WAR 01-09-2016-to-01-15-2016_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

[Housecarl]

(197) 12-19-2015-to-12-25-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...25-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(198) 12-26-2015-to-01-01-2016_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...01-2016_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(199) 01-02-2016-to-01-08-2016_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...08-2016_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...13f8a4-b6a3-11e5-8abc-d09392edc612_story.html

N. Korea defiance challenges moral authority of nuclear club

By Eric Talmadge and Jon Chol Jin | AP January 9 at 2:32 AM


PYONGYANG, North Korea — When North Korea claimed triumphantly that it had tested its first hydrogen bomb this week, it was roundly and predictably condemned by the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and India, countries estimated to possess a combined total of more than 15,000 nuclear warheads.

Non-nuclear powers condemned the test, too, including Japan, the country that was on the receiving end of the only atomic bomb attack in history — the U.S. bombing that ended World War II in the Pacific in 1945.

But while most of the world, East and West, agrees that no one wants North Korea to be an effectively functioning nuclear power, a question that can’t be escaped lurks behind the condemnation: How much right do nations have to tell other nations what to do? Moreover, how much of a right do nuclear powers, which have no intention of giving up their own arsenals, have to demand others to give up theirs?

North Korea, of course, says none.

In a show of defiance and nationalist pride that is so characteristic of the North, masses of North Koreans filled Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square on Friday, which happened to also be leader Kim Jong Un’s birthday, to celebrate their military’s new crown jewel. Fireworks and dancing parties were held after the rally.

“This hydrogen bomb test represents the higher stage of development of our nuclear arms,” Pak Pong Ju, North Korea’s premier, told the crowd, which officials said was 100,000-strong. “It will go down in history as a perfect success and now the DPRK is proud to be ranked among nuclear states possessing hydrogen bombs. The Korean people can demonstrate the stamina of a dignified nation with the strongest nuclear deterrent.”

The North’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

With its latest test, which may or may not have been of an H-bomb — outside expert opinion remains divided — it is treading further down a dangerous, but well-worn, path.

As has been the case with every nation that went nuclear, possession of such weapons is seen by the North’s regime as a strategic necessity. That’s why decades of pleading with and punishing the North simply haven’t worked.

Developing a credible nuclear force is in the long run cheaper for Pyongyang and far more likely to be successful than building and maintaining the massive and highly sophisticated conventional forces that would be needed to deter the United States. Though mega weapons like the H-bomb have become largely irrelevant to superpower military planners, who now have the technology to conduct precision attacks that are far more effective and less likely to generate universal condemnation, it’s the kind of threat that still works for Pyongyang.

Its self-defense claim is also hardly extraordinary. It has been used by all of the nuclear powers.

After dropping its first nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States went on to develop its arsenal of nuclear doomsday devices because of what it saw as the threat of Soviet aggression. The Soviets made the same claim, but about the U.S. Some European allies, not wanting to be too dependent on the U.S., followed Washington’s lead. The Chinese, worried about both Washington and Moscow, got one of their own. India got the bomb because of Pakistan, and Pakistan because of India. And Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons because of its neighbors.

None has given up their nuclear arsenals. The recent nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran may have made a dent in Pyongyang’s thinking, but two countries that did start down that path and failed — Iraq and Libya — appear to still weigh much more heavily.

“The Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and the Gadhafi regime in Libya could not escape the fate of destruction after being deprived of their foundations for nuclear development and giving up nuclear programs of their own accord, yielding to the pressure of the U.S. and the West keen on their regime changes,” the Korean Central News Agency said in an editorial Friday.

If, as North Korea claims, it is trying to defend itself against a nuclear-armed adversary bent on regime change and with which it is actually at war — the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty — why should its claim to have a right to possess nuclear weapons be treated any differently from other nuclear powers?

For the nuclear haves, that’s not even worth considering — North Korea is too irresponsible, too unpredictable and too untrustworthy for it to be a valid question.

“There is no need to argue about why North Korea can’t have nuclear arsenal while other countries have already become nuclear powers,” said Shi Yinhong, one of China’s best-known international relations scholars at Renmin University and a sometime government adviser. “All the nuclear powers such as U.S., China, France, the U.K. and Russia are responsible major countries in this field.”

“Of course, decades of antagonism between the U.S. and North Korea helped the North Korean leader to make up his mind to go nuclear, but it is not the main reason,” Shi added. “The main reason for the North to go nuclear is the need of the North Korean regime to hold on to its autocratic power.”

China, however, also conducted its first tests under an autocrat, Mao Zedong.

Like North Korea, India is also deeply proud of its nuclear program and sensitive to any criticism of it, particularly when it comes from other nuclear powers, and the United States, along with most of the world, has accepted India as a de facto nuclear weapons state.

But unlike North Korea, that was in large part because a nuclear India served the interests of at least some of the status quo.

“To put it crudely, it’s about China,” said Rahul Bedi, a prominent New Delhi-based writer on defense issues. As China’s power has grown in recent years, the West has sought allies to balance out Beijing’s ever-growing influence. India, with its growing economy, regional influence and democratic government, was pretty much the only choice. “The world, and the Western world in particular, needs a frontline state, in a sense, to challenge the Chinese.”

Although Pyongyang is hoping that, like India, given enough time the world will simply have to accept it a nuclear power, it is for now truly going forward on its own.

___

Talmadge, AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief, reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Tim Sullivan in New Delhi and Ian Mader in Beijing contributed to this report.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

[Housecarl]

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http://ktla.com/2016/01/08/el-chapo...on-break-mexico-president-enrique-pena-nieto/

‘El Chapo’ Captured in Bloody Raid in Mexico; Will Return to Same Prison He Escaped From

Posted 10:31 AM, January 8, 2016, by CNN Wire, Christina Pascucci and Mary Beth McDade, Updated at 12:40am, January 9, 2016

After six months on the run, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman will return to the same maximum security prison he escaped from last year.

Guzman used an elaborate underground tunnel to break out of a federal prison in July.

He was recaptured Friday after the Mexican navy raided a home in the coastal city of Los Mochis.

Mexican forces transferred Guzman from an armored vehicle and into a helicopter late Friday night after his arrest at the home in his native Sinaloa state.

Guzman's recapture came after his second prison escape in 14 years, making him a symbol of government ineptitude and corruption.

Chase through sewer tunnels

Guzman's hideout where he was captured Friday had been under surveillance for a month, Mexican officials said.

Guzman arrived at the house Thursday, and authorities raided it in the wee hours of Friday.

When the Mexican navy arrived, a shootout ensued, Attorney General Arely Gomez said. The Mexican navy said five suspects died and six others were arrested. One navy personnel was injured.

During the shootout, Guzman and an aide allegedly escaped through a manhole connecting to the city's sewer system.

Soldiers chased him through the sewer tunnels, but he made it to the surface, where he stole a car, authorities said.

He almost escaped again, but authorities located the car on a highway outside the city and nabbed him.

Guzman was shopping for biopic

Guzman planned to make a biopic, and his representatives had contacted producers and actresses, which helped investigators locate him, the attorney general said. She did not provide specifics on how the calls led to his arrest.

Some of Guzman's alleged accomplices have been detained as well.

A man in charge of building the tunnel he used to escape in July was arrested, along with the owner of the land the tunnel was in. So was an attorney who allegedly paid for the tunnel, as was Guzman's brother-in-law.

Guzman's arrest culminates "days and nights" of collaborative work among Mexican intelligence and security agencies, the President said. He added that his recapture should restore Mexicans' faith in their government.

Massive manhunt

In the latest incident in July, Guzman disappeared after stepping into the shower, slipping through a hole in his cell block and into a lighted, ventilated tunnel.

From there, he took off for San Juan del Rio, where two small planes awaited his arrival, Attorney General Arely Gomez has said. Two pilots were among the dozens of people arrested.

Since his escape in July, there have been reported sightings and near-misses. In October, authorities said they were hot on El Chapo's trail, only to have him slip out of sight, though not before apparently breaking his leg.

After his capture this week, a relieved President Enrique Peña Nieto applauded security forces.

"Mission accomplished: We have him," the President said.

Veteran cartel

The Sinaloa state native started his drug cartel in 1980. He became a powerful figure, leading a multibillion dollar empire that supplied much of the marijuana, cocaine and heroin sold on American streets.

U.S. indictments claim the organization used assassins and hit squads to show its muscle. The U.S. Justice Department previously sought his extradition to the United States, and it is likely it will try to do so again.

Daring escapes

Authorities first arrested Guzman in Guatemala in 1993. They extradited him to Mexico and after his conviction, sent him to the Puente Grande maximum security prison.

In 2001, he escaped using a laundry cart and evaded Mexican authorities for years.

Those exploits ended in 2014, when he was arrested in the Mexican resort town of Mazatlan.

Guzman was then sent to Altiplano Federal Prison in Almoloya de Juarez, where he made the daring July escape through the tunnel.

Authorities paraded him before journalists late Friday night, then put him on a helicopter back to the same prison.

 

[Housecarl]

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Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN0UN09A20160109

World | Sat Jan 9, 2016 3:37am EST
Related: World, United Nations, Yemen

U.N. Yemen envoy suggests Geneva location for peace talks

CAIRO


The United Nations' special envoy for Yemen has suggested Geneva as a location for holding peace talks due to restart this month on ending conflict in the war-torn country, Saba news agency reported late on Friday.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed made the suggestion in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh while meeting various members of the government of Yemen President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and political groupings leaning toward him, the pro-Hadi Saba agency reported.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Muslim allies has been fighting the Shi'ite Houthi movement, which controls the capital, since March of last year.

The warring sides held their latest round of peace talks in December but failed to find a political solution that would end the conflict, which has killed nearly 6,000 people. Negotiations are set to resume on Jan. 14.


Related Coverage
› Yemen reverses decision to expel U.N. Human Rights envoy: senior official


Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who retains the loyalty of the armed forces despite having stepped down from office nearly four years ago after months of protests, joined forces with the Iran-allied Houthis in fighting the Saudi-led alliance trying to shore up Hadi.

Saleh said on Friday that he would not negotiate with Hadi's government, throwing into doubt the fate of the peace talks.

The U.N. envoy is due to travel to Sanaa soon after his Riyadh visit.


(Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/w...om-venezuela-capitol-raises-tension.html?_r=0

Americas

Removal of Chávez Images From Venezuela Capitol Raises Tension

By NICHOLAS CASEY and WILLIAM NEUMAN
JAN. 7, 2016

CARACAS, Venezuela — With triple-digit inflation showing no signs of retreating and the new National Assembly vowing to remove the president, Venezuela over the last few days careered toward crises both economic and political.

Yet the great debate of the week had less to do with the economy than it did with former President Hugo Chávez — or rather whether several pictures of Mr. Chávez, who died in 2013 of cancer, should still hang in the Capitol.

The portraits, of a triumphal Mr. Chávez in military attire and addressing the United Nations, were carted away this week as rivals of his United Socialist Party, who were swept into the Assembly in a Dec. 6 vote, moved into the chamber.

Henry Ramos, the Assembly’s incoming leader, stood on the Capitol steps and waved as the images of Mr. Chávez were taken away. He told reporters that only the country’s flag and shield should be displayed.


Related Coverage

A woman confronted a Bolivarian National Guard at an opposition rally in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday.

Venezuela Opposition Takes Reins of Assembly as Tensions Rise
JAN. 5, 2016

World Briefing: Venezuela: New Lawmakers Defy Supreme Court
JAN. 6, 2016


President Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Chávez’s handpicked successor, wasted no time in trying to turn his opponents’ symbolic gesture to his advantage. In a nationally televised speech on Wednesday evening, he called the removals outrageous, and said that portraits of Simon Bolívar, the country’s independence hero, had also been taken down.

“I can’t fail to express my anger, my repudiation,” Mr. Maduro said. “I call on the people to rebel against these neo-fascists, anti-Bolivarians, anti-patriots.”

On Thursday, a number of demonstrators assembled at a downtown plaza, heeding the president’s call. The Chávez portraits were brought there and guarded by soldiers.

The spat over the portraits could augur poorly for Venezuela’s political prospects in the new year, the country’s first taste of a divided government where disputes boil up as the economy continues its meltdown. Venezuela has the largest estimated oil reserves in the world, yet price controls and inflation have led to shortages of basic items like eggs and flour. Fears about rising crime also weigh heavily on the minds of the middle class and the poor alike.

“I think it doesn’t bode very well at all,” said David Smilde, a Caracas-based analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank. “It doesn’t reflect that either side has really heard the message of the people.”

The opposition, which won a majority last year in the Assembly for the first time in 16 years, won on promises to solve the country’s economic problems. Next week, however, it will focus on something else: freeing about 80 prisoners who it says were arrested by the Socialist authorities for political reasons.

The new lawmakers also seemed poised for another showdown after they swore in three lawmakers whose elections had been blocked by the Supreme Court. They argue that the court, packed by the government in December with 13 new members, was doing the political bidding of Mr. Maduro.

Gaby Arellano, a new deputy from Popular Will, a political party whose leader has been jailed under Mr. Maduro, said legislators would soon address economic issues but warned that change would come slowly.

“We left it clear that we would not arrive on Jan. 6 and all the problems would be solved on Jan. 7,” she said. “If the government has spent all this time taking apart the country, it’s not going to be a question of months, but a question of years, in fixing this.”

Mr. Maduro said that in the coming days he would unveil a new plan to revive the economy. There would be a new emphasis on foreign investment, he said, offering few details.

After discussing the portraits in his broadcast, the president turned to some changes in his economic team, which will be led by Luis Salas, a little-known professor at a university founded by Mr. Chávez. He is a sociologist and specialist in development, according to an essay called “22 Keys to Understanding and Combating the Economic War” that was published last year.

“Inflation doesn’t exist in real life,” Mr. Salas wrote, arguing that inflation was actually the product of businessmen’s raising prices on consumers. “When a person goes to a store and finds the prices have gone up, they are not in the presence of ‘inflation.’ ”

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/09/w...=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

Americas | World Briefing

Brazil: Protest Over Higher Bus Fares Erupt in 3 Cities

By SIMON ROMERO
JAN. 8, 2016

Protests flared in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte on Friday night over increases in bus fares, reflecting resentment over efforts by the municipal authorities to cover budget shortfalls during Brazil’s most severe economic crisis in decades. Anti-riot police units clashed with protesters in downtown São Paulo. The unrest drew comparisons to the much larger demonstrations that shook cities across Brazil in 2013, which also crystallized over increases in bus fares. Some of the demonstrators in São Paulo destroyed buses, ransacked banking offices and threw rocks and bottles at the police, who used tear gas. Clashes also erupted between the police and protesters in downtown Rio de Janeiro.

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.france24.com/en/20160109...r-violence-sexual-assaults-women-migrants-ref

Cologne braces for far-right rally after New Year’s violence

Latest update : 2016-01-09

The German city of Cologne, still shaken by a spate of sexual assaults in a crowd of migrants on New Year's Eve, was braced Saturday for a rally of the xenophobic PEGIDA movement.

The Islamophobic protest was planned from 1300 GMT in the central square where hundreds of women last week ran a gauntlet of groping hands, lewd insults and robberies in mob violence that has shocked Germany.

Most of the assailants were of Arabic or North African background, according to eye-witnesses, police and media reports.

Far-right groups have pointed to the assaults, including two reported rapes, as proof that Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal migrant policy -- which brought 1.1 million new asylum seekers to Germany last year -- is driving the country into chaos.

The co-founder of PEGIDA, short for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident", Lutz Bachmann, posted a photo of himself on social media with the slogan "Rape Refugees not Welcome".

In a similar vein, a leader of the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany party, which has polled at around 10 percent in surveys ahead of several state elections this year, claimed that the events gave a "taste of the looming collapse of culture and civilisation".

Police expect around 1,000 backers of PEGIDA and the local far-right group Pro NRW, as well as counter-demonstrators from the group "Cologne against Right-wingers", local media said.

Frenzied crush

The mob violence at the start of 2016 has heightened popular fears of worse to come, and threatened to tip what was long a broadly welcoming mood that last September saw crowds cheering Syrian refugees arriving by train.

Details of what happened in the frenzied crush remain hazy. Police have laid no charges but pointed to more than 30 suspects, almost all of them migrants and including many asylum seekers.

Among the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, one Iraqi and one Serb, as well as two Germans and one US national, the interior ministry said Friday.

It was unclear how many offenders may be long-time migrants or from a scene of drug dealers and pickpockets known to lurk around the central railway station, and how many may have been newly-arrived asylum seekers.

On Friday, criticism of the Cologne police's failure to stop the violence, and subsequent obfuscation, claimed the scalp of police chief Wolfgang Albers, who was suspended in a bid to "restore public confidence" in the police force.

Cologne police were slow to unveil the true extent of the carnage, and the politically-charged fact that the hostile crowd was made up mostly of migrants.
A day after the chaos, Cologne police had tweeted "festive atmosphere, celebrations largely peaceful", and the events did not make national headlines for four days.

