ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Test launch of a Minuteman 3 intercontinental missile next week delayed until next month to avoid exacerbating crisis An unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile leaves a contrail through the sky in California. The test has been rescheduled for next month. Photograph: Greg Vojtko/AP The US has attempted to ease rising tensions with North Korea by postponing a missile test scheduled to take place in California next week, lest this be interpreted by Pyongyang as deliberately provocative. The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, decided to delay the long-planned test launch of a Minuteman 3 intercontinental missile from an airbase until next month over concerns it could exacerbate the crisis, officials briefed reporters anonymously. "This is the logical, prudent and responsible course of action to take," a senior defence official was quoted as saying by Reuters. The test had no connection to North Korea and could be rescheduled for next month, the official said, m

Former soldier tells trial that Otto Pérez Molina ordered soldiers to burn and pillage during 1980s war By Associated Press April 06, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - A former soldier has implicated the Guatemalan president, Otto Pérez Molina , in civil war atrocities during the trial of the former US-backed military strongman Efraín Ríos Montt, proceedings that have heard witnesses recount a litany of horrors. Hugo Reyes, a soldier who was a mechanic in an engineering brigade in the area where atrocities were carried out, told the court that Pérez Molina, then an army major, ordered soldiers to burn and pillage during Guatemala 's dirty war with leftist guerrillas in the 1980s. "The soldiers, on orders from Major 'Tito Arias', better known as Otto Pérez Molina … co-ordinated the burning and looting, in order to later execute people," Reyes told the court by video link. Pérez Molina, who retired as a general, was elected president for the

By Eric Margolis April 06, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - The intensifying war of words between North Korea, the United States and ally South Korea could ignite a major conflict. The likely trigger would be a small clash at sea, in the air, or along the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas. What would a war in Korea look like? First, nuclear conflict is unlikely. North Korea is not believed to have any long or medium-ranged nuclear weapons, certainly none that could hit North America. North Korea might be able to strike South Korea with a nuclear device. But then US nuclear weapons would wipe North Korea off the map. North Korea’s military strategy would be to launch a surprise attack on the south to occupy Seoul and Inchon. The vital US Air Force bases at Osan and Kunsan, and eight South Korean air bases, would be primary targets. North Korea’s elite 88,000 special forces units are tasked to attack and neutralize these air bases as well as headquarters, communica

By Dennis J. Bernstein April 06, 2013 " Information Clearing House " - In early March, the U.S. and South Korea launched an expanded set of war games on the Korean Peninsula, prompting concerns in some circles that the military exercises might touch off an escalation of tensions with North Korea. Christine Hong, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, worried that the U.S. “was lurching towards war” since “the military exercises that the U.S. and South Korea just launched are not defensive exercises” but rather appear to promote a “regime change” strategy. Those military pressures have, indeed, led to threats of escalation from North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, and have set the Korean security situation at “hair-trigger dangerous,” Professor Hong said in the following interview with Dennis J. Bernstein. DB: There’s a lot of disinformation and patriotic reporting coming out of the U.S. Why don’t you tell us what is going on right now. What is the sit

Today, North Korea urged a number of foreign embassies in Pyongyang to evacuate their staffs because the country would, according to the U.K.’s reading of the warning it received, “be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10.” In other words, North Korea is telling foreign diplomats, including that of nominally friendly Russia, “war might be coming, so you better skip town.” North Korea is known for issuing threats it doesn’t see through and warning about wars that never come. Still, this move, potentially a first for North Korea, came as a big surprise. But it wouldn’t have been so surprising if you’re a regular reader of the JoongAng Daily, a major South Korean broadsheet newspaper with a sizable readership and a reputation for leaning a touch to the right. Three weeks ago, JoongAng ran a story, citing a single, anonymous official with South Korean intelligence, predicting that this is exact

The U.S. Geological Service has detected a magnitude 6.2 seismic event just on the Russian side of the country’s border with North Korea. The closest North Korean town, Aoji Ri, is only 25 miles miles from the epicenter, which is also very close to China. The event occurred at exactly two seconds after midnight, local time. The event was almost certainly an earthquake, but it comes at an inauspicious moment: North Korea is severely ratcheting up its talk of nuclear war today, urging foreign embassies in Pyongyang to evacuate their staff. The move is ostensibly because war is imminent, although North Korea is known to often issue such alarms and provocations without actually following through. Still, seismic activity within North Korea is sometimes a sign of a nuclear weapons test. The epicenter is far enough from the border, and thankfully not within North Korea itself, that the world can safely conclude that this was not a nuclear event. The danger, though, is that the region is alre

By Peter Hart April 04, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -" FAIR " -  It's not easy to figure out what's going on with North Korea. We hear that new leader Kim Jong-Un is making threats to attack the United States, South Korea or both–and that's leading to some rather alarming, and alarmist, coverage. As ABC World News reporter Martha Raddatz put it (3/31/13): "The threats have been coming almost every day, and each day become more menacing, the threat of missile strikes on the U.S., invading armies into South Korea and nuclear attacks." The dominant narrative would have you believe that the United States was basically minding its own business when North Korea began lashing out. On CBS Evening News (3/29/13), Major Garrett explained: North Korean saber-rattling is common every spring when the United States and South Korea engage in military exercises. So there are "exercises" right next door, conducted by the world's

Pyongyang, April 3 (KCNA) -- The U.S. navy sent SBX-1 to waters around south Korea, south Korean KBS reported on April 2. It also sent latest destroyer capable of intercepting missiles in waters around south Korea. The U.S. imperialist warmongers took this step next day when they introduced F-22s into south Korea, blustering that these are aimed to closely monitor the movement of the DPRK and cope with missile launch. The U.S. is increasing the danger of war, ceaselessly introducing lots of nuclear war hardware into south Korea and in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula in a bid to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over Korea.