Obama Declines to Call Armenian Deaths in World War I a "Genocide"

ANKARA, Turkey-President Obama on Monday declined to repeat his claim that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I was a "genocide," stepping back from his campaign pledge to Armenian Americans that the "widely documented fact" would be fully commemorated during his presidency.During a joint news conference alongside Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Obama said he did not want to "focus on my views" or in any way interfere with delicate negotiations between Turks and Armenians on what the president called "a whole host of issues."Obama sidestepped the issue-a key tension point between Turks and Armenians and a rallying cry among Armenian-Americans-saying he was trying to be as "encouraging as possible.""I want to be as encouraging as possible around those negotiations, which are moving forward and could bear fruit very quickly, very soon," Obama said. "What I want to do is not focus on my views right now but focus on the views of the Turkish and Armenian people. What I told the (Turkish) president is I want to be as constructive as possible in moving these issues forward quickly. My sense is that they are moving quickly. I don't want to, as the president of the United States, want to preempt any possible arrangements, announcements that might be made in the near future."When asked if his views had changed or he was tempering them in light of the fragile Turkish-Armenian talks, Obama said he is not interested in "tilting these negotiations one way or another while they are having useful discussions."Later during a speech to the Turkish parliament, Obama said he supports a full "normalization" of relations between Turkey and Armenia.During the campaign, Obama was emphatic about the history of Turkish aggression against Armenians from 1915-1923 as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing and the bloodshed from World War I-in which the Ottomans allied with the Germans-spread across the continent.On the Obama campaign Web site, the former Illinois senator said the following:"I also share with Armenian Americans-so many of whom are descended from genocide survivors-a principled commitment to commemorating and ending genocide. That starts with acknowledging the tragic instances of genocide in world history. As a U.S. senator, I have stood with the Armenian American community in calling for Turkey's acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide." Obama protested Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans for his use of the term "genocide" to describe Turkey's actions.Also from the Obama campaign Web site:"I shared with Secretary Rice my firmly held conviction that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence. The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy...and as president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide."The Armenian Assembly of America said Obama did nothing to reverse his position, quoting the president saying that "my views are on the record and I have not changed views." It added that the assembly expects a solid statement of support from Obama on April 24, the day Armenians commemorate the "genocide.""For the first time, a U.S. president has delivered a direct message to Turkish officials in their own country that he stands behind his steadfast support and strong record of affirmation of the Armenian Genocide," said AAA Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "On April 24, the assembly looks forward to President Obama's statement reaffirming the Armenian Genocide."For his part, Gul called the Armenian drive for Turkish recognition of the genocide "an issue under great discussion," adding it "is not a political issue but a historical one." Turkey has pledged to cooperate in a historical commission to evaluate the evidence."We should let the historians handle this," Gul said.
By Major Garrett
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/06/obama-declines-killings-armenians-genocide-despite-tough-stance-candidate/
As in the days of Noah....

Obama Declares US Not at War With Islam

Obama:"U.S. Not at War With Islam"

President Obama declared Monday that his country "is not and will never be at war with Islam," as he sought to bridge divides between East and West during his first visit as president to a Muslim country.Obama addressed the Turkish parliament on his final day of an overseas trip in which he has sought foreign support to confront the global economic crisis as well as the war in Afghanistan.He stressed that Turkey and the United States share a "common goal" of flushing out Al Qaeda from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and said their countries, along with Iraq, face a "common threat from terrorism."But he acknowledged that the "trust" between the United States and Turkey has been strained, particularly in Muslim communities."So let me say this as clearly as I can-the United States is not and will never be at war with Islam," Obama said, to a round of applause.The U.S. president is trying to mend fences with a Muslim world that felt it had been blamed by America for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, underscored his personal connection Monday with Muslim culture and said the United States seeks "broader engagement" with the Muslim world than just the fight against Al Qaeda."We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstanding, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. And we will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over centuries to shape the world-including in my own country," Obama said. "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country-I know, because I am one of them."He added: "This is not where East and West divide-this is where they come together."Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyia, two of the biggest Arabic satellite channels, carried Obama's speech live.Obama also said, to a round of applause, that the United States supports Turkey becoming a member of the European Union. In talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, and Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama hoped to sell his strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and find welcoming ears given the new U.S. focus on melding troop increases with civilian efforts to better the lives of people in both countries. Turkey currently provides troops to Afghanistan.Obama recognized past tensions in the U.S.-Turkey relationship, but said things were on the right track now because both countries share common interests and are diverse nations. "We don't consider ourselves Christian, Jewish, Muslim. We consider ourselves a nation bound by a set of ideals and values," Obama said of the United States. "Turkey has similar principals."Obama's trip to Turkey, his final scheduled country visit, ties together themes of earlier stops. He attended the Group of 20 economic summit in London, celebrated NATO's 60th anniversary in Strasbourg, France, and on Saturday visited the Czech Republic, which included a summit of European Union leaders in Prague.Turkey is a member of both the G-20 and NATO and is trying to get into the EU with the help of the U.S.Turkey has the largest army in NATO after the United States. It and tiny Albania, recently admitted, are the only predominantly Muslim members of NATO.
Turkey opposed the war in Iraq in 2003 and U.S. forces were not allowed to go through Turkey to attack Iraq. Now, however, since Obama is withdrawing troops, Turkey has become more cooperative. It is going to be a key country after the U.S. withdrawal in maintaining stability, although it has long had problems with Kurdish militants in north Iraq.
PICTURE:President Obama addresses the general assembly at the Turkish Parliament building in Ankara, Turkey, Monday. (AP Photo)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/06/obama-arrives-turkey-strengthen-ties/
As in the days of Noah...

Not Everybody Loves Obama...

Arabs hail Obama overture to Muslims...