On social media, where PEGIDA backers have long railed against the "lying press", the media has also been accused of seeking to suppress the attacks for days in an effort to be "politically correct".

Right to stay

Politicians from all major parties, meanwhile, have reacted by pledging tougher law and order, and to speed up deportations of criminal migrants.

Merkel -- while staying the course generally on welcoming war refugees and maintaining that "we can do it" -- has also vowed to bring down a "tough response by the state" on those who break German laws.

On Saturday leaders of her conservative Christian Democrats were set to huddle for a policy meeting in the southwestern city of Mainz.

Among the proposals were ones to stiffen penalties for attacks against police and emergency responders and to scrap the refugee or asylum status of anyone sentenced to a non-parole prison term.

Under current laws, asylum seekers are only forcibly sent back if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years, and if their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

"The question that arises after Cologne," Merkel said late Friday, "is when do you lose your right to stay with us?"

"I have to say that for me, we must take it away sooner," the chancellor said. "We must do this for us, and for the many refugees who were not part of the events in Cologne."
(AFP)

 

[Housecarl]

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http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/where-china-and-the-united-states-disagree-on-north-korea/

Where China and the United States Disagree on North Korea

The recent nuclear test has exposed a deep Sino-U.S. gap over North Korea.

By Scott A. Snyder
January 09, 2016

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The “artificial earthquake” in North Korea caused by its fourth nuclear test has set off geopolitical tremors in U.S.-China relations, exposing the underlying gap between the two countries that has long been papered over by their common rhetorical commitment to Korean denuclearization. At their Sunnylands summit in June of 2013, Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama vowed to work together on North Korea. Last September in Washington, the two leaders underscored the unacceptability of a North Korean nuclear test.

But Secretary of State John Kerry stated in his January 7 conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that previous approaches to the North Korean problem have not worked and that “we cannot continue business as usual.” The Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, responded by stating that “[t]here is no hope to put an end to the North Korean nuclear conundrum if the U.S., South Korea, and Japan do not change their policies toward Pyongyang. Solely depending on Beijing’s pressure to force the North to give up its nuclear plan is an illusion.”

The now exposed Sino-U.S. gap over North Korea runs deep and extends to at least four critical dimensions:

•Influence: Since China controls the food and fuel lifelines to North Korea, Western analysts see Beijing holding Pyongyang’s fate in its hands. Yet, North Korea snubbed China and exposed its lack of influence by going ahead with a nuclear test that Xi Jinping had opposed publicly and privately. North Korea has taken Chinese support for granted by assuming that Beijing’s geopolitical interests in stability will not permit China to pull the plug. Washington is now pressing Beijing to move in that direction.

•Ideology: It is particularly hard for China to turn on its last ally despite the clear economic and strategic divergences that have weakened the Sino-North Korean relationship for decades. It appears even harder for China to give up the idea that, despite four North Korean nuclear tests, U.S. enmity toward Pyongyang is the root cause of peninsular hostility. This view persists despite U.S.-North Korea negotiations leading to agreements such as the Agreed Framework, forbearance despite continued North Korean double-dealing and renewed negotiation efforts through Six Party Talks even despite North Korea’s first nuclear test, and even seeming indifference to Pyongyang’s provocations under the moniker of “strategic patience” during the Obama administration.

•Instruments: The record of diplomacy with North Korea shows that neither incentives nor efforts at coercion have been successful in inducing North Korean cooperation. Neither has U.S. signaling (in the form of nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 overflights of the Korean peninsula) worked to draw a line designed to contain North Korean provocations. But China fears that additional pressure will lead to peninsular instability and has moved too slowly to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang.

•End state: Underlying surface agreement on the necessity of denuclearization is a yawning gap over the type of Korean peninsula that would be acceptable if, as more and more Americans have concluded, the only way to get rid of North Korea’s nuclear weapons is to get rid of the Kim Jong-un regime. China opposes a unified Korea allied with the United States, preferring to maintain a security buffer on the Korean peninsula against U.S. forces. The broader impact of rising competition from the U.S. rebalance and Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea has begun to inhibit prospects for Sino-U.S. cooperation on North Korea. North Korea to date has counted on Sino-U.S. geopolitical mistrust to secure space for its survival.

North Korea’s underlying assumption behind its nuclear gambit is that it can survive and perhaps even benefit from an open geopolitical rift between the United States and China. Sino-U.S. cooperation is costly to North Korea, while a failure to cooperate on Pyongyang would severely exacerbate Sino-U.S. friction and competition. However, if North Korea cannot exploit geostrategic mistrust between China and the United States for its own gain, the assumption behind Pyongyang’s man-made tremors may lead to fatal consequences for the Kim regime.

Scott A. Synder is Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy. This post appears courtesy of CFR.org and Forbes Asia.

 

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http://news.yahoo.com/south-korea-resumes-anti-north-korea-propaganda-broadcasts-081541917.html#

North Korea warns of war over South's propaganda broadcasts

Associated Press
By FOSTER KLUG and KIM TONG-HYUNG
12 hours ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea warned of war as South Korea on Saturday continued blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda across the rivals' tense border in retaliation for the North's purported fourth nuclear test.


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North Korean propaganda is filled with threats of violence, but the country is also extremely sensitive to criticism of its authoritarian leadership, which Seoul resumed in its cross-border broadcasts on Friday for the first time in nearly five months. Pyongyang says the broadcasts are tantamount to an act of war. When South Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.

Speaking to a massive crowd at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, a top ruling party official said the broadcasts, along with talks between Washington and Seoul on the possibility of deploying in the South advanced U.S. warplanes capable of delivering nuclear bombs, have pushed the Korean Peninsula "toward the brink of war."

Pyongyang's rivals are "jealous" of the North's successful hydrogen bomb test, Workers' Party Secretary Kim Ki Nam said in comments broadcast on state TV late Friday.

South Korean troops, near about 10 sites where loudspeakers started blaring propaganda Friday, were on the highest alert, but have yet to detect any unusual movement from the North Korean military along the border, an official from Seoul's Defense Ministry, who refused to be named, citing office rules, said Saturday.

The South's Yonhap news agency said Seoul had deployed missiles, artillery and other weapons systems near the border to swiftly deal with any possible North Korean provocation, but the ministry did not confirm the reports.

Officials say broadcasts from the South's loudspeakers can travel about 10 kilometers (6 miles) during the day and 24 kilometers (15 miles) at night. That reaches many of the huge force of North Korean soldiers stationed near the border and also residents in border towns such as Kaesong, where the Koreas jointly operate an industrial park that has been a valuable cash source for the impoverished North.

Seoul also planned to use mobile speakers to broadcast from a small South Korean island just a few kilometers (miles) away from North Korean shores.

While the South's broadcasts also include news and pop music, much of the programming challenges North Korea's government more directly.

"We hope that our fellow Koreans in the North will be able to live in (a) society that doesn't invade individual lives as soon as possible," a female presenter said in parts of the broadcast that officials revealed to South Korean media. "Countries run by dictatorships even try to control human instincts."

Marathon talks by the Koreas in August eased anger and stopped the broadcasts, which Seoul started after blaming North Korean land mines for maiming two South Korean soldiers. It might be more difficult to do so now. Seoul can't stand down easily, some analysts say, and it's highly unlikely that the North will express regret for its nuclear test, which is a source of intense national pride.

The fresh broadcasts came as world powers sought to find other ways to punish the North for conducting what it said was its first hydrogen bomb test Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North's only major ally and its biggest aid provider, to end "business as usual" with North Korea.

Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China is seen as key.

South Korean and U.S. military leaders also have discussed the deployment of U.S. "strategic assets," Seoul's Defense Ministry said. Officials refused to elaborate, but the assets likely are B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.

After North Korea's third nuclear test in 2013, the U.S. took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes — B-2 stealth bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and B-52 bombers — to drills with South Korea in a show of force. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal. Outside experts are skeptical the blast was a hydrogen bomb, but even a test of an atomic bomb would push North Korea closer to building a nuclear warhead small enough to place on a long-range missile.

Late Friday, the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety said a small amount of radioactive elements was found in air samples collected from the peninsula's eastern seas after the blast, but the measured amount was too small to determine whether the North had really detonated a nuclear device. The institute will continue to collect and analyze more samples.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, meanwhile, asked South Korea to refrain from the propaganda broadcasts. But South Korea sees K-pop and propaganda as quick ways to show its displeasure — and a guaranteed irritant to the North's sensitive and proud leadership.

The broadcasts include Korean pop songs, world news and weather forecasts as well as criticism of the North's nuclear test, its troubled economy and dire human rights conditions, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

Performers on Seoul's propaganda playlist include a female K-pop band that rose to fame when its members fell multiple times on stage, a middle-aged singer who rose from obscurity last year with a song about living for 100 years and songs by a young female singer, IU, whose sweet, girlish voice might be aimed at North Korean soldiers deployed near the border.



North Koreans are prohibited from listening to K-pop, but defectors have said their countrymen enjoy music and other elements of South Korea popular culture that are smuggled into the country on USB sticks and DVDs.

___

Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.

___

Follow Foster Klug, AP's Seoul bureau chief, on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@APKlug. Follow Kim Tong-hyung at www.twitter.com/@kimtonghyung

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[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/why-nato-says-time-stop-hugging-russian-bear-233248632.html

Why NATO says it's time to stop hugging the Russian bear

After the cold war, America hoped that European security was permanently solved, but Russia's recent forays into Ukraine and Syria have been followed by a shift in US rhetoric.

Christian Science Monitor
By Anna Mulrine
16 hours ago

In little-noticed remarks this week, NATO’s supreme allied commander, US Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, said that for too long, the United States has “hugged the bear” of Russia. But now, he said, it’s time to get tough.

This toughness should come in the form of more US troops to Europe, he said, and more “high end” training to prepare American forces for a potential battle against the former cold war foe.

The remarks, made while Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was visiting Europe this week, have struck some as a bit alarmist. True, Russia has invaded Crimea and used agents provocateurs, covert operations, and even some of its own Red Army forces in Ukraine.

Defense officials do not believe, however, that Russia is poised to run its tanks through the Fulda Gap – the lowland corridor in Germany where the US military was prepared to intercept a surprise attack from the Warsaw Pact during the 4-1/2 decades of the cold war.

Still, the comments of General Breedlove and others mark a shift in thinking, argues John Herbst, ambassador to Ukraine from 2003 to 2006 and former director of the Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University in Washington.

“I think it’s fair to say that six to eight months ago, if Breedlove had headed off in this direction he would have been walked back by the White House,” and told to tone down his rhetoric. “But not now,” says Mr. Herbst, who briefs US military commanders, “there’s been an evolution in attitudes, among our military but within the administration as well.”

Much of this is due to Russia's recent intervention in Syria, as well as its aggression in Crimea and Ukraine, in which it made use of undercover Russian soldiers in unmarked army fatigues, known as "little green men," to wreak destruction on the ground.

This marks a notable shift since the end of the cold war, when the US quickly began operating on the assumption that European security was solved.

“We thought we could check that box, focus on other things – that Europe would become a provider of security, rather than a consumer of it,” says Jeffrey Mankoff, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The US view of Russia has changed dramatically – and quickly. “We went from that to ‘Russia is a defeated enemy,’ and not only that, but they’re in total collapse,” says Christopher Harmer, who served on the Pentagon staff developing strategic plans for Europe, NATO, and Russia from 2005 to 2008.

“We thought we could love them into the NATO alliance, and hug them into being responsible state actors,” adds Mr. Harmer, who is now a senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.

Even given Russian intervention in Crimea and Ukraine, as well as Syria, a move such as rolling Russian tanks into the Baltics would be “extremely risky” and would be the kind of move on Russia’s part that would be “low probability,” says Dr. Mankoff.

Yet the rhetorical arguments that Russian President Vladimir Putin used to justify Russian intervention in Ukraine “could apply equally well to the Baltic states,” says Herbst, who is now director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council. The populations of Estonia and Latvia, for example, are roughly a quarter Russian, and that subset has in the past complained that those countries are treating them badly.

Russia might invade in the guise of protecting Russian citizens, or send undercover military personnel in civilian garb and begin some sort of hybrid war. “I don’t think it’s likely, but I’d put it at a 5 to 15 percent possibility,” Herbst adds.

“The kinds of things you need to be more worried about are agents provocateurs – which are more likely but less escalatory – as well as different kinds of intelligence operations involving little green men,” Mankoff says. “That’s where the challenge really lies.”

The question is how to counter these moves, particularly those that appear to be remote possibilities. Breedlove has suggested that the answer lies in more US troops in Europe, lauding the recent decision by the Army to rotate a brigade-size unit to Europe.

This could contribute to good, old-fashioned deterrence, Mankoff says: “I think the logic of deterrence that existed throughout the cold war is still relevant. We’re less likely to fight if Russia understands that we have the capability and willingness to fulfill our obligations to our NATO allies.”

But troop resources in the US military are scarce and commanders fight over them, even if the Defense Department is the most lavishly funded in the US government.

“Breedlove won’t say this publicly, but he really is engaged in a resource struggle with the other combatant commands,” notes Harmer of the Institute for the Study of War. “At the same time Europe wants more forces to counteract Russian shenanigans, I can guarantee you that Pacific Command is saying that, ‘At least the Russians are predictable bad actors,’ ” but the Pacific Command needs the forces because it has to grapple with a volatile North Korea.

Likewise US Central Command, which runs the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, would probably say, “That may be all well and good, but we’re fighting an ongoing war,” Harmer says. “They are all patriotic enough not to have that fight publicly, but the fight is going on every day.”

But Russia doesn’t simply present a military challenge, Mankoff says. “It’s much broader than that.” The potential solutions, too, go beyond the military, and involve “promoting resilience in potentially vulnerable countries, by making their networks more resilient to penetration, by shining light on dubious financial flows that are potentially undermining financial institutions in these countries, or by revealing parties or movements that may have hidden agendas.”

What’s more, it’s important to keep in mind that the problems the US currently has with Russia are not necessarily long term, Herbst says.

“I think domestic problems in Russia are growing, and it’ll lead to changes in their very aggressive foreign policy,” he says. “Elites in Moscow are getting very unhappy” with Mr. Putin’s policies, particularly as the domestic economy contracts, he adds.

In this case, “Either the policies will change, or the leadership will.”

Related stories
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Kremlin's beef with Turkey hits Russians at home – and on holiday
From downed Russian jet, hard lessons about destroying Islamic State

Read this story at csmonitor.com

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/european-tourists-stabbed-egypt-stable-condition-073356762.html

IS claims Egypt attack that killed 2 police officers in Giza

Associated Press
By AHMED HATEM and NOUR YOUSSEF
1 hour ago

HURGHADA, Egypt (AP) — A local Islamic State affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two policemen in the country's Giza province.

Earlier Saturday, Egypt's Interior Ministry said gunmen killed two policemen while they were on their way to work. However, the IS group claims it killed more than two officers, but did not give an exact number.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the online claim, but it bore the design and logo of the group's previous statements. It was circulated by the group's sympathizers on social media.

Saturday's attack came a day after two knife-wielding militants stabbed three tourists at a hotel in Egypt's Red Sea city of Hurghada. Earlier this week, the local IS affiliate claimed a hotel attack near the Pyramids that did not wound anyone.

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Islamic State attacked Israeli tourists in Cairo: Amaq news agency Reuters

 

[Housecarl]

Paris police shoot dead knife-wielding man: police sources
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-shoot-dead-knife-wielding-man-police-sources

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/paris-police-station-attacker-lived-german-refugee-shelter-223043866.html

Paris police station attacker 'lived in German refugee shelter'

AFP
By Hui Min Neo
1 hour ago

Berlin (AFP) - A man who attacked a Paris police station last week had lived in a centre for asylum-seekers in Germany, German investigators say, a finding likely to fuel criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal stance towards war refugees.


Related Stories

Police: Paris police attacker lived in German shelter Associated Press
Fake suicide vest attacker identified by family: French investigators AFP
Police try to determine identity of Paris police attacker Associated Press
[$$] French Police Treating Knife Attack at Paris Police Station as Act of Terrorism The Wall Street Journal
Merkel gets tough on migrant lawbreakers as Cologne assaults soar AFP


The individual was shot dead by French police on Thursday after he tried to storm a police station in northern Paris, brandishing a meat cleaver and wearing a fake suicide vest.

The assault took place exactly one year since the start of a series of jihadist attacks in France, marked by the killing of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine on January 7 2015.

On Saturday, German investigators assisting the probe into the police-station attack raided an apartment at a shelter for asylum-seekers in Recklinghausen, in the west of the country.

Their statement gave no other details except to say no indications were found that other attacks had been planned.

A source close to the matter told AFP that the suspect had been registered as an asylum-seeker.

- ' IS flag and symbol' -

The news site Spiegel Online reported, meanwhile, that the man had already been classed by German police as a possible suspect after he posed at the refugee centre with an IS flag, but he disappeared in December.

Welt am Sonntag said the man had drawn a symbol of the Islamic State organisation on the shelter's wall.

He had used different names in separate registrations with German authorities, and filed for asylum using the name Walid Salihi, according to the newspaper.

