In my reading of "While America Sleeps", I'm in the middle of the narrative of the events in 1994 involving North Korea's nuclear program. NK had signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but when it realized the depth and expertise of the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection regime it backed out.
During the Cold War, the IAEA inspection regime had been fairly lax, so much so that the IAEA had given Iraq a clean bill of health not long before the first Gulf War. After that war, it became clear that Iraq had had a multi-million dollar nuclear research program under way at multiple sites dispersed throughout the country. This revelation had severely embarrassed the IAEA and its Director General Hans Blix, and they were determined not to be so embarrassed again.
So the sophistication and determination of the IAEA inspection team in 1994 caught North Korea by surprise. In addition, the U.S. had put its advanced nuclear laboratories at the disposal of the IAEA, enabling the IAEA to determine that North Korea had been harvesting plutonium from its reactor. Several other incriminating discoveries were made, and North Korea responded by renouncing its participation in the NPT.
The situation escalated and, with an aim towards putting a stop to what was obviously a North Korean effort to develop nuclear weapons, an attack on North Korea's nuclear reactor was considered. On 18 May 1994, U.S. Secretary of Defence William Perry met with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Shalikashvili and the commander of the U.S. forces in Korea, General Luck, to discuss contingency plans to destroy North Korea's reactor facility in Yongbyon.
In their meeting, the military men agreed that such an attack would likely provoke North Korea to attack South Korea. Even though North Korea would surely lose that Second Korean War, they could cause hundreds of thousands if not millions of casualties.
The next day, Perry and Shalikashvili presented the results of their meeting to President Clinton. They warned that war in Korea would cost 52,000 U.S. casualties and 490,000 South Korean casualties in the first 90 days, and $61 billion.
Outside observers who knew nothing about the meetings, were surprised to see the administration suddenly drop its interest in the military options and refocus its efforts on the attempt to negotiate a solution to the crisis with North Korea.
In retrospect, it seems that North Korea may have been planning to preemptively attack South Korea if and when it saw a buildup of U.S. forces in and around Korea. The North Koreans had studied the Gulf War carefully, and knew that it would be a mistake to let the U.S. put its forces into position. It was a little-known fact that at Panmunjom in May, a North Korean colonel told a U.S. officer that "we are not going to let you do a build-up".
U.S. contingency plans did not take into account the possibility of a North Korean preemptive attack. Had such a preemptive attack occurred, a U.S. defeat on the Korean peninsula might not have been out of the question.
Books Of Interest
Started by
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, Jun 13 2005 11:47 AM
132 replies to this topic
#123
Brutus
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Posted 08 June 2009 - 08:00 AM
That part of AF is, to me, analogous to what the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia w/ the children - since they were so young they couldn't have been "corrupted" by Western thinking yet and were used to rat out their parents and other adults "of interest".Animal Farm, by George Orwell
Who might be the 5 puppies, kidnapped and milked by the pigs, who later turned into the savage thought control team for the new regime?
Good recommendation.
Yes Virginia, the Russians are STILL the bad guys.
#125
befruitful
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Posted 08 June 2009 - 10:25 PM
That part of AF is, to me, analogous to what the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia w/ the children - since they were so young they couldn't have been "corrupted" by Western thinking yet and were used to rat out their parents and other adults "of interest".
Thats a great macro-historical analysis. Shamefully, the pub-ed system is pretty komsomolish today as well. I was thinking on a micro-military scale, and honestly- it's only a guess since I've no idea who bama has appointed as secretaries of Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army and Coast Guard. Probably someone on this forum has an inkling. No sense wagering dollars to donut(s) since it's a quandry to figure out which has more value. Even so, I reckon these seemingly non-important individuals are very likely "commy fagots", willing to abort any useful attempt to defend justice- in fact bought and sold to do the contrary.
Now I'll be a good blind boy and look it up. I'm curious.
Thats a great macro-historical analysis. Shamefully, the pub-ed system is pretty komsomolish today as well. I was thinking on a micro-military scale, and honestly- it's only a guess since I've no idea who bama has appointed as secretaries of Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army and Coast Guard. Probably someone on this forum has an inkling. No sense wagering dollars to donut(s) since it's a quandry to figure out which has more value. Even so, I reckon these seemingly non-important individuals are very likely "commy fagots", willing to abort any useful attempt to defend justice- in fact bought and sold to do the contrary.
Now I'll be a good blind boy and look it up. I'm curious.
#126
befruitful
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Posted 08 June 2009 - 11:06 PM
AF
http://www.af.mil/bi...asp?bioID=11336
http://www.af.mil/in...asp?bioID=11336
Navy (marines)
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Ray Mabus, former Mississippi governor and U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was sworn in May 19 as the 75th secretary of the Navy.
Leading the Navy and Marine Corps, Mabus will be responsible for an annual budget in excess of $150 billion and almost 900,000 people.
