Something brewing in Pyongyang
Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble:
North Korea and Syria held high-level talks Friday in Pyongyang, the North’s state media reported, amid suspicions that the two countries might be cooperating on a nuclear weapons program.
The talks took place between Choe Tae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, and Saaeed Eleia Dawood, director of the organizational department of Syria’s Baath Arab Socialist Party, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
The two sides discussed ways of improving friendship and cooperation and other issues of bilateral interest, KCNA said, without elaborating.
Their meeting came amid suspicions that North Korea may be providing nuclear assistance to Syria, a charge both Pyongyang and Damascus deny.
The allegations arose after an alleged Israeli air raid earlier this month on unknown Syrian targets possibly connected to a weapons program.
Andrew Semmel, acting U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for nuclear nonproliferation policy, said last week that North Koreans were in Syria, and that Syria may have had contacts with “secret suppliers” to obtain nuclear equipment.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports:
Israel’s decision to attack Syria on Sept. 6, bombing a suspected nuclear site set up in apparent collaboration with North Korea, came after Israel shared intelligence with President Bush this summer indicating that North Korean nuclear personnel were in Syria, U.S. government sources said.
The Bush administration has not commented on the Israeli raid or the underlying intelligence. Although the administration was deeply troubled by Israel’s assertion that North Korea was assisting the nuclear ambitions of a country closely linked with Iran, sources said, the White House opted against an immediate response because of concerns it would undermine long-running negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
Ultimately, however, the United States is believed to have provided Israel with some corroboration of the original intelligence before Israel proceeded with the raid, which hit the Syrian facility in the dead of night to minimize possible casualties, the sources said.
The target of Israel’s attack was said to be in northern Syria, near the Turkish border. A Middle East expert who interviewed one of the pilots involved said they operated under such strict operational security that the airmen flying air cover for the attack aircraft did not know the details of the mission. The pilots who conducted the attack were briefed only after they were in the air, he said. Syrian authorities said there were no casualties.
Here’s a North Korea news round-up.
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- Sanctions to be Imposed on North Korea at ROK Drop
- » Noisy News Around the Web - 09/21/2007… NoisyRoom.net: Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. Amelia Earhart
- OneFreeKorea » Times of London: Israelis Seized N. Korean ‘Nuclear Material’ in Syria
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How would Syria find the funds for this “Nuclear Equipment” ?
North Korea would expect monetary payment because they are a poor country. North Korea is not just going to give Syria, Nuclear Equipment. I have to think there is a money trail to follow here.
Not yet. The time is coming, and I am afraid it is soon, when there will be a high death toll.
That money trail might involve so-called “Supernotes”, high quality counterfeit American currency. North Korea is steeped in this scam, that’s why we froze them out of the international banking system.
Whatever the payment schemes are, this is dangerous stuff going on. Ahminthemoodforjihad has said the end of the Zionist regime is near. This is probably what he was talking about. Sarin nerve gas on missles, nuclear warheads, or at the very least radioactive shrapnel warheads on their SCUD missles. Isreal cannot afford to take a chance with any of this.
Pre-emption, baby.
The United States is making a big mistake by letting Israel handle this strictly as a local threat from a neighboring country, Syria. This is safe diplomatically, but it completely avoids the strategic threat and the ultimate supplier, North Korea.
It is clear that diplomacy and sanctions have been completely useless in neutralizing or reversing North Korea’s appetite for hostile moves. If anything, our inaction has emboldened them and made them more clever at getting surrogate players to do their dirty work for them. If they can supply Syria, they can also supply Al Qaeda.
It’s time to make a serious move to shut North Korea down.
If the Chinese had a neo-chingchong strategy of invading Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., and had already conquered Canada, right on our border, wouldn’t we want nuclear weapons if hypothetically we didn’t have any?
We can’t approve of these Syria and Iran having nuclear weapons, but the aggression of Bush and his apparently wholehearted support of neoconservatism certainly legitimizes their arming themselves, as every country has a right to self-defense against aggression. Bush apologists would say they even have a right to pre-emption.
If there’s money involved - and there may not be, as North Korea operates largely on a barter economy when it comes to international trade - another plausible source would be Iran.
