Eeyore's News and a View

SKorea says NKorea is likely to fire missileSEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Senior intelligence officials told South Korean lawmakers Wednesday that the projectile being prepared for launch in North Korea appears to be a long-range missile, not a satellite as claimed by the communist country.
The assessment came a day after North Korea announced it was preparing to send a satellite into orbit.
On Wednesday, the National Intelligence Service officials told a parliamentary committee meeting that they believe the North was preparing to launch a missile because the object's shape "is similar to" the country's long-range Taepodong missile, according to the office of lawmaker Park Young-sun, who attended the closed-door session.
In 1998, North Korea test-fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and then claimed to have put a satellite into orbit. The country test-launched a Taepodong-2 missile believed capable of reaching Alaska in 2006, but it plunged into the ocean shortly after liftoff.
Media reports suggest the missile being readied for launch could be an advanced version of the Taepodong-2 with even greater range: the U.S. west coast.
Earlier Wednesday, the North's state media reported leader Kim Jong Il visited the province where Pyongyang says it was preparing to launch a satellite.
The Korean Central News Agency said Kim met workers in Hoeryong, in North Hamgyong Province. Hoeryong is about 110 miles (180 kilometers) from Hwadae, the county where North Korea said it was preparing for a satellite launch.
Hwadae also is the site for the 2006 test launch of the North's the Taepodong-2 missile.
South Korea's Unification Ministry said it has no evidence linking the North Korean leader's trip with the impending missile launch.
During the parliamentary committee meeting, the NIS officials also told lawmakers that another father-to-son succession appears likely in North Korea, Park said.
Park quoted the NIS officials as saying that it "appears possible" that one of Kim's three sons will inherit leadership because top officials there appeared to have shown little opposition to such a succession.
Kim, who turned 67 last week, has ruled the nuclear-armed North with absolute power since his father and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung died in 1994.
Kim has not anointed his successor, and speculation over who will succeed him has grown since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96IPJ200&show_article=1

Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban
The Ban Expired in 2004 During the Bush Administration.
By JASON RYAN
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2009
The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.
Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration will seek to reinstitute the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004 during the Bush administration.
As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.
Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.
"I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.
Mexican government officials have complained that the availability of sophisticated guns from the United States have emboldened drug traffickers to fight over access routes into the U.S.
A State Department travel warning issued Feb. 20, 2009, reflected government concerns about the violence.
"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the warning said. "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."
At the news conference today, Holder described his discussions with his Mexican counterpart about the recent spike in violence.
"I met yesterday with Attorney General Medina Mora of Mexico, and we discussed the unprecedented levels of violence his country is facing because of their enforcement efforts," he said.
Holder declined to offer any time frame for the reimplementation of the assault weapons ban, however.
"It's something, as I said, that the president talked about during the campaign," he said. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of his time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be."
In a brief interview with ABC News, Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, said, "I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now."
During his confirmation hearing, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee about other gun control measures the Obama administration may consider.
"I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.
The Assault Weapons Ban signed into law by President Clinton in 1994 banned 19 types of semi-automatic military-style guns and ammunition clips with more than 10 rounds.
"A semi-automatic is a quintessential self-defense firearm owned by American citizens in this country," LaPierre said. "I think it is clearly covered under Heller and it's clearly, I think, protected by the Constitution."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6960824&page=1

CONGRESS' PORKY POLS PIG OUT ON FINE $WINE
BIG BUCKS TO CANOES & TATTOOS
February 26, 2009
Posted: 1:53 am
February 26, 2009
WASHINGTON - Congress went on a pork-a-palooza yesterday, approving a massive spending bill with big bucks for Hawaiian canoe trips, research into pig smells, and tattoo removal - all while the nation faces an economic crisis.
Among the recipients of federal largesse is the Polynesian Voyaging Society of Honolulu, which got a $238,000 "earmark" in the bill.
EDITORIAL: OBAMA'S FUZZY TAX MATH
The group organizes sea voyages in ancient-style sailing canoes like the ones that first brought settlers to Hawaii.
The sailing club has a powerful wind at its back in the person of Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The bill also has a whopping 8 percent increase over last year for the numerous federal agencies it funds.
New York got its share of earmarks, among them $475,000 to "improve and expand" the Italian American Museum in Little Italy.
The project was pushed by New York Reps. Gary Ackerman and Jerrold Nadler. The latter touted it, among other earmarks, on his Web site.
Nadler also announced $4.5 million for new park development in Manhattan.
Uncle Sam's generosity extends upstate, where there's $950,000 to convert a railroad bridge over the Hudson River into a walkway in Poughkeepsie.
Earmarks totaled at least $3.8 billion - a figure used by the House Appropriations Committee.
