North Korea Thumps Its Chest

The little man in high heels, Kim Jong-Il, and the North Korean People's Army, have declared themselves ready to 'blow up' the United States and South Korea, after the opening of the annual joint defensive drills. This year's operational name is Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, and is somewhat scaled down from previous years, with only 18,000 US troops participating.

'The U.S. and South Korea argue the drills -- which include live firing by U.S. Marines, aerial attack drills and urban warfare training -- are purely defensive. North Korea claims they amount to attack preparations and has demanded they be canceled.

The North's People's Army issued a statement Monday, warning the drills created a tense situation and that its troops are "fully ready" to "blow up" the allies once the order is issued.

The North also put all its soldiers and reservists on high alert to "mercilessly crush the aggressors" should they encroach upon the North's territory even slightly, said the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.'

Pyongyang typically increases its defensive posture and ups its rhetoric in response to these drills. Although the spate of missile and nuclear testing over the past year make the threat somewhat more serious, North Korea has little ability to follow through on anything. It's soldiers may very well be more likely to ask for a good, hot meal at this point. While they are typically better fed than the average 'citizen,' the repeated halts to food aid this last year have left the entire country on the brink .

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and Azar 16th

Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, and the 68th year since Japan attack the United States, opening the Pacific front of WWII.


Today is also Azar 16th, which commemorates the university students in Iran. In honor to the day, students at many universities protested their total lack of freedom today, and are paying the price for demanding that freedom. From Revolutionary Road (the blog appears to have been taken down, but they are still posting on Facebook):

'Suppose you arrest all of us, what will you do with the truth that is laid bare? We stand as ever to report on Azar 16th

A Few hours ago Amin Moshashaei, Saman Valadbeygi, Diakoo Pir Khazari, Arsalan and Soheila Amani, student activists of Iranian universities were arrested.

This was the first news I heard this morning, after hearing the phone ring.

With the comprehensive attack on another student movement and detaining free men of a country of sun and wind, the despotic rule once again showed it trembles from our unity and common combat. Now being marked (star), imprisonment and being expelled from University is a golden leaf for each brave and noble child of Iran. On December 7th (Azar 16th) of this year, 56 years after the epic rise of students against tyranny and inequality in Iran, when millions stepped in the field to reclaim their legitimate rights, hope and awareness with a deep political analysis and social change, students have become an invincible force. All efforts to eliminate the freedom-loving and human identity of millions opposing oppression and inequality are passive acts destined for failure.'

Students have been posting mobile video of the protests for the last two days leading up to today's protests. Note the chants of "death to the dictator" and "death to Khomeni."

UPDATE 1: You Took Your Time - We're Taking Ours

Update 1: Good news from Secretary Clinton: NATO appears to be pledging up to 7,000 troops from twenty-five member nations. NPR is reporting that WH staffers state that these commitments were made prior to the president's speech. Germany and France are standing pat on waiting for the January conference before committing to any troop increase. It will be interesting to see 3,000 more troops can be whistled up between now and the end of January. If so, Gen. McChrystal's plan would be almost fully staffed. President Obama now seems to accept that the surge plan from Iraq is transportable to Afghanistan.

Previously Posted:
While the Pentagon and President Obama have requested 10,000 additional Afghan-bound troops from NATO members, primarily for training purposes, NATO is likely to provide, at most, 5,000 troops. If the war has lost support here in the United States (to 50% or just under), support in the European public is far lower, and NATO governments have lost patience with President Obama's long decision-making process. Germany and France seem unwilling to answer the president's call until at least January:

'German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm welcomed Obama's timeline for withdrawal saying it was "correct and sensible." But on the question of whether Germany would send more troops, he preferred to point to the Afghanistan conference set to take place at the end of January in London. After the conference, Germany will decide "whether and if so what kind of additional efforts we might undertake." ... German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also pointed to the January conference. "Obama also took his time to work out the speech and his strategy and we will take our own time to assess what he said and discuss this with our allies," he said. Indeed, the only countries which immediately offered to up their troop contingent were Britain, Poland and Italy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the UK would send an additional 500 troops with Poland likely to up its contribution to 2,600 from 2,000. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his country would send more as well, but avoided a concrete pledge, saying only that Rome would "do a lot."'

Reaction to the President's speech at West Point was mixed, and the latest major polls were taken prior to the speech, making it difficult to gauge it's effect on the American public. Spiegel Online has openly reflected Europe's disenchantment with Obama Administration leadership. One can only hope that they'll pony-up in the long run, or the new Afghan strategy will prove just as flawed as the old.

Praying as we lurch left

The Wall Street Journal article published earlier today, titled 'We Could Be In for a Lurch to the Left," was astute and powerful. It examines the potential effects of a President Obama without restraints from Congress. We now know that scenario to have come true. The next President of the United States will be Barack Obama. And we are all going to find out what it will be to live under a President almost unchecked by the Congress. Fortunately, the Senate does not, at this time, appear to have passed the 'magic 60' number, which would allow the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Here in Florida, while we appear to have gone to Obama, more local races and Congressional seats have gone to or been maintained by the Republicans, so we did contribute to providing a check to the Democratic momentum.

What are we going to do? I just drank my third glass of wine and ate my fourth mini-bar of chocolate in self comfort. But, tomorrow I get up for work as normal to give a lecture, and tomorrow afternoon I finish off working on my dissertation proposal. Life will go on. What comes next? I have to turn to John McCain's more than gracious concession speech (see the title link for the text). We must love our country enough to continue to work for her. We must love our fellow citizens (even if they voted for the wrong man) enough to continue to work with them. We must never back down on these things. When I was working phones in the local victory office this past weekend, several volunteers were talking about taking their money and getting out. I totally sympathize, but this is the wrong answer. America needs us. We worked for John McCain because he was the best man for President. We need to continue to work for the country he has sacrificed his entire life for.

Spend tonight (OK, two nights) mourning. I certainly wept during John McCain's acceptance speech. Then, get up. Stop whining, and work to fix our country. Fight against the Democratic machine that's coming into power whenever appropriate. Never let anything slide as a voter. Don't stop. Above all, love the United States of America rather than wallowing in anger and bitterness. We can do nothing to change these results, but we can do much to change the future.