The man had also given different nationalities at each registration, once saying he was Syrian, another time saying he was Moroccan, and on yet another occasion, Georgian.

But French investigators said Friday the suspect appeared to have been identified by his family and was said to be a Tunisian named Tarek Belgacem.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins had said the man was carrying a mobile phone with a German SIM card, with French media reporting that it contained several messages in Arabic, some of which were sent from Germany.

In Tunisia, a woman who claimed to be the man's mother confirmed that he had been living in Germany but denied he had any links to extremist groups.

She told a Tunisian radio station that her son had rang her to ask her "to send him his birth certificate. He was in Germany."

The link to a refugee shelter in Germany, and the apparent ease with which the subject was able to file with the authorities, risks further inflaming a debate over the 1.1 million asylum-seekers that the country took in last year.

Mindful of the political sensitivity surrounding the issue, Recklinghausen's mayor Christoph Tesche said it remains "our humanitarian and legal duty to provide shelter for those who flee their homes".

But it was also equally important to work "intensively with relevant authorities to ensure that people with such intentions cannot hide in our institutions," he stressed.

Tensions were already running high after a spate of sexual assaults and thefts during New Year's Eve festivities in the western city of Cologne, with police saying suspects of the crime spree were mostly asylum seekers and migrants.

Cologne police said Saturday that they have recorded 379 cases of violence during the rampage that night, as far-right protests erupted in the western city against the assaults.

The latest link to the attacker in France risks fanning fears that would-be terrorists were slipping into Europe's biggest economy amid a record refugee influx.

Such concerns were already raised when it emerged that two of the suicide bombers in the November 13 attacks in Paris were carrying passports that had been registered as they arrived on a Greek island with a group of migrants in October.

However, French investigators are not convinced that the two men, who blew themselves up near the Stade de France stadium, were the men in the passports.


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[Housecarl]

One Thousand plus Muzzies Go On Rape/Sexual Assault Spree/Cologne Germany Train Station
Started by Medical Mavený, 01-04-2016 05:22 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ult-Spree-Cologne-Germany-Train-Station/page3


For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/scale-cologne-attacks-grows-more-complaints-filed-121709137.html

Scale of Cologne New Year attacks grows as more complaints filed

Source: Reuters - Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:00 GMT
By John O'Donnell

FRANKFURT, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The mass attacks on women in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve have prompted 379 criminal complaints, with investigations focused largely on asylum seekers or illegal migrants from north Africa, police have said.

Around 40 percent of the complaints included sexual offences, including two rapes, police said, as a 100-strong force of officers continued their investigations.

The attacks, mostly targeting women and ranging from theft to sexual molestation, have prompted a highly-charged debate in Germany about its open-door policy to migrants and refugees, more than one million of whom came to the country last year.

"There have been arrests and we will continue to make arrests," a spokeswoman for the Cologne police said on Sunday. She said police had increased the number of officers on patrol.

"It is then to be determined whether or not these people were involved on New Year's Eve."

In an earlier statement, the city's police had said the suspects in the focus of their investigation "come largely from north African countries" and the investigation "concerns largely asylum seekers and people who are staying in Germany illegally".

Gathering evidence is difficult, given the chaotic and crowded scenes on the night, when police were overwhelmed by the mass assaults.

The attacks triggered demonstrations in Cologne on Saturday, one of which was organised by the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement.

The far-right has seized on the alleged involvement of migrants in the Cologne attacks as proof that German chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming stance to migrants is flawed.

Some in that crowd threw bottles and fire crackers at officers, and riot police used water canon to disperse the protesters.

While the New Year's Eve attacks happened mainly in Cologne, there were also similar assaults in other cities, including Frankfurt.

Separately, police in North Rhine-Westphalia said that a man shot dead as he tried to enter a Paris police station last week wielding a meat cleaver and shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is Greatest) had lived in Germany.

Police said he had an apartment in an accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Recklinghausen, north of Cologne. The original information came from French security authorities.

A German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that the man had painted the symbol of Islamic State on the wall of his flat and had been registered multiple times in Germany under fake names and many nationalities from Syrian to Moroccan. (Additional reporting by Ralf Bode in Berlin; Editing by Ros Russell)

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.spiegel.de/international...bate-on-immigration-in-germany-a-1071175.html

Chaos and Violence: How New Year's Eve in Cologne Has Changed Germany

New Year's Eve in Cologne rapidly descended into a chaotic free-for-all involving sexual assault and theft, most of it apparently committed by foreigners. It has launched a bitter debate over immigration and refugees in Germany -- one that could change the country. By SPIEGEL Staff

January 08, 2016 – 06:43 PM

A lot happened on New Year's Eve in Cologne, much of it contradictory, much of it real, much of it imagined. Some was happenstance, some was exaggerated and much of it was horrifying. In its entirety, the events of Cologne on New Year's Eve and in the days that followed adhered to a script that many had feared would come true even before it actually did. The fears of both immigration supporters and virulent xenophobes came true. The fears of Pegida people and refugee helpers; the fears of unknown women and of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Even Donald Trump, the brash Republican presidential candidate in the US, felt it necessary to comment. Germany, he trumpeted, "is going through massive attacks to its people by the migrants allowed to enter the country."

For some, the events finally bring to light what they have always been saying: that too many foreigners in the country bring too many problems along with them. For the others, that which happened is what they have been afraid of from the very beginning: that ugly images of ugly behavior by migrants would endanger what has been a generally positive mood in Germany with respect to the refugees.

As inexact and unclear as the facts from Cologne may be, they carry a clear message: Difficult days are ahead. And they beg a couple of clear questions: Is Germany really sure that it can handle the influx of refugees? And: Does Germany really have the courage and the desire to become the country in Europe with the greatest number of immigrants?

The first week of 2016 was a hectic one. Tempers flared and hysteria spread. It should be noted that an attack would have triggered similar national emotions, or the murder of a child in a park or any other crime that touched on our deepest fears and serviced our long-held stereotypes -- any crime in which a foreigner was involved. On New Year's Eve in Cologne, it was -- according to numerous witness reports -- drunk young men from North Africa who formed gangs to go after defenseless individuals. They humiliated and robbed -- and they sexually assaulted women.

Their behavior, and the subsequent discussion of their behavior in the halls of political power in Berlin, in the media and on the Internet, could easily trigger a radical shift in Germany's refugee and immigration policies. The pressure built up by the images and stories from Cologne make it virtually impossible to continue on as before. That, too, is a paradox: The pressure would be no less intense even if not a single one of the refugees and migrants who arrived in 2015 were among the perpetrators.

Powerless in the Face of Chaos and Crime

Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, foreigners, friendly or evil, new or long-time residents: It doesn't matter. It seems as though the time has come for a broad debate over Germany's future -- and Merkel's mantra "We can do it," is no longer enough to suppress it.

New Year's Eve marks a shift because it crystallized a widespread unease with state inaction. The happenings on the square between the Cologne Cathedral and the main train station was as symbolic as they were real: symbolic of the state's powerlessness in the face of chaos and crime.

Two months after the attacks in Paris, one can have one's doubts as to whether Cologne represents a "completely new dimension of violence," as has been repeated by both police officials and politicians. What is clear, however, is that the police were unprepared and that they failed. The officers on site were reduced by the circumstances they faced to playing a pitiable role.

Some of the reactions coming from politicians this week were also a bit pathetic. Instead of offering a vision for how national and state politicians intend to integrate hundreds of thousands of foreigners or for how the state intends to finance and organize this new immigration society, many political leaders preferred to merely repeat tired demands for harsh judiciary action and other self-evident legal responses.

The chancellor too joined the legions of phrasemongers and, as has been her wont since last summer, did not have much to offer aside from her fundamental confidence. It is a political path that won't take her very far anymore. It has felt this week as though voters, if they don't feel like their concerns are being taken seriously by Merkel's conservatives or her Social Democratic coalition partners, will search for answers from other, more radical groups. As such, Cologne will be a test for Berlin.

But this hectic, fervid and, at times, hysteric, week has also been about much more: Namely it has been about all of the issues that the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the xenophobic movement Pegida have been shouting about for months. It was about Merkel's refugee policies and the upper limit for refugees demanded by her conservative Bavarian allies. Added to that was the perpetual problem of violence against women. It was about the integration of foreigners, the danger of a societal split over the refugee question and a shift to the right in Germany. But it was also about the quality of the work done by the police and about a state being unequal to the task facing it. It is a lot to think about. The role of the "lying press" can't be forgotten either. And yet, it still isn't entirely clear what actually happened on New Year's Eve in Cologne.

'Largely Peaceful'

On Thursday, it was said that 16 suspects had been identified and that some 200 complaints, most of them from women saying they had been victims of sexual assault, had been received. But how did the events unfold?

At 8:57 a.m. on the morning of January 1, the Cologne police department's press department released a statement under the heading: "Festive Atmosphere -- Celebrations Largely Peaceful." But that isn't how Cologne police officer Hermann Wohlfahrt had experienced the previous evening.

Wohlfahrt has been a police officer for almost 20 years and has seen a lot: hooligan battles and melees between neo-Nazis and anarchists, for example. When speaking with SPIEGEL about New Year's Eve, he asked that his real name not be used. Wohlfahrt is a pseudonym.

His street shift began at 10 p.m. and he had been assigned the area around the cathedral and some of the main streets nearby. Some 80 riot police from the 14th Company were on duty that night, which was twice as many as had been patrolling the streets the previous year -- an increase that was largely due to fears of terrorist attacks. The Cologne police station had requested the full complement of 124 riot police, but the state police headquarters denied the request.

In the preparatory meeting at 9 p.m., just prior to his deployment, Wohlfahrt learned that there was an unexpected situation at the main train station. In a statement issued later, the police summarized the situation as: "400 to 500 apparently intoxicated persons engaging in conspicuously aggressive behavior. The majority are male and they are firing off firecrackers and rockets in an uncontrolled manner." In an internal report from Jan. 2, these men were surprisingly quickly, and without any confirmation whatsoever, described as "refugees." Shortly before 11 p.m., the police began speaking of more than 1,000 people, mostly men and mostly of "North African or Arab origin."

At the taxi stand on the square, two young women climbed into Lucia Keller's vehicle and asked her to take them to Breslauer Square, located on the other side of the train station. Keller had been waiting for a fare for an hour and didn't know what was going on in the area, so she asked the two women why they didn't just walk through the train station to the other side. "We don't want to go through there," was the response. They had already seen what was going on inside.

Hermann Wohlfahrt arrived in front of the train station at around 10:50 p.m. His estimate for the number of men in the square in front of the station and on the stairs leading up to the cathedral is between 1,000 and 1,500. He watched as some of them aimed fireworks at others. And he was surprised that the men seemed completely unimpressed by the police presence.

A Policewoman Under Attack

Wohlfahrt doesn't know where the men were from. He recalls that some of them kept shouting the French phrase "Pas de problème!", which means "no problem," and then continued lighting off their fireworks. "We had no effect on the atmosphere whatsoever," Wohlfahrt says. Colleagues of his reported seeing two Moroccans trying to take a mobile phone from an Iranian refugee, but it is impossible to confirm that story. It is neither clear that the attackers were from Morocco nor that their victim was from Iran, much less a refugee from Iran.

Wohlfahrt first heard reports of sexual assaults over his police radio. He also heard that a female colleague had become a victim of violence. She had been together with two other officers dressed in civilian clothes in order to track down pickpockets and petty thieves when she was surrounded and indecently touched while others tried to steal her bag. From a police report, Wohlfahrt later learned that, because of the "complexity of the situation as a whole," the "deployment of uniformed officers" to protect the policewoman "had not been possible."

By a quarter past 11, all officers belonging to the 14th Company had arrived at the main train station and began clearing the square shortly thereafter, with federal police officers blocking the entrances and exits to the main train station. The operation lasted 40 minutes, whereupon parts of the 14th Company were ordered to deploy to other parts of the Cologne city center. Around 40 officers remained behind at the cathedral and they watched as the area once again began to fill with people. The police established two corridors: One on the narrow area between the top of the stairs and the cathedral, and the other at the entrance to the train station. Several people asked police for an escort, including, as the police report makes clear, many who themselves had "immigration backgrounds."

One of them stopped Hermann Wohlfahrt not long after midnight and asked him if such events are typical for New Year's celebrations in Germany.

It took four days before an officer with the federal police force put into writing what, from Wohlfahrt's perspective, really happened that night. The author makes it clear that the escalation that took place prior to the clearing of the square was caused by "persons with migration backgrounds." Later on in the "deployment report," it says that an identification of the perpetrators "was unfortunately not possible."

'Serious Injuries or Even Deaths'

His report reads like the protocol of a massacre. "Upon arrival," it begins, "we were informed of the conditions in and around the station by agitated citizens with crying and shocked children." Many "upset passersby" ran to the arriving police to tell them about fights, thefts and sexual attacks against women.

Regarding the situation on the square in front of the train station: "Women, accompanied or not, had to run a literal 'gauntlet' of heavily intoxicated masses of men of a kind that is impossible to describe." There were fears that "the situation we were confronted with (chaos) could have led to serious injuries or even to deaths."

The report mentions deliberate attempts to provoke the police. One example is of someone who "tore up a residency permit with a smile on his face, saying: 'You can't touch me. I'll just go back tomorrow and get a new one.'" Another example mentioned in the report was an unidentified man saying: "I'm a Syrian! You have to treat me kindly! Ms. Merkel invited me."

By morning, the riot police unit had banned 10 people from the square, taken 11 people into custody and arrested four others. There were 32 criminal complaints and the documents of 71 people were checked. The report indicates that the "majority" of those people whose documents were controlled were only able to produce "a registration document as an asylum seeker" issued by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The "number of persons from the North Africa/Arab region," the report notes, was "very surprising" to the officers.

The public, though, was initially left in the dark. An early indication that sexual predators had been on the prowl between the train station and the cathedral appeared around 1 p.m. on New Year's Day on the Facebook page of a group called Nett-Werk Köln.

There are around 140,000 members of the group and the postings are usually rather run-of-the-mill. It is a local platform for Cologne residents looking for a party space or a cheap car repair shop, for people who have lost their phone or who have picked up a stray cat. The site is operated on a volunteer basis by Phil Daub and a few others. The 47-year-old Daub worked as a moderator in the 1990s for the music broadcaster Viva. Today, he does voice-overs for advertisements and is a voice for the broadcaster Sat.1.

The New Germany?

The Jan. 1 entry on Nett-Werk Köln spoke of "horrific scenes in the Cologne train station." The author wrote of "crying women after multiple sexual attacks in the crowd." He wrote that he had been in the middle of the throng "hand-in-hand with my girlfriend, which unfortunately didn't prevent her from being repeatedly grabbed under her dress." The author combined his narration with a mention of his own efforts on behalf of the refugees who have poured into the country in the last year. "Is it for this that I donated half of the contents of my wardrobe? Is this the new Cologne? Is this the new Germany?"

The entry posted on New Year's Day can no longer be found on the Nett-Werk site. One of the group's administrators thought it was the work of a troll and immediately deleted it.

But the short text was nevertheless quickly shared. It was taken over by the kind of people who decorate their Facebook pages with the German flag, demand the resignation of Chancellor Merkel or who are firmly rooted in the right-wing extremist scene.

The tone on Nett-Werk Köln has also become much coarser since the New Year -- so course, in fact, that Daub felt it necessary to post a long contribution on Wednesday distancing himself from the content of his own forum. "The fact is," Daub wrote, "that Nett-Werk is currently a battlefield of verbal violence, mutual accusations of guilt, calls for vigilante justice, insults, abuse, incitement and racism."

The Facebook site of public broadcaster ZDF has also become a kind of battlefield. There is talk of the "lying press," conspiracy and state-control. "We are being overwhelmed with hate and anger," says Elmar Theveßen, ZDF's deputy editor-in-chief. "The mistrust that we are being confronted with is worrisome."

Something did, in fact, go wrong at ZDF. Initially, the most important news story of the new year went uncovered by the public broadcaster. Other media had already reported on the events in Cologne over the weekend, including the Cologne tabloid Express, the website of the Munich-based paper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the German news agency DPA. Following the press conference given by Cologne police on Monday afternoon, SPIEGEL ONLINE jumped on the story, as did private broadcaster RTL and Germany's other public broadcaster ARD. But ZDF remained silent.

Calming the Doubters

On Tuesday, the station issued a public apology for the lack of coverage. "It was a lapse in judgement that the 7 p.m. evening news show didn't at least mention the incident," Theveßen wrote on Facebook. Such an open admission of error by a senior manager at a public station in Germany is rare, but Theveßen's act of repentance did little to calm the doubters.

All established media have been confronted with the same phenomenon. In Germany, there is a stable minority that is convinced that the country's broadcasters, newspapers and magazines are controlled by dark powers and have agreed to suppress bad news about foreigners so as not to endanger the political project of welcoming refugees.

