COMMUNIST CHINA STRANGLES HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD

COMMUNIST CHINA STRANGLES HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD

 

The spread of Communism to mainland China compromised prospects of Freedom, Democracy, Peace, and Human Rights both inside China and in her occupied territories of Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and East Turkestan.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 

CHINA'S MANIPULATION OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORTS MUST BE STOPPED

Clipped from: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/12/chinas-campaign-to-smother-human-rights-efforts-at-un-needs-to-be-stopped.html

SOPHIE RICHARDSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen in southeastern China's Fujian Province, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

China’s growing appetite for global power isn’t hard to spot: military muscle-flexing in the South China Sea, the trillion-dollar New Silk Road development initiative, even its proliferation of Confucius Institutes, academic outposts to spread its version of history and politics.

What’s less easy to see is that worsening human rights violations at home are increasingly reflected in Beijing’s diplomatic agenda to undermine human rights protections abroad, including at the United Nations.

The U.N. human rights system exists to protect people whose own governments cannot or will not do that for them.  The system has many shortcomings, but even so it is a vital international forum for monitoring nations’ compliance with their human rights obligations, where critical independent voices can be heard and violators at times held accountable—or at least spotlighted. 

For activists who work on China human rights issues, this venue is all the more important because the country’s president,  Xi Jinping, has steadily strangled domestic options for obtaining justice through the courts and engaging in peaceful dissent.

Chinese authorities have prevented mainland activists from reaching the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and harassed them at U.N. headquarters in New York. Chinese officials in Geneva have even threatened foreign diplomats and UN. human rights experts who support scrutiny of Beijing’s record.

As a new Human Rights Watch report exposes, President Xi’s government is working hard to weaken these U.N. mechanisms. Chinese authorities have prevented mainland activists from reaching the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and harassed them at U.N. headquarters in New York. Chinese officials in Geneva have even threatened foreign diplomats and U.N. human rights experts who support scrutiny of Beijing’s record. 

Reflecting its hostility to human rights monitoring generally, China has also blocked U.N. resolutions supporting human rights defenders globally—thus undermining protections for rights groups who do not even work on China.

Beijing is also trying to manipulate U.N. mechanisms to impose its political views on others. China—along with other countries hostile to human rights—sits on the U.N. committee that grants civil society groups accreditation needed to participate in U.N. meetings. Applicants have been told that getting approval means deleting from their organizations’ materials any reference to 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Any references to Taiwan or Tibet must reflect Beijing’s view that those territories are part of China. 

China has jailed activists who wanted to participate in U.N. activities, and even blocked a commemoration of one who died trying to do so. 

In September 2013, Chinese authorities detained Cao Shunli, a Beijing-based activist, prior to boarding a flight for Geneva, where she was going to participate in China-related U.N. training sessions.  While in detention Cao fell critically ill, but the authorities denied her adequate medical care. She died in March 2014.

At the next session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, nongovernmental organizations sought to hold a moment of silence in her honor, but China coolly and cruelly succeeded in getting enough other Council members—including Cuba, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela-- to prevent the gesture.

U.N. officials have at times rejected Chinese efforts at intimidation and ensured that independent voices are heard.  Yet on other occasions they either fail to stand firm—allowing, for example, China to dictate that experts seen as critical of China not sit on key committees—or, worse, are complicit in abuses.

 In April 2017, U.N. security officers forced Dolkun Isa, an accredited activist for China’s persecuted Uyghurs, to leave the New York headquarters, where he was participating in a conference on minority rights.  When challenged about this incident, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “fully aware of the situation,” but failed to offer any explanation or plan of action to change things.

To be sure, China isn’t the only government that seeks to manipulate the U.N. human rights system for its own benefit.  But Beijing’s global power, ambitions, and its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council make it a sinister role model for other authoritarian governments. 

China’s ability to block human rights initiatives is not absolute.  The U.N. remains a high profile venue for countries intent on promoting human rights and for working to hold abusive governments to account.  In March 2016, for example, the United States and 11 other countries issued an unprecedented joint statement condemning China’s arrest of human rights activists and attorneys. 

