WHY am I NOT surprised?
Well, just a tad surprised it wasn't China. Some how they have something at stake here too. Both, Russia and China do not want sanctions on Iran. It's Iraq all over again ... any news on France?
So-called? Its good to see that not just our reporters are idiots.
Anyone who would offer North Korea assistance in developing and/or protecting nuclear weapons technology would give a hand grenade to a baby in the crib.
Didn't Russian President PUTA the other day say he and Russia are not enemies of the US?
Russians are just like Arabs, stab you in the back in a NYC minute.
When are we going to stop screwing around pretending that the Russians grew character as soon as the Berlin Wall came down?? We are still dealing with the same smarmy characters that we supposedly vanquished in the Cold War.
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar has been sending billions of dollars to Russia to dismantle old Soviet WMDs so they don't get into the hands of the terrorists. Hmm, maybe Lugar should pull his head out of his ass and look at what Russia is doing with Iran and North Korea, not to mention China.
The overall situation with North Korea is really quite simple . . .
China, Russia AND North Korea all want the U.S. influence in Asia to be reduced, and ultimately want the U.S. out of South Korea. North Korea wants the U.S. out more than anything else so that Kim and the North can eventually take control over South Korea.
China wants to take control over Taiwan, but is held back from doing so by U.S. military presence and power in the Region. The long-term play is to continue diminishing U.S. influence there... and eventually retake Taiwan before expanding elsewhere. Russia has increasingly become encircled by U.S. military and economic infuence to the west and south, and they will take advantage of any opportunity to push back to the east/southeast - even through North Korea and their nukes. Neither Russia nor China feel seriously threatened by Kim and co., but they are very threatened by the alpha male: the USA.
China and Russia are simply continuing to use North Korea as their proxy agent against the United States and, to a lesser extent, Japan ... This is no secret, our intellence community understands exactly what is going on, but our political leaders lack the courage to publicly acknowledge that reality and challenge the communists...
And the reason for this lack of courage? Easy: the same reason that our political leaders do not acknowledge the reality of the financial problems that await the country due to unfunded commitments for Social Security and Medicare.... Attempting to solve such problems will require the country to pay a price in the short-term that the bulk of the populace is not willing to pay. Attempting to take on China and Russia - who are just acting through their front-man Kim - would "cost" too much politically . . .
The real game of chess here is between the big boys - the U.S., China and Russia. North Korea is just the pawn in the game. Cold War II has been under way for years - we just haven't come to acknowledge and address it openly yet.
KGB Putin wants nuclear proliferation to terrorist rogue regimes in order to challenge the USA's "global hegemony."
IBTRWC ( and what a tough row to hoe)