More than 2,000 users have thus far commented on Theveßens post, with most of the missives of a horrifying nature -- a collection of conspiracy theories characteristic of the far-right. One user named Johannes Normann, formerly a regional leader for AfD, wrote: "Does 'our' news have to be first cleared by our trans-Atlantic 'friends'? After all, they 'ordered' the 'Islamic mass-immigration.'"

Another user, Julien F. Weikinnes, wrote: "What would have happened if 100 Pegida followers had raped 300 Muslims? There would probably have been a breaking news alert and a live story from the Cologne train station."

Those, of course, are just the voices of individuals. Yet according to a survey conducted by Allensbach, 41 percent of Germans believe that critical voices are suppressed when it comes to the refugee issue. On the right wing of the political spectrum, that belief has become a certainty.

Aroused Right Wing

Right-wing populists and extremists are positively celebrating what happened in Cologne as confirmation of their long-held beliefs about foreigners and their allies with the "lying press." Whether PI-News (PI stands for "Politically Incorrect") or Pegida, whether AfD or the neo-Nazi party NPD, whether the right-wing party ProNRW or the newly converted far-right snobs: All of those who wrote about Cologne reveled in the incident.

"Templer" wrote in PI-News: "The crazy chancellor has allowed millions of male, sexually starved, asocial illegals from the Middle East and Africa to come to Germany. Blond German women are, according to the Koran, 'prey-women' who can be abused according to your whims or enslaved."

"Eurabier" wrote, likewise in PI-News: "The lefty-green lying press … would have liked to have kept this group rape under wraps."

"eule54" wrote in PI-News: "All of it was predictable from Merkel's ******s, gypsies and Arabs, who she waved in illegally."

"Hans-Werner Link" wrote in Facebook: "Where were the girls screaming welcome this time? Those whores would certainly have loved to have their crotches or tits grabbed by countless hands."

"Stephan Tautz" wrote in Facebook: "Put them on a ship and sink them in the Atlantic."

There are even worse entries than these ones. But there are also missives with similar messages, yet delivered in a more genteel manner. Thomas Schmidt, in a blog belonging to the new right-wing magazine Sezession, writes of an "ongoing population exchange." On the website of the magazine Blaue Narzisse, also a right-wing publication, Felix Menzel writes of the need to "throw out non-integrated foreigners, cease paying social benefits to new arrivals and open asylum centers in North Africa and the Middle East."

And of course Björn Höcke of the AfD shouldn't be ignored. On Facebook, he wrote: "The events at the Cologne train station on New Year's Eve gave our country a taste of the looming collapse of culture and civilization. Hundreds of women were victims of a group of 1,000 (!) North African young men."

No matter how often such nonsense is repeated, it doesn't make it any more true. Yet the inaccurate, exaggerated numbers have found their way into the global press.

Constellation and Magnitude

Who should one ask to better understand what happened in Cologne? Wilhelm Heitmeyer is one of Germany's best known social researchers. For almost 20 years, he has led the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at the University of Bielefeld. His focus is on violence and brutalization, forces that drive society apart.

The fact that women were physically attacked, Heitmeyer says, is nothing new. "That has always happened. What's new is the constellation and the magnitude."

Continued.....

 

[Housecarl]

Continued.....

He says that the interaction of several factors is likely what made the large number of attacks possible. "The police could have handled 20 men. It follows, then, that there must have been a critical mass of perpetrators with the same idea in mind," he says. He notes that normal New Year's Eve happenings also played a role. "On New Year's, many people tend to collect in small spaces, it is loud and screams can easily be misinterpreted. In addition, large crowds make it more difficult to identify individual perpetrators."

Heitmeyer believes it is incorrect to speak of organized crime, as German Justice Minister Heiko Maas did this week. "Organized crime has a stable structure with targeted and obscured courses of events. But in Cologne, we are looking at the absence of structure. I assume that the perpetrators coordinated using modern communication devices and social networks. We are familiar with that from violence-prone football fans."

Because words can generate reality, Heitmeyer warns against speaking of sexual attacks. "That trivializes the phenomenon," he says. "It's about violence. And violence is a demonstration of power -- in this instance, women's right to self-determination, in order to express their inequality."

The search for the perpetrators initially led the Cologne investigators to a criminal milieu, one that has plagued Cologne for years, especially in nightlife districts or around the train station. It's typically groups of young pickpockets who use perfidious tricks to snatch wallets, phones and other valuables off unsuspecting pedestrians. The perpetrators dance up to their victims in a pretend celebratory mood, rub up against them and rob them. Those who try to defend themselves are insulted, threatened or even hurt.

No Deterrent Effect

In Cologne alone, more than 11,000 people have been robbed in this way in the last three years. According to police, all of the perpetrators have been male and in the majority of cases, they have come from North African countries such as Morocco and Algeria. The authorities are also investigating groups of men from central Africa and Kosovo. One person involved in these investigations has said most of the men have been in Germany for quite some time but only have a "tolerated" immigrant status, meaning officials could not confirm their country of origin due to missing travel documents. This milieu has little to do with the refugees who have arrived in Germany recently after fleeing places like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.

The perpetrators -- among whom are also some Germans -- tend to be between 16 and 25 years old and they usually operate in small groups. On any given day in Cologne, there are about 20 of them on the streets. Conviction rates are low, and when they are made, the result is usually just a fine. Thus far, such penalties have not had a deterrent effect.

But all that may now change -- now that the criminals have moved on from mere thefts and threats. New Year's Eve may have marked a dramatic turning point. Sexual assaults were perpetrated en masse in several cities, as if coordinated by some invisible hand. Two of the alleged attacks in Cologne ended in rape. These are serious offenses that can hardly be mentioned in the same sentence as the tricks of the pickpockets.

In one rather explosive development, however, authorities in Cologne were able to locate some of the mobile phones that were stolen on New Year's Eve. In a number of cases, the trail has led to refugee shelters or their immediate neighborhood.

The stories of Lara, Jeanette and Paul, three university students from Bonn, paint a vivid picture of what so many women experienced on New Year's Eve. The trio had traveled to Cologne with two other female friends because the parties there are simply better than they are in Bonn. They arrived at the square in front of the train station just as the police were clearing it. They didn't know what was going on -- all they saw was police officers in helmets pushing people back. They continued on to the banks of the Rhine River, a vantage point from which they could view the fireworks, when Jeanette realized that her money, ID and entry ticket for that night's club had been stolen.

Just the Beginning

At midnight, they shared a bottle of cheap champagne out of plastic cups and then headed back to the central train station. In front of the stairs leading from the cathedral down to the train station, they had to squeeze past a large group of men. They locked hands, letting Jeanette take the lead because she knew judo. Paul tried to provide some cover for the girls. At one point, Lara cried out: "Someone just grabbed my crotch!" That was just the beginning.

Hands seemed to come from every direction to grab the women's bodies. They always went for between the legs. Paul's attempts to protect the women were futile. Providing cover for one left another to fend for herself. "It was one hand after another," Jeanette says. She was able to throw one attacker "really violently to the side" with a judo grip.

None of the three students can say for sure who attacked them. They are, however, all in agreement that all of the men surrounding them were speaking the same language, and that it sounded a lot like Arabic.

What Lara, Jeanette and Paul experienced in Cologne wasn't unique to that city. Police reports indicate that a large group of men also gathered along the famous street in Hamburg's St. Pauli district known as Grosse Freiheit, most of whom were probably of North African descent. These men committed a series of "property thefts with sexual components."

In Stuttgart, a 20-year-old Iraqi has been in custody since the morning of Jan. 1 for allegedly groping two women at the city's Schlossplatz square. Police in Frankfurt am Main have reported similar incidents.

Jeanette and Lara, the two students from Bonn, went to the police six days after New Year's to file complaints for sexual assault. "We want this to be documented," Lara says. It makes them furious to read in the newspaper that what happened in Cologne came from the pickpocket milieu. The way Lara sees it: "We were systematically sexually harassed."

By the time Jeanette, Lara and Paul boarded the delayed train that would take them back to Bonn on New Year's, it was 2 a.m. During the ride, they met a young Syrian who told them about his flight from Damascus through Lebanon and Turkey and eventually by boat to Greece. From there, he continued on foot through the Balkans and on to Germany. Afterwards, they told him about their night in Cologne. He was horrified, they say.

'War in the Middle of Cologne'

Society should be grateful for witnesses such as Jeanette, Lara and Paul: people who experience horrible things, but who still refrain from resorting to prejudice.

Cologne's central train station isn't far from the tower where the office of one of Germany's leading feminists, Alice Schwarzer, is located. It is from there that she broadcasts her commentaries on current events out into the world. When it comes to the sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in Cologne, Schwarzer speaks of "war" and "terror."

"Young men of Arab or North African descent are playing war in the middle of Cologne," she writes, describing a "gang-bang party and 1,000 men who were acting as if they were at Tahrir Square in Cairo, dreaming of being heroes like their brothers in the civil wars of North Africa and the Middle East." They are a product, Schwarzer says, of misplaced tolerance in this country.

Schwarzer is speaking the language of all the people who see the events of New Year's Eve as proof that sexual violence is an imported problem -- a result of failed immigration. Young German feminists see it differently.

They argue that sexual violence is not a migrant phenomenon at all, but a long-standing, societal problem. Young feminists like Anne Wizorek criticize that Schwarzer -- along with many others -- is using the New Year's violence to fuel racist sentiment. They also criticize that broad swathes of society are acting as though there wasn't any sexual violence in Germany before the refugees arrived.

Every year during Oktoberfest, for instance, there are a number of sexual assaults, even rapes. Men grab women inappropriately at clubs across the country. At public viewing sites, where people gather to watch soccer, or Karneval, the boundaries between playful flirting and malicious badgering are quick to blur. Nearly 60 percent of German women say they have been sexually harassed, according to a 2004 study. Sixty percent! It's impossible that such a staggering number of women were only harassed by men from North Africa.

Young feminists are being asked why they haven't been showing their outrage over the latest attacks as strongly as they did three years ago with the hashtag "#aufschrei," German for "outcry." At the time, a politician with the FDP party named Rainer Brüderle made a lewd comment to a female journalist and set off a wave of criticism on Twitter. Is it because many of the attackers this time around were migrants? Is that what they call political correctness?

Empty Words

When emotions are running high, nuanced opinions tend to be drowned out by the hysteria. A black-and-white view of the world takes hold and politicians promise swift, conclusive "solutions," as if such a thing were possible.

In this environment, reports of everyday sexism are hardly even registered in the public sphere because they don't match some people's perception of everyday life. But in some areas, everyday life has been in such disarray for such a long time that many speeches about the need for a strong integration policy sound like empty words.

Ercan Yasaroglu, a social worker from Berlin, was appalled when he heard about the attacks in Cologne. He was furious and dismayed, but he wasn't surprised. "What happened in Cologne has been happening here in Berlin for a year, but on a smaller scale," he says.

Yasaroglu works in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. In recent months, he has seen how, time and again, women are verbally harassed, then groped, then robbed. "This is not some sudden loss of inhibition, but calculated action by criminals." Thieves intentionally distract women with sexual assaults, he says, and many of those responsible are from countries in North Africa. Some of them have had their applications for asylum rejected, leaving them with a "tolerated" immigration status and a miserable life.

From his office at Kottbusser Tor in the heart of Kreuzberg, Yasaroglu gazes out at snowy streets. He has lived here since fleeing Turkey 30 years ago. To him, Kreuzberg seemed like a German melting pot of sorts, a place where people from around the world can live together more or less peacefully. But the atmosphere has changed in the last year or two. It's gotten rougher, more hostile.

A dozen gangs, roughly 10 to 15 people in size, have divided the neighborhood up amongst themselves and are increasingly terrorizing residents and tourists. The number of registered drug-related crimes has increased by 90 percent in the last year, the number of pickpocket thefts by 30 percent. Numerous business owners in the area complained in a letter to the city government of the new level of aggressiveness at Kottbusser Tor. The square is dominated by criminals.

What's the best way to deal with such problems? A year ago, Yasaroglu wrote a letter to Berlin politicians requesting they make integration work a higher priority. But he also asked for a greater police presence in Kreuzberg. "If we can't -- or don't want to -- integrate these people, then we need to at least monitor them."

'Tough Response by the State'

Integration, integration policy, repression, immigration policy, caps on immigration: The events in Cologne have profoundly changed the dynamics of Berlin politics. Chancellor Merkel and her confidants fear that it will only get more difficult to enforce their current refugee policy.

Merkel doesn't usually comment on events until she has the full story. The fact that she has already responded to the violence in Cologne by saying that it deserved a "tough response by the state" shows how seriously she takes the matter.

Her fears are shared at the highest levels of her governing coalition. The parliamentary group leader of her Christian Democratic party, Volker Kauder, says he is concerned that what happened in Cologne will inflame already negative attitudes toward refugees. Kauder says the hate mail he receives has gotten more aggressive since New Year's.

Many members of German parliament report having similar experiences as Kauder. Gunther Krichbaum, chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union and a supporter of Merkel's refugee policy, says: "Cologne has the quality of changing the entire debate over refugees."

In fact, that's already happening. Merkel is suddenly calling for a "tough response," Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière says it must be easier in the future to deport delinquent asylum seekers. Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who is otherwise rather reserved, has said it may be possible to deport offenders.

Top Christian Democratic and Social Democratic leaders have until now avoided using such sharp language. But they are worried that right-wing movements like Pegida or populist parties like the AfD could become even more popular if the federal government is seen as being too soft on foreigners who commit crimes.

The Christian Democrat's new party line can be found in the so-called "Mainz Declaration," which the party's federal-level leadership intends to adopt this weekend. In the case of offenses like the one in Cologne, the declaration foresees "potential perpetrators being immediately ordered into custody" if there is sufficient suspicion against them. In the case of violence against police officers and other emergency personnel, a new designation will be created that will come with "significantly higher prison sentences." And anyone who is sentenced to imprisonment without parole will forego his or her right to being classified as a refugee or asylum seeker.

Running Out of Patience

The leader of the Social Democrats, Sigmar Gabriel, presented his party's new stance on the issue during a breakfast with other Social Democratic cabinet members at the Economy Ministry on Wednesday. "The time for understanding is over," he said. "Something must now be done -- otherwise the people won't understand us at all anymore." Parliamentary group leader Thomas Oppermann tweeted after the meeting in a manner that would usually be ascribed to members of the right-wing AfD: "No pardon for sex attackers. Investigate, arrest, punish harshly. And deport them if possible. To protect the victims and the refugees."

Even Merkel's style of communication has changed.

In a speech at the annual convention of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats, she stressed several times that the number of refugees must be reduced. "I sometimes hear people say that I like the fact that so many refugees are coming to Germany," she said. "That's absolute nonsense." It was the first time party members had heard Merkel talk about refugees in that tone.

The chancellor still doesn't want to deviate from her political path. She has rejected demands from Horst Seehofer, the head of the CSU, for an upper limit of 200,000 refugees per year. Merkel is concerned that, were Germany to begin turning people back at its borders, the Schengen system of border-free travel in Europe would collapse. She hopes to be able to reduce the number of refugees using other methods. She is depending on Europe, with the help of Turkey, being able to secure its external border and hoping to establish a system whereby a predetermined number of refugees are distributed fairly among all EU member states. "I would ask that I am given the time to try these things out," she said at the CSU's annual convention this week.

But she is demanding a patience that many politicians and German citizens are running out of. And Merkel knows it. "Those who were already afraid see Cologne as confirmation," says a Merkel confidant. "And those who are fundamentally open to refugees are now saying: It can't go on like this."

What should be done? An attempt at complete honesty would be a good start. Germans are not children who need to be protected from the truth for well-intended reasons. And part of the truth is the fact that politicians like to talk about integration but have not yet given any indication that they understand the magnitude of the challenge facing them. Another part of the truth is this: German society is becoming increasingly divided.

By Maik Baumgärtner, Markus Brauck, Jürgen Dahlkamp, Jörg Diehl, Ullrich Fichtner, Jan Friedmann, Matthias Geyer, Hubert Gude, Horand Knaup, Alexander Kühn, Dialika Neufeld, Ralf Neukirch, Ann-Kathrin Nezik, Miriam Olbrisch, Maximilian Popp, Gordon Repinski, Sven Röbel, Barbara Schmid, Fidelius Schmid, Andreas Ulrich and Antje Windmann

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/north-korea-shows-latest-submarine-missile-test-launch/

North Korea Shows Latest Submarine Missile Test Launch

December ejection test appears on state-run television days after nuclear test

BY: Bill Gertz
January 8, 2016 7:57 pm

Two days after conducting a provocative underground nuclear test, North Korea on Friday released video showing what the government said was a successful submarine-launched ballistic missile test launch last month.

State-run Korean Central Television, in a 54-minute video, included a report that said the missile launch was observed in December by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was shown standing on a ship as the missile is ejected from underneath the water and then blasts off.

The missile test was first reported Monday by the Washington Free Beacon.

Defense officials said the successful test followed an earlier test failure on Nov. 27 that nearly sank North Korea’s missile-firing submarine, known as the Gorae, or Whale. The November ejection test caused significant damage, and the submarine was observed returning to the port of Sinpo listing at a 45-degree angle.