But the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense calculates that there are an astonishing 8,570 earmarks at a cost of $7.7 billion.
The bill, which critics slammed as larded with pork, has big bucks to combat putrid stenches in the heartland, with $1.7 million for "Swine Odor and Manure Management Research."
That's on top of $1.9 million in each of the last two years, or nearly $6 million over the last three years.
The swine research center, at Iowa State University in Ames, got funds through the Agricultural Research Service, and aims to improve the smell of animals and the lagoons where waste is stored.
There's funding for mosquito trapping in Gainesville, Fla. - requested by Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. The research deals with the West Nile virus, and was funded at $1.2 million in each of the last two years.
The House packaged the bill from several spending measures held over from last year. It needs to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama.
Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whom Obama vanquished in November, is calling on the president to veto it.
But Democratic leaders say the spending spree was a bipartisan affair, with up to 40 percent of the earmarks coming from Republicans.
Obama has criticized earmarks and insisted they be kept out of stimulus legislation - a suggestion that drew laughs from Republicans at the president's address to Congress Tuesday night.
Another earmark, by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) provides $200,000 for a "tattoo-removal violence-outreach program" in Los Angeles.
The funds would buy a tattoo-removal machine to help gang members erase signs of their past.
Meanwhile, Obama is set to unveil a proposal today that sets aside $634 billion over the next 10 years for health-care reform.
He plans to pay for it, in part, by capping tax deductions for families that earn more than $250,000 a year.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02262009/news/politics/congress_porky_pols_pig_out_on_fine_wine_157027.htm
Recession, bailout, stimulus: US security threats?
February 26, 2009 - 7:20am
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009, before the House Intelligence Committee`. Trillions of dollars in government spending might stabilize the economy, but for now it may have weakened some U.S. security interests abroad and hampered the nation's ability to respond financially to an attack at home. Blair told Congress that the slumping economy could foster extremism and anger at the U.S., which is seen as having caused the global economic meltdown. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) By MATT APUZZO and EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) - Trillions of dollars in government spending might stabilize the economy, but for now it may have weakened some U.S. security interests abroad and hampered the nation's ability to respond financially to an attack at home.
That curious conclusion by security and financial analysts reveals one of the unexpected consequences that could emerge from the government's bailout and stimulus plans. It also shows how intertwined the economy and national security have become. The top U.S. intelligence official, Dennis Blair, recently said the economy was the nation's foremost security concern.
"We have set the stage for a catastrophe," said James Rickards, a financial consultant at the research firm Omnis Inc. of McLean, Va., who provides security research for the Pentagon and others in the intelligence field.
Security officials long have worried about threats to financial institutions. In 2004, police increased security at the New York Stock Exchange and elsewhere in response to a perceived al-Qaida threat. But the focus was on car bombs, suitcase nuclear weapons or hijacked airplanes, not economics.
That's the way it has been for years.
The FBI and the Homeland Security Department's joint report on potential terrorist attack methods last year did not mention economic sabotage. The Homeland Security's five-year threat assessment focused primarily on weapons of mass destruction, leaving the limited discussion about economic attacks to a section on computer hackers.
If terrorists or countries wanted to send U.S. financial markets into a tailspin, they would not need an explosion. Several financial doomsday scenarios have circulated in intelligence and financial circles.
One goes like this: A foreign government or a terrorist group with substantial financial backing sets up several overseas hedge funds. Acting together, they dump U.S. stocks, perhaps by short-selling a major financial index or by targeting key U.S. companies. The attack begins slowly, picking up speed over several hours as it creates panic and confusion in the market.
The U.S. is more susceptible to such an attack today, analysts say, because Wall Street is so shaky. For instance, after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the government pumped money into the banking system to bolster the economy. Doing so again wouldn't be as easy. The government has already spent trillions on bank bailouts and short-term lending to try to prop up banks, with mixed results.
"Now, if the stock market crashes, banks are not going to be in a position to jump in. We're on our own," Rickards said.
To pay for the bailout and stimulus plans, the government must issue bonds, many of which will be bought by China and other countries. Beijing could use those bonds as a weapon. Selling them in bulk would send U.S. interest rates rising, providing a new drag on the economy.
Such a move could backfire on China because the economies of the two countries are closely tied. But U.S. officials have expressed fear about the threat. In January 2008, the Congressional Research Service said the best way for the government to allay those fears would be to stop spending so much and start saving more.
Yet spending in the name of economic recovery has reached record levels. That will make it harder for the U.S. to get tough with Beijing on human rights or threaten economic penalties during a diplomatic dispute, said George Foresman, a former Homeland Security undersecretary who now provides security consulting to financial companies.