Nonetheless, the trend is moving in the wrong direction. As Human Rights Watch’s research has shown, unless the U.N., with help from rights-respecting governments, pushes back by insisting on compliance with established human rights practices, adopting new ones to prevent future abuses, and holding China and other bad-faith players accountable, the integrity of the vulnerable U.N. human rights system—and the people around the world it helps to protect—are at grave risk. 

Sophie Richardson is China director at Human Rights Watch. Follow her on Twitter at @SophieHRW.

 

Created with Microsoft OneNote 2016.

COMMUNIST CHINA STRANGLES HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD

COMMUNIST CHINA STRANGLES HUMAN RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD

 

The spread of Communism to mainland China compromised prospects of Freedom, Democracy, Peace, and Human Rights both inside China and in her occupied territories of Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and East Turkestan.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 

CHINA'S MANIPULATION OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORTS MUST BE STOPPED

Clipped from: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/12/chinas-campaign-to-smother-human-rights-efforts-at-un-needs-to-be-stopped.html

SOPHIE RICHARDSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center in Xiamen in southeastern China's Fujian Province, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

China’s growing appetite for global power isn’t hard to spot: military muscle-flexing in the South China Sea, the trillion-dollar New Silk Road development initiative, even its proliferation of Confucius Institutes, academic outposts to spread its version of history and politics.

What’s less easy to see is that worsening human rights violations at home are increasingly reflected in Beijing’s diplomatic agenda to undermine human rights protections abroad, including at the United Nations.

The U.N. human rights system exists to protect people whose own governments cannot or will not do that for them.  The system has many shortcomings, but even so it is a vital international forum for monitoring nations’ compliance with their human rights obligations, where critical independent voices can be heard and violators at times held accountable—or at least spotlighted. 

For activists who work on China human rights issues, this venue is all the more important because the country’s president,  Xi Jinping, has steadily strangled domestic options for obtaining justice through the courts and engaging in peaceful dissent.

Chinese authorities have prevented mainland activists from reaching the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and harassed them at U.N. headquarters in New York. Chinese officials in Geneva have even threatened foreign diplomats and UN. human rights experts who support scrutiny of Beijing’s record.

As a new Human Rights Watch report exposes, President Xi’s government is working hard to weaken these U.N. mechanisms. Chinese authorities have prevented mainland activists from reaching the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva and harassed them at U.N. headquarters in New York. Chinese officials in Geneva have even threatened foreign diplomats and U.N. human rights experts who support scrutiny of Beijing’s record. 

Reflecting its hostility to human rights monitoring generally, China has also blocked U.N. resolutions supporting human rights defenders globally—thus undermining protections for rights groups who do not even work on China.

Beijing is also trying to manipulate U.N. mechanisms to impose its political views on others. China—along with other countries hostile to human rights—sits on the U.N. committee that grants civil society groups accreditation needed to participate in U.N. meetings. Applicants have been told that getting approval means deleting from their organizations’ materials any reference to 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Any references to Taiwan or Tibet must reflect Beijing’s view that those territories are part of China. 

China has jailed activists who wanted to participate in U.N. activities, and even blocked a commemoration of one who died trying to do so. 

In September 2013, Chinese authorities detained Cao Shunli, a Beijing-based activist, prior to boarding a flight for Geneva, where she was going to participate in China-related U.N. training sessions.  While in detention Cao fell critically ill, but the authorities denied her adequate medical care. She died in March 2014.

At the next session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, nongovernmental organizations sought to hold a moment of silence in her honor, but China coolly and cruelly succeeded in getting enough other Council members—including Cuba, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela-- to prevent the gesture.

U.N. officials have at times rejected Chinese efforts at intimidation and ensured that independent voices are heard.  Yet on other occasions they either fail to stand firm—allowing, for example, China to dictate that experts seen as critical of China not sit on key committees—or, worse, are complicit in abuses.

 In April 2017, U.N. security officers forced Dolkun Isa, an accredited activist for China’s persecuted Uyghurs, to leave the New York headquarters, where he was participating in a conference on minority rights.  When challenged about this incident, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “fully aware of the situation,” but failed to offer any explanation or plan of action to change things.

