The jig is up! Putin , promises swift response as he acknowledges US missile defense aimed at neutralizing Russia nukes. N.Korea and Iran just a cover story.

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Putin: US missile defense aimed at neutralizing Russia nukes, N. Korea & Iran just a cover

Published time: 10 Nov, 2015 15:06Edited time: 10 Nov, 2015 19:46

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Alexei Druzhinin / RIA Novosti

 

 

Vladimir Putin said the US is trying to “neutralize Russia’s nuclear potential” with its on-going deployment of a missile defense shield in Europe. The Russian president has promised a response.

“References to Iran and North Korea nuclear threats are just a cover for the true purpose [of NATO missile defense]. That is to neutralize the potential of other nuclear states not the US or its allies – primarily Russia,” Putin said during a meeting in Sochi dedicated to national military development. “The US is attempting to achieve strategic military superiority, with all the consequences that entails.”

Vladimir Putin has reminded that Iran reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in July. The agreement would remove sanctions that have crippled its economy, in exchange for severe restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Russia has been repeatedly told Iran is the main threat.

“Now, the Iranian problem is off the table – treaties have been signed and ratified. Yet, the work on missile defense continues, as before,” Putin said.

The Russian leader promised Russia would take the “necessary measures to respond by strengthening its own missile defense.”

“And at the first stage we are also going to develop strike weapons that can penetrate any missile defense shield.”

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President Obama’s wrongheaded view of the world has weakened America’s military and turned foreign policy into a “mess” — and Republicans bear some of the responsibility : Rep. Buck McKeon

The Heritage Foundation

Armed Services Chairman on Obama: ‘Our Foreign Policy Is a Mess’

Ken McIntyre

May 7, 2014 at 5:50 pm

President Obama’s wrongheaded view of the world has weakened America’s military and turned foreign policy into a “mess” — and Republicans bear some of the responsibility, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said yesterday.
“It is no accident that the expansion of Russia and China has come at the exact moment when we are dismantling our military and retreating from the world,” Rep. Buck McKeon (R- Calif.) said in a speech at The Heritage Foundation aimed at drawing attention to defense and national security issues.
“With Russia invading Ukraine, China provoking our Pacific allies, al-Qaeda regrouping, North Korea banging the drum, and ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, I think the president has lost sight of his purpose here,” McKeon said.
McKeon’s appearance at Heritage was part of “Protect America Month” events organized by the think tank.
Americans, McKeon argued, ought to be asking what the nation’s central foreign policy goal is, and what role the U.S. military has in advancing it.  He said:

“Put plainly, our foreign policy is a mess. We have no coherent strategy.  I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be pivoting to Asia, pivoting to the Middle East, or pivoting back to Europe.”

The California Republican, who announced four months ago that he will retire next January after 22 years in Congress, argued that most Americans want to live “in peace and security,” free to prosper and make their own decisions without worrying about what’s going on in “faraway lands.”
He cited Abraham Lincoln’s formula that government’s legitimate aim is “to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do for themselves.”
“An individual can go out and find health care coverage without the government,” McKeon said. “They can save for retirement without the government. They can start a business without the government. But they cannot resist foreign aggression without a strong standing military.”

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North And South Korea Exchange Live Fire

  Sky News Live

Anxious islanders on the front line are evacuated as both countries exchange fire across their disputed western maritime border.

7:15am UK, Monday 31 March 2014

Video: North And South Korea Exchange Live Fire

Enlarge

South Korea says it has fired shells into North Korean waters in response to live fire drills carried out by Pyongyang.

Residents of a South Korean island on the front line were evacuated as both countries exchanged fire across their disputed western maritime border.
Anxious residents sought refuge in shelters on Yeonpyeong island, where in 2010, North Korean artillery killed four South Koreans.
One islander, Kang Myeong-sung, said he did not see any fighter jets but could hear the boom of the shells.
North Korea had announced it was going to conduct some military drills.

South Korea and the US conduct a joint military exercise in Pohang

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "These are worrying developments ... but no one has been injured, no one has been killed and indeed none of these rockets or missiles landed on any military installations or any land, so this is effectively both sides showing their strength."

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Channel News Asia

N Korea announces live-fire drill, driving up tensions

North Korea announced a live-fire drill Monday near its disputed maritime border with South Korea, further ratcheting up tensions a day after threatening a "new form" of nuclear test.

