Obama Screwing Up in North Korea

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photo credit: petersnoopy

After the Obama Administration publicly blamed the U.S. Military for “amping up” North Korea’s boy-leader last week, it is continuing its deferential posture toward the reclusive country.

Today, the Pentagon announced that it is canceling a previously planned Minuteman III ballistic missile test to avoid upsetting ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim Jong Un.

Despite the arrival of B-2’s and other significant U.S. assets over the last week, sources are continuing to report that North Korea is not only prepping for another missile launch but may also be preparing for another nuclear detonation.

Additionally, the Chinese have now reported live-fire maneuvers near the border.

If Obama wishes to put an end to North Korea’s games, he’s certainly going about it the wrong way. Publicly blaming your own military and interrupting long-planned tests upon which our national security depends plays directly into the little dictator’s hands.

Kim Jong Un now has bragging rights that he forced the world’s superpower to blink, something that has likely earned his hard-line military’s respect. Obama has almost certainly guaranteed that we’ll see the same type of scenario play out, yet again, in the not-so-distant future.

Iranians Jailers Brutally Beat US Citizen, Cause Internal Bleeding, Fail to Render Medical Care

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Photo Credit: Fox News

The Iranian-American Christian pastor jailed in Iran for his faith again has been denied bail as he awaits proper medical treatment for serious injuries and internal bleeding sustained from brutal prison beatings, according to the family’s attorneys.

Saeed Abedini, the 32-year-old U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran since September, purportedly was taken to an external hospital, but he was not admitted for treatment, according to sources close to the pastor who report that the medical specialist who was supposed to examine him was not in. Instead of seeing a different doctor, Abedini was returned to Evin Prison without receiving any medical treatment.

“This is yet another example of psychological abuse,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, the organization representing Abedini’s U.S.-based family.

“They got his hopes up about getting medical help, and either the Iranian government is incompetent or just that ruthless that they would play with people’s emotions and health,” Sekulow told Fox News.

In March, the government promised the pastor access to proper medical facilities and professionals after his attorneys brought it to the attention of the Iranian government that Abedini’s health was in jeopardy.

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Secret Files Reveal World Elites' $32 Trillion in Hidden Financial Accounts (+video)

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Photo Credit: Tim Meko

Dozens of journalists sifted through millions of leaked records and thousands of names to produce ICIJ’s investigation into offshore secrecy ­

A cache of 2.5 million files has cracked open the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con men and the mega-rich the world over. The secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists lay bare the names behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and other offshore hideaways.

They include American doctors and dentists and middle-class Greek villagers as well as families and associates of long-time despots, Wall Street swindlers, Eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian corporate executives, international arms dealers and a sham-director-fronted company that the European Union has labeled as a cog in Iran’s nuclear-development program.

The leaked files provide facts and figures — cash transfers, incorporation dates, links between companies and individuals — that illustrate how offshore financial secrecy has spread aggressively around the globe, allowing the wealthy and the well-connected to dodge taxes and fueling corruption and economic woes in rich and poor nations alike.

The records detail the offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries and territories.

Here’s how offshore accounts hide financial assets:

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On the Eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Anonymous Conducts Massive Cyberattack on Israel

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Photo Credit: AP

Hackers launched a coordinated cyberattack on Israel over the weekend in an attempt to “wipe Israel off the map of the Internet,” defacing some 20,000 Israeli Facebook accounts and nearly 2,000 Israeli websites.

The anarchist hacking collective known as Anonymous formally launched “Operation Israel” on Sunday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The stated goal of the attack was to wreak havoc on Israeli servers, government websites, and Internet users.

The hackers penetrated and defaced multiple Israeli websites including government, schools, banks, and a website for children with cancer, according to regional media reports.

Among the government websites breached were the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Government Publications Office, the Haifa Sewage Treatment Plant, and the National Insurance Institute, which provides social security benefits to Israelis, according to a list of hacked websites posted on Hackers News Bulletin.

The hackers brought Israel-based web traffic to a crawl on Saturday and leaked the personal information of more than 1,700 Israeli credit card users, according to Hackers News Bulletin, which reported the Jewish state had lost some $2 billion as a result of the attack.

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WikiLeaks Releases 1.7 Million US Intelligence Reports Covering Every Country in the World

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Photo Credit: WikiLeaks

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks Sunday published more than 1.7 million U.S. records covering diplomatic or intelligence reports on every country in the world.

The data released includes more than 1.7 million U.S. diplomatic records from 1973 to 1976 – covering traffic of cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence.

WikiLeaks described the Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) as the world’s largest searchable collection of U.S. confidential, or formerly confidential, diplomatic communications.

Much of the work was carried out by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 41, during his time in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been staying since last summer. The Australian sought refuge at the embassy last June over fears that he would be sent to the U.S. if he was extradited to Sweden to face sexual offence claims by two women – charges he denies…

Mr Assange said the information showed the ‘vast range and scope’ of U.S. diplomatic and intelligence activity around the world…

Thousands of the documents are marked NODIS (no distribution) or Eyes Only, as well as cables originally classed as secret or confidential.

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South Korea Concerned North May be Prepping for Nuke Test, Missile Launch

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S. Korea defense ministry denies claim ‘indication’ N. Korea prepping for fourth nuke test

By Associated Press. A top South Korean official said Monday he misspoke earlier in the day when he told lawmakers there is an “indication” that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test. But that doesn’t change what Seoul has been saying for months: that Pyongyang has already prepared a tunnel for a nuclear blast and can use it whenever it wants.