The secretary of the Navy is responsible for conducting all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training and mobilizing. Additionally, he oversees the construction, outfitting and repair of naval ships, equipment and facilities and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies and programs that are consistent with the national security policies and objectives established by the president and the secretary of defense.
Prior to joining the administration of President Barack Obama, Mabus served in a variety of top posts in government and the private sector. In 1988, Mabus was elected governor of Mississippi where he stressed education and job creation. In 1994, he was appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, where during his tenure, the Kingdom officially abandoned the boycott of U.S. businesses that trade with Israel. Mabus also was chairman and chief executive officer of Foamex, a large manufacturing company, and also served as a Navy surface warfare officer aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock.
Mabus is a native of Ackerman, Miss., and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Mississippi, a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
U.S. Navy, Ray Mabus, has served as governor of Mississippi and the U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He’s won awards for public service, for supporting education and for conserving wildlife. But it’s his stint in the private sector that may be of interest to Bankruptcy Beat
Army
http://www.bloomberg...6...o8&refer=us
http://www.foxnews.c...army-secretary/
coast guard- janet
ok- maybe I'm wrong. But there's room for doubt. I would venture that bama via biden has each one of these creatures on a leash.
http://www.af.mil/bi...asp?bioID=11336
http://www.af.mil/in...asp?bioID=11336
Navy (marines)
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Ray Mabus, former Mississippi governor and U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was sworn in May 19 as the 75th secretary of the Navy.
Leading the Navy and Marine Corps, Mabus will be responsible for an annual budget in excess of $150 billion and almost 900,000 people.
The secretary of the Navy is responsible for conducting all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training and mobilizing. Additionally, he oversees the construction, outfitting and repair of naval ships, equipment and facilities and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies and programs that are consistent with the national security policies and objectives established by the president and the secretary of defense.
Prior to joining the administration of President Barack Obama, Mabus served in a variety of top posts in government and the private sector. In 1988, Mabus was elected governor of Mississippi where he stressed education and job creation. In 1994, he was appointed ambassador to Saudi Arabia, where during his tenure, the Kingdom officially abandoned the boycott of U.S. businesses that trade with Israel. Mabus also was chairman and chief executive officer of Foamex, a large manufacturing company, and also served as a Navy surface warfare officer aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock.
Mabus is a native of Ackerman, Miss., and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Mississippi, a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
U.S. Navy, Ray Mabus, has served as governor of Mississippi and the U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He’s won awards for public service, for supporting education and for conserving wildlife. But it’s his stint in the private sector that may be of interest to Bankruptcy Beat
Army
http://www.bloomberg...6...o8&refer=us
http://www.foxnews.c...army-secretary/
coast guard- janet
ok- maybe I'm wrong. But there's room for doubt. I would venture that bama via biden has each one of these creatures on a leash.
#127
Brutus
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Posted 09 June 2009 - 12:46 PM
It's interesting that you should bring up Ray Mabus.
Mabus served as governor of Mississippi from '89 - '93. At that time, quite possibly the worst kept secret in the state was that he was actually gay, eventhough he was married and his wife was pregnant with their first child. The parlor talk of the time was that he had married only for the purpose of political image-making and 'credibility'.
After a relatively uneventful 4 years as governor, he was defeated in his reelection bid. Not long after that, Bill Clinton appointed him US ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He only served as ambassador relatively briefly - like 1 1/2 to 2 years - and seemingly just appeared overnight back in the US, having resigned his post as ambassador.
Now, I can't prove this, but I've always suspected that he got caught practicing homosex in "the Kingdom" and he was given the option of "pack your crap and leave right now or we'll make it public". I mean, one day he's serving as ambassador and then all of a sudden he's back here in the US having resigned. There was no announcement that he was resigning or anything. He just showed up back here in the states and that was that.
Generally, when someone the caliber of an ambassador resigns his post there's usually an official announcement that he'll/she'll be resigning at a given time, and it's usually like a month or so in the future. That always struck me as very strange. It is highly irregular for an ambassador to quit his/her post almost literally overnight.
So, your comment about "commie faggots" might be closer to the mark than you imagine.
BTW, the death of someone named "Mabus" also figures prominently in a widely-studied quatrain of Nostradamus' "prophecies".
Mabus served as governor of Mississippi from '89 - '93. At that time, quite possibly the worst kept secret in the state was that he was actually gay, eventhough he was married and his wife was pregnant with their first child. The parlor talk of the time was that he had married only for the purpose of political image-making and 'credibility'.
After a relatively uneventful 4 years as governor, he was defeated in his reelection bid. Not long after that, Bill Clinton appointed him US ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He only served as ambassador relatively briefly - like 1 1/2 to 2 years - and seemingly just appeared overnight back in the US, having resigned his post as ambassador.