US President Barack Obama's efforts in Turkey to repair the relationship between Washington and Muslims won praise in the Arab world on Tuesday, more than seven years after the 9/11 attacks."This is a first important step towards lessening tensions that have existed in recent years between the Muslim world on the one side and the United States and the West on the other," Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said.He said Obama's initiative had put the two sides "on the path towards rebuilding bridges of trust between the US and the world's more than one billion Muslims."In a speech to the Turkish parliament on Monday, Obama said the United States "is not and never will be at war with Islam."He also warned "you cannot put out fire with flames," arguing that brute force alone could not defeat extremism, in implicit criticism of his predecessor George W. Bush who went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama said US ties with the Muslim world could not be simply defined by opposition to terrorism, decades into a US struggle with extremism that was sharpened by the September 11 attacks in 2001."We appreciate the new more advanced position of the US towards the Muslim world," Abul Gheit told journalists in Cairo, while urging action to also advance the Middle East peace process."The Arab-Israeli conflict and the continuation of Israel's occupation of Arab lands constitutes a main cause of tension in the world which feeds extremist and terrorist forces," he warned.The Palestinian Authority and Israel on Monday both welcomed Obama's renewed support for the stalled roadmap plan based on a two-state solution, although with less enthusiasm on the Israeli side.What Obama said in Ankara was "important. What remains to be seen is what will be the nature of the Israeli-US relationship to implement this solution," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper.Rajeh Khoury wrote in An-Nahar, another Beirut daily, that the summit between Obama and Turkish President Abdullah Gul had aimed to draw up "a roadmap for relations between the West and Islam."The US leader's visit to Turkey was "very important because it seeks to define the future of relations with Muslims."Pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat said "the American president was seeking during his first trip to a Muslim country to reconstruct his relationship with Muslims."Yussuf al-Kuwailit, a senior editor of the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, paid tribute to Obama as "the modest leader.""Obama is a new American phenomenon, who reflects the true picture of America, trying to settle its differences with the world through participation and cooperation, without arrogance and talk of power," he wrote.Kuwailit said Obama's bowing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at the G20 summit last week "showed extreme modesty... without undermining his position as the president of the biggest world power."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c2e3700ab4e271bc32827b0fccfe560b.7a1&show_article=1
As in the days of Noah...

THE OBAMA SONG

Obama:"Islam Has Shaped the U.S.A."

“We will convey,” said Barack Obama to the Turkish Parliament Monday, “our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world-including in my own country.”Undeniably the Islamic faith has done a great deal to shape the world-a statement that makes no value judgment about exactly how it has shaped the world. It has formed the dominant culture in what is known as the Islamic world for centuries.But what on earth could Obama mean when he says that Islam has also “done so much” to shape his own country?
Unless he considers himself an Indonesian,Obama’s statement was extraordinarily strange. After all, how has the Islamic faith shaped the United States? Were there Muslims along Paul Revere’s ride, or standing next to Patrick Henry when he proclaimed,“Give me liberty or give me death”? Were there Muslims among the framers or signers of the Declaration of Independence, which states that all men-not just Muslims, as Islamic law would have it-are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Were there Muslims among those who drafted the Constitution and vigorously debated its provisions, or among those who enumerated the Bill of Rights, which guarantees-again in contradiction to the tenets of Islamic law-that there should be no established national religion, and that the freedom of speech should not be infringed?There were not.
Did Muslims play a role in the great struggle over slavery that defined so much of our contemporary understandings of the nature of this republic and of the rights of the individual within it?
They did not.
Did the Islamic faith shape the way the United States responded to the titanic challenges of the two World Wars, the Great Depression, or the Cold War?
It did not.
Did the Islamic faith, with its legal apparatus that institutionalizes discrimination against non-Muslims, shape the civil rights movement in the United States?
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated equality of access to public facilities-a hard-won victory that came at a great cost, and one that Muslim groups have tried to roll back in the United States recently.One notable example of such attempts was the alcohol-in-cabs controversy at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport, when Muslim cabdrivers began to refuse service to customers who were carrying alcohol, on Islamic religious grounds. The core assumption underlying this initiative-that discrimination on the basis of religion is justified-cut right to the heart of the core principle of the American polity, that “all men are created equal,” that is, that they have a right to equal treatment in law and society.Surveying the whole tapestry of American history, one would be hard-pressed to find any significant way in which the Islamic faith has shaped the United States in terms of its governing principles and the nature of American society. Meanwhile, there are numerous ways in which, if there had been a significant Muslim presence in the country at the time, some of the most cherished and important principles of American society and law may have met fierce resistance, and may never have seen the light of day.So in what way has the Islamic faith shaped Obama’s country? The most significant event connected to the Islamic faith that has shaped the character of the United States was the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Those attacks have shaped the nation in numerous ways: they’ve led to numerous innovations in airline security, which in generations to come-if today’s politically correct climate continues to befog minds-may be added to future versions of the fanciful “1001 Muslim Inventions” exhibition. The Islamic faith has shaped the U.S. since 9/11 in leading to the spending of billions on anti-terror measures, and to the ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to Guantanamo, and to so many features of the modern political and social landscape that they cannot be enumerated within the space of a single article.Of course, it is certain that Obama had none of that in mind.But what could he possibly have had in mind?His statement was either careless or ignorant, or both-not qualities we need in a Commander-in-Chief even in the best of times.
By Robert Spencer
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=19DD14B4-72C3-4425-95FD-268E2A39A205
As in the days of Noah...

OBAMA GOES TO MOSQUE...

ISTANBUL, Turkey-Barack Obama wrapped up his first foreign trip as president with a request of the world: Look past his nation's stereotypes and flaws."You will find a partner and a friend in the United States of America,"he declared Tuesday."The world will be what you make of it," Obama told college students in Turkey's largest city. "You can choose to make new bridges instead of new walls." Promising a "new chapter in American engagement" with the rest of the world, Obama said the United States needs to be more patient in its dealings. And he said the rest of the world needs a better sense "that change is possible so we don't have to always be stuck with the same arguments."The students formed a tight circle around the new U.S. president, who slowly paced a sky-blue rug while answering their questions.He promised to end the town hall-style session before the Muslim call to prayer.Obama rejected "stereotypes" about America, including that it has become selfish and crass. "I'm here to tell you that's not the country I know and not the country I love," the president said. "America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws, but for more than two centuries it has strived" to seek a more perfect union.He repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the United States and the Muslim world."I am personally committed to a new chapter in American engagement," Obama said. "We can't afford to talk past one another and focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."Obama's message was being warmly received by Arabs and Muslims. In an interview published Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem called his words "important" and "positive."The questions for Obama at the town hall meeting were polite and rarely bracing, though one student asked whether there was any real difference between his White House and the Bush administration. Obama cautioned that while he had great differences with Bush over issues such as Iraq and climate change, it takes time to change a nation as big as the United States."Moving the ship of state is a slow process," he said.The Turkish stop capped an eight-day European trip that senior adviser David Axelrod called "enormously productive"-including an economic crisis summit in London and a NATO conclave in France and Germany.Axelrod said specific benefits might be a while in coming. "You plant, you cultivate, you harvest," he told reporters. "Over time, the seeds that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable."Picking up on his consultant's theme later, Obama told the college students he sees nothing wrong with setting his sights high on goals such as mending relations with Iran and eliminating the world of nuclear options - two cornerstone issues of his trip."Some people say that maybe I'm being too idealistic," Obama said."But if we don't try, if we don't reach high, we won't make any progress."Obama's final day in Turkey also featured a meeting with religious leaders and stops at top tourist sites in this city on the Bosporus that spans Europe and Asia. Accompanied by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he toured the Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque.At the Blue Mosque, just across a square and manicured gardens from Hagia Sophia, the president padded, shoeless like his entire entourage in accordance with religious custom, across the carpeted mosque interior.All around were intricate stained-glass windows and a series of domes, thick columns and walls entirely covered in blue, red and white tile mosaic. Again, he appeared to speak little, as he was schooled in what he was seeing by a guide. He spent about 40 minutes at both places.At his Istanbul hotel, Obama met with Istanbul's grand mufti and its chief rabbi, as well as Turkey's Armenian patriarch and Syrian Orthodox archbishop.In many respects, Obama's European trip was a continental listening tour.He told the G-20 summit in London that global cooperation is the key to ending a crippling recession. And at the NATO summit in France and Germany, he said his new strategy for Afghanistan reflects extensive consultation.In Ankara, Turkey's capital, Obama told lawmakers their country can help ensure Muslims and the West listen to each other.
PICTURE:President Barack Obama is accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and an unidentified interpreter as he visits the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 7, 2009.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
By Mark S Smith
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090407/D97DK5AO0.html
As in the days of Noah....