• PHOTOS

File photo: North Korean soldiers ride in vehicles during a military parade marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean war armistice in Pyongyang. (AFP/Ed Jones)

SEOUL: North Korea announced a live-fire drill Monday near its disputed maritime border with South Korea, further ratcheting up tensions a day after threatening a "new form" of nuclear test.
The South's Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed government official, said the exercise began around 12:15pm (0315 GMT), with artillery shells landing in North Korean waters, north of the South-controlled Baengnyeong island.
There was no immediate official confirmation that the drill was under way, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) warned of immediate retaliation if any ordinance landed on the South side of the border.
The Yellow Sea border is an extremely sensitive region that has been the scene of brief but bloody clashes in the past.
In November 2010, North Korea shelled a South Korean island near the border, killing four people and triggering concerns of a full-scale conflict.
It is not unusual for North Korea to carry out a live-fire exercise, but it does not normally notify the South in advance.
"The fact that they have sent such a message to us indicates their hostile intention," said South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Wi Yong-seop.
"The aim is to threaten us and rack up tension on the Yellow Sea border and the overall Korean peninsula," Wi said, adding that Seoul was closely monitoring the situation.
The North's notification designated seven areas close to the border and said all South Korean vessels should be kept away from them.
"We notified the North that we would strongly respond with fire if it fires across the border," a JCS official told reporters.
Monday's announcement came a day after North Korea threatened to carry out a "new form" of nuclear test -- seen as a possible reference to efforts to build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a ballistic missile.

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Channel News Asia

Two Koreas trade fire across maritime border: military

North and South Korea traded fire across their disputed maritime border on Monday, with the South's military saying it had responded to shells landing in its waters from a North live-fire drill.

• PHOTOS

File photo: South Korean army soldiers on a military truck move during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea in Pocheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea. (AP/Ahn Yong-joon)

SEOUL: North and South Korea traded fire across their disputed maritime border on Monday, with the South's military saying it had responded to shells landing in its waters from a North live-fire drill.
"Some of the shells fired by North Korea dropped in our area and our side responded with fire," a spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
There was no indication that either side was firing at any particular target.
On South-Korea-controlled Baengnyeong island, close to the maritime boundary, officials said residents had been taken to shelters as a precaution.
"We are urging all residents to evacuate to shelters right now, and some have already done so," a town hall official on the island told AFP.
North Korea earlier announced a live-fire drill Monday near its disputed maritime border with South Korea, further ratcheting up tensions a day after threatening a "new form" of nuclear test.

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South Korea returns fire after North Korean shells land in disputed waters

Residents on South-controlled island are evacuated to shelters after exchange of fire caps days of rising tension

• Tania Branigan in Beijing
• 
  
• theguardian.com, Monday 31 March 2014 02.57 EDT

 

North and South Korea exchange fire after military drill – video

South Korean islanders fled to shelters as their country’s forces returned the North’s fire near a disputed sea boundary on Monday, amid renewed tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The skirmish in the Yellow or Western Sea came a day after Pyongyang warned that it could carry out a “new kind” of nuclear test , and followed multiple missile tests by the North. Experts have also warned that it could be harder to predict the country’s actions given the recent political turbulence which saw its youthful leader Kim Jong-un purge his uncle Jang Song-taek.
No shells from either side were fired at any land or military installations, an official with South Korea's joint chiefs of staff told Associated Press. Unusually, the North warned in advance that it planned to hold a live-fire drill; when a shell landed south of the disputed boundary, the South, which had warned it would respond, returned fire into North Korean waters.
Tensions are common at this time of year because of the North’s anger at annual joint military exercises by the South and the US, but the exchange of fire was the most dramatic incident near the northern limit line since 2010.
The South scrambled F-15 fighters to patrol its side of the border and authorities evacuated the residents of five frontline islands to shelters. Kang Myeong-sung, a resident speaking to AP from a shelter on Yeonpyeong, said he did not see any fighter jets, but he could hear the boom of artillery fire. In 2010, North Korean artillery killed four South Koreans on Yeonpyeong; Pyongyang said it was responding to the South’s exercises.

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N Korea Releases Video of Detained US Vet Merrill Newman Apologizing for Alleged Espionage/WarCrimes

LeakSourceNews


   


KCNA:
The Korean Central News Agency released the following report on Saturday:
A relevant institution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea recently put in custody U.S. citizen Merrill Edward Newman who committed hostile acts against the DPRK after entering the country under the guise of a tourist.
After entering the DPRK as a member of tourists’ group in October he perpetrated acts of infringing upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and slandering its socialist system, quite contrary to the purpose of tour.

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World News NBC News

American held by N. Korea apologizes for 'hostile acts'; US renews calls to free him

Nicholas Wright / Palo Alto Weekly via AP, file

Merrill Newman, a retired finance executive and Red Cross volunteer, in Palo Alto, Calif. in 2005.

By NBC News staff and wire services

North Korea on Saturday released video showing detained U.S. citizen Merrill E. Newman reading an apology for "hostile acts" against the state – a move that prompted new calls from the U.S. for his release.
A statement published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency said that during a recent visit to the country, the 85-year-old war veteran attempted to meet with any surviving soldiers he had trained during the Korean War to fight North Korea, admitted he was "a criminal" who was involved in the killing of civilians during the 1950-53 Korean War, and was carrying an e-book criticizing North Korea.
Newman "masterminded espionage and subversive activities against the DPRK and in this course he was involved in killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians," KCNA said. "He admitted all his crimes and made an apology for them."

