Search Results for “orchard syria”

September 17, 2007

The Orchard File: What are North Korea and Syria up to?

In the wake of the first reports about a reported Israeli air strike in Syria, a new crop of reports has considerably muddied facts that initially had seemed much clearer. Journalistic politics is certainly a part of the problem. Some of the reports are alarming, while others seek to downplay, and anyone who claims to be objective about war, diplomacy, and WMD today is lying. You probably know where I stand on Agreed Framework 2.0 by now. If the more...

Axis of Evil/Proliferation/WMD

March 2, 2010

Did North Korea Ship Yellowcake to Syria?

Say it with me: thank God Chris Hill came along in time to keep us safe: Syria in 2007 received approximately 45 tons of raw uranium from North Korea for use in producing fuel for a secret nuclear reactor, informed military and diplomatic sources told Kyodo News on Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 26). An Israeli air assault destroyed the undeclared reactor not long after Syria received shipment of the material and the “yellowcake” uranium is thought to have been sent...

Axis of Evil/Proliferation/WMD

February 13, 2008

Six months later, deafening silence about North Korea and Syria

Last Sunday, a friend invited me to attend an event at Bethel Israel Synagogue in Alexandria. The subject was “The North Korea-Syria Connection,” although the event seems not to have caught the notice of many Korea watchers or journalists. I was invited by a friend who happens to attend the synagogue. The host was NPR’s Robert Siegel, and the guests were Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post and Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times. Kessler consistently toes the State...

Proliferation/Washington Views

November 27, 2007

Jane’s: Chemical Explosion in Syria Killed Iranians, N. Korean Engineers

When Israel bombed a mysterious site in Syria last September, the newspapers reported a dizzying number of theories about what was attacked and where. Before summarizing those theories in this post, I warned you that they weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, and here’s another piece of evidence to throw into the hopper. Jane’s Defense Weekly, a highly respected publication to be sure, claims that last July, the Syrians were loading chemical warheads onto their North Korean-made SCUD-C missiles for a test. ...

Proliferation

September 22, 2007

Sunday Times: Israelis Seized N. Korean ‘Nuclear Material’ in Syria

I wonder how Chris Hill is going to talk his way out of this one: Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem. The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say. They confirmed that samples taken from Syria...

Axis of Evil/Proliferation/Six-Party Talks

October 26, 2016

Only the end of Kim Jong-un will disarm North Korea

In Washington, one still sometimes hears from the diminishing ranks of North Korea “engagers” calls to give the noxious and incorrigible regime in Pyongyang “security guarantees” in exchange for whatever concession they want to buy from His Porcine Majesty this year – denuclearization in 1994, partial denuclearization in 2000, or a freeze today. The idea behind security guarantees, of course, is to incentivize Pyongyang to do what we want it to do, by offering it the stability we think it...

Regime Change

October 29, 2007

There Is Such a Thing as ‘Good’ Engagement

If you’re reading this, you’re bearing with me despite the light blogging of late. Thank you. I make a habit of not talking about my work here, but suffice to say that it carries significant responsibilities that sometimes leave no time and energy for other things. At times like these, when there is very little time left over, I owe that time to my family. Thank you again for your understanding, for continuing to stop by, and for your e-mails. ...

Deprogramming/Six-Party Talks

October 23, 2007

Links for 23 Oct 07

* John Bolton is now actively lobbying against Agreed Framework 2.0, drawing dozens of GOP congressmen to speeches he’s giving to influential policy groups (ht: Evan). His efforts appear to have gained new traction with the Syria revelations, and the Administration’s inordinate secrecy from Congress about those revelations probably isn’t doing any good for congressional relations (but may be fueling suspicions). Yes, Bolton probably suspects that his enemies in the State Department torpedoed his confirmation, and he probably holds a...

Anju Links

October 12, 2007

Links for 12 Oct 07

* Irrational Exhuberance, via the AFP’s P. Parameswaran: “A team of US experts left Tuesday for North Korea to disable the hardline communist state’s nuclear weapons arsenal in a crucial phase of a six-nation disarmament pact.” Mr. Parameswaran is a good enough fellow, but the first sentence of his report is absolutely false. Not only are U.S. experts not on their way to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, North Korea has yet to declare what, specifically, that arsenal consists...

Anju Links

October 7, 2007

Who Cares About Politicizing Intelligence Now?

Washington was plunged into sleepy apathy this week as ABC News reported that the Bush Administration ingored, then failed to act on intelligence about nuclear proliferation and potential terrorism that could have endangered millions of lives. The report claims that the Secretary of State and the President received credible reports that North Korea transferred nuclear technology to Syria, but suppressed the information to save a troubled diplomatic deal, and even sought to tip the Syrians off. The latest report follows...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

September 20, 2007

We must be smoking what they’re growing

North Korea was dropped from the U.S. list of countries producing illicit drugs, a sign of further relief of tensions between the two countries. “North Korea is not affecting the United States as much as the requirements on the list,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Christy McCampbell said on Sept. 17 in Washington, according to a transcript of her speech on the State Department Web site. [Bloomberg] And that decision is based on what? On absolutely nothing but the interests...

Appeasement/Axis of Evil/Drugs & N Korea/Six-Party Talks

Search Results for: orchard syria