Obama expresses "deep appreciation for the Islamic faith"...

ANKARA, Turkey-Barack Obama,making his first visit to a Muslim nation as president, declared Monday the United States "is not and will never be at war with Islam."Calling for a greater partnership with the Islamic world in an address to the Turkish parliament, Obama called the country an important U.S. ally in many areas, including the fight against terrorism. He devoted much of his speech to urging a greater bond between Americans and Muslims, portraying terrorist groups such as al Qaida as extremists who did not represent the vast majority of Muslims."Let me say this as clearly as I can," Obama said. "The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical...in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject." The U.S. president is trying to mend fences with a Muslim world that felt it had been blamed by America for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyia,two of the biggest Arabic satellite channels, carried Obama's speech live.Obama said the partnership between the U.S. and the Muslim world is critical in rolling back what he called a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject."America's relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not be based on opposition to al Qaida," he said. "We seek broad engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.""We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over so many centuries to shape the world for the better, including my own country," Obama said.Obama also said, to a round of applause, that the United States supports Turkey becoming a member of the European Union.

By TOM RAUMAssociated Press Writer

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97CVOMG0&show_article=1

As in the days of Noah...

Obama,superhero,to take on the world

Barack Obama's never had more foes-or less clothing-than in two comics about to hit the stands. The real life US president faces his share of challenges, but none that compare to those troubling his muscle-bound alter ego in "The Righteous Retribution of Barack the Barbarian."Clad in a fur loincloth and armed with an ax, Obama is "destined to save the great republic of America and dethrone the overpaid despots," says Chicago-based publisher Devil's Due on its website.Teaser pictures from the comic book, due out in June, show the president confronting a near-naked, blonde female assailant."All new! Death-duel with the Screeching Enchantress!" promises the blurb.Another volume, titled "Drafted: One Hundred Days," features a more somber Obama-one who didn't reach the White House.He's a "man the world never got to see achieve his true greatness when a race from beyond the stars drafted our planet into intergalactic war," Devil's Due says.And unlike the silver-tongued real president, this one "is mute." http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.10bd8ebec845fce5f39e7453b865f587.691&show_article=1
As in the days of Noah...

Bolton Blasts Obama’s Apologies to Europe as ‘Incredibly Naive’

"If...these are the thoughts rambling around inside the presidential brain that's guiding our foreign policy -- I am very troubled by this."

AMERICA The "ARROGANT"...?

‘I’m Not Naive’ but ‘Yes, We Can’: Obama Calls for Nuke-Free World

“I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly –- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, 'Yes, we can.'"

Obama Outlines Goal of Nuclear-free World

During a stop in Prague, President Barack Obama outlined his sweeping goal of a nuclear-free world. The president's speech comes the same day North Korea launched a long-range rocket.

Obama Pledges to Lead World Into Nuclear-Free Future

PRAGUE-Declaring the future of mankind at stake, President Obama on Sunday said all nations must strive to rid the world of nuclear arms and that the U.S. had a "moral responsibility" to lead because no other country has used one.A North Korean rocket launch upstaged Obama's idealistic call to action, delivered in the capital of the Czech Republic, a former satellite of the Soviet Union. But Obama dismissed those who say the spread of nuclear weapons, "the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War," cannot be checked."This goal will not be reached quickly-perhaps not in my lifetime," he told a cheering crowd of more than 20,000 in the historic square outside the Prague Castle gates.We "must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change.We have to insist,'Yes, we can.'"Few experts think it's possible to completely eradicate nuclear weapons, and many say it wouldn't be a good idea even if it could be done. Even backward nations such as North Korea have shown they can develop bombs, given enough time.But a program to drastically cut the world atomic arsenal carries support from scientists and lions of the foreign policy world. Obama embraced that step as his first goal and chose as the venue for his address a nation that peacefully threw off communism and helped topple the Soviet Union, despite its nuclear power.But he said his own country, with its huge arsenal and its history using two atomic bombs against Japan in 1945, had to lead the world. He said the U.S. has a "moral responsibility" to start taking steps now.
"To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year," he promised.The nuclear-free cause is more potent in Europe than in the United States, where even Democratic politicians such as Obama must avoid being labeled as soft or naive if they endorse it. Still, Obama said he would resubmit a proposed Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to the Senate for ratification. The pact was signed by President Bill Clinton but rejected by the Senate in 1999.
To read more go to:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/05/obama-pledges-lead-world-nuclear-free-future/
As in the days of Noah...

Hamas TV Skit: ‘We Jews Want to Drink the Blood of Muslims and Arabs’

Palestinian Media Watch: The skit opens as the father instructs: "We Jews hate the Muslims, we want to kill the Muslims, we Jews want to drink the blood of Muslims." It is later explained that Jews wash their hands before prayer, not with water, but with Muslims' blood: "We have to wash our hands with the blood of Muslims."