U.S. officials said the launch was carried out near Sinpo, a port city on the east coast of North Korea.

https://youtu.be/UPzTP3wiIyM
Video

However, the successful Dec. 21 test shown in the North Korea video has altered U.S. intelligence assessments of what is believed to be a new strategic nuclear strike capability.

The new submarine missile could be deployed by the North Koreans with a nuclear warhead within a year, according to the officials.

The video shows a missile the Pentagon calls the KN-11 ejecting from underwater and reaching about 130 feet in the air, followed by its engine igniting and flying into a cloud-covered sky. Later in the video, the missile is shown from a distance as it clears the clouds and flies over the sea.

A South Korean intelligence official told the Yonhap news agency that the North has not completed development of the new submarine-launched missile.

“The country seems to be in the stage of the ejection testing, but not in the completion stage,” the official said.

Kim was shown in the video wearing a winter coat and hat on a military vessel providing what the North Koreans call field guidance.

The video disclosure appears timed to aid North Korea’s efforts to highlight its strategic nuclear deterrent following the Tuesday nuclear test.

U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that the nuclear test produced a small-yield blast, and could be evidence of the development of a two-stage thermonuclear device.

North Korea hailed the test as a breakthrough in its effort to build a nuclear arsenal against what it regards as hostile foreign forces.

North Korea is believed to be capable of deploying a small nuclear warhead on a missile and has several types of missiles capable of delivering such warheads.

The long-range system is called the Taepodong. In addition to the launch-pad based Taepodong, North Korea has a small number of road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, designated as KN-08 missiles by the Pentagon.

Officials have said the KN-08 has been extensively tested in all aspects of its development, except flight testing.

The KN-11, the submarine-missile, is believed to be based on a SS-N-6 SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) obtained covertly from Russia and reverse-engineered into a missile the North Koreans call the Musudan.

The Gorae submarine is believed by U.S. intelligence to be either a refurbished Russian Golf II-class missile submarine, or an indigenous North Korean submarine based on the Golf II design.

Asked about North Korean’s missile and nuclear developments in October, Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of nuclear forces, called the rogue state “a real threat.”

“It’s very disturbing to know, even though we have not seen them test end to end, the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile, and not just that, as we look at some of their other capabilities, the Musudan and the number of SCUDs and everything else they have, it’s looking at that whole complete picture and their provocative nature that’s disturbing,” Haney said.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.goerie.com/article/20160109/NEWS07/301099858/BC-AS-NKorea-Nuclear-2nd-Ld-Writethru

Published: January 10. 2016 12:00AM

Kim visits military as Koreas slide into Cold War standoff

By FOSTER KLUG and KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) "” North Korea's leader has taken a victory tour of military headquarters to celebrate the country's widely disputed claim of a hydrogen bomb test.

Kim Jong Un called the nuclear test "a self-defensive step for reliably defending the peace on the Korean Peninsula and the regional security from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists," according to a dispatch Sunday from state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"It is the legitimate right of a sovereign state and a fair action that nobody can criticize," Kim was reported as saying during his tour of the People's Armed Forces Ministry.

The tone of Kim's comments, which sought to glorify him and justify a test that has been viewed with outrage by much of the world, is typical of state media propaganda.

But they also provide insight into North Korea's long-maintained argument that it is the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan, and a "hostile" U.S. policy that seeks to topple the government in Pyongyang, that make North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons absolutely necessary.

Kim posed for photos with leading military officials in front of statues of the two members of his family who had led the country previously "” Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

In his reported comments, he also sought to link the purported success of the nuclear test to a ruling Workers' Party convention in May, the party's first since 1980. He's expected to use the congress to announce major state policies and shake up the country's political elite to further consolidate his power.

Kim's tour came as world powers looked for ways to punish the North over a nuclear test that, even if not of a hydrogen bomb, still likely pushes Pyongyang closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.

In the wake of the test on Wednesday, the two Koreas have settled into the kind of Cold War-era standoff that has defined their relationship over the past seven decades. Since Friday, South Korea has been blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from huge speakers along the border, and the North is reportedly using speakers of its own in an attempt to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean messages.

A top North Korean ruling party official's recent warning that the South's broadcasts have pushed the Korean Peninsula "toward the brink of war" is typical of Pyongyang's over-the-top rhetoric. But it is also indicative of the real fury that the broadcasts, which criticize the country's revered dictatorship, cause in the North.

North Korea considers the South Korean broadcasts tantamount to an act of war. When Seoul Korea briefly resumed propaganda broadcasts in August after an 11-year break, Seoul says the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing an anonymous military source, reported late Saturday that the North had started its own broadcasts, presumably to keep its soldiers from hearing the South Korean broadcasts. The North's broadcasts were too weak to hear clearly on the South Korean side of the border. South Korean military officials wouldn't confirm the Yonhap report.

Besides the "brink of war" comment, Workers' Party Secretary Kim Ki Nam said in comments broadcasts on state TV on Friday that Pyongyang's rivals are "jealous" of the North's successful hydrogen bomb test.

Many outside governments and experts question whether the blast was in fact a powerful hydrogen test.

South Korean troops, near about 10 sites where loudspeakers started blaring propaganda Friday, were on the highest alert, but have not detected any unusual movement from North Korea along the border, said an official from Seoul's Defense Ministry, who refused to be named, citing office rules.

Yonhap said Seoul had deployed missiles, artillery and other weapons systems near the border to swiftly deal with any possible North Korean provocation. The ministry did not confirm the report.

Officials say broadcasts from the South's loudspeakers can travel about 10 kilometers (6 miles) during the day and 24 kilometers (15 miles) at night. That reaches many of the huge force of North Korean soldiers stationed near the border, as well as residents in border towns such as Kaesong, where the Koreas jointly operate an industrial park that has been a valuable cash source for the impoverished North.

Seoul also planned to use mobile speakers to broadcast from a small South Korean island just a few kilometers (miles) from North Korean shores.

While the South's broadcasts also include news and pop music, much of the programming challenges North Korea's government more directly.

"We hope that our fellow Koreans in the North will be able to live in a society that doesn't invade individual lives as soon as possible," a female presenter said in parts of the broadcast that officials revealed to South Korean media. "Countries run by dictatorships even try to control human instincts."

Marathon talks by the Koreas in August eased anger and stopped the broadcasts, which Seoul started after blaming North Korean land mines for maiming two soldiers. It might be more difficult to do so now. Seoul can't stand down easily, some analysts say, and it's highly unlikely that the North will express regret for its nuclear test, which is a source of intense national pride.

Responding to the bomb test, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China, the North's only major ally and biggest aid provider, to end "business as usual" with North Korea.

Diplomats at a U.N. Security Council emergency session pledged to swiftly pursue new sanctions. For current sanctions and any new penalties to work, better cooperation and stronger implementation from China is seen as key.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries also discussed the deployment of U.S. "strategic assets," Seoul's Defense Ministry said. Officials refused to elaborate, but the assets would likely include B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighters and nuclear-powered submarines.

After North Korea's third nuclear test, in 2013, the U.S. took the unusual step of sending its most powerful warplanes to drills with South Korea in a show of force. B-2 and B-52 bombers are capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

It may take weeks or longer to confirm or refute the North's claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, which would mark a major and unanticipated advance for its still-limited nuclear arsenal.


___


Follow Foster Klug, AP's Seoul bureau chief, on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@APKlug . Follow Kim Tong-hyung at www.twitter.com/@kimtonghyung

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
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http://www.navytimes.com/story/mili...launched-near-truman-other-warships/78554342/

Navy: Video shows Iranian rockets launched near Truman, other warships

Video

By Ken Chamberlain and Lance M. Bacon, Staff writers 12:33 p.m. EST January 9, 2016
Comments 33

The U.S. military released a video Saturday showing what it says is an Iranian military vessel firing several unguided rockets near the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and other Western warships and commercial craft.

The incident occurred Dec. 26 in the Strait of Hormuz. Navy officials released the video to Military Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The images show what appears to be an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel firing rockets from a distance of about 1,370 meters.

Officials with U.S. Central Command first disclosed details about the incident last month. Approximately 20 minutes before the incident occurred, the Iranians had announced over maritime radio that they would be carrying out a live-fire exercise, officials said.

Although the rockets traveled away from the Truman, firing weapons "so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law," said Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

Iran had dismissed the U.S. claim as "psychological warfare" against the Islamic Republic.

"The Guard's Navy had no drills in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz and didn't fire missiles or rockets during the past week and the time claimed by the Americans," Gen. Ramezan Sharif, a Revolutionary Guard spokesman, said on the Revolutionary Guard's website.

Stephens said on Saturday that while "most interactions between Iranian forces and the U.S. Navy are professional, safe, and routine, this event was not and runs contrary to efforts to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime safety in the global commons."

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/catalonias-ac...mY2MwBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM0BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

Catalan separatists back new leader, pressure on Madrid mounts

Reuters
By Angus Berwick
17 hours ago


MADRID (Reuters) - Catalonia's pro-independence parties agreed on Saturday on a new leader, clearing the way for the creation of a regional government and raising pressure on national parties in Madrid to form a broad coalition to oppose the separatist drive.

The parties' agreement to back Carles Puigdemont, a fiery separatist, in a vote due on Sunday came after the region's acting head, Artur Mas, said he would step down in an attempt to break months of political deadlock in Spain's wealthiest region.

The move, which comes three weeks after an inconclusive national election, increases pressure on acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Socialist rivals to bury their differences and form a German-style "grand coalition" in Madrid to thwart the Catalan parties' push for independence within 18 months.

Catalonia's politicians have been unable to form a government since a September regional election due to disagreements between the pro-independence parties that together hold a majority in the Barcelona assembly.

A minority leftist party in the pro-independence bloc, CUP, had opposed Mas's bid for another term due to deep differences over such issues as an independent Catalonia's membership of NATO and the European Union. Mas has led the region since 2010.

Mas said on Saturday he backed Puigdemont as his successor. El Pais newspaper has quoted Puigdemont as saying in a 2013 speech that he would "chase the invaders out of Catalonia" - a swipe at the central government in Madrid.

A majority of people in Catalonia, a region of 7.5 million people with its own distinct language and culture, say they want to remain part of Spain but with greater autonomy on issues such as tax, opinion polls show.

Catalonia accounts for almost a fifth of Spanish economic output.

APPEAL FOR STABILITY

Rajoy's center-right People's Party (PP), which won the most votes but fell well short of a majority in the Dec. 20 national election, renewed its appeal on Saturday for a broad-based government in Madrid to avert the country's fragmentation.

"The next government of Spain should have a broad parliamentary base that guarantees stability and the capacity of the state to reliably defend the right of all Spaniards to determine their country and confront the separatist challenge," the PP caretaker government said in a statement.

Rajoy has asked the Socialists to join a coalition that could also include centrist newcomers Ciudadanos, but Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez has roundly rejected the overtures.

Sanchez wants to form a coalition of 'progressive forces', but a major sticking point is the election promise of leftist newcomer party Podemos to allow an independence referendum to go ahead in Catalonia.

The PP government refused to allow a referendum in Catalonia in 2014, arguing it would contravene Spain's constitution.

Catalonia's parties have to agree on a new leader by a Jan. 11 deadline or new regional elections must be held.

Mas said on Saturday that would be the worst option for Catalonia, comments that suggest the pro-independence movement has started to lose steam since its peak at the height of Spain's economic crisis when it drew one million people onto the streets of Barcelona to demand a split from Spain.

(Reporting by Angus Berwick; Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Gareth Jones)

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[Housecarl]

What a clusterf$%........The old Danny Kaye film "The Inspector General" comes to mind......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-forces-struggle-ranks-thinned-ghost-soldiers-130945575.html

Afghan forces struggle as ranks thinned by 'ghost' soldiers

Associated Press
By LYNNE O'DONNELL and MIRWAIS KHAN
1 hour ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan forces are struggling to man the front lines against a resurgent Taliban, in part because of untold numbers of "ghost" troops who are paid salaries but only exist on paper.


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The nationwide problem has been particularly severe in the southern Helmand province, where the Taliban have seized vast tracts of territory in the 12 months since the U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission and switched to training and support.

"At checkpoints where 20 soldiers should be present, there are only eight or 10," said Karim Atal, head of Helmand's provincial council. "It's because some people are getting paid a salary but not doing the job because they are related to someone important, like a local warlord."

In some cases, the "ghost" designation is more literal -- dead soldiers and police remain on the books, with senior police or army officials pocketing their salaries without replacing them, Atal said.

He estimates that some 40 percent of registered forces don't exist, and says the lack of manpower has helped the Taliban seize 65 percent of the province -- Afghanistan's largest -- and threaten the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Those men who do serve face even greater danger because of the no-shows. In the last three months alone, some 700 police have been killed and 500 wounded, he said.

The province's former deputy police chief, Pacha Gul Bakhtiar, said Helmand has 31,000 police on the registers, "but in reality it is nowhere near that."

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FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, file photo, British soldiers carry the dead body of a victim …

Nearly 15 years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, and despite billions of dollars in military and other aid, corruption remains rife in Afghanistan and local security forces have struggled to hold off insurgent advances across the country. Last year the Taliban seized the northern city of Kunduz for three days, marking their biggest foray into a major urban area since 2001.

Pakistan will host four-nation talks Monday with Afghanistan, China and the United States aimed at reviving peace talks with the Taliban, but even if those efforts succeed the insurgents are expected to stay on the offensive in order to gain land and leverage.

The Defense Ministry declined to comment on ghost security forces. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi acknowledged the problem and said an investigation has been launched, without providing further details.

Iraq has also struggled with the ghost soldier phenomenon, a factor in the Islamic State group's rapid conquest of much of the country's north and west in the summer of 2014. In December of that year, Iraqi officials said the payment of tens of millions of dollars in salaries to nonexistent forces had been halted.

But Afghan lawmaker Ghulam Hussain Nasiri, who has been researching the problem for more than a year, said his government is ignoring it.

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FILE - In this Sunday, March 29, 2015, file photo, …
FILE - In this Sunday, March 29, 2015, file photo, new members of the Afghan National Army attend th …

"When we say we have 100 soldiers on the battlefield, in reality it is just 30 or 40. And this creates the potential for huge catastrophes when the enemy attacks," he said.

"It is an indication of massive corruption — the reason Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt nations in the world," he added. Afghanistan consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries in indices released by global watchdog Transparency International.

Nasiri said the government "doesn't seem to want to know about it," and that he received death threats after revealing the names of parliamentarians who are allegedly in on the racket. He said he handed a list of 31 names of corrupt parliamentarians to the Interior Ministry but has so far received no response.

Cash-strapped Afghanistan's security forces are entirely funded by the international community, at a cost of some $5 billion a year, most of which comes from the United States. The U.S. government's auditor of spending in Afghanistan, John Sopko, told a congressional hearing last year that Afghan government figures on security personnel and pay could not be regarded as accurate.

"No one knows the exact numbers of the Afghan National Defense Forces," an Afghan official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the topic. He said the best internal estimates put the number at around 120,000, less than a third of what's needed to secure the country.

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FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, file photo, an Afghan shopkeeper watches from the broken windo …

The heaviest cost of the ghost soldier phenomenon is being exacted on the battlefield. Neither the government nor NATO publicizes casualty figures for local security forces, but an internal NATO tally seen by The Associated Press shows casualties are up 28 percent from 2014, when some 5,000 Afghan forces were killed.

Last month, an army base in Helmand's Sangin district was besieged by insurgents for almost a week before reinforcements were rushed in backed by U.S. airstrikes and British military advisers.

In the northern Helmand district of Kajaki, soldier Mohammad Islam said many of his comrades deserted their posts because they didn't believe their bodies would be sent back to their families if they died. In the absence of a body, the family would not be eligible for compensation payments.

"Everyone knows that we are facing this fight alongside 'ghost' soldiers, and that's the reason we don't have enough men," he said. "The Taliban know it, too. When they attack us, and we're unable to protect ourselves, the big men then ask why."

___

O'Donnell reported from Kabul. Associated Press writer Humayoon Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.


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[Housecarl]

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http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-kurds-protest-paris-over-womens-murders-163146596.html

Thousands of Kurds protest in Paris over women's murders

AFP
By Sofia Bouderbala
21 hours ago

Paris (AFP) - Thousands of Kurds from across Europe marched through Paris on Saturday calling for justice on the third anniversary of the killing of three female Kurdish rebels in the French capital.

Organisers said 10,000 people joined the march, while police put the figure at 7,000.

The protesters denounced "crimes by the Turkish regime" -- saying that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was "massacring Kurds" -- chanting "No to impunity for political crimes" and "We are all Sakine, Fidan and Leyla".

Sakine Cansiz, 54 -- one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- was murdered along with Fidan Dogan, 28, and 24-year-old Leyla Soylemez.

The women's bodies were found in the early hours of January 10, 2013 at a Kurdish information centre. They had been shot in the head and neck.

Sakine Cansiz's brother Haydar, who travelled from Germany for the march, told AFP: "Sakine's fight goes on. We will continue to march until we have obtained justice."

