Tentacles Spread from Syria to Sudan!-Posted on Israel National News-By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu-On July 5, 2011:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145439#replies
Note: My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
The President Must Stop Voting "Present" on Iran!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/the-president-must-stop-voting-“present”-on-iran/
Nuclear Summit Part of Obama Administration’s ‘Fantasy Foreign Policy’!
Is Israel the next Arab Facebook Campaign?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/is-israel-the-next-arab-facebook-campaign/
Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?
Note: If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial. Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.
“Food For Thought”
God Bless the U.S.A.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related
Semper Fi!
Jake
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