Now, I can't prove this, but I've always suspected that he got caught practicing homosex in "the Kingdom" and he was given the option of "pack your crap and leave right now or we'll make it public". I mean, one day he's serving as ambassador and then all of a sudden he's back here in the US having resigned. There was no announcement that he was resigning or anything. He just showed up back here in the states and that was that.
Generally, when someone the caliber of an ambassador resigns his post there's usually an official announcement that he'll/she'll be resigning at a given time, and it's usually like a month or so in the future. That always struck me as very strange. It is highly irregular for an ambassador to quit his/her post almost literally overnight.
So, your comment about "commie faggots" might be closer to the mark than you imagine.
BTW, the death of someone named "Mabus" also figures prominently in a widely-studied quatrain of Nostradamus' "prophecies".
Yes Virginia, the Russians are STILL the bad guys.
#128
Guest_Franklin Sousley_*
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Posted 09 June 2009 - 05:36 PM
THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by F.A Hayek http://www.amazon.co...n...6817&sr=1-1
#129
Guest_eskie_*
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Posted 30 August 2009 - 01:20 PM
I'm rereading Death of a Dissident, the story of Alexander Litvinenko as told by Alex Goldfarb with Marina Litvinenko. I'm finding it to be just as interesting or more so the second time around.
Death of a Dissident tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko, a loyal member of the FSB's organized crime division who blew the whistle on the serious corruption in his department after being tasked with assassinating Boris Berezovsky, one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the oligarchs that emerged in Russia's no-holds-barred experiment with capitalism that followed the break-up of the USSR. Litvinenko's revelations make him persona non-grata with the FSB, and he eventually flees Russia to save his life. The FSB caught up with him and murdered him in London with a fatal dose of the highly radioactive element polonium.
Death of a Dissident tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko's life. It also has much to say about Berezovsky. Litvinenko had been assigned by his FSB bosses to keep tabs on Berezovsky, but after Litvenenko warned the oligarch that he (Berezovsky) was in danger, Berezovsky became his friend and protector. Berezovsky also eventually had to leave Russia after falling afoul of Vladimir Putin, whose rise to power was due in no small measure to Berezovsky's support, assistance, and machinations.
The book's authors are also part of the story – Marina Litvinenko as the wife of the book's protagonist, and Alex Goldfarb, as a Russian dissident, a Jewish biologist who had agitated against the regime and had left the country in 1975 and settled in the U.S. Goldfarb ended up working for the ultra-successful investor George Soros in a project to improve health conditions in Russia. In the course of his work Goldfarb met Berezovsky, and when Litvinenko was finally forced to flee Russia for his life, Berezovsky called upon Goldfarb to help him make the escape. This Goldfarb did, forming a bond of friendship with Litvinenko in the process.
George Soros plays not a small role in the Litvinenko story. He is Goldfarb's boss through most of the book. Soros had two interests in Russia. Firstly, he was interested in helping the society to open up and democratize. Secondly, he was not averse to investing in Russian companies if the right opportunity came along. Soros turns out to be somewhat at odds with Berezovsky, philosophically. Berezovsky sees the "robber baron" capitalism of the oligarchs as an unfortunate but necessary means of ensuring that the centrally planned, government owned and operated economy of Communist days will never return. Soros sees significant government involvement in the economy as necessary, including in Russia.
The book also tells the story of Vladimir Putin's rise to power, and provides some first-hand insights into the man's psyche.
Death of a Dissident provides real-life examples of the Byzantine and constantly shifting nexuses of political power in Russia, and paints a vivid picture of the Wild West – or jungle-style or organized crime-like – business climate that was the norm in Russia after the breakup of the USSR, at least for the years covered in this book.
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Death of a Dissident, by Alex Goldfarb with Marina Litvinenko; first edition published by Free Press in 2007.
Death of a Dissident tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko, a loyal member of the FSB's organized crime division who blew the whistle on the serious corruption in his department after being tasked with assassinating Boris Berezovsky, one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the oligarchs that emerged in Russia's no-holds-barred experiment with capitalism that followed the break-up of the USSR. Litvinenko's revelations make him persona non-grata with the FSB, and he eventually flees Russia to save his life. The FSB caught up with him and murdered him in London with a fatal dose of the highly radioactive element polonium.
Death of a Dissident tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko's life. It also has much to say about Berezovsky. Litvinenko had been assigned by his FSB bosses to keep tabs on Berezovsky, but after Litvenenko warned the oligarch that he (Berezovsky) was in danger, Berezovsky became his friend and protector. Berezovsky also eventually had to leave Russia after falling afoul of Vladimir Putin, whose rise to power was due in no small measure to Berezovsky's support, assistance, and machinations.