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The three women's bodies were found in the early hours of January 10, 2013 at a Kurdish informat …

Carrying hundreds of flags in the red, orange and green of the PKK and pictures of the group's leader Abdullah Ocalan, the demonstrators marched to the site of the killings, where flowers had been laid in memory of the dead.

A Turkish national, 33-year-old Omer Guney, has been sent to trial charged with the killings, but investigators suspect Turkish intelligence may have played a role in planning the hit.

Turkey's MIT spy agency has previously denied playing any role in killing the three women.

A source close to the case said investigators believe the MIT is implicated in "the instigation and preparation of the killings", but have been unable to establish whether the service sponsored the hit or whether agents were acting on their own initiative.

The PKK launched its insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although it now focuses on greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority.

The conflict, which has left tens of thousands dead, looked like it could be nearing a resolution until an uneasy truce was shattered last July.

Turkish authorities are waging a major military operation to crush the PKK in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the country.

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[Housecarl]

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Turkish forces kill 32 Kurdish militants as conflict escalates: sources

Reuters
By Seyhmus Cakan
2 hours ago

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Security forces killed 32 Kurdish militants in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast this weekend, the army and security sources said on Sunday, escalating a conflict re-ignited by the collapse of a two-year ceasefire last summer.

It was one of the bloodiest weekends since the three-decades-old insurgency resumed last July, scuppering a peace process launched by Ankara with the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in late 2012.

On Saturday, 16 rebels were killed in the towns of Cizre and Silopi, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, and another four were killed in the historic Sur district of the region's largest city, Diyarbakir, the armed forces said in a statement.

It said that a total of 448 militants had been killed in those three areas since they were placed under round-the-clock curfew and security operations were launched last month.

Police killed a further 12 PKK members after finding them in a house in the southeastern city of Van overnight, security sources said. One police officer died and two others were wounded in the operation.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, says it is fighting for autonomy and greater rights for Kurds in the NATO member country.

On Friday, security forces killed 16 militants in Cizre and two in Sur on Friday, according to a previous military statement.

A recent shift in fighting from the countryside to urban centers has left civilians caught in the middle. According to figures from the pro-Kurdish HDP party, 81 civilians have been killed in Diyarbakir, Silopi and Cizre since they were placed under curfew last month.

Thousands of people have left their homes in the towns. Residents complain of indiscriminate operations and say the curfews have even prevented the sick from getting to hospital.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said 3,100 PKK members were killed in operations inside and outside Turkey in 2015.

(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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[Housecarl]

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U.S. may deploy aircraft carrier to Korean peninsula next month: Yonhap

Reuters
7 hours ago

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States is considering deploying an aircraft carrier to the Korean peninsula next month, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said on Sunday.

U.S. Forces Korea said it had no knowledge of the matter, when asked about the Yonhap report.

U.S. forces flew a B-52 bomber over its ally South Korea on Sunday following North Korea's nuclear bomb test last week.

Yonhap said it was possible that a carrier would join a U.S.-South Korea joint naval exercise to send a warning message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who said his country conducted a hydrogen bomb test as a self-defense step against what it said was a U.S. threat of nuclear war.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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[Housecarl]

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Arab League accuses Iran of provocations amid Saudi row

AFP
50 minutes ago

Cairo (AFP) - Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi accused Tehran of "provocative acts" as top Arab diplomats met Sunday for talks on Saudi Arabia's diplomatic row with Iran.

Arabi was addressing Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Cairo for emergency talks requested by Riyadh on the dispute, which erupted after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Arabi called on diplomats meeting at the group's Cairo headquarters to "adopt a strong and clear common position calling on Iran to stop all forms of interference in the affairs of Arab nations".

Nimr's execution earlier this month touched off anti-Saudi demonstrations in many Shiite countries including in Iran where demonstrators sacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy.

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Shiite-dominated Tehran the day after the attack and was followed by a number of its Sunni Arab allies including Bahrain and Sudan. Other Arab countries downgraded ties or recalled their envoys to Tehran.

The dispute between the Middle East's dominant Sunni and Shiite powers has raised fears of greater regional instability and concerns for peace efforts in Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposing sides.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, present at Sunday's talks, denounced Iranian statements "hostile to Saudi Arabia" that he said had "directly driven the attacks" on his country's diplomatic missions.

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[Housecarl]

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Four-country talks on Taliban to begin in Pakistan

Reuters
By Amjad Ali
2 hours ago

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to begin talks on Monday aimed at reviving the Afghan peace process and eventually ending 14 years of bloodshed fighting Taliban insurgents.

Officials from the four countries will meet in Islamabad, Pakistan foreign office sources said, in what they hope will be a first step towards resuming stalled negotiations. The Taliban are not expected to attend the talks.

The Islamist militants have stepped up their violent campaign in the last year to oust the government in Kabul, which has struggled since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014.

High-profile suicide attacks in the capital and major territorial losses in southern Helmand province have underlined how far the country remains from peace without major Taliban factions on board.

A previous fledging peace process last year was stopped after the Taliban announced that its founder, Mullah Omar, had been dead for two years, throwing the militant group into disarray and factional infighting.

The Taliban said in a statement this week that it wanted to maintain good relations with other countries even as it wages war against what it called "American occupation", but it did not mention the peace talks.

"(We) want to have good relations with all nations and further expand them. It will be better to have direct contact with each other and exchange views regarding our goals and values," it said in the statement, which was published online.


LIMITED EXPECTATIONS

Kabul has been trying to limit expectations of a breakthrough at Monday's talks, and has said the aim is to work out a road map for peace negotiations and a way of assessing if they remain on track.

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry will attend the talks on Monday, Pakistani foreign office sources told Reuters.

Besides an official from China, the U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson or the U.S. ambassador would attend from the United States, a State Department official said.

"It'll be an opportunity to further our partnership with Afghanistan, Pakistan and China in support of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned reconciliation, which is what we've said all along we want to see," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

"We're obviously looking forward to ... trying to make some progress here on what has been a very difficult issue."

Afghanistan last month turned to Pakistan, with which it shares a porous border from where the Taliban operate bases on both sides, for help in reviving the peace talks.

The insurgents, who are fighting to restore strict Islamic rule in place before the group was ousted from power in 2001, are split on whether to participate in any future talks.

Some elements within the Taliban have signaled they may be willing to send negotiators at some point, but other factions remain opposed to any form of negotiation with Kabul.

Afghanistan suffered one of its bloodiest years on record in 2015. The number of civilians killed is expected to have surpassed the record high of more than 3,180 Afghan civilians killed in 2014, the United Nations said, which brought the number killed since 2009 to more than 17,000.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and James Mackenzie in Kabul; Writing by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Keith Weir)

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[Housecarl]

Merde.....So where does that place the PRC and India in this Sunni-Shia mess?.....

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http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-respond-saudis-territorial-integrity-threat-144318541.html

Pakistan to respond to Saudi's territorial integrity threat

Associated Press
23 minutes ago

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has reiterated that any threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity will evoke a response from Islamabad.

Sharif made the remarks Sunday in a statement after Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman called on him in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital.

Salman earlier arrived in Islamabad, making him the second top Saudi official to visit Pakistan in a week amid growing tension with Iran over Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr's recent execution.

The prince is also expected to meet with other Pakistani leaders. The visits came after Saudi Arabia and several of its allies announced the severing or downgrading of diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni state, also has a large Shiite population.

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Saudi foreign minister visits Pakistan as Iran tensions deepen Reuters

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[Housecarl]

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http://www.voanews.com/content/anti-government-protest-turns-violent-in-kosovo/3138257.html

Anti-Government Protest Turns Violent in Kosovo

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Phillip Walter Wellman
Last updated on: January 09, 2016 6:25 PM

PRISTINA, KOSOVO— Kosovo’s worst political crisis since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008 deepened Saturday, with thousands of opposition protesters taking to the streets of the capital, Pristina, to denounce the country’s elected officials and set fire to the government’s headquarters.

The crowd, which repeatedly chanted, “Down with the government,” was angered by a European Union-brokered deal with Serbia that allows Serbian-majority municipalities within the predominantly ethnic Albanian state to establish an association and have more autonomy.

They also object to a separate border demarcation deal with Montenegro that cedes a small portion of Kosovo to its Balkan neighbor.

“They are taking away our country,” said Genc, 21, a student who attended Saturday’s demonstration. “The people here are fed up.”

Speaking on stage in a main square adjacent to the parliament building, opposition leaders denounced the Serbia and Montenegro agreements as unconstitutional violations of Kosovo’s sovereignty and demanded fresh elections.

Building catches fire

Before the speeches concluded, some demonstrators began throwing rocks, glass objects and Molotov cocktails at police stationed outside government offices. The clashes intensified as soon as the speeches finished, leading to the main government building catching fire.

“We waited and waited, but when they set fire to the building we had to act,” Major Baki Kelani of the Kosovo police told VOA.

Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, estimated to be at 8,000; however, many hard-liners ran down side streets and continued to hurl rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers, who proceeded slowly down a main boulevard.

A 26-year-old woman, who wished to be identified only by her initials, E.K., was in a group throwing rocks at police when officers started to pursue them. She and two female friends were eventually forced to hide behind garbage bins in a cul-de-sac.

“I’m not really scared,” she said. “Kosovo is a big mess right now, and we want to make a change.”

E.K. said her grievances had less to do with territorial loss and more to do with the everyday lives of Kosovars. “There’s corruption, the economy [is bad], unemployment — there are many reasons to protest.”

By late afternoon, police had arrested 24 people. Fourteen people were injured, among them 10 police officers, two protesters and two journalists.

Saturday’s unrest was the latest in a string of altercations in Kosovo, which has seen a surge of nationalist sentiment in recent months. Since October, opposition members of parliament have attacked the chamber with tear gas nearly half a dozen times, resulting in the arrests of 13 lawmakers.

Speaking in Kosovo last month during his first trip to the Balkans as U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry condemned the opposition’s tactics, saying parliament should be treated as “a shrine to democracy, a place of reverence, of respect. That is not the place for tear gas and is not the place for intimidation.”

Slow progress

Analysts said Kerry’s visit highlighted growing concerns by the West about the slow pace of progress in Kosovo 16 years after a U.S.-led NATO air war helped pave the way to independence from Serbia. Saturday’s events, they said, will do little to ease those concerns.

“This is not the way that one would have hoped to see Kosovo’s development,” said James Ker-Lindsay, a senior research fellow at the London School of Economics. “I think that there will be a lot of people in the United States and the European Union who are desperately nervous at the moment about the way things are going because, of course, there is that danger that nationalist sentiment, which is currently directed at the government, could overspill … and be directed at minorities.”

Regional leaders are also concerned. Speaking to the Vienna-based Die Presse newspaper in August, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was “very afraid” of regional instability. “A single spark can set fire to the entire Balkans,” he said.

Ker-Lindsay said that for a relatively small region, the Balkans have a number of potential flashpoints. “What we’re seeing in Kosovo is one of them. I think there has been a tendency for us to take our eye off the ball, so to speak, on the western Balkans. It hasn’t got as much attention as other regions in the news for quite some time, and I think there are people who want to highlight that there are very serious problems that still exist.”

 

[Housecarl]

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News / Middle East

Observers See Several Motives for Eritrean Involvement in Yemen

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Salem Solomon
January 09, 2016 7:54 PM

The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen is drawing in participants from across the Red Sea.

Eritrea last month officially announced its "readiness to support the initiative without reservations and to extend its contribution to the alliance" of Saudi Arabia and its Gulf state allies. The typically tight-lipped Eritrean government, however, has not publicly elaborated on its military involvement in the Gulf.

A report from a U.N. monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea in October cited a former high-ranking Eritrean official who said "400 Eritrean soldiers were embedded with the United Arab Emirates contingent of the forces fighting on Yemeni soil on behalf of the Arab coalition.” The report added that Eritrea was allowing the Gulf countries to use the port of Assab and its airspace to take part in the fight.

In exchange for its involvement, Eritrea is receiving money and fuel, the report said.

The monitoring group also said the engagement might violate a U.N. resolution and arms embargo enacted in 2009 and extended in October to prevent Eritrea from playing a destabilizing role in the region. The resolution and the group’s mandate are subject to renewal in December 2016.

'Neighborly ties'

In a statement issued Tuesday, Eritrea reaffirmed “strategic neighborly ties with Saudi Arabia” and condemned attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Iran, which was set ablaze following the execution of a Shi'ite cleric and others on January 3.

In an interview with Voice of America, an Eritrean official defended the country’s right to aid its allies. While asking not to be named, he pointed out that Yemen is only 60 kilometers from Eritrea’s Assab port and raised the specter of a growing threat of terrorism in the region.

“Eritrea will be the first country to be affected if any instability is to occur in the region," he said. "If ports are affected, the premium of insurance would increase, and so on. We have common interest in the security of the region.”

The official also pointed out that Eritrea has most often been criticized for its isolation and frosty relationship with neighboring countries. Now, he noted, it is being criticized for becoming involved.

“This recent move by Eritrea should be commended, not shunned,” he said.

Motives for involvement

Veteran Eritrea observers aren’t sure exactly what to make of the move.

“There’s a lot we don’t know about what this cooperation looks like, what the arrangements look like,” said Michael Woldemariam, an assistant professor of international relations and political science at Boston University. “But from what I can tell, the main element of this cooperation is the use of Eritrea, particularly the port of Assab, as sort of a basic logistical hub from which states like Saudi Arabia and UAE are able to launch their operations into Yemen.”

The use of the port appears not to be limited to naval operations, Woldemariam said, adding it appeared that fighter jets were leaving Assab runways for sorties to hit Yemeni targets. As for the U.N. monitoring group’s claim that Eritrean soldiers were embedded within UAE units fighting in Yemen, Woldemariam said he had not seen proof of that.

It is also unclear what Eritrea is receiving in return, but Woldemariam said the desire by Eritrea to build alliances makes sense.

“The U.N. monitoring group made some claims that Eritrea might be receiving some fuel, perhaps economic assistance, investment — there’s sort of a range of things that I would imagine the Eritrean government would be eager to obtain in return for their partnership,” Woldemariam said. “It’s quite likely that they are eager to garner diplomatic support from these countries as well. Saudi Arabia is an influential country, and one can imagine the ways in which the Eritrean government would like to get diplomatic support.”

Visit with Saudi king

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki recently met with King Salman of Saudi Arabia during a three-day working visit to discuss “regional and international developments of mutual interest to both countries.”

A source who closely monitors the region, but who declined to be named because of professional concerns, said the partnership among Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and the UAE began as early as April after a falling out between UAE and Djibouti. The partnership raised eyebrows, since earlier allegations suggested that Eritrea was supporting the Houthi rebels and Iran on the other side of the conflict.

The source said Eritrea — which has seen thousands of young people flee and is in the process of an economic overhaul that includes the collection and reissue of its currency, the nakfa — is in survival mode. Its new alliance with Saudi Arabia and the UAE should be seen in that light.

“The Afwerki regime is extremely versatile and wants to survive at all expenses,” the source told VOA. “It constantly switches allegiances in order to survive. Whether we’re talking about the [Palestine Liberation Organization] and Israel or Saudi Arabia and Iran, it is constantly navigating the waters in order to survive.”


Salem Solomon

Salem Solomon is a journalist and a web producer at Voice of America’s Horn of Africa Service. She has over seven years of experience in television, radio, online and print journalism. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Reuters, The Tampa


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[Housecarl]

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World | Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:45pm EST
Related: World

Growing scale of Cologne attacks stokes German debate on migrants

FRANKFURT | By John O'Donnell


Attacks on women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints, with police suspicion resting on asylum seekers, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel and her open door migrant policy.

The attacks, mostly targeting women and ranging from theft to sexual molestation, have prompted a highly-charged debate in Germany about its welcoming stance for refugees and migrants, more than one million of whom arrived last year.

The sudden nature of the violent attacks and the fact that they stretched from Hamburg to Frankfurt prompted Germany's justice minister Heiko Maas to speculate in a newspaper that they had been planned or coordinated.

The debate on migration will be further fueled by the acknowledgement by the authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia that a man shot dead as he tried to enter a Paris police station last week was an asylum seeker with seven identities who lived in Germany.

In Cologne, police said on Sunday that 516 criminal complaints had been filed by individuals or groups in relation to assaults on New Year's Eve, while police in Hamburg said 133 similar charges had been lodged with the north German city.

Frankfurt also registered complaints, although far fewer.

The investigation in Cologne is focused largely on asylum seekers or illegal migrants from north Africa, police said. They arrested one 19-year-old Moroccan man on Saturday evening.

In Cologne, where a 100-strong force of officers continued their investigations, around 40 percent of the complaints included sexual offences, including two rapes.


DWINDLING TRUST

The attacks, which prompted violent far-right protests on Saturday, threatens to further erode confidence in Merkel, and could stoke support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of three key state elections in March.

Merkel's popularity has dwindled as she refused to place a limit on the influx of refugees.