PS:This psycho video shows the twisted minds of those that made it and those that cheered it....It sounds to me more as a "projection" case than a reality...even though this is real in the sick minds of these people...A society with a mindset of hate,murder and death...
As in the days of Noah...

Empire State Building to go "green"

NEW YORK-The Empire State Building is going "green" in a model project that will save about $4.4 million a year on energy.Completed in 1931, the Art Deco building immortalized in the film "King Kong" has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It is currently undergoing a $500 million renovation, including $100 million to go "green."Anthony Malkin, president of W&M Properties, which owns the building, said the technology was devised as a model to retrofit other buildings.The program carries an initial cost up to $20 million for the first five stages of a $100 million project to make the skyscraper, once the tallest in the world, a model of energy efficiency and conservation. The Clinton Climate Initiative, founded by former President Bill Clinton, which works with cities on programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions, is a project adviser.The entire plan will cut energy consumption in the 102-story building by 38 percent.The first five stages are expected to take about 18 months to complete and will account for about 54 percent of Malkin's total energy-reduction goal.Many new buildings, such as 1 Bryant Park in Manhattan, have built-in technology to make them energy efficient. But nearly 75 percent of the 4.64 million buildings in the United States are over 20 years old, according to U.S. Department of Energy, and were not built to conserve energy.Commercial buildings are responsible for 79 percent of all carbon emissions in New York City.The plan that will turn the Empire State Building "green" was devised by energy services company Johnson Controls Inc, project manager Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Rocky Mountain Institute, which evaluates energy policy and initiatives.The group avoided the parameters for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a voluntary national rating system of sustainable buildings, so it would not be restrained, Malkin said. However, the finished project will qualify the building for a LEED gold rating.
Plans for the building include:
* On-site upgrades of its 6,500 windows.
* New air-conditioning and heating systems that adjust to demand and also generate cool water.
* Insulating the space between radiators and the outside of the building to trap heat and cold air. * Installing energy-efficient lighting that can be set to light hallways and common areas only when they are occupied....

By Ilaina Jonas

To read more go to:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5356J720090407

As in the days of Noah...

Stolen Cessna's Pilot Captured:Pilot Took Off Running After Landing Plane Following Pursuit by Fight Jets

A pilot who allegedly stole a Cessna plane from a Canadian flight school and was pursued for hours across the Midwest by fighter jets, was taken into custody after he landed on a Missouri highway late today and took off running,an FBI spokesman said.The pilot landed the single engine Cessna 172 on U.S. Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., at approximately 9:50 p.m. ET, and was caught by Missouri State Highway Patrol officers, FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said.The pilot was identified as Yavuz Berke, formerly known as Adam Leon, a 31-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen who was born in Turkey, Kolko said.The plane had been escorted by two F-16 fighter jets since shortly after it crossed into U.S. airspace from Canada, and the pilot did not respond to multiple requests that he establish communications with ground controllers.A Customs and Border Protection aircraft also closely monitoring the Cessna.The plane entered American airspace over Michigan's Upper Peninsula at 4:23 p.m. ET today and was trailed by the military aircraft since 4:43 p.m. as it flew over Minnesota, south through Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. At one point, the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison was evacuated as a precaution as the plane flew over the city.Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, confirmed to ABC News that one of its aircraft was stolen today and flown out of Thunder Bay International Airport at 2:55 p.m.A college official told a local newspaper that it was believed the pilot was not a student at the school."Apparently, somebody jumped over the fence and just jumped into an aircraft," Judi Maundrell, the college's vice president of academics and student services, told the Thunder Bay News Source."It was sitting as usual parked on the ramp. They keys are in all the aircrafts because students are using them."
NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the F-16 pilots had made visual contact with the pilot and knew that the person flying the Cessna was aware that the F-16s were there. He was "unresponsive to their non-verbal directions and ... not in contact with the FAA controllers," Kucharek said.

By PIERRE THOMAS and LUIS MARTINEZ

To read more go to:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7273710&page=1

As in the days of Noah...

Russian TV accuses US of spying on Russia, China

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan-A documentary on Russian state television has accused the U.S. of using an air base in Kyrgyzstan to spy on Russia and China-an allegation a spokesman for the base flatly denied on Monday.The film, aired Sunday on the Rossiya TV channel, showed a building it said was used for electronic surveillance and identified a woman it said worked in the U.S. Embassy as a CIA agent.Moscow has long been suspicious of the American presence in what it views as its traditional sphere of influence, and there are even some indications it may have pushed to have the Central Asian base closed.Kyrgyzstan has ordered the United States to leave the facility by August, dashing plans to use it as thousands more troops prepare to pour into Afghanistan. The announcement of the closure came shortly after Russia pledged to give Kyrgyzstan more than $2 billion in aid and loans. Russia also has an air base in the former Soviet republic.Of the accusations, Maj. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for the Manas base said: "It is all lies, it is false. There wasn't a single point that I read about the narrative of the documentary that was accurate."The documentary showed a complex of windowless buildings at the base that its said required special passes to enter. The program said one building on the base housed an elaborate system of "radio-electronic reconnaissance.""At Manas, a station has been built that controls all of Central Asia and parts of China and Siberia," the program said.Pickart said the buildings are used as dormitories for troops posted long-term at the base. Reporters who visited the base in February said the buildings appeared to be used exclusively as sleeping quarters. "Any media or government officials that would like to come to the base and see for themselves, go into those buildings that they showed, we will gladly invite them out," Pickart said.The program also shows a woman identified as Vicki Lynn Rundquist, whom it says is first secretary of the political division at the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan and an undercover CIA agent. It says she and a local contact scrawled chalk marks on lampposts to agree on meeting times for covert encounters.The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the report, saying it was not at liberty to reveal details about its personnel.A Kyrgyz government spokesman said he could not comment on the documentary.The film was made by Russian journalist Arkady Mamontov, who came to prominence in 2006 after producing footage purporting to show British diplomats exchanging classified information with local agents through a device disguised as a rock on a street in Moscow.A year later, Mamontov claimed in another documentary that the CIA was funding Russian opposition groups with the aim of replicating the popular uprisings in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.Pickart said Mamontov has not visited the base.
Associated Press writers Jim Heintz in Moscow and Peter Leonard in Almaty, Kazakhstan, contributed to this report.
By LEILA SARALAYEVA,AP Writer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan_us_base_1

As in the days of Noah...

