Secret American intelligence assessments have concluded that Iran has obtained a cache of advanced missiles, based on a Russian design, that are much more powerful than anything Washington has publicly conceded that Tehran has in its arsenal, diplomatic cables show.

Iran obtained 19 of the missiles from North Korea, according to a cable dated Feb. 24 of this year. The cable is a detailed, highly classified account of a meeting between top Russian officials and an American delegation led by Vann H. Van Diepen, an official with the State Department’s nonproliferation division who, as a national intelligence officer several years ago, played a crucial role in the 2007 assessment of Iran’s nuclear capacity.

The missiles could for the first time give Iran the capacity to strike at capitals in Western Europe or at Moscow, and American officials warned that their advanced propulsion could speed Iran’s development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

There has been scattered but persistent speculation on the topic since 2006, when fragmentary reports surfaced that North Korea might have sold Iran missiles based on a Russian design called the R-27, once used aboard Soviet submarines to carry nuclear warheads. In the unclassified world, many arms control experts concluded that isolated components made their way to Iran, but there has been little support for the idea that complete missiles, with their huge thrusters, had been secretly shipped.

Full Story Here:
Iran Fortifies Its Arsenal With the Aid of North Korea

And for anyone that’s old enough to remember the Iranian hostage crisis, or has studied it in the interest of history, this next part will come as NO surprise.

Around the World, Distress Over Iran

In late May 2009, Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, used a visit from a Congressional delegation to send a pointed message to the new American president.

In a secret cable sent back to Washington, the American ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham, reported that Mr. Barak had argued that the world had 6 to 18 months “in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable.” After that, Mr. Barak said, “any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage.”

There was little surprising in Mr. Barak’s implicit threat that Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. As a pressure tactic, Israeli officials have been setting such deadlines, and extending them, for years. But six months later it was an Arab leader, the king of Bahrain, who provides the base for the American Fifth Fleet, telling the Americans that the Iranian nuclear program “must be stopped,” according to another cable. “The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it,” he said.

His plea was shared by many of America’s Arab allies, including the powerful King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who according to another cable repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.

Full Story Here:
Iran Stirs Distress in Mideast

President George W. Bush was 2/3 correct when he labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the axis of evil. I still don’t see Iraq as having been the threat Iran and North Korea pose, but Bush was privy to higher level Intelligence information I am guessing, and that was HIS assessment.

North Korea has been a thorn in our side since 1950 with the breaking out of hostilities in the south, and has remained a thorn ever since. That’s 60 years! You would think that in all that time we would have had an American president with the fortitude to end it. Apparently not.

Iran has been our antagonist since 1979, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was deposed as the Shah of Iran.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s father was a supporter of NAZI Germany. Today, many compare Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolph Hitler. Coincidence perhaps?

1941 - The Shah’s pro-Axis allegiance in World War II leads to the Anglo-Russian occupation of Iran and the deposition of the Shah in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. SOURCE

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was Shah of Iran when radical Islam took over Iran and deposed him, also bringing about the Iranian hostage crisis a short time later.

Iran held the American people, indeed, our entire nation hostage for 444 days, from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981. They held this nation powerless, an entire nation of hostages, due to the utter ineffectiveness of American president Jimmy Carter.

Pressure mounted on Carter towards the end of his administration. The American people demanded that some action be taken to resolve this issue and force some ‘pay back’ on Iran.

Thus we were given Operation Eagle Claw, an operation that was a total failure.

There are those that to this very day maintain Operation Eagle Claw was nothing more than a sham, a feel good operation. One ordered by Carter himself, an operation that was planned to be a failure.

There are some that maintain the CIA and Delta went in and rounded up some locals, killed them and tossed their bodies into the aircraft that were then destroyed, and that the grieving family members were actors hired to play their part at the funeral services of deceased service members.

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YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) - A defiant flash of North Korean artillery within sight of the island that it attacked this week sent a warning signal to Seoul and Washington: The North is not backing down.

The apparent military drill Friday came as the top U.S. commander in South Korea toured Yeonpyeong island to survey the wreckage from the rain of artillery three days earlier. As a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier headed toward the Yellow Sea for exercises next week with South Korea, the North warned that the joint maneuvers will push the Korean peninsula to the “brink of war.”

South Korea’s government, meanwhile, struggled to recoup from the surprise attacks that killed four people, including two civilians, and forced its beleaguered defense minister to resign Thursday. President Lee Myung-bak on Friday named a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the post.

Tensions have soared between the Koreas since the North’s strike Tuesday destroyed large parts of Yeonpyeong in a major escalation of their sporadic skirmishes along the disputed sea border.

Full Story Here:
Defiant North Korea fires artillery warning shots

And then there’s this story in the headlines today.

NKorea warns region is on brink of war

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) - North Korea warned Friday that U.S.-South Korean plans for military maneuvers put the peninsula on the brink of war, and appeared to launch its own artillery drills within sight of an island it showered with a deadly barrage this week.

The fresh artillery blasts were especially defiant because they came as the U.S. commander in South Korea, Gen. Walter Sharp, toured the South Korean island to survey damage from Tuesday’s hail of North Korean artillery fire that killed four people.

Full Story Here:
NKorea warns region is on brink of war

These are pretty much the same story, re-edited, somewhat re-written, perhaps in an effort by the writers to keep the AP happy with an information flow. That said;

Several things about this entire scenario really bother me.