A survey sponsored by state broadcaster ARD showed that while 75 percent of those asked were very happy with Merkel's work in April last year, only 58 percent were pleased now.

Almost three quarters of those polled said migration was the most important issue for the government to deal with in 2016.

The Cologne attacks also heated up the debate on immigration in neighboring Austria.

"What happened in Cologne is unbelievable and unacceptable," Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, a member of the conservative People's Party that is junior coalition partner to the Social Democrats, told newspaper Oesterreich.

There had been a handful of similar incidents in the border city of Salzburg. "Such offenders should be deported," she said, backing a similar suggestion by Merkel.

Swiss media contained numerous stories about sexual assaults on women by foreigners, fuelling tensions ahead of a referendum next month that would trigger the automatic deportation of foreigners convicted of some crimes.

In Germany, on Monday, a regional parliamentary commission will quiz police and others about the events on New Year's Eve in Cologne.

The anti-Islam PEGIDA, whose supporters threw bottles and fire crackers at a march in Cologne on Saturday before being dispersed by riot police, will later hold a rally in the eastern German city of Leipzig.

The far-right will likely seize on reports that the Paris attacker, who was shot last week as he wielded a meat cleaver and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is Greatest), was known to police for drug dealing and harassing women.

He had an apartment in an accommodation center for asylum seekers in Recklinghausen, north of Cologne, where he had painted the symbol of Islamic state on the wall of two rooms.


(Additional reporting by Ralf Bode in Berlin and Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Ros Russell)

 

[mzkitty]

How rotten is really, really, really, really rotten?



30m
Medical committee in Yemen's Taiz says 37 health centers out of 40 shut down due to blockade by militias - @AlArabiya_Eng

 

[Housecarl]

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World | Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:59pm EST
Related: World

Arab foreign ministers accuse Iran of undermining regional security

CAIRO | By Ahmed Aboulenein


Arab foreign ministers condemned attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and warned on Sunday that the country would face wider opposition if it continued its "interference" in the internal affairs of Arab states.

Tensions between the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran have escalated since Saudi authorities executed Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2, triggering outrage among Shi'ites across the Middle East.

In response, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, prompting Riyadh to sever relations. Tehran then cut all commercial ties with Riyadh, and banned pilgrims from traveling to Mecca.

Other Arab countries have recalled envoys to Iran and the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations in solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

"Iran has to decide what kind of neighbor it wants to be: a good neighbor or a chaotic neighbor and so far it behaves like the latter," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said following an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said cutting commercial and diplomatic ties was a first step, and that his country would discuss potential further actions against Iran with its regional and international allies. He gave no further details.


Related Coverage
› Arab League condemns attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran

If Iran continues to support "terrorism, sectarianism and violence", it would face opposition from all Arab countries, Jubeir told a news conference following the meeting.

In a closing statement distributed after the meeting, the Arab League also referred to the reported discovery by Bahrain of a militant group that it said was backed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

All members of the Arab League voted in favor of the statement, with the exception of Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah is a powerful political force.

Conflicts or political crises from Lebanon and Syria to Yemen, Iraq and Bahrain involve proxies of both Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Shi'ite, Iran-allied Houthi movement in Yemen since March 2015.

Iran also backs the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war while Saudi Arabia insists he must go for any legitimate peace process to take place.


Related Coverage
› Saudi Arabia does not expect Iran spat to affect Syria peace efforts
› Saudi FM says further Iranian support for 'terrorism' will meet opposition from all Arab countries

In Bahrain, Saudi Arabia backs the Sunni monarchy while Iran has expressed support for anti-government demonstrators in the Shi'ite majority Gulf kingdom.

The Arab League statement did not agree on any specific joint measures against Iran but set up a smaller committee comprising the Arab League secretary general and representatives from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to follow up on the row.

They are expected to meet again on Jan. 25 in the UAE, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi said at the news conference.


(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelati and Mostafa Hashem; Editing by Digby Lidstone)

 

[Housecarl]

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World | Sun Jan 10, 2016 1:31pm EST
Related: World, United Nations, Iraq

Bombs laid by Islamic State hamper Iraqi troops in Ramadi after victory

BAGHDAD | By Stephen Kalin


Islamic State militants left Ramadi's streets and buildings boobytrapped with bombs, hampering efforts to rebuild the city two weeks after Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces claimed victory against the militant group there, officials said.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, was touted as the first major success for Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of Islamic State's lightning advance across the country's north and west 18 months ago.

The militants have been pushed to Ramadi's eastern suburbs, but almost all of the city, which was battered by U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State, remains off-limits to its nearly half a million displaced residents, most of whom fled before the army advance.

"Most areas are now under the security forces' control," Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on Saturday at a temporary government complex southeast of the city.

"Most of the streets in Ramadi are mined with explosives so it requires large efforts and expertise," he said.

Specialized bomb disposal teams from the police and civil defense force would begin work "soon", he said.

The counter-terrorism forces which spearheaded the city's recapture are securing only main streets and tactically important buildings, security sources said.

They have built up earth banks at the entrance of central neighborhoods deemed clear of militants but still laden with explosives, and marked buildings' exteriors as "mined", the sources added.


Related Coverage
› Ambassador denies U.S. conducting helicopter raids in northern Iraq

Snipers have also slowed progress. Iraqi forces clear them by calling in devastating air strikes - more than 55 in the past two weeks, according to the coalition.

On Saturday they routed militants from the Mal'ab neighborhood, adding the last major district in Ramadi's city center to their control, said commander Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi.

Iraqi forces withdrew from Ramadi in May last year, allowing Islamic State to take control, the group's biggest gain since sweeping across the Syrian border a year earlier and declaring it was establishing a caliphate.

Islamic State fighters are still holed up in a roughly 10 kilometer (6 mile) stretch east towards Husaiba al-Sharqiya using agricultural lands to evade detection, security sources said. It could take at least 10 days to clear those areas.


PATH OF DESTRUCTION

Hundreds of air strikes since July, combined with Islamic State sabotage, have reduced much of Ramadi to rubble.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is still waiting for the green light from the Iraqi government to enter the city and start work to rebuild it, the deputy head of its Iraq program, Lise Grande said.

UNDP has prepared 100 generators and mobile electrical grids to provide a temporary power grid as soon as that happens. An assessment of the damage to the rest of Ramadi's infrastructure will dictate other areas of focus.

The city will require around $20 million immediately for emergency humanitarian response and billions more for long-term reconstruction, said Grande.

"Restoring infrastructure is hugely important, but the decisive factor in getting people to return is when they think security is in place," she said.

After Ramadi, there remains the bigger challenge of Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad. As many as 3,200 Islamic State fighters are there, more than three times the number that held Ramadi, according to the coalition.

It is also more densely populated. Most of Mosul's pre-2014 population of about two million have not left.

The destruction in Ramadi has sparked criticism including from powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, which were kept out of the battle for fear of stirring sectarian tensions in Anbar's Sunni heartland.

Despite accusations of human rights abuses, groups like Asaib Ahl al-Haq claim they have could have retaken Ramadi more "neatly".


(Additional reporting by Saif Hameed; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Raissa Kasolowsky)

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-...n-high-alert-after-north-nuclear-test/7081296

North Korea: US forces in South put on highest level of alert; allies discuss 'strategic assets'

Updated January 11, 2016 16:38:40

United States forces in South Korea have been put on their highest level of alert in case of any provocation from North Korea following Pyongyang's nuclear test last week.

The commander of combined forces, Curtis Scaparrotti, made the order during a visit to the Osan Air Base which is operated jointly by the US and South Korea, a United States Forces Korea (USFK) official said.

The US and its ally South Korea are in talks to send further strategic assets to the Korean peninsula, a day after a US B-52 bomber flew over the South in response to the test.


Key points:
•Media reports say a US aircraft carrier, B-2 bombers, submarines and F-22 fighters being considered for deployment to South
•Inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park restrictions to increase on Tuesday
•South Korea and Japan used a military hotline for the first time after North's test
•North's state media says Kim Jong-un congratulated nuclear scientists


"The United States and South Korea are continuously and closely having discussions on additional deployment of strategic assets," said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman at the South Korean defence ministry, declining to give specifics.

US and South Korean media said the strategic assets Washington was considering included the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier US Ronald Reagan, B-2 bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets.

Seoul said on Monday it would restrict access to the jointly run Kaesong industrial complex just north of the heavily militarised inter-Korean border to the "minimum necessary level", starting from Tuesday.

North Korea said it exploded a hydrogen bomb last Wednesday, although the United States and experts doubt that the North had achieved such a technological advance in its fourth nuclear test.

The test angered China, the North's main ally, which was not given advance notice, and the United States.

In a show of force and support for its allies in the region, the US on Sunday sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber based in Guam on a flight over South Korea.

Separately, South Korea and Japan used their shared military hotline for the first time in the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test, Seoul's defence ministry said, a sign the North's provocation is pushing the two longtime rivals — but both Washington's main allies in the region — closer together.

South Korea also resumed anti-North propaganda broadcasts using loudspeakers along the border, a tactic that the North considers insulting.

Kim Jong-un congratulates North's scientists

South Korea's president Park Geun-hye plans to make a speech to the nation on Wednesday in which she is expected to express strong will to respond to North Korea's nuclear test, a presidential official said.

North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, said the United States was bringing the political situation to the brink of war by sending strategic bombers to South Korea.

The North published a photo on Monday of leader Kim Jong-un posing formally with hundreds of scientists, workers and officials who participated in the latest test.

Mr Kim congratulated them on "succeeding in the first H-bomb test ... and bringing about a great, historic event," the North's official KCNA news agency reported.


External Link: Video appearing to show North Korean submarine launching missile (YouTube: Anne Lee)


The North also released video footage of a purportedly new submarine-launched ballistic missile test three days after it claimed it had successfully tested its hydrogen bomb.

Seoul's defence spokesman said North Korea had deployed more troops to frontline border units.

"There has been an increase in troops along the border following North Korea's fourth nuclear test," Mr Kim said.

"But there are no immediate signs of any imminent provocation."

The chairman of South Korea's joint chiefs of staff, Lee Sun-jin, said North Korea was likely to carry out further sudden provocations.

Mr Lee's comments were made during a visit with General Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of US forces in Korea, to the Osan Air Base operated jointly with US and South Korea.

Under the US-South Korea military alliance, there are nearly 30,000 US troops permanently stationed in South Korea, which is also protected by the US "nuclear umbrella".

Reuters/AFP

 

[Housecarl]

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US troops put on highest alert for any N Korea provocation

By AT Editor on January 10, 2016 in Koreas, Top News
(From agencies)

U.S. forces in South Korea were put on their highest level of alert on Monday in case of any provocation from North Korea, following North Korea’s nuclear test last week.

Curtis Scaparrotti, Commander, U.N. Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea (USFK), made the order during a visit to the Osan Air Base, operated jointly by the United States and South Korea, a USFK official said.

The two countries are in talks toward sending further strategic U.S. assets to the Korean peninsula, a day after a U.S. B-52 bomber flew over South Korea in response to North Korea’s nuclear test last week.

“The United States and South Korea are continuously and closely having discussions on additional deployment of strategic assets,” Kim Min-seok, spokesman at the South Korean defense ministry said on Monday, declining to give specifics.

South Korean media said strategic assets Washington may utilize in Korea included B-2 bombers, nuclear-powered submarines and F-22 stealth fighter jets.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday looked to milk his country’s recent nuclear test as a propaganda victory, praising his scientists and vowing more nuclear bombs a day after the United States flew a powerful nuclear-capable warplane close to the North in a show of force.

On Monday, Kim took photos with nuclear scientists and technicians involved in the test and praised them for “having glorified” his two predecessors, his late father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung, according to the state-run Korean Central news Agency.

Kim earlier called the explosion “a self-defensive step” meant to protect the region “from the danger of nuclear war caused by the U.S.-led imperialists,” a separate KCNA dispatch said.

The comments provide insight into North Korea’s long-running argument that it is the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan and a “hostile” U.S. policy that justify its pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye plans to announce a public statement this week, an official said in Seoul Monday, amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s hydrogen bomb test.

Park is set to deliver the statement on Wednesday morning before holding a news conference, presidential spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk told reporters.

Trump ‘praises’ Kim

In US, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump appeared to praise Kim, saying at a rally Saturday that “it’s incredible” how he was able to dispatch his political opponents.

“You gotta give him credit. How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals, and all of a sudden … he goes in, he takes over, and he’s the boss,” Trump said. “It’s incredible. He wiped out the uncle, he wiped out this one, that one. I mean this guy doesn’t play games. And we can’t play games with him,” he told the rally.

 

[Housecarl]

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World | Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:11am EST
Related: World, Saudi Arabia

Masked men attack Saudi intelligence compound with firebombs: activists

DUBAI

Masked men threw firebombs at an intelligence service compound in the city of Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, activists said on Monday, in an apparent reprisal for the execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric earlier this month.

A Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman said "there was a failed terrorist attempt to burn the building with Molotov cocktails" and that one of the assailants was captured.

Video footage posted on social media and dated Jan. 9 showed several masked young men moving under cover of darkness and lobbing firebombs over the protective outer wall of a building compound. Most of the firebombs were seen exploding on the ground inside, setting a nearby tree on fire.

The authenticity of the footage could not immediately be confirmed.

It was not initially clear who was behind the attack. But the recording contained a footnote indicating that it was carried out by Shi'ite youth seeking to avenge the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a vocal critic of the kingdom's Sunni Muslim monarchy.

Nimr was among 47 prisoners put to death on Jan. 2, most of them convicted Sunni militants. A Saudi court convicted him in May 2014 of sedition, rioting, protesting and robbery in Qatif district, home to many of the kingdom's minority Shi'ites.

His arrest in July 2012, during which he was shot in the leg, prompted protests in which three people died.

Nimr's execution angered Shi'ites across the Middle East. After protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, the conservative Sunni kingdom cut diplomatic relations with Shi'ite Iran.

Shi'ite activists in eastern Saudi Arabia sought to distance themselves from the Qatif attack, saying it could discredit peaceful protests that had been taking place in the area since Nimr's execution.

Last Tuesday, four armed men set a bus carrying workers in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province on fire. State oil company Saudi Aramco said none of its employees had been injured but gave no further details.


(Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

 

[Housecarl]

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Sectors | Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:14pm IST

China defends South China Sea reef landings after Vietnam complaint

BEIJING

Jan 11 China on Monday rejected a complaint from Vietnam that China had failed to notify it about flights to an island it has built in disputed waters in the South China Sea saying it was a China's territory and it did not need to notify anyone.

Chinese civilian aircraft have conducted several test landings on Fiery Cross Reef, one of three runways China has been building for more than a year by dredging sand up onto reefs and atolls in the Spratly Islands.

Vietnam and the Philippines have both objected to the flights and the United States, which has criticised China's construction of islands in the South China Sea, has expressed concern about an increase in tension in the region.

Vietnam says China's landings were on what it calls an "illegally" built reef, and has vowed to defend its sovereignty through peaceful measures.

Vietnam's civil aviation authorities also said China's aircraft flew into its "flight information region" without prior notification and "flight operations of Chinese aircraft have threatened safe exploitation of international air routes".

China's foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said that complaint was "groundless" and reiterated that China had sovereignty over the area.

"According to international law, national aviation activities are not subject to relevant restrictions from international civil aviation conventions and the International Civil Aviation Organization," Hong told a regular briefing.

Anyway, he said, China had notified Vietnam about the flights.

China's Xinhua news agency last Wednesday announced two test flights to the island, four days after it angered Vietnam with its first landing on the runway.

China claims virtually the whole of the South China Sea.

Each year, more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped through the South China Sea, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan have rival territorial claims. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in HANOI; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

[Housecarl]

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http://www.realcleardefense.com/art...audi_arabia_may_be_the_next_syria_108881.html

January 11, 2016

Why Saudi Arabia May Be the Next Syria

By Schuyler Moore

The Islamic State group (ISIS) is running up against a wall. As national coalitions take a larger role in the fight against ISIS, the group will become increasingly unable to operate on as large a scale as it has in years past, and it will be pushed out of its previously held territories – its decline may take years or even decades, but it will ultimately decline. But although ISIS may deplete its resources and feel increasing pressure from the international community, its members will not simply disappear as the group loses momentum. ISIS is largely comprised of foreign fighters with limited ties to the countries they fight in, and in the event of a relocation, one country in particular looks like a promising alternative – Saudi Arabia. With internal unrest, the threat of oil-driven economic instability and a history of conflict with its neighbors, the House of Saud is ripe for insurgency and would be the ideal next location for jihadists looking for a new rallying point. As ISIS loses steam and is pushed out of its old stomping grounds, Saudi Arabia is in danger of becoming the next ground zero for terrorism in the region.