To be sure, China isn’t the only government that seeks to manipulate the U.N. human rights system for its own benefit.  But Beijing’s global power, ambitions, and its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council make it a sinister role model for other authoritarian governments. 

China’s ability to block human rights initiatives is not absolute.  The U.N. remains a high profile venue for countries intent on promoting human rights and for working to hold abusive governments to account.  In March 2016, for example, the United States and 11 other countries issued an unprecedented joint statement condemning China’s arrest of human rights activists and attorneys. 

Nonetheless, the trend is moving in the wrong direction. As Human Rights Watch’s research has shown, unless the U.N., with help from rights-respecting governments, pushes back by insisting on compliance with established human rights practices, adopting new ones to prevent future abuses, and holding China and other bad-faith players accountable, the integrity of the vulnerable U.N. human rights system—and the people around the world it helps to protect—are at grave risk. 

Sophie Richardson is China director at Human Rights Watch. Follow her on Twitter at @SophieHRW.

 

Created with Microsoft OneNote 2016.

SEPTEMBER 21, 1949 - THE COLD WAR IN ASIA - THE BIRTH OF ONE-PARTY GOVERNANCE IN PEKING

 

 

SEPTEMBER 21, 1949 - THE COLD WAR IN ASIA - THE BIRTH OF ONE-PARTY GOVERNANCE IN PEKING

SEPTEMBER 21, 1949 - THE COLD WAR IN ASIA - THE BIRTH OF ONE-PARTY GOVERNANCE IN PEKING

 

On September 21, 1949 Mao Zedong revealed plan for One-Party Governance of mainland China establishing Single-Party System or Party-State. On September 21, 2017 the Communist Party of China continues to pose threat to Democracy, Freedom, Peace, and Justice in Asia.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

MAO ZEDONG OUTLINES THE NEW CHINESE GOVERNMENT - SEPTEMBER 21, 1949

 

Clipped from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mao-zedong-outlines-the-new-chinese-government?

Cold War

1949

At the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking, Mao Zedong announces that the new Chinese government will be “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.”

The September 1949 conference in Peking was both a celebration of the communist victory in the long civil war against Nationalist Chinese forces and the unveiling of the communist regime that would henceforth rule over China. Mao and his communist supporters had been fighting against what they claimed was a corrupt and decadent Nationalist government in China since the 1920s. Despite massive U.S. support for the Nationalist regime, Mao’s forces were victorious in 1949 and drove the Nationalist government onto the island of Taiwan. In September, with cannons firing salutes and ceremonial flags waving, Mao announced the victory of communism in China and vowed to establish the constitutional and governmental framework to protect the “people’s revolution.”

In outlining the various committees and agencies to be established under the new regime, Mao announced that “Our state system of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship is a powerful weapon for safeguarding the fruits of victory of the people’s revolution and for opposing plots of foreign and domestic enemies to stage a comeback. We must firmly grasp this weapon.” He denounced those who opposed the communist government as “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries.” In the future, China would seek the friendship of “the Soviet Union and the new democratic countries.” Mao also claimed that communism would help end reputation as a lesser-developed country. “The era in which the Chinese were regarded as uncivilized is now over. We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.” On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was formally announced, with Mao Zedong as its leader. He would remain in charge of the nation until his death in 1976.

 

 

 

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PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DEFINING MOMENT - ARE YOU FRIEND OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY?

 

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DEFINING MOMENT - ARE YOU FRIEND OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY?

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DEFINING MOMENT - ARE YOU FRIEND OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY?

On Tuesday September 19, 2017, President Trump will address the UN General Assembly. It will be President Trump's defining moment. He has to prove his credentials to the world.

 

On behalf of Special Frontier Force, I ask Mr. President, "Are You Friend of Freedom and Democracy?"

 

Trump must verify his love, hate relationship with American Values. While defending Freedom and Democracy, the US lost its battle in Vietnam. Now, I have to know as to how President Trump plans to "WIN" 'The Cold War in Asia'.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 48104 - 4162

SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE

 

TRUMP'S LOVE, HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED NATIONS - ABC NEWS

 

Clipped from: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trumps-love-hate-relationship-united-nations/story?id=49925472

Evan Vucci/AP

President Trump will make his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Will he bring the world together or sow division? Will he embrace an institution that he has previously called weak and incompetent?

