N. Korea plans to launch missile over Hawaii

“North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.”

MSNCB Associated Press. “N. Korea May Fire Missile Towards Hawaii.” Retrieved June 22, 2009 from [Source]

  

Last Thursday, a Japanese newspaper reported that North Korea may faire a long-range ballistic missile towards the state of Hawaii.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched possibly on July 4^th from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country. Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii’s main islands which are 4,500 miles from North Korea. 

Last week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered additional defenses around Hawaii that consist of ground-based mobile missile systems and a radar system on the island. Together they could shoot an incoming missile in mid air. 

Such a launch by the North Korean government would be a brazen slap in the face of the international community, which punished North Korea with new U.N. sanctions for conducting a second nuclear test back in late May in defiance of the U.N. ban. 

The day before the news broke about North Korea’s plans the U.S. has been tracking a ship since it left a North Korean port last Wednesday and is believed to be headed for Singapore. The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship, Kang Nam, as soon as it leaves North Korean waters off the coast of China. The ship is believed to be carrying weapons, missile components or nuclear materials, which is in direct violation of UN Resolution 1874 which put sanctions in place against Pyongyang.

The Kang Nam ship has been caught in the past harboring weapons and shipping them to regional ports. The U.S. is playing a proactive role in strategically monitoring the region to prevent weapons being distributed to other nations. The U.S. has been slightly concerned about the low response of China and Russia, who are the major powers of the region.

This will be the first direct military contact with North Korea since tensions started to heat up recently when the north detonated a nuclear device underground in the region in May. North Korea has also been test firing short range missiles and has threatened to declare war against any country who interferes with their weapons and nuclear development efforts.

In a matter of two weeks, the world may witness a nuclear strike attempt by the North Korean government on the United States, South Korea or Japan. All three nations have been placed on high alert in the region and are monitoring the North around the clock. If the U.S. is threatened by such attacks, the world may also witness a massive attack by the U.S. military; however, the U.S. faces a major decision due to North Korea’s message to wage war if threatened. As the U.S. holds 28,500 troops in South Korea and with the help of the South Korean and Japanese troops, a major war can break out between them and the response by the Chinese and Russians still remain silent.

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CS

Obama extends hands with Chavez and Ortega

“President Barack Obama offered a spirit of cooperation to America’s hemispheric neighbors at a summit Saturday, listening to complaints about past U.S. meddling and even reaching out to Venezuela‘s leftist leader.”

 

Smith, Mark. Obama extends hands to Chavez, Ortega at Summit. Retrieved on April 18, 2009 from [Source]

 

 

Since Barack Obama assumed office in January 2009, he has worked hard and diligently in easing friction and tensions between the United States and other countries abroad. Last week, Obama announced he is ready to accept Raul Castro’s proposal talks to lift the 47-year trade embargo imposed on Cuba subsequent to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

While at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, Obama exchanged handshakes and pats on the back with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who once likened President George W. Bush to the devil. At the summit, Obama promised a new hemispheric growth fund an initiative to increase Caribbean security and a partnership to develop alternative energy sources and fight global warming. In front of photographers, Chavez gave Obama a copy of “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent,” a book by Eduardo Galeano that chronicles U.S. and European economic and political interference in the region. This could mean that Chavez is trying to send a message to Obama that the policies of America and Europe need to change referencing political presence in Latin America.

 

Later, during a group photo, Obama reached behind several leaders at the summit to shake Chavez’ hand for the third time. Obama summoned a translator and the two smiled and spoke briefly. Those two exchanges followed a brief grip-and-grin for cameras on Friday night when Obama greeted Chavez in Spanish.”I think it was a good moment,” Chavez said about their initial encounter. “I think President Obama is an intelligent man, compared to the previous U.S. president.”

 

At a luncheon speech to fellow leaders, Chavez said the spirit of respect is encouraging and he proposed that Havana host the next summit.”I’m not going to speak for Cuba. It’s not up to me… (but) all of us here are friends of Cuba, and we hope the United States will be, too,” Chavez said.

 

Obama also extended a hand to Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, whom President Ronald Reagan spent years trying to drive from power. Ortega was ousted in 1990 elections that ended Nicaragua’s civil war, but was returned to power by voters in 2006. Ortega stepped up and introduced himself to Obama, U.S. officials said. But a short time later, Ortega delivered a blistering 50-minute speech that denounced capitalism and U.S. imperialism as the root of much hemispheric mischief. The address even recalled the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, though Ortega said the new U.S. president could not be held to account for that.

 

Obama’s initiative to reinstate ties and relation with Latin America is in the making and will play an integral role in his plan to utilize renewable energy sources for the future.

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CS

Fidel Castro insists that the US should lift embargo

“Former Cuban president Fidel Castro says the U.S. did not go far enough in announcing plans to soften sanctions against his country, and he insists that real change in bilateral relations will come only when Washington lifts its “cruel” trade embargo.”

 

Weissert, Will. Castro insists US go further, lift cruel embargo. Retrieved April 14, 2009 from [Source]

 

 

President Barack Obama announced Monday that Americans will now be able to make unlimited transfers of money and visits to relatives in Cuba. Under previous rules, Cuban-Americans were eligible to travel here only every three years and send up to $300 to relatives every three months.

 

Monday’s action eliminated those limits in the hope that less dependence on their government will lead Cubans to demand progress on political freedoms. Castro responded in a column published Monday on the website of Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist party. The former president wrote that in announcing the easing of restrictions “not a word was said about the blockade, which is the cruelest of measures.”

 

The U.S. policy change could usher in a new era of openness between the two countries and will mean the end of the trade embargo, which has choked off nearly all U.S. trade with the island for 47 years and counting. But many Cubans are happy that relatives in America will now be able to come whenever they want, stay as long as they want and send as much cash home as they can. About 1.5 million Americans have relatives in Cuba, which turned to Communist rule after Fidel Castro seized control in 1959.

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CS

Venezuela, Cuba to host Russian Bombers

“Russia could use bases for its strategic bombers on the doorstep of the United States in Cuba and Venezuela to underpin long-distance patrols in the region.”

 

 

Nowak, David. Cuba, Venezuela could host Russian Bombers. Retrieved on March 14, 2009 from [Source]

 

 

For the past eight months, since the Georgian – S. Ossetian conflict occurred and when the United States declared a missile-defense shield, placed in Poland, Russia has been on the forefront of projecting its military capability in far-flung corners of the globe despite a tight defense budget and hardware that remains outdated based on what experts report. Russia plans to execute an objective to place bombers in Venezuela and Cuba; countries that are at the backdoor of the United States.

 

The chief of the Russian air force strategic aviation staff, General Anatoly Zhikharev, stated that the air force is unsure of placing bombers in Venezuela as they are positive bombers will be placed in Cuba; giving these bombers 90 miles outside the coast of Florida. Zhikharev indicated that Russia was only looking for occasional use of the bases and not a permanent use. He also noted that Russia is prohibited of establishing military bases in Venezuela due to the Venezuelan constitution that makes such prohibition. President Hugo Chavez allowed Russia to use one of the military airfields, on La Orchila Island where Zhikharev agreed to only “land, complete the flight, and take off.”  

 

The United States remain curious and will continue to watch the moves of the Russian military as they have showed signals of neutrality for the past year. It is important for the United States to keep an eye on what the Russians are conducting in the South Americas and off the coasts of the United States to ensure a ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ does not revisit the 21^st century.

 

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CS