World Threats

China has decided to ramp up its criticism of the hermit kingdom after its recent belligerent moves. Not only has the People’s Republic recently criticized the Kim regime in an official newspaper, but it is now receiving a “special envoy” from the country. This comes after two days of North Korean missile tests.

he North’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch Wednesday that the envoy was Choe Ryong Hae.

There were no other details. Choe is the North Korea military’s top political officer tasked with supervising the 1.2-million-strong force.

China is North Korea’s only major political and economic benefactor. Beijing has faced pressure from Washington to use its influence to push Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

From the People’s Daily Online, an official arm of the Chinese propaganda machine:

In short, we cannot simply ”abandon“ North Korea. No matter <the nature of the regime in North Korea, China always has security interests in the Korean Peninsula. 
Beijing has already adjusted its policies toward North Korea. Targeting North Korea‘s unfriendly actions, which have threatened peace on the peninsula, China has issued warnings and punishments. The relationship between China and North Korea has reached its lowest point since 1953. 
Nevertheless, this does not mean that China wants to completely abandon North Korea.North Korea is not a satellite state of China. We cannot ”abandon“ it. China‘s punishment and sanctions on North Korea are aimed to maintain our own security interests. 

Wow. Not only did the Chinese provide political cover for the United States and our allies increasing our military presence on the troubled Peninsula and targeting the North Koreans strategically, but they all but threw their old friends in Pyongyang under the bus in this remarkably pointed article.

I’d be concerned if I happened to be in North Korean high command, because a military buildup or drills conducted by the United States or Seoul is normal every day life when your threatening both nations with thermonuclear obviation, but potential defection by your only protectorate state on the planet could mean continuous onslaught from the U.N. and even fewer precious resources, such as food, entering your land.

Things could be getting very interesting diplomatically on the Korean Peninsula as China’s untrustworthy policy towards Pyongyang intensifies with further deterioration of politics within the Kim Jong-Un regime.

Getting more belligerent every day:

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With tensions on the Korean peninsula heading towards “thermo-nuclear war” according to the despotic regime’s ironically named Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, the belligerents are warning all foreigners to evacuate South Korea immediately and they have even refused to guarantee the protection of embassies.

This comes as the North Korean’s are preparing for a mid-range missile test with nuclear capabilities and followed through with their war drum banging by refusing to send workers to a joint industrial complex, making vague threats against the United States and even suspending an emergency hotline with the South.

Neighboring Japan is not taking any chances with the mentally deranged regime, sending two of their newest warships to the Sea of Japan to shoot down any missiles originating from the North, and have also deployed three U.S. made Patriot anti-missile defenses in Tokyo to better protect their Capital from any threats.

And if the North Koreans attempt to fire a missile into the Pacific by way of crossing Japan, their military has orders to shoot down the projectile and will execute if the time comes, although few actually believe such an event will occur, but I believe playing it safe with North Korea is probably a good idea when nuclear devices are on the line.

What say you?

North Korea has stepped up its provocations with another belligerent act. As the United States has signalled that it will not directly provoke the North, the DRPK has loaded missiles that appear to be threatening Japan.

Communication intercepts in recent days also seem to show that Pyongyang might be planning to launch a mobile ballistic missile in the coming days or weeks, another U.S. official said.

Russia has been playing interference for many of the world’s worst regimes for years now. It seems like Vladimir Putin’s government may actually be afraid of something going wrong in Korea.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned of a “vicious circle” and told all sides to avoid unilateral action.

Let’s see if China applies pressure on the North to stop their saber rattling.

Not sure what this means:

BREAKING: North Korea says it ‘enters war’ with South Korea: KCNA
— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) March 29, 2013

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This sounds promising. The North has ratcheted up the pressure once again, this time cutting off the communications line between the two governments of Korea.

“Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep north-south military communications,” the head of a North Korean delegation told the South by telephone Wednesday, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The North linked the move to annual joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States, which it has cited in a string of threats against the two countries in recent weeks. Tougher sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council have also fueled its anger.

Great

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The combination of Afghan police and military forces and NATO killed over 50 Taliban members in a lightning assault in the last twenty four hours.

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I find it amusing how many pride themselves in slashing defense budgets, weakening military forces and supporting peace projects so as to act civilized while opposing the warmongers of the world.

Which is ironic because on the flip side, I don’t believe we have seen so many unrelated conflicts occur across the world as we are witnessing right now. Honestly, its unbelievable.

Over the past week we have seen the Syrian rebels launch a successful offensive into Raqqa, French and Chadian forces fiercely engage Islamist terrorists in Mali, Congolese soldiers recapture two Eastern towns long held by M23 rebels, the Malaysians assault Filipino rebels over ancient territorial claims and our own ongoing conflict in Afghanistan continue unabated.