His relationship with the New York-based global organization is long and complicated.

Trump, the candidate, says UN “not a friend of freedom”

During his March 23, 2016 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s conference, then-candidate Trump issued some of his toughest commentary, speaking of the “utter weakness and incompetence of the United Nations.”

“The United Nations is not a friend of democracy. It’s not a friend to freedom,” Trump said. “It’s not a friend even to the United States of America, where, as you know, it has its home. And it surely is not a friend to Israel.”

Though a 2016 Global Attitudes Survey by Pew Research Center showed that 64 percent of Americans had a favorable view of the United Nations, Trump’s campaign promises for a protectionist economic policy and an aggressive approach to China come into conflict with the goals of multilateralism and the UN charter. His promotion of interrogation techniques “worse than waterboarding,” his push for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. and his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords have also put Trump at odds with UN allies.

Last December, Trump continued his assault on the institution, tweeting: “The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!”

Trump, the real estate magnate: “I’m a big fan” of the UN

In 2005, Trump testified before a subcommittee looking at UN spending, calling himself a “big fan of the United Nations and all it stands for.” He told lawmakers the institution was one of the reasons he chose to build Trump World Tower, one of his luxury residential properties, where he did in 1998.

“If the United Nations weren’t there, perhaps I wouldn’t have built it in that location,” said Trump. “So it means quite a bit to me.” When Trump was planning the building, many UN officials, including Secretary General Kofi Annan, expressed disapproval of the massive construction project.

Trump’s renovation hopes

At a 2005 hearing, a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee was looking at renovations at the UN New York headquarters and estimated development costs for similar projects in New York. Trump had met with UN officials to pitch his services, but they were refused. He told members he thought the project could cost $700 million, and he predicted the UN would end up spending upwards of $3 billion.

“You have to deal in New York City construction to see what tough people are all about,” Trump said at the time. “I listen to these people and they’re very naive, I respect them, but they’re very naive in this world. I might be naive in their world. But in this world, they’re naive.”

He also noted at a 2005 hearing that it was a dream of his to move the United Nations headquarters to the World Trade Center.

Seven years later, he shared another UN preoccupation, tweeting on Oct. 3, 2012: “The cheap 12 inch sq. marble tiles behind speaker at UN always bothered me. I will replace with beautiful large marble slabs if they ask me.”

On Tuesday, Trump will address the United Nations General Assembly and the world without his “beautiful large marble slabs” as a backdrop.

 

Created with Microsoft OneNote 2016.

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA - DEMOCRACY vs COMMUNISM

 

 

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA - DEMOCRACY vs COMMUNISM

 

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA - DEMOCRACY vs COMMUNISM

Tensions in Korean Peninsula originated with spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949. UN sanctions on North Korea will not work. The problem remains the same since 1950 when the US fought against People's Liberation Army on Korean soil. Single-Party Communist governance of mainland China imposes stumbling block for any change of course in North Korea.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 

UN CONDEMNS NORTH KOREA'S 'HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE' MISSILE TEST

 

Clipped from: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/north-korea-fires-missile-japan-longest-flight-49865031

The Associated Press

People walk past a public TV screen broadcasting news of North Korea's launch of missile, in Tokyo, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. North Korea launched an intermediate-range missile that flew over Japan in its longest-ever flight on Friday, showing that leader Kim Jong Un is defiantly pushing to bolster his weapons programs despite U.S.-led international pressure. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's "highly provocative" ballistic missile test on Friday and demanded that Pyongyang immediately halt its "outrageous actions" and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

The U.N.'s most powerful body accused North Korea of undermining regional peace and security by launching its latest missile over Japan and said its nuclear and missile tests "have caused grave security concerns around the world" and threaten all 193 U.N. member states.