Iran criticizes Obama, calls on U.S. to scrap nuclear arms

TEHRAN-Iran criticized on Monday U.S. President Barack Obama for saying Tehran posed a threat with its nuclear program and urged Washington and other countries possessing atom weapons to dismantle their arsenals. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi made the comments a day after Obama, who is seeking to engage Iran diplomatically in a sharp policy shift from George W. Bush's approach, set out his vision for ridding the world of such arms. Delivering a speech in Prague given new urgency by North Korea's rocket launch, Obama also said the United States would go ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield in Europe as long as Iran posed a threat with its nuclear activities. Qashqavi noted that the Bush administration, which spearheaded a drive to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear plans, had also described the Islamic state as a threat."It seems that the repetition of the past U.S. administration's accusations (against Iran) would be in contrast with the slogan of change (by Obama)," Qashqavi said."And such a thing-nuclear armament-does not exist in Iran to be inferred as a threat," he said.The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is a cover for developing bombs.Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says it is a peaceful drive to generate electricity.Asked about North Korea's rocket launch, which analysts said was effectively a test of a ballistic missile designed to carry a warhead as far as the U.S. state of Alaska, Qashqavi said Iran's and North Korea's missile activities were not related.Obama last month offered Iran a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement, following three decades of hostility. Iran has responded cautiously to the overture, saying Washington must show real policy change toward Iran rather than in words.Qashqavi said nuclear weapons had no place in Iran's defense doctrine and that the existence of such arms was a serious threat to the global community."We, like the rest of the world community, are awaiting a world free of nuclear arms," Qashqavi said."Our expectation from the U.S. and others is to take serious and practical measures toward nuclear disarmament and dismantling of weapons of mass destruction," he said.Obama pledged on Sunday to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal, to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force and to seek tough penalties for those that broke rules on non-proliferation.He presented Iran with a "clear choice" of halting its nuclear and missile activity or facing increased isolation.Tehran has repeatedly rejected international demands to stop its most sensitive atom work and officials say Iran will unveil "good news" when it marks its national nuclear day on Thursday.
(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Samia Nakhoul )
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5351JY20090406

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With a rocket, Obama's hope is shot back down to earth

History may one day record it as a stark irony - and let us hope an amusing one rather than the tragic kind - that on the very day that Barack Obama was sketching out to an adoring throng in Prague his vision of a post-nuclear world, North Korea launched a rocket that may one day give it the capacity to fire a nuclear warhead as far as 3,700 miles. This means, to get down to brass tacks, that it could hit Alaska.The juxtaposition is worth dwelling on. Symbolically, it describes an age-old tension in statecraft, something scholars and writers have argued about down the ages. Is history made by great, mould-breaking leaders, or is change - both for the better and for the worse - more likely the result of a coming together of larger social forces? I'll spare you the discussion of Carlyle and Spencer, about whom you no doubt learned a lot more in school than I did, and stick to contemporary matters. Many people want to believe, after Carlyle, that Obama can change the world dramatically in the next four years. It's been a long time since a US president has been so admired. And it's never been the case that a president so admired has directly succeeded a president so reviled. So the idea has taken root, in America and to a considerable extent elsewhere, that the rest of the world should be so grateful to be dealing with Obama and not Bush that they'll at least come to the table and see reason.But as the North Korea episode shows, not everyone is so reasonable. To the men of Pyongyang, Obama is just another imperialistic swine. In fact, if they're dialecticians worth their salt, then they surely think of Obama as all the more dangerous than Bush for the precise reason that he gives imperialism a friendlier face. North Korea, like any state, has national interests, carved out by decades of history (fear of unification) or centuries (fear of China). The fact that it's a genocidal and secretive police state only exacerbates matters. The bottom line is, the North Koreans are going to do what they think they need to do. Having obviously never read their Carlyle, they couldn't care less who the American president is.Neither could the Iranians, and neither, probably, could the Syrians. Obama wants certain things out of both of them - the former to give up its nuclear ambitions and move toward a more open society, the latter to come to some kind of terms with Israel and to reach a permanent accommodation on Hezbollah and the Lebanese question. But are they going to wake up one day and say to themselves: by golly, this Obama fellow is the most popular president in maybe all of history, we'd better do what he says? Not likely...

by Michael Tomasky in Washington

To read more go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/06/north-korea-nuclear-weapons-obama

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Japan firm says nuke shelter sales up

A retailer of nuclear fallout shelters in Japan said Monday that sales soared in the lead-up to North Korea's rocket launch as jittery residents took their safety into their own hands.Osaka-based Shelter Co said it received 12 orders in just two months ahead of Sunday's launch-more than double the number it usually sells in an entire year.Pyongyang said the rocket it launched over Japan on Sunday carried a satellite into orbit, but Washington, Tokyo and Seoul believe the launch was a cover for a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.Most orders for the Swiss-made 2.8 million yen (28,000 dollar) "household nuclear shelters" came from northwestern Akita and Iwate prefectures, located under the rocket's path, said company president Seiichiro Nishimoto."This is a record in the 30 years I've been in this business," he told AFP,adding that he had also received about 150 enquiries."Japanese want to be prepared.I expect the number of orders to increase." Other retailers said they saw no dramatic rise in orders."Japanese people are not that worried about North Korea.They are watching the situation calmly," said Nobuko Oribe, an executive of Oribe Seiki Seisakusho, a fallout shelter manufacturer based in Kobe city.Japan, despite being the only country to have suffered atomic attacks, has very few nuclear shelters.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.d817a52cd214ddead8ed335ab9c2a54e.211&show_article=1

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Fury in Seoul, Tokyo over NKorea launch

South Korea on Monday vowed a stern response and Japan threatened new sanctions after North Korea's rocket launch, but the United Nations struggled for agreement on whether to punish the communist state."North Korea's reckless act that threatens regional and global security cannot be justified under any circumstances," Seoul's President Lee Myung-Bak said in a radio address, promising a "stern" response to provocations.Japan's government will decide on Friday on new bilateral sanctions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said it hoped the Security Council would agree a new resolution to condemn North Korea.The council adjourned Sunday after three hours of closed-door talks with no accord on a response to what Western members called a clear breach of UN resolutions.Members were to continue consultations.The North said on Sunday that a long-range rocket had placed into orbit a communications satellite which was beaming "immortal revolutionary songs" in praise of its former and current leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.Kim Jong-Il was present at the launch and "warmly encouraged" scientists and technicians before having his picture taken with them, state media said on Monday.South Korea and the US military say a satellite never made it into space. A senior Russian military source also said there were no signs of a satellite.Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, along with other nations, say the launch was a pretext to test a long-range Taepodong-2 missile in violation of UN resolutions.A Western diplomat at the UN said US ambassador Susan Rice, backed by her British and French colleagues, pressed for "strong condemnation" of the launch.But Russia, China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam called for restraint so as not to endanger the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament."All countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking action that might lead to increased tension," China's UN ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters Sunday."The use of ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of the resolution which prohibits missile-related activities,"Rice noted in reference to Resolution 1718 passed after the North's missile and nuclear tests in 2006.
To read more go to:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f7268b4a2905fc581431034aca2ff82a.21&show_article=1
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UN action on N.Korea launch must be cautious-China

