Kim's message: War is coming to US soil

1. The first message is that Kim Jong-il is the greatest of the peerless national heroes Korea has ever produced. Kim is unique in that he is the first to equip Korea with sufficient military capability to take the war all the way to the continental US. Under his leadership the DPRK has become a nuclear-weapons state with intercontinental means of delivery. Kim is certainly in the process of achieving the long-elusive goal of neutralizing the American intervention in Korean affairs and bringing together North and South Korea under the umbrella of a confederated state.

2. The second point is that a nuclear test will be a legitimate exercise of North Korea's sovereign right in supreme national-security interests of the country. The sole reason for the development of nuclear weapons is more than 50 years of direct exposure to naked nuclear threats and sanctions from the US. The Kim administration seeks to commit nuclear weapons to actual use against the US in case of war, never to use them as a tool of negotiations. No country is allowed to infringe on the sovereignty of North Korea in material breach of Chapter 2 of the UN charter, unless they are prepared to risk triggering nuclear war with North Korea.

3. The third message is that the nuclear-armed North Korea will be a major boon to China and Russia. The US has nuclear-armed allies, such as the UK and France. The People's Republic of China has every reason to welcome a nuclear-armed North Korea, whatever it may say in public. The nuclear deterrence of North Korea is a major factor in reducing US military pressure on China on the question of the independence of Taiwan.

4. The fourth point is that the North Korea government of Kim does not care at all whether Japan goes nuclear, or that South Korea and Australia follow suit. It is too obvious that they are capable of acquiring nuclear weapons at short notice. Their becoming nuclear powers will signal that the US is no longer a reliable cop. At long last de-Americanization of the US allies and neutralization of the US in the rest of the world will be set into motion.

5. The fifth and last point is a long, overdue farewell to the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Had the Americans been steadfast in upholding the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty by reducing their nuclear weapons and respecting the sovereignty and independence of the non-nuclear states, North Korea would not have felt any need to defend itself with nuclear weapons. A nuclear test by North Korea will go a long way toward emboldening anti-American states around the world to acquire nuclear weapons. There is a long line of candidate states.

- Whoa. It's not just a nuclear bomb test. Reading the news from the other side, you can see the depth of their ambitions : they wish to unite Korea under a nuclear umbrella on their own terms, they wish to develop long-range nuclear ICBM missiles, and they are going to operate on a first-strike policy. And yes, it looks like many other countries will want their own nuclear bombs now. So much for non-proliferation.

North Korea conducts its first nuclear test

channelnewsasia.com :

Defying worldwide appeals and threats of sanctions, North Korea on Monday announced it had carried out its first nuclear weapons test, calling it a "historic event". The communist state's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the underground test was carried out safely and successfully and there was no radiation leak. A South Korean defence ministry official quoted by Yonhap news agency said the test was carried out at Hwadaeri near Kilju on North Korea's northeast coast at 10:36 am (0136 GMT).

There was no immediate official confirmation in the South of the test. But the presidential office said the state intelligence agency had detected a 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor in North Hamgyong Province, where Kilju is located. China condemned Pyongyang for "brazenly" carrying out the test. The test took place around the time Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for talks on handling the nuclear crisis and just three days after a UN Security Council statement was issued against North Korea.

- The world has just changed. Maybe it was just my imagination, but yesterday evening, on the way back home, I observed that many drivers were driving rather erratically, even crazily, on the expressway. Hell, why not, the world is getting crazier anyway.

(2006-10-10 13:08:49 SGT) [Musings] Permalink

Singapore PSI hit new high for the year

channelnewsasia.com :

Singapore's haze situation worsened on Saturday, moving into the "unhealthy" range for the first time this year. The 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) at 10am was 130. At 9pm, it moved up to a new high for the year at 150 but later eased to 136 at midnight. The highest 3-hour average PSI reading recorded was in September 1997 when it hit 226. Singaporeans woke up to haze-filled skies on Saturday with PSI levels at the highest so far this year.

On the government level, Singapore has expressed its concerns about the situation to Indonesia, stressing the urgency to suppress the forest fires which are causing the haze. Singapore has offered assistance to Indonesia to fight the problem. Meantime, the National Environment Agency has started providing three hour PSI updates on its website. The 3-hour PSI is derived from taking the average PSI of the past three hours. Hazy weather is expected in the coming days and Singaporeans have been advised to take the necessary precautions.

(2006-10-10 12:47:15 SGT) [Env] Permalink

Egypt will go nuclear

english.ohmynews.com :

On Sept. 19, Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, announced that his country will pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 3 days later, President Mubarak confirmed the decision. Hassan Yunes, the electricity minister, laid out a plan that would provide Egypt with 1,000MW of nuclear power over the next decade. Egypt relies entirely on hydrocarbons for its electricity production. As Egyptians buy oil at the subsidized price of $0.23 a liter, the government loses billions per year. Thus the nuclear alternative makes good economic sense.

Considering Israel's nuclear arsenal, Iran's suspected nuclear military program, rumors of Saudi Arabia buying nukes from Pakistan and Turkey's decision to acquire "nuclear plants" by 2012, it is hardly surprising that Egypt has decided to join the nuclear race. In the opinion of top Egyptian officials, the choice ahead is rather simple: either Israel gives up its nukes or the Arab nations will become nuclear powers - the former being unlikely, the later seemingly unavoidable. In Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Sunni-Muslims feel a common need to deter the threat of a Shiite atomic bomb.

Egypt is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in 1968, and ratified in 1981. Many analysts have wondered how the Bush administration would respond to Mubarak's announcement. Last week, while visiting Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Egyptian media that the U.S. supported "the Egyptian initiative to acquire peaceful nuclear technologies."

- This news article makes for some rather odd reading. Is Egypt going nuclear as in generating electricity, or is it going nuclear as in building an atomic bomb? Or perhaps both? Why is the U.S. seeming to support Egypt's nuclear drive while going all out against Iran's efforts? And, do you see a developing story arc here? The Arabs are going nuclear. ALL of them, apparently!