When a lawmaker asked whether there was an indication of increased personnel and vehicles at the North’s nuclear test site, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said “there is such an indication.” He said he couldn’t say more because it involved confidential intelligence.

The comments in a parliamentary session were recorded on video, but Ryoo later told lawmakers he couldn’t remember making them and didn’t mean to say them. He said he was “startled” by reports carrying his earlier comments.

A Unification Ministry official said that Ryoo had intended to say that North Korea has long been ready to conduct a nuclear test. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

After Ryoo’s initial comments, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said there are vehicle and personnel activities at the northeastern test site but they are seen as “usual” activities, not an “indication for a nuclear test.” Kim said North Korea can conduct a nuclear test anytime if decides to do so. Read more from this story HERE.

South Korean Official: North May be Preparing to Launch Missile This Week

By Daniel Arkin. A top South Korean government official announced Sunday that North Korea may launch a missile by Wednesday, at which time the North has said it cannot guarantee the safety of diplomats in the capital of Pyongyang.

The official’s warning came three days after South Korea’s government said that the North had moved at least one medium-range Musudan missile with “considerable range” to the nation’s eastern border, possibly to perform a test launch.

“We’re thoroughly preparing for this, leaving all possibilities open,” said Kim Jang-Soo, South Korea’s national security chief, adding that the North’s likely goal is to wrench concessions from Seoul and Washington.

A Musudan missile has an estimated range of up to 2,490 miles, which would make it capable of striking American bases in Guam.

Escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed North and U.S.-aligned South also forced South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that the body’s chairman had delayed a visit to Washington, according to The Associated Press. Read more from this story HERE.

Global Economy: Shaping Up For Another Dismal Year

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Photo Credit: Peter Mintz

Just three months in, and already there is a nagging sense that 2013, like last year and the one before, will produce another disappointing vintage for the world economy.

Japan’s $1.4 trillion monetary barrage stole the show last week, but it was the dismal turn in data from the United States and Europe that brought home how this year is panning out worse than many had hoped.

News that American employers hired far fewer staff in March than even the gloomiest predictions managed to derail the heady rise of stock markets over the last few months.

And business surveys from the euro zone confirmed recession there is dragging on, confounding hopes for improvement, with France’s economy deteriorating sharply.

Hopes now rest with China and that signs of renewed vitality in the world’s second-biggest economy can underpin the global economy. “I’m hopeful we’re not going to see the slide back that we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” said Victoria Clarke, economist at Investec in London.

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North Korea to Progressives: Join Us in War Against U.S.

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If you’re a progressive, North Korea wants you.

According to a post at the North Korean News Service, the United States is the “common enemy” of all the world’s progressives, including, apparently, those in the United States. And the regime wants them to join Kim Jung Un in his effort against the United States.

“The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army in a statement called upon the progressive people across the world to actively join the army and people of the DPRK in defending independence and justice, not blindly following the U.S. high-handed and arbitrary practices,” the statement says.

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South Korea Has Already Won

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Photo Credit: valeuf

On March 30, three days after North Korea severed a military hotline with the South and announced that South Korean President Park Geun-hye “will meet a miserable ruin,” the country declared a state of war. “The time has come to stage a do-or-die final battle,” an official statement said.

Meanwhile, many of South Korea’s youth were worried about something else. A 25-year-old pop star named Seo In-guk had appeared on a popular reality TV show the night before and, in a misstep that quickly dominated online conversations, had washed his strawberries incorrectly. Ilbe, a conservative Web forum — a place you might expect to find a nationalist screed — was preoccupied with a month-old debate on regional differences in how to eat sweet and sour pork.

Pop stars, bourgeois lifestyle commentary and funny videos often seem to interest young South Koreans more than Pyongyang’s latest provocation. North Korea may be trying to intimidate its neighbor, particularly on economic and cultural fronts that increasingly matter, South Korea has already won the fight.

Of course, young people are discussing the risk of a second Korean war. But, even if this week’s chest-thumping has them a bit jittery, they typically mock Kim Jong Un and dismiss his war declaration as hot air. It’s a distraction from more pressing matters — not a particularly high bar for a youth culture obsessed with the latest Korean pop girl group or Samsung gadget.

“Netizens and ordinary citizens alike are fairly fatigued with the recent stream of threats,” James Pearson, the Seoul-based editor of KoreaBang, a blog that covers Korean social media trends, told me. “People just laugh.”

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Afghan Car Bomb Kills Six Americans Including Secr. of State John Kerry's Aide

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Photo Credit: Rich Anderson

A car bomb blast killed five Americans, including three U.S. soldiers and a young diplomat, on Saturday, while an American civilian died in a separate attack in the east.

The diplomat and other Americans were in a convoy of vehicles in Zabul province when the blast occurred, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

The soldiers and the diplomat died in the blast along with a civilian employee of the Defense Department and Afghan civilians, Kerry said. His statement gave no overall death toll.

The Washington Post identified the diplomat as Anne Smedinghoff, 25, citing her parents. Smedinghoff was Kerry’s embassy guide and aide when he visited Afghanistan last month, the paper said.

Local and international officials in the region said earlier that six people died in the blast: three U.S. soldiers, two U.S. civilians and an Afghan doctor. Provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Nasery was in the convoy, but was unharmed, local and NATO officials said.

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