MDAA Alert: Moveable Feast

Dear Members and Friends,

The 28 countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will make a decision in Lisbon, Portugal in November this year between protecting its territory and populations from ballistic missiles or to continuing the status quo of protecting only forward deployed NATO troops. A decision in favor would change Article V to add missile defense to the NATO mission. A decision against would bring a significant challenge to President Obama’s Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) in Europe.

North Korea tests U.S. policy of ‘strategic patience’

The term “strategic patience” refers to the Barack Hussein Obama administration efforts to shape the behavior of North Korea, one of the most tyrannical nuclear weapons-capable state in the world. The problem with this approach is, that it is too reactionary. It is impossible to shape North Korean behavior if we just keep reacting to it. What should be the next steps?

Obama administration officials have dubbed their policy toward North Korea “strategic patience” — a resolve that Pyongyang has to make the first move to reengage and that it won’t be granted any concessions. 

Iran warns US to accept ‘final offer’ to end nuclear row

Iranian president Ahmadinejad boldy claims that U.S. president Barack Hussein Obama should accept the deal that Brazil and Turkey brokered with Iran regarding its low enriched Uranium stockpiles. The Administration is trying to pass fourth round of sanctions on Iran. These sanctions are very weak and will not stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The country is already in violation of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today urged Barack Obama to accept an offer to export the country’s uranium to Turkey as a “last opportunity” to resolve the crisis with Tehran. He also warned Russia not to support new UN sanctions, triggering a furious rebuke from Moscow.

Amid Tensions on Korean Peninsula, Patterns Revealed in Kim’s Behavior

The following article is explaining general pattern in actions of the North Korean leadership. After March sinking of Cheonan ship sanctions will be extended which will cause yet another complication for people who live under one of the most tyrannical regimes in the world. It is likely that the leadership uses hostile diplomacy to blame the outside world for the hardship.

SEOUL — What does North Korean leader Kim Jong Il gain from infuriating the outside world and triggering sanctions that heighten the misery of his people?

That vexing question has again surfaced as South Korea and the United States moved this week to punish North Korea for apparently torpedoing a South Korean warship and killing 46 sailors. There was a similar international push last year to penalize Kim’s government for exploding a nuclear bomb and launching a flurry of missiles.

Iran May Escape Censure at Nuclear Treaty Meeting

Despite the fact that the Obama administration is trying to get other countries agree on the fourth round of United Nations sanctions because of Iranian non-compliance with Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran will not be mentioned as a non-compliant state in the final draft of the resolution from the NPT Review conference. Decisions are made by consensus which renders any meaningful provisions impossible.

Iran may escape censure at a meeting of the 189 signatories of a global anti-nuclear arms pact, despite growing concerns that Tehran might be developing atomic weapons, according to a draft declaration.

The United States and other countries say Iran is in breach of its obligations under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a landmark arms-control pact that has been the focus of a month-long conference and review wrapping up this week.

Sixty Years of Tension Between North and South Korea: Timeline

In the following article you can find summary of the relationship between North Korea and South Korea. The countries are technically still at war and tensions were raised as North Korea sunk the Cheonan ship in March. During this hostile action 46 South Korean sailors were killed.

North Korea said it will sever all ties with South Korea and expel the South’s workers from a joint industrial zone as “punishment” for accusing it of sinking a warship and killing 46 South Korean sailors.

South Korea announced plans this week for joint military exercises with the U.S. off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, where a warship was sunk on March 26. North Korea warned of military action in the area after accusing the South of violating its territory in the disputed zone.

DoD: U.S. Space Industry May Lose Edge

Brett Lambert, Pentagon’s industrial policy chief, said that the U.S. space industry is getting less competitive against Asian and European firms, eventually threatening decades of U.S. primacy in this area. He argues that it is necessary to ease export controls on technologies to help the financing of the sector.

The dominance of the U.S. space industry is threatened by European and Asian firms, the Pentagon’s industrial policy chief said May 25.

“We’re at a tipping point with our space industry,” Brett Lambert said at a forum on the strength of the space industrial base hosted by the George C. Marshall Institute think tank. “We have for so long been the dominant player and the most technologically advanced player.”

Russia Says U.S. Missiles in Poland “Don’t Help Trust”

Russia issued a statement condemning deployment of Patriot PAC-3 ballistic missile defense system. The statement reveals that Russia still sees current security international environment in terms of competition and zero-sum game, despite vigorous attempts and concessions of the current Barack Hussein Obama administration.

Russia criticized on Wednesday the United States’ deployment of Patriot missiles in Poland, saying the move did not help security or trust.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “Such military activity does not help to strengthen our mutual security, to develop relations of trust and predictability in this region.”

The Free World Strikes Back at Pyongyang

Chung Min Lee comments on South Korean government presenting overwhelming evidence of North Korea torpedoing a South Korean ship in March. He notes that  it is not the first time when the North committed an act of terrorism and discusses options and measures that can be taken to punish the tyrannical regime.

The verdict is in: On March 26, a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sunk a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, and killed 46 sailors. This finding was announced formally last week by a joint investigation team consisting not only of Korean civilian and military experts, but specialists from the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia. The smoking gun appeared in the form of a North Korean torpedo’s propeller shaft. Make no mistake: This is South Korea’s 9/11, and it deserves a strong response.

Thankfully, that’s just what South Korea and its democratic allies are planning. In Seoul, the Lee Myung-bak administration announced yesterday a range of unilateral and multilateral measures, including South Korea’s official warning that additional armed provocations will be met with matching military responses. North Korean vessels will no longer transit South Korean waters and psychological warfare against the North will be restarted.

Israeli President Denies Offering Nuclear Weapons to Apartheid South Africa

Israeli president denied allegations that he was in negotiations eventually leading to offering nuclear weapons to South Africa in 1970’s. South Africa developed six nuclear weapons to counter influence of Soviet Union on the continent and dismantled them in 1990’s.

Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, today robustly denied revelations in the Guardian and a new book that he offered to sell nuclear weapons to apartheid South Africa when he was defence minister in the 1970s.

His office said “there exists no basis in reality” for claims based on declassified secret South African documents that he offered nuclear warheads for sale with ballistic missiles to the apartheid regime in 1975. “Israel has never negotiated the exchange of nuclear weapons with South Africa. There exists no Israeli document or Israeli signature on a document that such negotiations took place,” it said.