North Korea's longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile early Friday from Sunan, the location of Pyongyang's international airport, signaled both defiance of North Korea's rivals and a big technological advance. After hurtling over Japan, it landed in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" in August, the North has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to send missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles of increasing range over Japan. July saw the country's first tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

The intermediate-range missile test came four days after the Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on the North for its Sept. 3 missile test including a ban on textile exports and natural gas imports — and caps on its import of oil and petroleum products. The U.S. said the latest sanctions, combined with previous measures, would ban over 90 percent of North Korea's exports reported in 2016, its main source of hard currency used to finance its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry denounced the sanctions and said the North would "redouble its efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country's sovereignty and right to existence."

The Security Council stressed in Friday's press statement after a closed-door emergency meeting that all countries must "fully, comprehensively and immediately" implement all U.N. sanctions.

Japan's U.N. Ambassador Koro Bessho called the launch an "outrageous act" that is not only a threat to Japan's security but a threat to the world as a whole."

Bessho and the British, French and Swedish ambassadors demanded that all sanctions be implemented.

Calling the latest launch a "terrible, egregious, illegal, provocative reckless act," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said North Korea's largest trading partners and closest links — a clear reference to China — must "demonstrate that they are doing everything in their power to implement the sanctions of the Security Council and to encourage the North Korean regime to change course."

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country is ready to work on tougher U.N. and EU measures to convince Pyongyang that there is no interest in an escalation, and to bring it to the negotiating table. It said North Korea will also be discussed during next week's annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly.

The Security Council also emphasized the importance of North Korea working to reduce tension in the Korean Peninsula — and it reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the territory divided between authoritarian North Korea and democratic South Korea.

The council welcomed efforts by its members and other countries "to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive solution" to the North Korean nuclear issue through dialogue.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, strongly backed the need for dialogue saying the United States needs to start talks with North Korea, which the Trump administration has ruled out.

Nebenzia told reporters after the meeting that Russia called on the U.S. and others to implement the "political and diplomatic solutions" called for in the latest sanctions resolution.

"Without implementing this, we also will consider it as a non-compliance with the resolution," Nebenzia said, adding that it also may be time for the council to "think out of the box" on how to deal with North Korea.

The growing frequency, power and confidence displayed by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests seem to confirm what governments and outside experts have long feared: North Korea is closer than ever to its goal of building a military arsenal that can viably target U.S. troops both in Asia and in the U.S. homeland.

This, in turn, is meant to allow North Korea greater military freedom in the region by raising doubts in Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would risk the annihilation of a U.S. city to protect its Asian allies.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest missile traveled about 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) and reached a maximum height of 770 kilometers (478 miles). Guam, which is the home of important U.S. military assets, is 3,400 kilometers (2,112 miles) away from North Korea.

Despite its impressive range, the missile probably still is not accurate enough to destroy Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, said David Wright, a U.S. missile expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who initially pushed for talks with North Korea, said its tests currently make dialogue "impossible."

"If North Korea provokes us or our allies, we have the strength to smash the attempt at an early stage and inflict a level of damage it would be impossible to recover from," he said.

North Korea has repeatedly vowed to continue its weapons tests amid what it calls U.S. hostility — by which it means the presence of nearly 80,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and South Korea.

Robust international diplomacy on the issue has been stalled for years, and there's so far little sign that senior officials from North Korea and the U.S. might sit down to discuss ways to slow the North's determined march toward inclusion among the world's nuclear weapons powers.

South Korea detected North Korean launch preparations Thursday, and President Moon ordered a live-fire ballistic missile drill if the launch happened. This allowed Seoul to fire missiles only six minutes after the North's launch Friday. One of the two missiles hit a sea target about 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, which was approximately the distance to Pyongyang's Sunan, but the other failed in flight shortly after launch.

 

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Foster Klug in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

 

Created with Microsoft OneNote 2016.