The book's authors are also part of the story – Marina Litvinenko as the wife of the book's protagonist, and Alex Goldfarb, as a Russian dissident, a Jewish biologist who had agitated against the regime and had left the country in 1975 and settled in the U.S. Goldfarb ended up working for the ultra-successful investor George Soros in a project to improve health conditions in Russia. In the course of his work Goldfarb met Berezovsky, and when Litvinenko was finally forced to flee Russia for his life, Berezovsky called upon Goldfarb to help him make the escape. This Goldfarb did, forming a bond of friendship with Litvinenko in the process.
George Soros plays not a small role in the Litvinenko story. He is Goldfarb's boss through most of the book. Soros had two interests in Russia. Firstly, he was interested in helping the society to open up and democratize. Secondly, he was not averse to investing in Russian companies if the right opportunity came along. Soros turns out to be somewhat at odds with Berezovsky, philosophically. Berezovsky sees the "robber baron" capitalism of the oligarchs as an unfortunate but necessary means of ensuring that the centrally planned, government owned and operated economy of Communist days will never return. Soros sees significant government involvement in the economy as necessary, including in Russia.
The book also tells the story of Vladimir Putin's rise to power, and provides some first-hand insights into the man's psyche.
Death of a Dissident provides real-life examples of the Byzantine and constantly shifting nexuses of political power in Russia, and paints a vivid picture of the Wild West – or jungle-style or organized crime-like – business climate that was the norm in Russia after the breakup of the USSR, at least for the years covered in this book.
----------
Death of a Dissident, by Alex Goldfarb with Marina Litvinenko; first edition published by Free Press in 2007.
#130
kulthur
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Posted 31 August 2009 - 08:37 AM
I'm reading a very interesting book by Peter Deriabin and Tennant H. Bagley titled "KGB: Masters of the Soviet Union." I believe it was published in 1991. Golitsyn's New Lies for Old is a reference in the bibliography, and the attitude of the book is something like "we too share the general hopes associated with the formal dissolution of the USSR, but we would like to caution the reader that all things may not be as they appear, and in fact the real essence of the Soviet state - the KGB - may still command the resources to reconstitute its rule in a new form." It goes into great detail about the structure of the internal troops, the relationship among the armed forces, party, and kgb, and calls the "iron triangle" hatred a myth. In fact, the state is effectively run by the KGB at all levels; the only thing that distinguishes the Army is its specialized military knowledge. The party itself is partly overtly governed by the KGB and all of its members, including its leaders, are chosen by the KGB from childhood through the assumption of the General Secretaryship. I haven't finished it yet but it's an extremely informative book written by one of the great defectors and the man who knew that Nosenko was a plant and understood the Soviet Deception (although Nosenko hasn't come up yet and I don't expect him to). So far the book only hints at The Final Phase theory, but it is apparent that the authors believe it to be the likely explanation of events, minus some details. Highly recommended for all TFPers.
#131
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Posted 14 September 2009 - 06:55 PM
Al Qaeda recently released a new audio communique entitled "An Address to the American People". According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist Web sites, on the tape, a voice claiming to be that of Osams Bin Laden describs three books that he says support his analysis of global politics and the systematic maltreatment of Muslims at the hands of America and her allies.
Bin Laden says "After you read the suggested books, you will know the truth, and you will greatly shocked by the scale of concealment that has been exercised on you."
The voice on the tape doesn't get the titles of the books exactly right according their English editions - a translation issue, no doubt - but the three books apparently being referred to are:
1. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer.
2. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by President Jimmy Carter.
3. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.
More from the New York Times:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/bin-ladens-reading-list-for-americans
I read Perkins book. Entertaining, but hard to believe. The State Department dismisses it rather humourously. I also read the essay in the London Review of Books that formed the basis of Walt and Mearsheimer's book. It was a recounting of history from an anti-Israel perspective. Carter's book I haven't gotten around to yet. Probably won't.
Bin Laden says "After you read the suggested books, you will know the truth, and you will greatly shocked by the scale of concealment that has been exercised on you."
The voice on the tape doesn't get the titles of the books exactly right according their English editions - a translation issue, no doubt - but the three books apparently being referred to are:
1. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer.
2. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by President Jimmy Carter.
3. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.
More from the New York Times:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/bin-ladens-reading-list-for-americans
I read Perkins book. Entertaining, but hard to believe. The State Department dismisses it rather humourously. I also read the essay in the London Review of Books that formed the basis of Walt and Mearsheimer's book. It was a recounting of history from an anti-Israel perspective. Carter's book I haven't gotten around to yet. Probably won't.
#133
That One Guy
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Posted 27 January 2012 - 03:29 PM
Today I threw a little gem into my blog, Global Geopolitics, linking in Anatoliy Golitsyn's "The Perestroika Deception" to Russia Today's recent article on Perestroika. I'm hoping to spread awareness and get my readership to tune in so they can realize what's truly going on within the United States.
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