North Korea is OWNED by China. If it weren’t for China the North Koreans would be starving to death and dying in huge numbers. The North Koreans don’t make a move that the Chinese are not already aware of and are not going to back. Chinese support is paramount for North Korean survival.

So, why then, did the North attack the South this time? Let’s look at this story, it seems to be the precursor to this current run up to war; South Korean ship ‘hit by North Korean torpedo’.

Was the South Korean ship in *contested* waters? If they were, did they know they were? Did North Korea interpret the location of that ship as a threat? Did the South Koreans deliberately engage in an act of provocation? Can the *word* of either side be fully believed?

There are entirely too many questions that remain unanswered.

I will undoubtedly be called a racist for saying this, so be it. I don’t trust ANY of those people, the Chinese, North or South Koreans, Vietnamese, ANY of them.

As far back into my youth as I can remember, we were engaged in a war in Vietnam, only leaving after we were, in all truth and actuality, kicked OUT of Vietnam because our leaders in Washington didn’t have the will to fight a war as a war should be fought.

We went to war in South Korea 3 years before I was born. I am 57 years old now. You would think that in all that time, a solution could have been found. Apparently not.

Make NO mistake, the Chinese OWN the USA too. They hold more of our debt that we do. Don’t even begin to think that the Chinese bought our debt out of the goodness of their hearts. All China has to do is *call the loan* and we are in the hurt locker. They OWN us.

It would seem to me that it would be in best interest of China to control the North Koreans and their saber rattling. So far, to the best of my knowledge, China hasn’t put forth too much effort to get their North Korean neighbors under control. And folks, China never does anything that they haven’t put great thought and planning into.

There is a method to this madness that hasn’t surfaced yet, not publicly. I am told by sources that the Chinese detest Barack Hussein Obama and want desperately to see him fail. I question that thought, and then I think about this, the Chinese are Communists, Obama is a Socialist, maybe it’s an ideology thing.

I know this; the idea of going to war in Korea, with Obama as the CiC, scares me to no end.

Vietnam was a proxy war between the USA, Russia and China. It was fought in Vietnam simply because Vietnam was convenient. It stopped ALL sides from destroying the others industrial infrastructure. Today, a UNITED Vietnam is one of our better trading partners on the world market.

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress - was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.

Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts against DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge.

After the verdicts were read, DeLay hugged his daughter, Danielle, and his wife, Christine. His lead attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said they planned to appeal the verdict.

“This is an abuse of power. It’s a miscarriage of justice, and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our very system and I’m very disappointed in the outcome,” DeLay told reporters outside the courtroom. He remains free on bond, and his sentencing was tentatively set to begin on Dec. 20.

Full Story Here:
Jury convicts Tom DeLay in money laundering trial

You might be innocent Tom, but a jury of your peers doesn’t seem to think so. A jury of your peers in a Republican state too. That’s not a good thing, especially after you and your lawyers had 5 years to prepare your defense.

For quite a long time I was known for taking a neutral stand on DeLay and the accusations against him. I often said, ‘wait until it goes to trial, if he’s found innocent, leave him alone and let him get on with his life, but if he’s found guilty, hang him…’

He was found guilty — Hang him!

And in other news:

Sarah Palin: ‘We gotta stand with our North Korean allies’

Oops, she did it again.

Sarah Palin made her latest verbal gaffe on Wednesday, claiming North Korea is one of America’s allies on Glenn Beck’s radio show when asked how she’d handle the recent escalation between the two Koreas.

“This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy,” the former vice presidential candidate said on Wednesday. “But obviously we’ve gotta stand with our North Korean allies.”

The host corrected her. “South Korea,” Beck said.

“Eh, yeah. And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes,” Palin responded.

Full Story Here:
Sarah Palin: ‘We gotta stand with our North Korean allies’

OK, let’s ALL be very sure in our response to this, I don’t want anyone to make a hypocrite of themselves.

When Barack Hussein Obama made his classic gaffe about visiting all 57 states, I was all over it on the blog, as were nearly every other blogger in the Conservative world. We lambasted Obama severely for that misspeak. And indeed, it was a misspeak, a faux pas, a brain fart, call it what you will, he said it, it was a screw up and WE ALL HAMMERED HIM!

We all said the man had no business being president. Many based their opinion of that solely on the 57 states remark.

OK, in the spirit of fair and balanced; Sarah Palin quite likely misspoke when she said ‘our ally North Korea’. I’m sure she knew better. I am positive she knows better now. But she made the speaking error. And indeed she did, in all probability, misspeak, make a faux pas, have a brain fart, call it what you will, but she said it and it was a screw up.

Do I think Obama saying something about there being 57 states was a disqualifier? No, but it was an indication that we needed to scrutinize him more.

When Obama admitted that he was a Muslim, Barack Hussein Obama — My Muslim Faith – Proven, was that a disqualifier? Apparently not. But, he, and his staff, as well as the interviewer and the entire left side of America said it was a ‘misspeak’, nothing more. Nothing to see here, move along.

The thing is, a candidate, an elected official, the president, every blogger, all public speakers are responsible for their words and their accuracy with those words. If I make a spelling or grammatical error in a post, my email fills up rapidly, and I’m not even a candidate.

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