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA - UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

 

 

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA – UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

 

CHANGE OF COURSE IN NORTH KOREA – UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

Tensions in Korean Peninsula originated with spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949. UN sanctions on North Korea will not work. The problem remains the same since 1950 when the US fought against People's Liberation Army on Korean soil. Single-Party Communist governance of mainland China imposes stumbling block for any change of course in North Korea.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 

UN CONDEMNS NORTH KOREA'S 'HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE' MISSILE TEST

 

Clipped from: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/north-korea-fires-missile-japan-longest-flight-49865031

The Associated Press

People walk past a public TV screen broadcasting news of North Korea's launch of missile, in Tokyo, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. North Korea launched an intermediate-range missile that flew over Japan in its longest-ever flight on Friday, showing that leader Kim Jong Un is defiantly pushing to bolster his weapons programs despite U.S.-led international pressure. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's "highly provocative" ballistic missile test on Friday and demanded that Pyongyang immediately halt its "outrageous actions" and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

The U.N.'s most powerful body accused North Korea of undermining regional peace and security by launching its latest missile over Japan and said its nuclear and missile tests "have caused grave security concerns around the world" and threaten all 193 U.N. member states.

North Korea's longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile early Friday from Sunan, the location of Pyongyang's international airport, signaled both defiance of North Korea's rivals and a big technological advance. After hurtling over Japan, it landed in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" in August, the North has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to send missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles of increasing range over Japan. July saw the country's first tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.

The intermediate-range missile test came four days after the Security Council imposed tough new sanctions on the North for its Sept. 3 missile test including a ban on textile exports and natural gas imports — and caps on its import of oil and petroleum products. The U.S. said the latest sanctions, combined with previous measures, would ban over 90 percent of North Korea's exports reported in 2016, its main source of hard currency used to finance its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry denounced the sanctions and said the North would "redouble its efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country's sovereignty and right to existence."

The Security Council stressed in Friday's press statement after a closed-door emergency meeting that all countries must "fully, comprehensively and immediately" implement all U.N. sanctions.

Japan's U.N. Ambassador Koro Bessho called the launch an "outrageous act" that is not only a threat to Japan's security but a threat to the world as a whole."

Bessho and the British, French and Swedish ambassadors demanded that all sanctions be implemented.

Calling the latest launch a "terrible, egregious, illegal, provocative reckless act," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said North Korea's largest trading partners and closest links — a clear reference to China — must "demonstrate that they are doing everything in their power to implement the sanctions of the Security Council and to encourage the North Korean regime to change course."

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country is ready to work on tougher U.N. and EU measures to convince Pyongyang that there is no interest in an escalation, and to bring it to the negotiating table. It said North Korea will also be discussed during next week's annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly.

The Security Council also emphasized the importance of North Korea working to reduce tension in the Korean Peninsula — and it reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the territory divided between authoritarian North Korea and democratic South Korea.

The council welcomed efforts by its members and other countries "to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive solution" to the North Korean nuclear issue through dialogue.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, strongly backed the need for dialogue saying the United States needs to start talks with North Korea, which the Trump administration has ruled out.

Nebenzia told reporters after the meeting that Russia called on the U.S. and others to implement the "political and diplomatic solutions" called for in the latest sanctions resolution.

"Without implementing this, we also will consider it as a non-compliance with the resolution," Nebenzia said, adding that it also may be time for the council to "think out of the box" on how to deal with North Korea.

The growing frequency, power and confidence displayed by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests seem to confirm what governments and outside experts have long feared: North Korea is closer than ever to its goal of building a military arsenal that can viably target U.S. troops both in Asia and in the U.S. homeland.

This, in turn, is meant to allow North Korea greater military freedom in the region by raising doubts in Seoul and Tokyo that Washington would risk the annihilation of a U.S. city to protect its Asian allies.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest missile traveled about 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) and reached a maximum height of 770 kilometers (478 miles). Guam, which is the home of important U.S. military assets, is 3,400 kilometers (2,112 miles) away from North Korea.

Despite its impressive range, the missile probably still is not accurate enough to destroy Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, said David Wright, a U.S. missile expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a liberal who initially pushed for talks with North Korea, said its tests currently make dialogue "impossible."

"If North Korea provokes us or our allies, we have the strength to smash the attempt at an early stage and inflict a level of damage it would be impossible to recover from," he said.

North Korea has repeatedly vowed to continue its weapons tests amid what it calls U.S. hostility — by which it means the presence of nearly 80,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and South Korea.

Robust international diplomacy on the issue has been stalled for years, and there's so far little sign that senior officials from North Korea and the U.S. might sit down to discuss ways to slow the North's determined march toward inclusion among the world's nuclear weapons powers.

