Former US President Bill Clinton is on a surprise trip to North Korea. Team America would probably warn him not to listen to Kim Jong-Il when he says, "Step a Rittre to your reft Prease!"
His mission, which he chose to accept, was trying to free a couple journalists who have been detained by the said regime, one of the axis of evil.
Former president Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to North Korea on Tuesday to try to bring home two jailed US reporters, in what was the highest-profile visit by an American to Pyongyang for nearly a decade.
The hardline communist state sent two senior officials and a schoolgirl with a floral bouquet to greet him at the capital's Sunan airport.
Analysts said the reception may indicate Pyongyang is seeking better relations with its arch enemy Washington, after months of high tensions sparked by the North's nuclear and missile tests and subsequent UN sanctions.
A US official travelling separately with the former president's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, confirmed he would seek the release of the female reporters detained during an assignment along the China border in March.
"Our interest is the successful completion of this issue and to confirm the safe return of the two journalists," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting sources, said Clinton was expected to meet leader Kim Jong-Il later Tuesday and fly back on Wednesday with the journalists.
If this plan works, then they should send him to Tehran on the next leg to free those idiot American backpackers who wandered into Iran from Iraq and got captured.
UPDATE: And amazingly, Bill Clinton gets it done.
[caption id="attachment_2558" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Herro-o-o!"][/caption]
Bill Clinton brought some unusual strengths to a round of diplomacy that won the release of two US journalists on Tuesday: the cachet of a two-term presidency, a keen understanding of Asia, a history of North Korean outreach and smackdowns, and a gift for gab. Not to mention a wife who is secretary of state.
His drawbacks - that short fuse and oversized ego - were unlikely to be risks in this episode. In high-stakes diplomacy, some things are decided before anything is negotiated, and it was all but certain going in that Clinton would not be empty-handed coming out.
Old entanglements were in play. Clinton negotiated on behalf of journalists employed by Al Gore, his former vice president, in a media enterprise Gore started after losing a presidential election he might have won absent Clinton's impeachment scandal.
He negotiated for the benefit of President Barack Obama, the man who dashed his wife's White House hopes.
Clinton succeeded in the mission at hand: pardons for journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. Clinton's spokesman said on Wednesday the former president left North Korea with two American journalists who had been held hostage.
I don't know what to make of 'The Kim' in his sudden benevolence. What is that? You can never tell in this world. Optimism springs eternal.
I think they should send him to Tehran too.
"Who Let Them Into The Country?" They'll Ask
A terrorist plot has allegedly been foiled by the erstwhile AFP and state cops in NSW and Victoria.
El Sayed is charged with conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act, namely an armed attack on the Australian Army Base at Holsworthy, south-west of Sydney.
Earlier, the court heard that the suspected terrorists arrested today allegedly intended to become martyrs in an attack on the base.
The court heard police believed there was a conspiracy to use weapons to fire upon Australian military personnel.
Prosecutor Nick Robinson, SC, alleged the men intended to keep shooting until they were killed or arrested.
Mr Robinson agreed with the magistrate that their intention was to become martyrs.
The court heard only one man had been charged with terrorism-related offences while three other men remained in custody without charge.
Investigators are seeking a court order to extend their questioning of the men for eight hours.
One of the men, Saney Aweys, appeared in court handcuffed and flanked by two federal agents. He denied any connection with the men mentioned in court by Mr Robinson.
Aweys, who has not been charged and who was unrepresented, said he was a boilermaker and needed sleep after being awake for the past 30 hours.
He said the police had put him in a "small room [and] when I told them of my fatigue and tiredness they told me to have a nap with the lights on".
"I want it to stop now,’’ he said. "I want to have a rest.’’
Ah, the good ol terror laws. Glad to see them in action, doing some evil. I ask, "but is the torture really necessary?" I guess they'll get Dick Cheney on the line and ask his opinion.
Turnbull's Regrets Over Utegate
KRuddie and Wayne Swann have been cleared.
"The variability in Treasury's response did not reflect any instruction on the part of the Prime Minister or his office, the Treasurer or his office, or senior Treasury management that some representations were to receive more favourable treatment than others," the report, from the Australian National Audit Office, said.
Godwin Grech has 'fessed up to the fact that he made up the fake e-mail. Malcolm Turnbull is running in the other direction from Grech's psych ward as fast as he can, but he did express his deep regret today.
"It is very regrettable that in doing so Mr Grech misled the Opposition, the Parliament and the Australian people," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
"At all times the Opposition acted in good faith."
Mr Turnbull countered suggestions in The Australian that Mr Grech was pressured by the Opposition to provide details, saying the public servant approached Senate deputy leader Eric Abetz.
"Mr Grech proposed a detailed list of questions be put to him relating to OzCar, including questions concerning Mr Grant and representations made on his behalf."
Mr Turnbull has been under Government pressure to explain his role in the OzCar affair and his relationship with Mr Grech.
He faces accusations he met Mr Grech prior to the official giving evidence to a Senate inquiry linking Mr Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan to a request for special treatment be given to the car dealer seeking help under the $2 billion taxpayer-funded OzCar scheme.
The Auditor-General, in a report tabled today, has cleared both Mr Rudd and Mr Swan of making any inappropriate representations on behalf of the dealer.
Mr Turnbull rejected Mr Grech's suggestions he wanted to co-operate with the Coalition to stop it from blocking the Government's financing scheme for car dealerships.
"The suggestion that the Opposition was considering blocking the OzCar legislation is false," he said.
"The legislation had the full support of the Opposition and this was publicly known long before Mr Grech drew Mr Grant to the attention of the Opposition.''
So that would make Godwin Grech the patsy. He'll never eat lunch in Canberra again, so to speak.
I don't think all this reflects well on the Leader of the Opposition. I'm still inclined to think this thing with Godwin Grech and the fake e-mail is going to keep yapping at his heel, making him far less effective. in the long run, I suspect it's going to kill Turnbull's career in politics.
No comments:
Post a Comment