The War Beat - Korea, Iran & Israel

With one eye on Asia and the other on the Middle East

North Korea Warns of War as US, S Korean Drills Begin
By Kurt Achin
Seoul
09 March 2009

Several-hundred South Koreans remain stranded in North Korea after the North's decision to cut a military hotline and seal its border to the South. As the United States and South Korea begin annual joint military drills, Pyongyang is warning of war if there is an attempt to shoot down a rocket it is believed preparing for launch.

North Korea cut its final military hotline with South Korea, ending the usual communication system for arranging limited crossings of the tense inter-Korean border.
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North Korea says it cut communications in response to what it calls "war exercises" underway between the United States and South Korea.

An announcer on North Korean state-run television says the joint drills are like a declaration of war, and pose a serious threat to the country.

The United States deploys about 28,000 troops in South Korea to deter the North from invading South Korea, as it did in 1950. Top U.S. and South Korean officers say the annual exercises are routine and defensive in nature.

North Korea lashes out against the drills every year, but this year tension is heightened by North Korea's recent announcement it plans to launch a "satellite" in the near future. The United States and Japan view that as a cover for a long-range missile test. They have not ruled out the possibility of shooting the North's rocket down.

Pyongyang warns of dire consequences.


Iran tests air-to-surface missile
The 1,100-pound precision missile mounted on jet fighters has a 70-mile range.
By Borzou Daragahi
March 9, 2009
Reporting from Beirut -- Iran has test-fired a precision air-to-surface missile with a 70-mile range, a news agency reported Sunday, a capability that could threaten ships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's semiofficial Fars New Agency cited unnamed Iranian military experts saying the 1,100-pound missiles mounted on jet fighters include an "automatic guidance capability" and a "special warhead" for destroying large ships.


Israel believes Iran can build nuclear weapons
The Associated Press - ‎21 hours ago‎
JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran is now capable of producing atomic weapons, Israel's top military intelligence officer said Sunday, sounding the highest-level warning that Israel's arch-enemy has achieved independent nuclear capability.


Analysis: How much time is left?
Mar 9, 2009 0:02 | Updated Mar 9, 2009 15:43
By YAAKOV KATZ

Last Sunday, it was chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen who announced during an interview on CNN that Iran had enriched sufficient uranium to create a nuclear weapon.

This Sunday, it was OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin's turn to jolt the country when he told the cabinet that Iran had crossed the technological threshold, obtained the necessary uranium and mastered the technology needed to manufacture a nuclear device.

While Yadlin and Mullen appear to see eye-to-eye on the Iranian technological developments, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates voiced a different assessment last week, according to which Iran is not yet close to a nuclear weapon and there is still time to try and persuade Teheran to abandon the program.

The difference between Mullen and Gates is understood in the Israeli defense establishment to be political. Mullen, a military officer, provided an assessment based on intelligence; Gates, a politician, supports US President Barack Obama's desire to engage Iran in dialogue. That is why it's important for Gates to stress that there is still time for such a dialogue to be effective.

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North Korea and South Africa agreed to abandon their nuclear programs after they had already obtained nuclear weapons. The new Israeli government will have to decide if it can wait that long.



Seems North Korea has now started jumping on the bed. Iran is snickering in the corner, being naughty, and Israel is yelling, "What about us?"

It is only a matter of time before something happens with these hotbeds. And when it does, we will be somehow involved. Right now, our country is in not much better shape than it was prior to WWII. Somehow we survived and grew stronger. Do we have the capability, or rather, guts to do it again?

I am not feeling very confident about that right now. Somehow, someway, we will be blamed for anything that happens. The blame will not only come from outside our country, but within.

That is unacceptable! Will the weak-kneed, lilly-livered in our country (running our country), bring us down?

No, I am not a war-monger and never have been. But, I am fully aware that talk does not always work. It only works when BOTH parties are willing to negotiate.

In these cases, that is absolutely, unequivocally not true! Both North Korea and Iran have shown time and time again, that they are using the "talk time" as a stall tactic. While all of the parties are talking around them, they just keep on doing what they are doing.

Time to stop talking now.