Monday, June 15, 2009

Endless War Rages On

Passing Storms Overhead

North Korea declares that it
will "weaponise all plutonium"
following United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1874
against the country.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874
was adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 12 June 2009.[1] The resolution, passed under Chapter VII, Article 41, of the UN Charter, imposes further economic and commercial sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the DPRK, or North Korea) and encourages UN member states to search North Korean cargo, in the aftermath of an underground nuclear test conducted on 25 May 2009.

The provisions of the resolution include:

  • Authorizing member states to inspect, "in accordance with their national authorities and legislation, and consistent with international law," North Korean cargo on land, sea, and air, and to destroy any goods suspected of being connected to the DPRK's nuclear programme.[2]
  • Requiring the North Korean government to return immediately to the six-party talks and renounce its announcement of withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.[3]
  • Preventing financial services that could contribute to the nuclear or ballistic missile related programmes.[4]
  • Instructs member states not to provide financial assistance to the DPRK nuclear programme, or enter into loans with the country, except for humanitarian or developmental reasons.[4]
  • Extending the arms embargo on North Korea by banning all weapons exports from the country and most imports, with an exception to small arms, light weapons and related material – though member states must notify the Security Council five days prior to selling the weapons.[5][6]
  • Demanding that North Korea halt its nuclear weapons programme and conduct no further nuclear or missile tests.[5]
  • Asking member states to notify the Council of steps they are taking to implement the sanctions within 45 days.[7]
  • Affirming the Security Council's commitment to a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the situation.[7]

North Korean reaction

An official newspaper said that the country would consider any new sanctions imposed as a "declaration of war".[13] In response, a statement from the Foreign Ministry, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said that the country would "weaponise all plutonium" and had reprocessed more than "one-third of our spent nuclear fuel rods".[14][15] It also announced it would start uranium enrichment.[14] The statement considered any attempt at a blockade as an "act of war that will be met with a decisive military response", and would "counter 'sanctions' with retaliation and 'confrontation' with all-out confrontation", accusing the resolution of being a product of a U.S.-led offensive against the country.[16][17] The North Korean Foreign Ministry statement on KCNA continues:

The U.S. and Japan, not content with this "resolution", are hatching dirty plots to add their own "sanctions" to the existing ones against the DPRK by framing up the fictional issues of "counterfeit money" and "drug trafficking". The U.S. incited the United Nations Security Council to get more deeply embroiled in its attempt to stifle the DPRK, which resulted in the creation of an unprecedentedly acute tension on the Korean Peninsula.
... Had any other country found itself in the situation of the DPRK, it would have clearly realized that the DPRK has never chosen but was compelled to go nuclear in the face of the U.S. hostile policy and its nuclear threats. It has become an absolutely impossible option for the DPRK to even think about giving up its nuclear weapons. It makes no difference to the DPRK whether its nuclear status is recognized or not.[18]

A commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper alleged the United States had 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea ready to strike North Korea, with the Tongbil Sinmun warning that nuclear war could break out on the Korean peninsula.[19] A U.S. military spokesman described the allegations as "baseless", adding that the weapons were removed under a 1991 treaty.[20]

See also

The American Empire Is Bankrupt\By Chris Hedges

This week marks the end of the dollar's reign as the world's reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That's over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22836.htm

===

Afghan Villagers Slain As They Took Cover\By Jon Swain

Tears streaming down her face, the Afghan woman sat in a corner of a room with no roof and broken windows, mourning 19 of her closest and dearest relatives. "They were parts of my heart," she said.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22833.htm

The Iranian Vote: Citizen Journalism Round-up\By Jessica Reed

As Iranian commenters claim that "traditional media have completely failed" them following the outcome of Friday's vote, many turned citizen journalists overnight - using collaborative platforms to publish their pictures and live accounts of what has been happening on the ground as efficiently as possible. Here's a selection of links to some interesting pages in English.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22832.htm

Iran Protesters Defy Rally Ban\By Al Jazeera

In his first public appearance since the elections three days ago, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated presidential candidate, told supporters at the rally in Tehran on Monday that he would take part if new elections were called.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22831.htm

Dashing Fabricated Hopes:
The Meaning of Ahmadinejad's Victory\By Pierre Tristam

The point never has been for Iran to get a leadership the United States can deal with. That's the American perspective that's led nowhere for 30 years. The point is to get a leadership in the West willing to deal with whatever leadership Iran chooses for itself, on its own terms.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22830.htm

President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins re-election, amid protests and allegations of electoral fraud.

23 insurgents killed in Afghanistan: US occupation force:

The US occupation force along with Afghan security forces backed by war planes killed nearly two dozen insurgents in a clash in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, the US side said Monday.
http://snipurl.com/k6mic

Taliban fighters murder female nurse in W Afghanistan:

Taliban militants in attack against government interests targeted a nurse along with her spouse, killing the armless couple in west Afghanistan, police spokesman in the region Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said Sunday.
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6678119.html

Canadian Occupation Force Soldier Killed In Afghanistan:

A Canadian military engineer was killed Sunday as he tried to defuse two roadside bombs hidden in a rural culvert.
http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=21690

13 killed in bomb blast, US drone attack in Pakistan:

A suspected US missile strike killed at least five people on Sunday in a tribal region where Pakistan's top Taliban commander is based, intelligence officials said, breaking a lull in such attacks and posing a test for growing anti-Taliban sentiment.
http://snipurl.com/k6ml0

Q+A - Who are the Pakistani Taliban insurgents?:

Pakistan has ordered the military to carry out an offensive against Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his fighters, a provincial governor said on the weekend.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090615/twl-uk-pakistan-violence-taliban-qanda-s-672dc0e.html

Journalists shot at by Pakistani forces in Taliban conflict zone:

Pakistan's security forces allegedly opened fire on June 9 on members of a media team of AVT Khyber, a Pashto TV channel, and a photographer of the English daily newspaper Dawn, resulting in injuries to a cameraperson and a driver, the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported.
http://www.newswatch.in/newsblog/4284

Gunmen kill 7 US-allied Sunni fighters in Iraq:

Six died after gunmen ambushed their minibus near the Iranian border. A local sheik condemned the attack. He says the men targeted had been working to "spread peace and security" in the area.
http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=10530381&nav=Bsmh

In the 2009 flu pandemic, the virus isolated from patients in the United States was found to be made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses – North American Mexican influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe – "an unusually mongrelised mix of genetic sequences."[13] This new strain appears to be a result of reassortment of human influenza and swine influenza viruses, in all four different strains of subtype H1N1.

Preliminary genetic characterization found that the hemagglutinin (HA) gene was similar to that of swine flu viruses present in U.S. pigs since 1999, but the neuraminidase (NA) and matrix protein (M) genes resembled versions present in European swine flu isolates. The six genes from American swine flu are themselves mixtures of swine flu, bird flu, and human flu viruses.[14] While viruses with this genetic makeup had not previously been found to be circulating in humans or pigs, there is no formal national surveillance system to determine what viruses are circulating in pigs in the U.S.[15]

On June 11, 2009, the WHO declared an H1N1 pandemic, moving the alert level to phase 6, marking the first global pandemic since 1968.[16]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/AntigenicShift_HiRes.png

June 14, 2009 (2009-06-14) (Sunday

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