It would suit the Iranians’ purposes to coordinate any attack on Israel from multiple fronts - Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, and Iran to the east. The Lebanon-Syria angle has particular appeal because their proximity to Israel makes the use of low-trajectory missiles more feasible; this raises the possibility that such projectiles could either avoid any anti-missile defense, or help to overload it in conjunction with an Iranian missile strike.
There’s still an Axis of Evil out there: they just swapped out one member (Saddam’s Iraq) for another (Syria). If it turns out that Iran has its fingers in this particular pie, then color me deeply unsurprised.
You.Have.Got.To.Be.Kidding.Me.
Supporters of Syria and North Korea unite!
Someone is furnishing the Syrian’s with funds? Iranians? Is the funding coming from all that money Saddam had stashed away, no one has found? You never hear anyone discuss what happened to all that money, except they think it has been funding the insurgency in Iraq. Why wouldn’t it be used to fund Syria’s ambitions? Or is this Iran spreading around all it’s petrol profits.
When the Iranian president gets to Columbia University maybe someone could ask him? The holocaust denier, is the one who wants to wipe Israel off the Map. What other reason is there, for Syria to purchase “Nuclear Equipment”
Didn’t North Korea just ask the State Dept to take them off the axis of evil list?
Alphonse - WHAT????
Israel has been on the receiving end of terror longer than any nation. They have shown GREAT restraint in not using their nuclear capabilities. Even when scuds were being launched at them at an incredible rate, they showed patience.
Are you telling me that if the rolls were reversed and Iran had nukes, Israel would be in existence today? Are you saying that Iran should have nukes to defend themselves against Israel? Are you saying the same for Syria? Are you insane or do you just have BDS so bad there are no brains left in your head?
Well, Alponse the Jew-hating, neo-con conspiracy nut is back with us again.
How much money have you given to RonPaul so far? Alex Jones needs a friend. You deserve each other.
By the way, I wonder how our lovely Asian-American host feels about this little pearl of wisdom:
You are an idiot who I’m tired of listening to Alphonse. Take that load of crap in your head to PrisonPlanet, we don’t need it here.
[Israel] “only doing jobs American’s don’t want to do!” — GWB
Maybe there isn’t going to be a money trail….maybe the Syrians were just getting help from the North Koreans on how to work the WMD’s that they managed to smuggle out of Iraq before the invasion? Worth a thought…….
OMSB: “The time is coming, and I am afraid it is soon, when there will be a high death toll.”
It’s likely to be Damascus, especially if Syria goes ahead with their nuclear program. And once again, the innocent victims of a dictator suffer for his crimes.
I can’t imagine Israel tolerating a nuclear armed Syria.
Send Nancy!!!!!:):):)
I’m enlisting in the Army, but I’m starting to think that if I want to do any real good in the world I’ll have to instead enlist in the IDF…
Keeping an entire region in check is ballsy, and admirable.
During the SCUD missile crisis, Israel has a few planes armed with nukes aimed right at Syria. The liberals had no idea how close they were to getting their ultimate wish - no more war. It would have been the beginning of the end in Biblical proportions.
His trip to Ground Zero was to be funded by moveon.org.
Iraq’s WMD’s probably went to Syria. North Korea probably justed dropped off a large load to them too. Time to look at Syria, syriaously!
It’s “double, double”, Michelle.
(/shakespeare quote police)
Since the NYT and their ilk did not bother to report that some weapons marked for destruction by the UN Security Counsel were found in Syria, you will NEVER get a liberal to believe it is true.
You are getting ready to spark a new debate when you mention WMD. The whole liberal base was screaming about Iraq having WMD’s during Slick Willy’s years in office. They are now all liars and say Iraq never had WMD’s and denying they ever said Iraq had WMD.
I’m pretty sure ‘Geraldo’ can convince Ahmadinejad to apologize for this too since anyone out of diapers knows that Syria is the under the ownership of the Iranian Mullahs.
So it shouldn’t be much of problem.
What would Iran do without Syria anyway?
swj719AWG - whenever you join the military, we wish you peace and safety. Thanking you in advance for your service and contribution.
Don’t thank me yet…
I have to get IN first, which is apparently harder than it looks…
*mutters*
Ok, lil overweight, lil outside that perfect age-range…
But man, it’s a piss poor drill sergant who can’t take a slightly overweight 29 year old and beat a good soldier outta them…
Ah well…
Should stop by and bend my recruiter’s ear…
Israel should have bombed them during the day to kill the maximum number of terrorists.