When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to China this month, she said human rights concerns could not interfere with talks about the economic crisis. She then thanked China for continuing to invest in U.S. bonds and encouraged the nation to keep buying.
"The national security community is awakening to a new era," Foresman said. "They can't be overly focused on the Middle East at the expense of the rest of the world. And they can't be overly focused on the military at the expense of the global economy."
Blair, the national intelligence director, told Congress that the slumping economy could foster extremism and anger at the U.S., which is seen as having caused the global economic meltdown.
That surprised some lawmakers, including Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., who questioned any change of focus away from threats such as al-Qaida, Iran and North Korea.
"My intent in drawing attention to the economic crisis was more to inform policy of the things that could really cause real problems for the United States if they developed a certain way," Blair replied.
But Blair said he wouldn't be using the nation's spy satellites to look at economic data.
http://wtop.com/?nid=251&sid=1610926

Arctic melting a serious threat to national security
February 26, 2009 - 5:01am
WASHINGTON - Five countries own the Arctic - sort of.
A 1982 United Nations treaty called "The Law of the Sea" grants ownership of significant undersea portions to the U.S., Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark, but any country can use it for transit.
Lately, that access has led to some sleepless nights for U.S. military and national security strategic planners.
Melting ice - whether it's the result of climate change or natural phenomena - has created a list of problems.
"It has national security implications, homeland security implications and commercial and natural resource implications that we need to address in a measured methodical way," says Rear Adm. Dave A. Gove, the oceanographer/navigator of the Navy.
From a national security perspective, Gove says as large chunks of ice break off and melt away, the U.S. needs to "make sure we understand certain potential vulnerabilities associated with the possibility of terrorism or access to the country."
Remote as it is, Alaska, with its forbidding climate, is an attractive target for terrorists and a portal to get into the homeland, experts say. Twenty years from now, if the melt continues and the waters in the region rise, so will grow Alaska's appeal to those with nefarious intentions.
Sitting at a large conference room table in his spacious and well appointed office at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Gove says the U.S. has not really paid much attention to Arctic vulnerability in the past, "because of the severity of the environment. But as the climate continues to change and provides greater access to that part of the world, we need to think about how to maintain American presence, naval presence and how to operate in the environment that still will be quite severe but more accessible."
There is reason to believe that top government officials are beginning to see it. In fact, one of former President George W. Bush's last executive orders on Jan. 9 was NSPD-66 / HSPD-25 to address the looming national security vulnerabilities in the Arctic.
The United States has broad and fundamental national security interests in the Arctic region and is prepared to operate either independently or in conjunction with other states to safeguard these interests. These interests include such matters as missile defense and early warning; deployment of sea and air systems for strategic sealift, strategic deterrence, maritime presence, and maritime security operations; and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight.
NSPD-66 / HSPD-25
There are several countries with Arctic naval navigation capacity. The most capable are Canada, the U.K and Russia, but the Chinese "have also expressed an interest because of the natural resources that are available," Gove says.
Another potential problem bubbling beneath the surface is Russia's sovereignty claims.
"One example is the Bering Sea," Gove says.
The Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia, is less than nautical 200 miles from either coast. Gove says that's a future issue that is yet to be dealt with.
Canada, the United States, Russia, Norway and Denmark, by law can claim the natural resources on, above and beneath the ocean floor up to 200 miles from their shoreline. They also can extend their claim up to 350 miles from shore for any area that is proven to be a part of their continental shelf.
Beyond the threat of terrorism and commercial interests of nations around the world lies the more troubling issue of intelligence gathering - much of which can be done with submarines.
"The Navy's mission and the national security strategy is to make sure that we are ready for any potential threats that might occur," Gove says.
"We have practical experience in the past with threats as a result of the Cold War. A great deal of activity that occurred in that part of the world primarily in the submarine force."
Despite that experience, Gove says the U.S. still needs to "understand what it's going to take to operate safely in that part of the world, and we haven't really optimized the submarine force which was built for use up there in the past."
Gove, who wrote an article in Proceedings Magazine, called "Arctic Melt: Reopening a Naval Frontier," says international intentions (with respect to the Arctic), "can be mercurial and perhaps change relatively quickly. So we need to be ready....We need to be understand what it's going to take to operate safely in that part of the world."
In the future, if sea levels continue to rise, research indicates current shorelines will migrate inland and the standard 200 nautical mile economic zone will shrink with them.
The prospect may have already set off an economic scramble that could result confrontation in the Arctic.
"The debate needs to be going on now in order to have us in the right position in five, in 10, in 20 years to be able to take advantage of and to protect our interest in that part of the world," Gove says
http://wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1610692