UNITED NATIONS-Any U.N. Security Council reaction to North Korea's rocket launch must be "cautious" and "proportionate," China's U.N. envoy said on Sunday."I think we are now in a very sensitive moment," Ambassador Zhang Yesui(picture left) told reporters after the council met to discuss North Korea. "Regarding the reaction of the Security Council, our position is that it has to be cautious and proportionate."

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Chris Wilson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN05342761

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Clinton pressing UN on North Korean launch

WASHINGTON-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is lobbying key members of the U.N. Security Council to respond to North Korea's missile launch. Clinton said Monday that she spoke with the foreign ministers from the four other countries that have been involved in negotiations with North Korea to end its nuclear activities. They include Russia and China, which hold veto power in the Security Council.Clinton called the launch "a provocative act that has grave implications."But the United States appears to be struggling to achieve U.N. condemnation of Sunday's launch by Pyongyang.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_north_korea;_ylt=Agyla12ZCAZG5_qA1wLtvm_737YB;_ylu=X3oDMTJoNmhnbTYwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNDA2L3VzX25vcnRoX2tvcmVhBGNwb3MDMwRwb3MDMwRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2NsaW50b25wcmVzcw--

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UN fails to agree response on NKorea launch

After three hours of closed-door talks, the UN Security Council failed to reach agreement on how to respond to North Korea's long-range rocket launch seen by most Western nations as a clear violation of UN resolutions."Members of the Security Council agreed to continue consultations on an appropriate action by the council in accordance with its responsibilities given the urgency of the matter,"Mexico's UN Ambassador Claude Heller, the council chair this month, told reporters after Sunday's meeting.The United States and Japan, which called for the meeting in response to what they view as Pyongyang's "provocative act," said the launch of a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile, with an estimated range of 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometers) violated Security Council resolution 1718.That resolution, adopted in 2006 after the North's missile launches on July 5 and nuclear test on October 9 that year, demanded that Pyongyang refrain from any further nuclear test or another ballistic missile launch.US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told reporters that additional consultations would continue both here and in capitals around the world to try to agree "a clear and strong response from the council."Diplomats said there was general agreement on expressing concern over the launch and calling on Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks and to respect UN resolutions. "The fact of the launch was in itself a clear violation of (1718). The use of ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of the resolution which prohibits missile-related activities," Rice noted.A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rice, backed by her British and French colleagues, pressed for a "strong condemnation" of the North Korean action during the consultations.But Russia, China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam called for restraint in the council's reaction so as not to endanger the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament, the diplomat added.The six-party talks bring together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States."We are now in a very sensitive moment. All countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking action that might lead to increased tension," China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told reporters."Our position is that the council's reaction has be cautious and proportionate," he added, vowing that his country would participate in the discussions in a "constructive and responsible manner."His Japanese counterpart, Yukio Takasu, insisted that Tokyo wanted a "clear, firm and unified response" from the council.In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Monday his country would continue to press a clear condemnation of North Korea by the council."As we think a resolution at the UN Security Council is desirable, we'll keep making efforts," Nakasone said. "I will continue making telephone calls to relevant countries."US President Barack Obama said in Prague that international "rules must be binding, violations must be punished, words must mean something" as he vowed seek coordinated international action in response to the launch.But Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, urged restraint. "Relevant parties must...avoid taking actions that could make the situation even more tense," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in a statement posted on the foreign ministry website. Russia also urged restraint while a report said Moscow was studying whether Pyongyang had broken any UN Security Council resolutions.Diplomats here say Beijing and Moscow are likely to block any bid by the United States and its Western allies to push for new sanctions on North Korea over the latest rocket launch.But a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the council might take up a resolution or a non-binding statement that would reaffirm existing sanctions.South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak joined the chorus of recriminations against neighboring North Korea, calling its missile launch a "reckless act" and saying Seoul would deal "firmly and sternly with the North's provocation."For several tense minutes, the North Korean rocket flew through the airspace of Japan, which had given its military the authority to shoot down any threat to its soil-something Pyongyang had warned would be seen as an act of war.But Japan said the booster rockets fell harmlessly into the water, while the United States and Seoul said the launch had failed to get its payload, a satellite, into orbit.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f7268b4a2905fc581431034aca2ff82a.11&show_article=1
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U.N.Considering Options After NKorea Launch

Analyst on NK's Launch Future

GlobalSecurity.org analyst Charles Vick says North Korea's launch of a rocket on Sunday has to be considered a failure. But Vick says he expects the country to try again, possibly before the end of this year.

SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH:World Reacts to NK Missile Launch

No Decision Made From U.N. Meeting on N. Korea Launch

SEOUL, South Korea-The U.S. and its allies sought punishment for North Korea's defiant launch of a rocket that apparently fizzled into the Pacific, holding an emergency U.N. meeting in response to the "provocative act" that some believe was a long-range missile test.President Obama, faced with his first global security crisis, called for an international response and condemned North Korea for threatening the peace and stability of nations "near and far." Minutes after liftoff, Japan requested the emergency Security Council session in New York. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed indignation Monday on national radio, saying "North Korea's reckless act of threatening regional and global security cannot have any justification."U.S. and South Korean officials claim the entire rocket, including whatever payload it carried, ended up in the ocean after Sunday's launch, but many world leaders fear the launch indicates the capacity to fire a long-range missile.Pyongyang claims it launched a communications satellite into orbit that is now transmitting data and patriotic songs."North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles," Obama said in Prague. "It creates instability in their region, around the world. This provocation underscores the need for action, not just this afternoon in the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons."Council members met for three hours Sunday, seeking a unified response, but the meeting ended with a deadlock, breaking up for the night without issuing even a customary preliminary statement of condemnation.Diplomats privy to the closed-door talks say China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam were concerned about further alienating and destabilizing North Korea"We're now in a very sensitive moment," Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui said after the talks. "Our position is that all countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking actions that might lead to increased tensions."Diplomats continued bilateral talks into the evening.The council's five permanent members-the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia-left for a meeting with Japan.The U.S. Britain, France and Japan drafted a proposal for a resolution that could be adopted by the end of the week. It aims to toughen existing economic sanctions by "naming and shaming" individuals and entities, diplomats said.Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller, the council's president, said the council would reconvene "as soon as possible" on Monday.Using a possible loophole in U.N. sanctions that bar the North from ballistic missile activity, Pyongyang claimed it was exercising its right to peaceful space development.The U.S. said nuclear-armed North Korea clearly violated the resolution, but objections from Russia and China-the North's closest ally-will almost certainly water down any response. Both have Security Council veto power.While the rogue communist state has repeatedly been belligerent-as it was when it carried out an underground nuclear blast and tested ballistic missiles in recent years-Pyongyang showed increased savvy this time that may make punishment more complicated.
To read more go to:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/05/obama-urges-action-decision-meeting-n-korea-launch/
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UN Ambassador Rice Reacts to NK Rocket Launch

