With the Obama Administration pushing for additional UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea, to punish them for their defiance, officials are expressing concern that the government is actually “too defiant” for the sanctions to even work.
“As long as the regime doesn’t care about what the outside world thinks of it, as long as it doesn’t care about the well-being of its people, there is not a lot you can do about it,” warned Gates, “unless you are willing at some point to use military force.”
This is actually a long-standing knock on the concept of sanctions in general, as the US has been quick to sanction nations in the past but rarely have they accepted any reconciliation with such nations.
In Iraq, for instance, over a decade of harsh sanctions killed a large portion of the Iraqi population, culminating in the 2003 US invasion of the nation. Even now, over seven years into the US occupation, many of the anti-Iraq sanctions are still in place, ostensibly to pressure them into abandoning a nuclear program that they don’t have.
According to Gates the sanctions are important primarily because “to do nothing would set the wrong precedent.” Yet having acknowledged that the sanctions will harm North Korea’s civilians while doing nothing to change its government’s policy, can it really be justified purely as a face-saving measure for the Obama Administration?
My Gates looks stern.
No doubt the North Koreans are shaking in their jackboots.
Is the FedGov looking for a war with North Korea? When the war minister comes out and starts speculating about using military force it's hard to say that war isn't an option he desires. The black ops explanation of the sinking of the South Korean corvette suddenly starts to make a lot more sense.
"Gates had planned to travel to Beijing as part of an Asian tour that began Thursday in Singapore. But China rebuffed the defence secretary and called off the visit.
As a result, Gates chose not to meet the Chinese military delegation at the Singapore conference.
After his speech, an uncomfortable exchange between a Chinese general and Gates illustrated the often tense relations between the two countries' militaries.
Major General Zhu Chenghu, speaking in English, asked Gates to explain what he called a contradiction between the US condemnation of North Korea over the sinking of Seoul's Cheonan warship and a more cautious US reaction to a deadly raid by Israel against a Gaza-bound aid ship.
"I think it (the Israeli raid) needs to be investigated and we will withhold judgement until that investigation is complete. But I think there is no comparison whatever between what happened in the eastern Mediterranean and what happened to the Cheonan," said Gates.
The South Korean ship was the target of a surprise attack, Gates said, while the Israelis issued warnings to the aid ship before their raid.
After his remarks, Gates walked over and shook hands with General Ma, the head of the Chinese delegation.
In his speech, Gates said President Barack Obama's decision to approve an arms package for Taiwan in January should have come as no surprise, as it was in keeping with long-standing US policy.
He said Washington had declared publicly for years that it did not endorse independence for Taiwan.
Gates said China's on-off approach would not persuade Washington to alter its policy and argued that US weapons sales to Taiwan helped maintain regional peace given China's growing military buildup.
Gates on Thursday suggested a rift between Chinese civilian and military leaders on the issue, saying the People's Liberation Army was much less interested in building US ties than the political leadership.
Along with calls for cooperation, Gates also said the United States would retain its elaborate military presence across the region.
'We are, and will remain, a Pacific power,' he said."
AFPJune 5
No need to worry about the US attacking either North Korea or China. A military confrontation with China would result in our loss of freedom of movement in the area of Chinese influence.
The US politically speaking will only attack much weaker nations the themselves, i.e. Serbia, Bosnia, Iraq after a dozen years of crippling sanctions and Afghanistan.
You will notice a lot of talking the talk but no walking the walk when it come to Iran.
After training and equipping the Georgian Army only to see it humiliated and destroyed in a matter of days by the Russian military must have given the war mongers both in Washington and Tel Aviv some excellent food for thought.
My favorite is still when they proved that the torpedo was German, therefore the North Koreans sank the moment. For those who enjoy incredible leaps in the middle of a chain of logic (or ill-logic), here's a replay of that moment.
"The metallic debris and chemical residue appear to be consistent with a type of torpedo made in Germany, indicating the North may have been trying to disguise its involvement by avoiding arms made by allies China and Russia, Yonhap quoted the official as saying."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6460FC20100…
Yep, that passes Occam's razor. … not.
A striking resemblance to W.Claude Dukinfield, eh?
Gates has left the gate open without completing the sentece which, I guess he wanted infact to say that, " We are , and will remain, a Pacific power till China takes it over."
Yes, what the US military really needs right now is another war.
In Afghanistan, our major bases are being openly attacked by the guerrillas, and Karsai can't hold his 'peace jirga' without coming under rocket fire, despite trying to lock down the whole city for security.
Our troops are stretched thin between Iraq and Afghanistan. The military is trying to drag its feet and not withdraw from Iraq, while at the same time we don't have enough troops in Afghanistan to keep the rebels from attacking the major airfields at Bagram and Kanduhar.
Meanwhile, they want 'boots on the ground' in the Pakistan war that they've started. And every other week it sounds like they want a war with Iran. Not that long ago they were talking about invading Yemen.
You'd think if anyone knew how overstretched the military is right now with all of these wars, it would be Gates. Which just goes to show that internal political posturing seems to trump any real strategical thinking.
And, when court politics trumps good thinking, that's how empires fall.
Come on America you can do it .Lets invade we can always borrow from the Chinese.
"While the Fed will raise interest rates from a record low before the economy returns to 'full employment,' Bernanke said officials don’t know when that process will start. The banking system isn’t fully healthy and lenders are 'cautious' in providing credit, he said.
'The unemployment rate is still going to be high for a while, and that means that a lot of people are going to be under financial stress,' Bernanke said…."
Real genius at work, yessir–with a lot of "financial stress" for everyone but the bankers, the financiers, the military, and the Corporate elite, who were bailed out with tax money.
Bernanke was talking of 9.7 percent unemployment, which by the pre-Clinton measurement is actually about twenty percent.
Meanwhile there is plenty of money for war, and jobs programs for Afghans, as well as billions for Israel, Egypt, and so forth in foreign aid.
Is there any doubt that whether under Democrats or Republicans the US is hyper-Capitialist predatory warfare state?
On the other hand Communist China is doing quite well and has long ago recovered from the world-wide financial collapse that began in August 2008.
So who are the real fools–the Greeks in the streets, or Americans in their decimated, barbaric suburbs.
Meanwhile enjoy your Cajun Shrimp Petroleum. Tastes Vaseline.
reminds me of a another small mini me state the district of columbia perfferrs to pander to,any wild guesses out thare,A-Taiwaiin,B-Georgia,C-Albania,D-Lithunia,or F-etc,etc,,,?, ZIONISTIC SIAM,next,,,, PS SOUTH KOREA, we could have also accepted SouthKorea
"As long as the regime doesn’t care about what the outside world thinks of it, as long as it doesn’t care about the well-being of its people, there is not a lot you can do about it"
This exactly describes the US government
Meanwhile, back at the ranchero, and while Gates gets the fisheye stare from Communist China, the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior, peddling Honduras and Iran Sanctions, is getting the Latino hyper-dimensional cold shoulder.
Peru's Garcia was especially elegant, abandoning the Bene Gesserit in a specially chilled cubicle for her Kiegels.