South Korea detected North Korean launch preparations Thursday, and President Moon ordered a live-fire ballistic missile drill if the launch happened. This allowed Seoul to fire missiles only six minutes after the North's launch Friday. One of the two missiles hit a sea target about 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, which was approximately the distance to Pyongyang's Sunan, but the other failed in flight shortly after launch.

 

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Foster Klug in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

 

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KNOW YOUR ENEMY - UN SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA WILL NOT WORK - UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

 

 

KNOW YOUR ENEMY - UN SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA WILL NOT WORK - UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

KNOW YOUR ENEMY - UN SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREA WILL NOT WORK - UNFINISHED KOREA-VIETNAM WAR

 

In my analysis, UN sanctions on North Korea will not work. Apart from sanctions, United States used millions of bombs to subdue North Vietnam and yet miserably failed to win the War. The Enemy is not Korea or Vietnam. The spread of Communism to mainland China in 1949 is the real Enemy posing threat to Freedom, Democracy, Peace, and Justice in Asia.

 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 

WILL NEW SANCTIONS MAKE KIM JONG UN SWEAT?

 

Clipped from: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-will-new-sanctions-make-kim-jong-un-sweat/ar-AArP028

© STR/AFP/Getty Images North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un The latest U.N. sanctions are designed to squeeze North Korea harder than ever, but will it be hard enough?

The new measures target major goods that North Korea buys and sells, but they don't go as far as the U.S. wanted. A ban on oil exports to North Korea was dropped from Monday's U.N. resolution. Now it calls only for a reduction.

That was the result of opposition from China and Russia, which are wary of putting too much economic pressure on North Korea.

"The Chinese and Russians are only willing to accept sanctions with loopholes in them that allow China and Russia to dictate how strong they really are," said Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.

Analysts said doubts remain over how tightly Beijing, Moscow and others will enforce the latest measures.

'How would we know?'

China, which is estimated to account for roughly 90% of North Korea's foreign trade, has been repeatedly criticized by experts for not doing enough to implement previous U.N. sanctions.

The new limits on oil highlight the difficulties involved. The U.N. resolution caps the amount of crude oil sold to North Korea each year at 4 million barrels.

But China, which sends crude oil to its smaller neighbor through a pipeline, stopped disclosing the amount it ships more than three years ago.

"How would we know if China is limiting crude oil exports if it doesn't report the data to begin with?" asked Kent Boydston, a research analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

A recent report by a U.N. panel of experts also found flaws in the enforcement of existing sanctions. It estimated that North Korea managed to export at least $270 million of banned commodities between February and August.

More U.S. pressure?

In order to pressure Beijing and Moscow to do more, the U.S. has to go after more companies and individuals that are suspected of doing business with the North Korean regime, according to Ruggiero.

The Trump administration has already made some moves this year, hitting a Chinese bank and other Chinese and Russian entities with sanctions. But Ruggiero, a former official at the State and Treasury departments, has called for the U.S. to go further by slapping a big fine on a notable Chinese bank.

"The one factor working in favor of these sanctions being implemented is that the Chinese and Russians have to be fearful that the U.S. will impose its own sanctions on Chinese and Russian companies," he said.

The U.S. is in a race against time, with North Korea having carried out a string of missile launches in recent weeks and its biggest ever nuclear test.

"It does sound like U.S. patience is running out," Ruggiero said. "I'm not sure how much time they're going to give China to implement a resolution like this."

'They will eat grass'

Even if China and Russia do fully enforce the latest sanctions, there's still considerable doubt about whether the stranglehold will force Kim to rethink the development of North Korea's nuclear weapons.

Experts have repeatedly warned that Kim's regime will protect the weapons program above all else. Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to agree with that view.

"They will eat grass but they will not turn away from the path that will provide for their security," he said of North Koreans last week.

The reduction in oil sales to North Korea isn't expected to change Kim's calculus.

The measure is unlikely to have a significant impact on the North Korean military or nuclear weapons program, according to a report Tuesday by the Nautilus Institute, a think tank that specializes in energy issues.

"Primarily these sanctions will affect the civilian population whose oil product uses are of lower priority to the [North Korean] state," the report said.

 

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