Sounds like a world in chaos, one which operates under the premise that there are forces – inspired by something as simple as religious dogma, or complicated as ancient territorial claims – willing to embroil nations, armies and civilians in war for their claims, and the first step to resolving these conflicts is for a peaceful minded world to concede peace and human nature are not the greatest forces at coexistence.

And the second step? Realizing new age music and negotiations are not going to resolve disputes and conflicts waged for numerous reasons, but supporting the right side – sometimes the forces besieged, Malaysia and Mali, and others the besiegers, Syrian rebels and our coalition forces in Afghanistan – is guaranteed to be more productive to both securing peace that is quick and hopefully, for everyone, lasting.

What say you?

According to several media reports the Malaysian government, tired and fed up of 200 or more armed Filipino squatters laying a bizarre claim on Borneo Island, launched a powerful air strike and mortar campaign before sending in ground forces to resolve the ongoing diplomatic nightmare between themselves and the Philippines.

The Filipinos, members of a supposed royal militia to a long defunct sultanate in Southern Philippines, armed with rifles and grenade launchers, landed on Malaysian territory almost three weeks ago on orders of a self-proclaimed sultan to reclaim the state of Sabah, which once belonged to their Islamic sultanate.

Malaysian officials have attempted to end this fiasco peacefully, but after an altercation just last week killed several of their officers and almost two dozen of the squatters, their opinion shifted from wait this out to it is time to end this.

And it led to this morning’s air and ground assault on the roughly 200 foreign occupiers, which although we know little of what occurred, Malaysian officials are claiming their objectives were completed and no men within their security forces were killed during mop up operations following the initial strikes.

Stay tuned for changes in this rapidly evolving story.

For the past two weeks, Bangladesh has been experiencing its largest demonstrations in two decades. Anti-Islamist Muslim Tarek Fatah says  it is “the first time ever in the Muslim world there has been a popular uprising against the fascism of Islamist parties.”

Unlike the Arab Spring revolutions, this uprising’s goal is not overthrowing a secular government, but protecting one.

The current government is led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a female secularist from the Awami League Party. Her party won in a landslide in December 2008, a remarkable—if mostly unnoticed—achievement in a 90 percent Muslim country.

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The rival governments of China and Japan have long argued over the rightful ownership of a cluster of islands in the East China Sea, which are legally in Japanese hands, and legally called the Senkaku Islands, but recent actions taken by Beijing have the Japanese and international observers worried.

Worried about possible military escalation.

And for good reason with what the BBC is reporting today: last week a Chinese frigate locked its’ weapon-targeting radar on a nearby Japanese Naval vessel and just the week before that on a helicopter. Raising the stakes over this cluster of islands and risking a potential deadly mistake for misguiding military supremacy.

This comes five months after the Japanese government purchased the islands from private owners and the Chinese responded by deployingsix surveillance ships into disputed waters, violating the sovereignty of Japanese territorial waters. These actions indicate a growing willingness by Chinese authorities to use their growing naval might to harass their neighbors over territorial disputes, along with attempting to establish their regional supremacy.

The Japanese have protested to Beijing over their blatantly hostile and downright risky actions over the past couple of weeks, as one wrong button could have resulted in the unintentional assault on a Japanese vessel, which would have led to possible reprisal and China’s attempt to bully to backfire.

As I wrote several months ago on this same subject: “this demonstrates the Chinese government is feeling confident enough to start asserting their claims and authority over disputed islands with their neighbors, most of which are weak militarily and rely heavily on the United States for protection, and that we could see the beginning of Sino imperialism in South West Asia.”

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Six people were killed in a bus explosion in Karachi, Pakistan today. This comes as the United States has decided to again launch drone strikes on suspected terrorists in Waziristan.

Six people were killed Saturday when a bus exploded outside the main railway station in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, authorities said.

About 50 people were reported injured, some of them critically, Dawn News reported.

Long simmering tensions between the Chinese and Japanese governments flared up earlier today when six surveillance ships were sent by China on a mission of “law enforcement over its maritime rights,” which just happened to involve violating Japan’s territorial waters, and attempting to lay claim to the Senkaku Islands.

The islands, which have been under dispute by the rival governments since World War 2, are quite possibly near huge maritime gas and oil fields, and in China’s continuous drive for more resources and energy power, it does not surprise me they are attempting to assert their claim, albeit weak and unfounded, at this time.

This situation also materialized with the Japanese government buying the islands two days ago from private owners to prevent nationalists from developing on them to intentionally taunt the Chinese. Apparently, China saw the move as encroaching on their sovereignty and deployed several vessels to the area.

Japan was understandably agitated by the encroachment of their territorial waters and deployed their coast guard to meet the Chinese vessels, demanding their departure, which they obliged by the afternoon and the incident was diffused without the use of force.

However, this demonstrates the Chinese government is feeling confident enough to start asserting their claims and authority over disputed islands with their neighbors, most of which are weak militarily and rely heavily on the United States for protection, and that we could see the beginning of Sino imperialism in South West Asia.

Stay tuned to this interesting development.