Update: North Korea warning to US and South Korea

By GottaLaff

Those breaking news Tweets come in handy. Now we have the full story:

North Korea has warned that any attempt to shoot down a satellite it says it plans to launch will result in war.

The warning came as the US and South Korea began an annual joint military exercise expected to last 12 days.

North Korea has long described such exercises as provocative but tensions between the two Koreas are now high.

The South and the US believe Pyongyang could be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile under the guise of a satellite launch.

On Friday, the North said that the risk of conflict meant it could no longer guarantee the safety of commercial flights through airspace it controls off the east coast. [...]

In a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Monday, the Korean People's Army warned that it was ready to use force against the South, the US and Japan.

“ Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war ”
North Norean army statement

"We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means," it said.

"Shooting our satellite for peaceful purposes will precisely mean a war."

The army earlier issued a separate statement saying all military personnel had been ordered "to be fully combat ready" in order to defend the nation. [...]

The army added that it would cut off North-South military communications during the exercise period.

The 12-day military exercise involves about 50,000 US and South Korean troops, in what the two allies say is a rehearsal for the defence of the peninsula, the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says.

But North Korea is always rankled by the annual drill, our correspondent says, claiming that it is a dry run for an invasion and dangerously provocative.

Some observers in South Korea, though, believe the North may be using the exercise as a pretext to clear the skies, our correspondent adds.

North Korea says interception of satellite would mean war

By GottaLaff

I'm getting a series of Tweets from BNO News:

North Korea says interception of satellite would mean war.

North Korea has ordered its military to be combat ready after a joint US-South Korean move which they called a prelude to war - state media.

North Korea warns it will retaliate against any attempt to intercept a "satellite" it plans to launch.

Shooting down the rocket or satellite North Korea plans to launch would result in an all-out war - state media.

North Korea's army spokesman: "We will retaliate any act of intercepting our satellite for peaceful purposes".

North Korea says it will use "prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means" if its "satellite" is intercepted.

Gramm-pa McCain: ‘You Don’t Announce That You’re Going To Attack Another Country’

By GottaLaff

We've all been talking about yesterday's clip from the Katie Couric interview with IWRC* Palin. We concentrated on IWRC, but look what we missed:

Last night, Palin defended her remarks. McCain dismissed the Palin matter as “gotcha journalism,” before concluding, “Governor Palin and I both agree, you don’t announce that you’re going to attack another country.”

In the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, McCain said multiple times to national audiences that he believed the U.S. would soon attack Iraq and several other countries:

October 2001, on CNN:

PAULA ZAHN: And as you know, Senator, the U.S. and Great Britain notified the U.N. Security Council yesterday that they reserve the right to strike against other countries in this campaign. What countries are we looking at?

MCCAIN: Well, I think very obviously Iraq is the first country, but there are others — Syria, Iran, the Sudan, who have continued to harbor terrorist organizations and actually assist them.

October 2001, on the Late Show with David Letterman:

LETTERMAN: How are things going in Afghanistan now?

MCCAIN: I think we’re doing fine …. I think we’ll do fine. The second phase — if I could just make one, very quickly — the second phase is Iraq.

January 2002, on the deck of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt:

MCCAIN: Next up, Baghdad!

More recently, in response to a hypothetical question about authorizing a military strike on Iran during a Republican primary debate, McCain said, “I believe that this is a possibility that is maybe closer to reality than we are discussing tonight.”

Not only has Gramm-pa failed to wear a flag pin in recent interviews, but now he's betrayed his own words as well as his country.

I simply can't bring myself to vote for somebody who's so unpatriotic. I suppose now I'll have to go with Obama. Snark.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

How the media presents Sarah Louise Palin

By GottaLaff

Our headline, re: the Palin/Gibson interview:

Gov. Sarah Palin warns war may be necessary if Russia invades another country

Now their headlines:

• Palin Interview: She Didn't Blink When Asked to Run
• Sarah Palin in ABC interview says she is ready to lead the country.
• Palin says she's ready to step in as president

But look what else I found:

Palin Drops "Bridge to Nowhere" Reference in Speech

When she landed in Fairbanks in her home state on Wednesday night, though, the bridge was notably absent from an (otherwise mostly similar) speech she made inside an airplane hangar before her homestate crowd.

Ever since she first said it, two weeks ago, critics have questioned her claim that she “told Congress, ‘thanks but no thanks on that Bridge to Nowhere.’” [...]

On Thursday, a campaign aide said Governor Palin’s decision not to mention the so-called Bridge to Nowhere as she was welcomed home inside the hangar here had no broader significance. Governor Palin had changed other elements of her speech here too, the aide said, in the interest of time. Whether she returns to the theme outside Alaska remains to be seen.

Maybe she can replace it with a segment on invading Russia.

US military trained Georgia commandos

By GottaLaff

This won't complicate things at all:

US military trained Georgian commandos 05 Sep 2008 The US military provided combat training to 80 Georgian special forces commandos only months prior to Georgia’s army assault in South Ossetia in August. The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had "orchestrated" the war in the Georgian enclave.

Cheney? Orchestrate a war? That's just crazy!