INTERNAL RISK FACTORS

Saudi Arabia has always faced unique demographic and socio-economic challenges. Out of a population of approximately 28 million people, immigrants make up nearly a third of entire population and over three-quarters of the labor force. Approximately 70% of the population isunder the age of 30, and within that age group, unemployment is close to 30%. Nationals and non-nationals alike live under Sharia law with strict Wahhabi principles dictated by the royal family and the religious leadership of the ulema, which often cause strains within the immigrant population as well as the native population. While some within the kingdom push for modernization, the ultra-conservatives consistently call for increased rigidity in religious practice, causing friction within the royal family and the Saudi population as a whole. The recent ascension of King Salman last year has only added fuel to the fire as the internal politics of the royal family add another layer of uncertainty, opening the door for terrorist groups who might take advantage of the instability.

Saudi Arabia is also suffering a major hit to its largest source of income - with 80% of its budget revenues coming from oil production, Saudi Arabia has been massively affected by dropping oil prices, running some of its highest deficits in history. The kingdom has also traditionally depended on its constant influx of oil wealth to supply high-paying government jobs to key supporters, but with the rapidly dropping oil prices, Saudi Arabia may lose its ability to maintain popularity through employment opportunities. Saudi Arabia’s massive wealth will undoubtedly survive the instability, but the oil crisis adds to a growing list of uncertainties plaguing the country. These circumstances not only encourage terrorist organizations to view Saudi Arabia as prime real estate, but also create an environment in which the young, unemployed Saudi citizens themselves might fuel the fire of insurgency.

HISTORY OF INSURGENCY

Ever since Saudi Arabia allowed the U.S. to station permanent bases on its territory in 1990, it has faced an increasingly radical conservative Wahhabi faction that has objected to any sort of friendly relations with the Western world. Ultra-conservatives have consistently held this relationship with the U.S. as a point of contention (Osama Bin Laden was one such dissident), and that radical base has been responsible for the majority of terrorist attacks within the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has recently clamped down on insurgency within its borders by revamping its counterterrorism efforts, while at the same time attempting to address future threats by making it a punishable crime for Saudis to fight abroad. However, these actions may be too little too late.

Saudi Arabia was not always so strongly against foreign fighting; in fact, there was a time when its government actively encouraged its youth to go abroad to support its Muslim brothers, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or Chechnya. However, the Saudi government has seen this strategy backfire when Saudi fighters have returned and conducted attacks at home using the skills they acquired while fighting abroad. Saudi Arabia is currently one of the largest sources of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria with upwards of 2,000 Saudi nationals joining ISIS, and is home to the largest number of pro-ISIS twitter users in the world. The recent crack-down on foreign fighters is likely a response to fears that these jihadists will similarly return home and bring the fight to Saudi Arabia’s doorstep, as has happened in the past, and an implicit recognition that Saudi Arabia may very well become the new hub for terrorism.

EXTERNAL PRESSURE

In addition to internal pressure due to widespread unemployment, a massive immigrant population and falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia faces multiple challenges from external sources as well. Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Yemen is steadily draining resources and political good will. The Iranian nuclear deal was perceived as a loss and a sign of weakness for Saudi Arabia and the Sunni community, which has always fought to contain its Shia neighbor. ISIS has already targeted Saudi Arabia for its ties to the US, and in response the government has been driven to arrest almost 100 people in 2015 alone for suspected ties to ISIS. These perceived weaknesses and flaws in the Saudi government provide ideal material for an insurgency seeking a common enemy, and ISIS may seize that opportunity in the event that it is pushed out of its current strongholds.

But why Saudi Arabia specifically? The foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq come from all over the world – Libya is currently a bastion of ISIS support, as are multiple other locations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Why would Saudi Arabia suffer the brunt of a relocation?


Saudi Arabia has the potential to be a unifying enemy, with enough ties to the West to fuel radical censure but without the stability of most Western countries to counter an insurgency movement. It provides a platform for recruitment with its youthful population and high unemployment, and at the same time allows for foreign outreach through its massive immigrant population. The Saudi government itself is stretched thin operating in Yemen and contributing military resources to Syria, all while suffering blows to its economy from dropping oil prices. The royal family is caught between a rock and a hard place, risking censure from radical conservatives if it modernizes and popular discontent if it pushes more stringent Wahhabism on its population. Critically, Saudi Arabia is home to two of the most holy sites of Islamic culture, Mecca and Medina, which makes it a natural rallying point. All of these factors make Saudi Arabia an ideal location for insurgency, and suggest that Saudi Arabia will suffer the consequences when ISIS’ power is depleted and its fighters scatter beyond Iraq and Syria.

It is unlikely that ISIS will ever be truly eliminated. More likely it will continue on in some modified form, moving locations and continuing attacks on a smaller scale and under different names. But the dispersed fighters will seek to find a rallying point to reconsolidate their power, and Saudi Arabia provides the optimal environment. While ISIS deserves our full attention at present, we must also consider the repercussions of its decline and watch for new challenges that will emerge as a consequence in other regions.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Schuyler Moore is currently an analyst at an aerospace & defense consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. She previously studied international relations at Harvard University, and has published work on subjects regarding the Levant, Middle East and Central Asia in The National Interest and The Diplomat. Prior to her current position, she worked with the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The views expressed in this article do not reflect the policy or position of any official organization.


This article originally appeared at The Strategy Bridge.

 

[Housecarl]

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South Korea to host emergency meeting of six-party talks delegates

The talks are being held as China is taking a less forceful approach to Pyongyang.

By Elizabeth Shim | Jan. 11, 2016 at 10:08 AM

SEOUL, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The United States, Japan and South Korea representatives of the six-party talks are to hold an emergency meeting in response to North Korea's claimed hydrogen bomb test.

The talks, to be held Wednesday in Seoul, come about a month after Ambassador Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy; Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs; and Japanese delegate Kimihiro Ishikane met in Washington, D.C., in December.

The three delegates are expected to discuss additional sanctions under consideration at the United Nations Security Council, South Korean television network SBS reported Monday.

South Korea is hosting the talks in hopes of persuading a less forthcoming China, a permanent member of the Security Council and North Korea's closest economic partner, to take a stronger stand against Pyongyang's provocations, South Korean newspaper Seoul Economy Daily reported.

Hwang is expected to travel to Beijing on Thursday to hold a separate meeting with Wu Dawei, China's special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs.

But differences of opinion linger between South Korea and China regarding North Korea's nuclear provocations. Seoul has insisted on a strong response to Pyongyang, but China has said the issue needs to be resolved through dialogue – despite Beijing's waning influence over the Kim Jong Un leadership.

Russia, for its part, has suggested restarting the six-party talks as the best way to solve the nuclear issue, South Korean outlet News 1 reported.

Alexander Timonin, Russia's ambassador to Seoul, said during an emergency meeting with South Korea parliamentarians, and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, that it is "too early" to assess the magnitude of the recent North Korea nuclear test, though adding that North Korea behavior is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Timonin said the nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully.


Related UPI Stories
•North Korea threatens war over South Korean propaganda
•U.N. Security Council to impose new North Korea sanctions, report says
•North Korea provocation puts China, South Korea ties to the test

 

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How Far Along Are North Korea's Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles?

North Korea’s latest submarine-launched ballistic missile video appears unconvincing.

By Ankit Panda
January 11, 2016

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After grabbing headlines the world over on January 6 for its (dubious) claim of having successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, North Korea released what it claimed was video of successful submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test on Friday. The test was supposedly carried out in late-December 2015. (You can view the full video here.)

Immediately after the video was released, the South Korean military came out and said that the video appeared to have been manipulated. North Korea’s SLBM ejection tests have had trouble in the past. Last year’s test of the KN-11/Bukkeukseong-1 (“Polaris-1”) SLBM was shown to have taken place from an underwater barge, undercutting North Korea’s claim of a successful ejection from its Sinpo-class submarine. In late November, Pyongyang attempted a submarine ejection in earnest that was reported to have failed.

Though the South Korean military is yet to release any sort of definitive evidence that the video was altered, the community of open-source intelligence analysts out there has already gotten hard to work in attempting to prove that the video is less-than-genuine. Notably, the footage released this week does not show any close-ups of the missile unlike the footage from last May, clearly showing the distinctive-looking KN-11 (the missile bears a strong resemblance to the Soviet Union’s R-27/SS-N-6 Serb SLBMs).

Dave Schmerler, a researcher with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, spotted that the footage showing the missile breaking through a layer of clouds is from footage of a June 2014 missile launch. Schmerler additionally geolocated the background of the SLBM test video, showing that it had taken place roughly near North Korea’s Sinpo shipyard.

North Korea releases this sort of footage to send a signal. After widespread reporting of the unsuccessful SLBM test in November and discovery of the underwater barge ejection in the case of the May launch, Pyongyang was likely eager to send a signal that its SLBMs were on track. The nuclear test on the 6th got people to take North Korea seriously; releasing this footage shortly thereafter is an attempt to make the SLBM threat stick. (For what its worth, the release of the footage coincided with Kim Jong-un’s birthday.)

If Pyongyang really wants to show the world that it has successfully conducted a full flight test of its KN-11 SLBM from its Sinpo-class submarine, it would do well to release detailed footage like the sort it showed in May. The long-range shots, speedy cuts, and fast editing with this latest release suggest that Pyongyang is furtively trying to get away with overstating the state of its SLBM progress.

 

[Housecarl]

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Great Britain and Japan to Deepen Defense Cooperation

London and Tokyo aim to tighten their defense relations in 2016.

By Franz-Stefan Gady
January 11, 2016

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Japan and the United Kingdom are seeking to deepen defense cooperation in 2016 including possible joint military exercises and pushing ahead with the development of a new air-to-air missile, according to U.K. Defense Secretary, Michael Fallon, who visited Japan in the first week of January.

“Japan is our closest security partner in Asia and I want to significantly deepen defense cooperation between our two nations,” Fallon said in a joint press release. “We will do that through joint exercises, reciprocal access to our military bases, military personnel exchanges and cooperation on equipment, including a new air-to-air missile.”

The British defense secretary was in Tokyo on January 8, alongside Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani.

Among other things, both sides are now investigating the possibility of a joint combat jet exercise involving Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft of the Royal Air Force in Japan, following a Five Powers Defense Arrangement Exercise in 2016.

Japanese and British defense officials also discussed possible venues of cooperation in improving both amphibious and counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Device) capabilities. Both sides also decided to strengthen information-sharing in the field of cyber security. London and Tokyo agreed to conduct a joint cyber security research project and are looking into a number of joint cyber exercises also involving U.S. military cyber analysts.

Japan and the United Kingdom are also pushing the development of a Joint New Air-to-Air Missile (JNAAM) to the next stage, according to the press release:

Following the success of the first round of talks on the Co-operative Research Project on the Feasibility of a Joint New Air-to-Air Missile (JNAAM), the Ministers confirmed discussions would move to the second stage.

The weapon under consideration is a ramjet-powered, beyond a visual range missile, currently being developed by European defense contractor Meteor, which could be fitted into the F-35’s internal weapons bay.( In 2011, Japan decided to procure 42 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, the first of which are scheduled to arrive at the end of 2016.)

In his statement to the press, Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani emphasized the communality of strategic interests of both countries in Asia:

Last year, the U.K. published the SDSR [Strategic Defense and Security Review]. In this, the U.K. reaffirmed its commitment to its presence as a global power. The SDSR highlighted Japan as the closest security partner in Asia, and I highly regard this statement. In the same year, we have reformed our legislation concerning peace and security. Through these processes, our two nations have confirmed the further commitment of the stability of the world.

The British defense secretary also emphasized his country’s support for Japan’s “Proactive Contribution to Peace” policy and Tokyo’s new Legislation for Peace and Security.

 

[Housecarl]

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Deciphering China’s Armed Intrusion Near the Senkaku Islands

The appearance of an armed Coast Guard ship gives Japanese authorities plenty to ponder.

By Ryan D. Martinson
January 11, 2016

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How to interpret the late-December appearance of an “armed” China Coast Guard ship near the Senkaku (a.k.a. Diaoyu) Islands?

The two tiny turrets fore and aft are not the story. Other Chinese vessels have sailed these waters with deck guns. Japanese ships operating here are, of course, armed. And in any case, the use – or threat – of force is inimical to the chief aim of China’s Senkaku Island patrols: i.e., to “demonstrate” Chinese sovereignty without risking military conflict. Acts of aggression, when they do occur in these waters, usually involve threatening others with collision, in which case the ship itself is the instrument of coercion.

With these facts in mind, what can we say about our armed intruder? CCG 31239, or Zhongguo Haijing 31239, was originally built for the PLA Navy, where she served for over 20 years. In the summer of 2015, the vessel was transferred, along with two other ships of her class, to the China Coast Guard – specifically, the agency’s Shanghai “contingent” (zongdui). That CCG 31239 was once a naval vessel does not make her unique. China’s maritime law enforcement fleet has a number of former PLA Navy ships. Several, indeed, have sailed to the Senkakus. But those were all former auxiliary vessels: tug boats, submarine rescue ships, and icebreakers.

CCG 31239 was a frigate. Therefore, by China Coast Guard standards she is very fast. Moreover, she was built to naval specifications: her designers presumably intended her to survive cannon and even missile fire, as warships must in wartime. China Coast Guard ships built from the keel up are not expected to meet the same standards of survivability. All this means that CCG 31239 is much better prepared to prevail in any game of chicken that might take place in these waters. Moreover, CCG 31239 is no doubt equipped with advanced sensors and communications equipment, certainly superior to the commercial-grade hardware usually installed on other China Coast Guard vessels. CCG 31239 will thus improve maritime domain awareness in the waters where she operates.

Yet CCG 31129’s most noteworthy attribute may be her crew. The vessel is operated by a special class of Chinese coastguardsmen. In fact, they are China’s “original” coastguardsmen. Recall that before the creation of the China Coast Guard in mid-2013, Beijing funded many different maritime law enforcement agencies. Those that mattered most to China’s neighbors were China Marine Surveillance (CMS) and Fisheries Law Enforcement (FLE). They were the only organizations that regularly sent ships to the Senkakus, Scarborough Shoal, and the Spratlys.

Both CMS and FLE were civilian agencies. Of the two, CMS was much more active along China’s maritime frontier. CMS personnel wore uniforms and had some small arms training. Some were former military. But in the end their part was to look officious, not martial – something like this. In 2008, CMS established three units (zhidui) of “rights protection” personnel who boarded ships headed to trouble spots in order to handle interactions with foreigners. They spoke foreign languages, knew some international law, and regarded themselves as the tip of the spear in China’s maritime disputes.

A third agency, the Border Defense Coast Guard, was of a different breed altogether. It was the maritime component of the Border Defense Force, itself a part of the People’s Armed Police (PAP). They were part of China’s “armed forces.” They had military ranks, like the People’s Liberation Army. As a collective, they were called guanbing, “officers and enlisted.” Unlike CMS and FLE, the Border Defense Coast Guard, or the “old” China Coast Guard, had the power to arrest and charge people for crimes. The service seldom left China’s territorial waters, which was where most such offenses took place. Needless to say, they never sailed to the Senkakus, though their leaders clearly wanted to.

In 2013, Chinese policymakers created the “new” China Coast Guard by combining four agencies, including the three described above. This, like any great reform (even one occurring under a “people’s democratic dictatorship”), was much easier said than done. To date, actual progress has been quite modest. One authoritative source openly acknowledged that the reform is “not where it should be.” The new agency has yet to issue a common service uniform (though people are supposedly working on it). The old division of labor between the different agencies remains largely in place. Former FLE and CMS ships, now painted with four-digit China Coast Guard pennant numbers, continue to conduct blue water “rights protection” patrols. “Old” China Coast Guard forces, their ships identified by five-digit pennant numbers, more or less do what they always did.

By now the reader will recognize the organizational significance of CCG 31239’s recent mission. This ship is owned by a unit of the “old” China Coast Guard. This, then, was the first time a vessel operated by guanbing has ever conducted a patrol to the Senkaku Islands.

What do guanbing patrolling the Senkakus look like in action? Unfortunately, the Chinese press has produced no original reporting on the December 26th incursion. We can, however, easily track down recent stories of guanbing operating in other settings. In December, for instance, forces from the “old” China Coast Guard conducted a major mission to crack down on oil smuggling off the coast of Fujian. CCTV coverage of this operation reveals how much their organizational culture – which is that of a military service – differs from their CMS colleagues. For a primer on the modus operandi of Coast Guard guanbing when confronting foreign mariners, one might review footage of the 2014 defense of CNOOC 981 in disputed waters in the South China Sea, where they vigorously engaged Vietnamese craft attempting to approach the Chinese rig.

What all this portends for future encounters in the East China Sea is, of course, uncertain. Will China Coast Guard guanbing develop a professional rapport with their Japanese counterparts? How will their distinct organizational culture affect their behavior at sea? Do they feel like they have something to prove? Will they attempt to exercise their police powers? These questions must weigh on the minds of commanders within the Japan Coast Guard.

Japanese statesmen, for their part, have these and other questions to ponder. Above all, by deploying to the Senkaku Islands a white-hulled frigate manned by military personnel, what signal is Beijing trying to transmit? For gunboats – as CCG 31239 most assuredly is – are seldom sent without messages.

Ryan Martinson is a researcher at the China Maritime Studies Institute of the US Naval War College, where he studies Chinese marine policy.