DPRK is short for the North's official name: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea is technically still at war with the South and the United States, as a truce -- not a peace treaty -- was signed to end the Korean conflict.
In a separate dispatch, KCNA carried what it said was a statement of apology by Newman, made after being detained.
"During the Korean War, I have been guilty of a long list of indelible crimes against DPRK government and Korean people as adviser of the Kuwol Unit of the U.N. Korea 6th Partisan Regiment part of the Intelligence Bureau of the Far East Command," it said.
The unit appears to refer to one of the special operations units of partisan, or irregular, fighters acting against the North.
There was no direct word from Newman, and his alleged apology, which was dated Nov. 9, couldn't be independently confirmed. Pyongyang has been accused of previously coercing statements from detainees.
Hours after the release of the “apology,” Obama administration officials appealed for his release.
“Given Mr. Newman's advanced age and health conditions, we urge the DPRK to release Mr. Newman so he may return home and reunite with his family,” said a U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said North Korea had permitted representatives of the Swedish Embassy consular access to Newman on Saturday, but provide no detail about his condition.
Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, likewise called on Pyongyang to free Newman.
Some experts said the fact that North Korea broadcast the statement from Newman is likely a prelude to his release.
Steven Weber, professor of political science at UC Berkeley, told NBC News on Saturday that he expects Newman will be released within a few days and that his detention was a “publicity stunt” by an attention-hungry North Korean regime. Weber said the U.S. should expect more stunts like this in the near future, especially with American delegates presently focused on a short-term deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

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North Korean ship carrying hidden 'missile equipment' detained after leaving Cuba

NBCNEWS.com

Courtesy IHS Maritime

A shipment of weapons system components hidden in sugar containers was intercepted on its way from Cuba to North Korea after being searched on suspicion of drugs. NBC's Mark Potter reports.

By Ian Johnston and F. Brinley Bruton, NBC News

A North Korean cargo ship was stopped near the Panama Canal and searched on suspicion of drugs, but it was carrying something sweeter — the apparent parts of a surface-to-air missile system, hidden inside containers of brown sugar.
The State Department said any shipment of arms or related material aboard the freighter would violate at least three U.N. resolutions.
The ship was on its way home from Cuba. Panamanian authorities said the captain of the ship tried to kill himself after officials boarded it Monday and began searching the containers that were supposed to contain the sugar.

The captain of the North Korean ship Chong Chon Gang tried to kill himself as the vessel was searched, according to Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli.

Independent defense analysts and U.S. officials said Tuesday that the equipment appeared to be a radar control system for surface-to-air missiles, and that the behavior of the crew suggested the equipment was being shipped covertly.

But Gordon Chang, the author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World,” said it didn’t matter what was in the cargo hold.
“What’s important is that the North Koreans were able to smuggle dangerous equipment into our hemisphere,” he said.
Panama said it seized the ship on suspicion of drugs as it headed for the Panama Canal. Reuters reported that Panama had also detained 35 members of the crew.
President Ricardo Martinelli went so far as to post a picture of the weapons equipment on Twitter “so that the world knows that you can’t transfer non-declared, war-like material through the Panama Canal.”

Panamá capturo barco de bandera Norcoreana proveniente de cuba con cargamento bélico no declarado pic.twitter.com/MdWGfbXvVJ
— Ricardo Martinelli (@rmartinelli) July 16, 2013

“The Panama Canal is a canal of peace, not of war,” he said.
A State Department spokesman said that the United States supported Panama’s decision to seize the ship and offered Washington’s help if Panama needs it.
Staff at IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, a respected military affairs magazine, said the picture appeared to show a radar system for surface-to-air missiles — specifically an RSN-75 Fan Song fire-control radar system for a family of missiles known as SA-2.

Read More  and  Watch Videos Here

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North Korea urges US to take 'real actions'

by Staff Writers

Seoul (AFP) June 23, 2013



North Korea on Sunday blamed the United States for escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and called for "real actions" if Washington wants peace.
"The US can never cover up its true colours as the chief culprit escalating the tensions on the peninsula in a planned and deliberate way," the North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary.
"If the US truly wants peace and security on the peninsula, it should take real actions to stop arms buildup and war rackets of threatening and blackmailing the other party, not just uttering words," it said, according to an English-language text relayed by the KCNA news agency.
The commentary came two days after North Korea's UN ambassador Sin Son-Ho appealed for an end to UN and US sanctions against Pyongyang.
"The most pressing issue in northeast Asia today is the hostile relations between the DPRK (North Korea) and the US which can lead to another war at any moment," he said.



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