The U.S. and its allies sought punishment Sunday for North Korea's defiant launch of a rocket, holding an emergency U.N. meeting in response to concerns the country was testing long-range missile technology.

White House:North Korean Launch Fails

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said he thinks it's a "big coincidence" the launch occurred just hours before President Barack Obama's speech on ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

North Korea Seeks Political Gain From Rocket Launch

SEOUL,South Korea-Despite the failure of North Korea’s attempt to launch a satellite, Pyongyang’s adversaries voiced alarm on Monday over the extended range of the North’s latest rocket, while the United Nations tumbled into a disarray over how to respond to what President Obama called a “provocative act.” Washington and Seoul said the North Korean rocket launched on Sunday failed to thrust a satellite into orbit. But on Monday, seeking to garner political gain from the test, the North Korean media praised Kim Jong-il’s leadership, insisting that a communications satellite was circling the Earth, broadcasting patriotic songs.Officials and analysts in Seoul said the North’s rocket, identified by American officials as a Taepodong-2, flew at least 2,000 miles, doubling the range of an earlier rocket it tested in 1998 and boosting its potential to fire a long-range missile.The impoverished country may be years away from building a truly intercontinental ballistic missile and tipping it with a nuclear warhead. But to governments grown increasingly concerned by the North’s military might, the launch was a sign that it was doggedly moving in that direction.“North Korea’s reckless act of threatening regional and global security cannot have any justification,” said President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea in a radio speech on Monday.Hours after North Korea’s missile test on Sunday, President Obama called for new United Nations sanctions and laid out a new approach to American nuclear disarmament policy-one intended to strengthen the United States and its allies in halting proliferation.“In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up,” Mr. Obama told a huge crowd in Prague’s central square. “Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread.” He said the North’s testing of “a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles” illustrated “the need for action, not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons.” “Rules must be binding,” he said. “Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.”
Choe Sang-hun reported from Seoul, South Korea,, Helene Cooper from Prague and David E. Sanger from London. Neil MacFarquhar contributed from the United Nations.
By CHOE SANG-HUN, HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER
To read more go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/asia/07korea.html?_r=1
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Obama:"North Korea Broke the Rules"

North Korea Launches Rocket

The U.N. Security Council has approved an emergency session Sunday to deal with North Korea's rocket launch...

Analysts:'Rocket gives NKorea new bargaining chip"

SEOUL, South Korea-North Korea's new rocket launch gives the communist country another bargaining chip in negotiations over dismantling its nuclear weapons program even if the flight wasn't completely successful, analysts said Monday.Even with suspected problems in separating the second and third stages, the rocket flew twice as far as any missile the North previously launched. That range falls far short of U.S. territory, but neighbors are concerned by the expanded reach of a regime that claims to have atomic bombs.President Barack Obama and other world leaders called Sunday's launch a provocation that cannot go unanswered, but the U.N. Security Council was so divided it didn't even issue a preliminary statement of condemnation.Diplomats privy to continuing talks in New York said China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam voiced concerns about further alienating and destabilizing North Korea. China, the North's closest ally, and Russia hold veto power as permanent members and could water down any response.Analysts said Security Council sanctions imposed after the North's underground nuclear test explosion in 2006 that barred Pyongyang from working on ballistic missiles appeared to have had little effect because some countries showed no inclination to impose them.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency claimed again Monday that the rocket put an experimental communications satellite into orbit, while the U.S. and others suspected the test was a cover for improving technology for a long-range military missile.U.S. and South Korean officials said the entire rocket,including whatever payload it carried, ended up in the ocean.South Korea said the second stage splashed down about 1,900 miles (3,100 kilometers) from the launch site.That is double the distance a North Korean rocket managed in 1998 and far better than a 2006 launch of a missile that fizzled 42 seconds after liftoff. Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Mongolia and parts of China are now within range, but Anchorage, Alaska, is roughly 3,500 miles (6,000 kilometers) from the launch site.Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the apparent failure of the rocket's third stage to separate properly from the second stage raised questions about the reliability of the technology."They're still a long ways off" from being able to successfully target and strike the United States,he said.It also is unclear whether the North has been able to miniaturize its warheads enough to load onto a rocket, he said.But John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and ex-U.S. undersecretary of state in charge of the North Korean nuclear dossier, said the launch was still cause for concern."This is far from a failure. Japan is now clearly in range, and unless you're willing to kiss Japan goodbye, you have to be worried by this test," he told The Associated Press. Kim Tae-woo, an analyst at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch raises the stakes at the stalled six-nation talks aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and other concessions.Pyongyang now can seek more help because it has more to bargain away, Kim said. And, he added, "North Korea is playing a game of trying to manipulate the U.S. by getting it within range, which is the so-called pressure card."North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries, is in desperate need of outside aid. It has reportedly been selling missile parts and technology to whoever has the cash to pay for it.
Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang and Kelly Olsen in Seoul and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, AP Writer http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_missile
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PROMISE KEPT:North Korea Test Launches Missile