Why I appreciate Dennis Kucinich

By GottaLaff

But why bother with impeachment when Bush is on his way out of Washington anyhow? This president is capable of taking us into war, in October, on the eve of an election, to try to change the outcome of the election. We need to keep the ability to impeach at the ready in the event that this president continues to exercise a wanton approach toward the use of power, particularly the war power. The events in Georgia are a premonition.

A premonition of what? A premonition of an attack on Iran. When Georgia moves against South Ossetia as the Olympics are starting, the Bush administration begins its own Olympics — the war Olympics.

Are you saying the Bush administration is likely to declare war soon just to help Republican candidates pick up some votes? Well, you know, they increased the funding to Georgia a while back for military purposes.

You think President Saakashvili of Georgia was encouraged, possibly by the American government, to cry victim? Look. Saakashvili had an American lobbyist who is now part of the McCain campaign, and I am sure he was given advice. The idea of striking during the Olympics would have to come out of Madison Avenue. We have to be able to see through this. And the one thing I have shown an ability to do is to cut through the b.s.

And about his spotting of a U.F.O.:

Around Washington, the truth is an unidentified flying object.

H/t: Chris

John Sidney McCain "doesn't disagree" with reinstituting the draft

By GottaLaff

(relevant part begins at 1:34)

QUESTIONER: If we don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.

[Applause]

MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said.

Warmongers like John McCain don't mind sending our children to fight their wars. Parents, if you're not afraid to have your son or daughter get drafted, then J Sid's your candidate:

In June, McCain said it would take an “all-out World War III” to make the draft necessary — which seems to mean he’d consider it. In July 2006, when asked to react to Newt Gingrich’s claim that “You’d have to say to yourself this is in fact World War III,” McCain said, “I do [agree] to some extent.”

Asked about the draft last September, McCain said, “I might consider it, I don’t think it’s necessary, but I might consider it if you could design a draft where everybody equally could serve.”

Considering McCain’s vow that “there’s gonna be other wars” and that we could stay in Iraq for 100 years, a draft might seem reasonable to him.

Oh, but it would seem very unreasonable to a good number of us.

Crisis in Georgia = big problems for both candidates and the press

By GottaLaff

This report is disturbing in so many ways. I'll try to break it down into sections:

So far, the domestic political implications of this conflict have been minimal, but the actions of both campaigns raise troubling questions about how either Senator would perform as Commander in Chief.

For Barack Obama, the problem is foreign policy incoherence. [...] he's embraced Georgia's entry into NATO without understanding the full implications of that strategy. [E]mbracing Georgia in NATO means a willingness to defend that country in a war against Russia. [...] At first, he blamed both Georgia and Russia, then called for Russia to withdraw, now he's demanding an immediate cease fire. Events are in the saddle and Obama is going along for the ride -- this matches President Bush's approach to the crisis, and that's not a good thing.

Next, McCain:

For John McCain, the problem isn't coherence, it's bellicosity. McCain has been the strongest global voice behind Georgia since the shooting began. The problem is, when does the McCain tough rhetoric end and World War III begin? ... [W]ith U.S. troops in Iraq and even Georgia unsure how to get their 2,000 Iraqi troops back home in time to make a difference, how exactly would the U.S. help Georgia in this conflict, short of starting an all-out war with the second biggest nuclear power? [...] So unless McCain is willing to get the U.S. in the middle of every armed conflict on earth -- giving new definition to his promise of "more wars" -- a McCain Presidency would mean that we're at least going to enter a new age of foreign policy brinkmanship that will demand a military sufficient to fight these battles. That means either getting out of Iraq or reinstating a draft, because the military today is incapable of matching McCain's rhetoric.

And finally, the media:

One final point: yesterday, one Georgia official claimed that Russian jets targeted the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries roughly one percent of the world's oil to Turkey, bypassing Russian ports. [...] There has been no independent confirmation of the attack and considering how easy it's been for Iraqi insurgents to knock out pipelines over the last five years, one would assume that if Russia really wanted this pipeline out of service, it would be blown to bits by now. Yet despite the dubious nature of these reports, the Drudge Report threw up a headline this morning entitled The Pipeline War and now every American news source has followed their lead. All based on one man's unconfirmed report. Such is the ridiculous state of American news coverage in 2008 and another reason why the oil futures markets have become completely insane this year.

I don't even know where to begin...

Georgia declares state of war with Russia

Another war, more innocent people dying.

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia's parliament Saturday approved a request by President Mikhail Saakashvili's to impose a "state of war," as the conflict between Georgia and Russia escalated, Georgian officials said.

Saakashvili accused Russia of launching an unprovoked full-scale military attack against his country, including targeting civilian homes, while Russian officials insist their troops were protecting people from Georgia's attacks on South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that borders Russia.

Separatist-backed South Ossetian sources reported that about 1,600 people have died and 90 have been wounded in provincial capital Tskhinvali since Russian forces entered the territory Thursday.

Russia's Interfax news agency said the death toll was at least 2,000 killed in the capital of South Ossetia and claimed the city has been destroyed.

Quote-O'-The-McWar

By GottaLaff

"I know how to win wars. I know how to win wars," McCain told the audience at a town hall in Albuquerque.