South Korea-US: US Defense Secretary Gates said that the coming large scale joint exercises should send a signal to North Korea. He said the United States wanted to make “a gesture of solidarity with our Korean allies and [show] recognition that the issues of missile and nuclear proliferation in the North continue to be serious challenges for us and for our allies and we intend to take them seriously.”
He and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plan to visit the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea on Wednesday.”
Comment: The USS George Washington will participate in the portion of the exercise that is in the Sea of Japan. Some of the naval portions of the exercise apparently will take place in the Yellow Sea.
Nevertheless, the nature of the message North Korea is supposed to understand seems confusing and mixed. The message of overwhelming American military power will be understood. But effective reprisals are supposed to be swift, sure and tailored to match the infraction, according to the American Bar Association studies of criminal justice.
Phi Beta Iota: The balance of the NIGHTWATCH Extract is below the line. We part ways with the author on this one. There is nothing intelligent about US porturing or the waste of US taxpayer resources on the Koreas, which will inevitably unite as did the Germanys and the Viet-Nams. We are still suffering from the delusions and agonies of a fifty-year drinking binge. If Clinton and Gates were serious about anything other than furthering the ends of the military-industrial complex at the expense of the American taxpayer, they would have created the Whole of Government Strategy Center recommended by General Tony Zinni, USMC (Ret) and the Open Source Agency (under diplomatic auspices) recommended by Robert Steele and the RepublicanConnecticutt candidate for the US Senate, Rob Simmons.
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