Analysts Say N. Korean Rocket Not a Total Failure

SEOUL, South Korea-North Korea's rocket may have fallen into the sea, but military experts cautioned Monday against calling it a complete failure, pointing out that it traveled twice as far as any missile the country has launched.Although the distance was still far short of showing North Korea could reach U.S. territory, it rattled the North's neighbors and countries around the globe, with the U.S. and its allies pushing for quick punishment at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting held hours after the launch.The launch, which demonstrated progress, is a particularly worrying development for a belligerent country that says it has nuclear weapons and once threatened to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire."President Barack Obama, faced with his first global security crisis, called for an international response and condemned North Korea for threatening the peace and stability of nations "near and far" with what Pyongyang claimed was a satellite launch and its neighbors suspect was a test of a long-range missile technology."North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles," Obama said in Prague."This provocation underscores the need for action, not just...in the U.N. Security Council,but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons."Council members met for three hours Sunday but failed to even to release even a customary preliminary statement of condemnation-evidence of the challenges in agreeing on some kind of punishment. China, the North's closest ally, and Russia hold veto power and could water down any response.Diplomats privy to the closed-door talks say China, Russia, Libya and Vietnam were concerned about further alienating and destabilizing North Korea."Our position is that all countries concerned should show restraint and refrain from taking actions that might lead to increased tensions," Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui said after the talks.Analysts say sanctions imposed after the North's underground nuclear test in 2006 appear to have had little effect because some countries showed no will to impose them. Those sanctions bar the North from ballistic missile activity. Pyongyang claims it was exercising its right to peaceful space development.U.S. and South Korean officials claim the entire rocket, including whatever payload it carried, ended up in the ocean after Sunday's launch. Pyongyang says it launched a communications satellite into orbit that is now transmitting data and patriotic songs.Despite analyst caution that economic punishments appear not to work, Japan plans to extend its economic sanctions on the North for another year. The measures prohibit Japanese companies from buying North Korean exports and are renewed every six months.North Korean leader Kim Jong Il personally observed the launch, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday, saying he expressed "great satisfaction" that North Korea's scientists "successfully launched the satellite with their own wisdom and technology."However, U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have confirmed the rocket's second stage landed in waters about 1,984 miles (3,200 kilometers) from the northeastern North Korean launch site, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Monday.That's double the distance a rocket managed in 1998 and far better than a 2006 launch of a long-range missile that fizzled just 42 seconds after liftoff, but still well short of U.S. territory. Anchorage, Alaska, is roughly 3,500 miles (6,000 kilometers) from the launch site, Seattle about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers). Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said that while the rocket's first stage successfully broke away, it appears the second and third stages failed to separate or had difficulty doing so."So it has to call into question the dependability and reliability of the system," he said. "They're still a long ways off" from being able to successfully target and strike the United States, he said.But Kim Tae-woo, an analyst at Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the launch raises the stakes at stalled talks aimed at convincing the North to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid and concessions because Pyongyang now has more to bargain away."Militarily and politically, it's not a failure" because "North Korea demonstrated a greatly enhanced range," Kim said. "North Korea is playing a game of trying to manipulate the U.S. by getting it within range, which is the so-called pressure card."Kim Keun-sik, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University, said Pyongyang could carry out other provocative acts, such as a second nuclear test, if its rocket launch doesn't produce what it wants-such as direct talks with the U.S.Kim, however, said the North was unlikely to trigger naval skirmishes or conduct short-range missile tests-as it did in conjunction with a previous long-range missile test-because they are "routine" provocations targeting South Korea, not the U.S.Pinkston said a medium-range missile launch or even another nuclear bomb test was unlikely."Why do it now?" he asked, adding that everything Pyongyang does is aimed at influencing the United States. "They will wait for the response to this satellite launch."North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries, is in desperate need of outside aid, particularly since the help that flowed in unconditionally from neighboring South Korea for a decade has dried up since Lee took office in Seoul in 2008.Pyongyang routinely uses its nuclear weapons program as its trump card, promising to abandon its atomic ambitions in exchange for aid and then exercising the nuclear threat when it doesn't get its way. The North also has reportedly been selling missile parts and technology to whoever has the cash to pay for it.
FAST FACTS: A Glance at North Korea's Missile Arsenal.
Click to read the Korean War Armistice Agreement.

PICTURE:April 5: A South Korean soldier watches a TV news program on the North Korean rocket launch at a train station in Seoul.(AP)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512655,00.html

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North Korea says it successfully launched satellite

SEOUL-Following is a full text of the English-language report on North Korea's KCNA news agency on Sunday saying the communist state had successfully put a satellite into orbit:
"Scientists and technicians of the DPRK (North Korea) have succeeded in putting satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite, into orbit by means of carrier rocket Unha-2 under the state's long-term plan for the development of outer space."Unha-2, which was launched at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground in Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province at 11:20 (0220 GMT) on April 5, accurately put Kwangmyongsong-2 into its orbit at 11:29:02, nine minutes and two seconds after its launch."The satellite is going round the earth along its elliptic orbit at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1,426 km apogee. Its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds."Mounted on the satellite are necessary measuring devices and communications apparatuses."The satellite is going round on its routine orbit."It is sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary paeans 'Song of General Kim Il-sung' and 'Song of General Kim Jong-il' and measured information at 470 MHz. By the use of the satellite the relay communications is now underway by UHF frequency band."The satellite is of decisive significance in promoting the scientific researches into the peaceful use of outer space and solving scientific and technological problems for the launch of practical satellites in the future."Carrier rocket Unha-2 has three stages."The carrier rocket and the satellite developed by the indigenous wisdom and technology are the shining results gained in the efforts to develop the nation's space science and technology on a higher level."The successful satellite launch is symbolic of the leaping advance made in the nation's space science and technology was conducted against the background of the stirring period when a high-pitched drive for bringing about a fresh great revolutionary surge is under way throughout the country to open the gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation without fail by 2012, the centenary of the birth of President Kim Il-sung, under the far-reaching plan of leader Kim Jong-il."This is powerfully encouraging the Korean people all out in the general advance."
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5340NS20090405

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QUAKEWATCH:Powerful 6.3 MAG Quake in Italy kills at least 92

A powerful earthquake in mountainous central Italy knocked down whole blocks of buildings early Monday as residents slept, killing more than 92 people and trapping many more, officials said...

To read more go to:

http://quakewatch.blogpsot.com/

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QUAKEWATCH:MAG 6.3 Hits Central Italy,14 Dead and Many Missing...

ROME-A strong magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocked central Italy early Monday, killing at least 13 people, causing buildings to collapse and sending panicked residents into the streets, officials and news reports said.Several people were also reported missing in the area of the quake, which was felt in much of central Italy, including Rome.

To read more go to:

http://quakewatch.blogspot.com/

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