North Korean forces added significantly to liberating Russia’s Kursk region from Ukrainian units, Alexey Leonkov, a veteran Russian military analyst, tells Sputnik.
North Korea’s ground and special force troops acted in coordination with Russian command, tackling both Ukrainian militants and highly skilled foreign mercenaries who fought on Ukraine’s side.
Fighting in the Kursk region, North Korean soldiers received invaluable combat experience, which will contribute to the North Korean army’s defense capability.
North Korean forces were deployed to the Kursk region in line with the Russia-North Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, which is seen by the North Korean side as a military alliance.
The document stipulates that if there are attempts by foreign countries to act against North Korea, Russia will help it with all its military might, including nuclear weapons.
The treaty will restrict the US’ push to expand its clout in the Asia-Pacific.
North Korean soldiers added to another defeat of the proxy army of Ukraine that the West uses to fight against Russia.
It also means a defeat for the West itself, which failed to achieve anything in the Kursk region except the destruction of Ukraine’s the most combat-ready units.
April 28, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Militarism | Korea, NATO, Russia, Ukraine |
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South Korea’s top court has officially removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office following his surprise declaration of martial law which triggered a political crisis in the country.
The decision by Constitutional Court on Friday came after parliament voted to impeach him in December, ending his presidency which started in 2022.
Yoon, a former star prosecutor, had leaped from political novice to president in less than a year after he entered politics. Four months ago, however, he plunged South Korea into political turmoil by declaring a controversial martial law in the country.
The eight-member Constitutional Court announced on live television that it upheld Yoon’s impeachment because his martial law decree was a serious violation of South Korean laws.
The court explained that there was no serious national threat at the time Yoon declared martial law.
“The defendant not only declared martial law, but also violated the constitution and laws by mobilizing military and police forces to obstruct the exercise of legislative authority,” the court’s acting chief Moon Hyung Bae said.
Moon pointed out that Yoon’s declaration of martial law decree was a serious violation of the country’s laws and “cannot be justified.”
“Given the grave negative impact on constitutional order and the significant ripple effects of the defendant’s violations, we find that the benefits of upholding the constitution by removing the defendant from office far outweigh the national losses from the removal of a president,” Moon added.
The court concluded that Yoon, as head of the armed forces, not only violated the formal process of declaring martial law, but also committed a “grave betrayal of the people’s trust.”
It noted that since there was no justification for Yoon’s behavior, he must be removed from power.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling takes effect immediately and sets the stage for a new presidential election in South Korea.
Meantime, South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck Soo was reinstated by the Constitutional Court as acting president.
Political observers cite the swift rise and fall of Yoon, who was once touted as a key US ally who forged close ties to former US President Joe Biden, as an anomaly.
Yoon’s removal had been a hugely divisive issue in South Korea, with mass rallies held by those in favor and those against his removal.
Anti-Yoon demonstrators gathered outside the court to celebrate the announcement, waving flags and dancing to music.
His supporters who had gathered outside the president’s official residence in the South Korean capital Seoul demonstrated deep sadness.
To maintain law and order in Seoul, South Korean law enforcement agencies have ramped up security and police issued warnings to the protesters against any sort of violence.
According to reports, there had been an increase in police presence, and barriers and checkpoints had been set up in the capital.
April 4, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties | Korea |
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By Drago Bosnic | February 28, 2025
The EU/NATO’s desperation to keep pushing with its crawling aggression against Russia is slowly turning into the rather pathetic “begmanding” we usually see from the Neo-Nazi junta and its frontman Volodymyr Zelensky. This gives even more credence to the hypothesis that NATO-occupied Europe is taking on the role of “the next Ukraine”.
If we don’t count the Baltic Chihuahuas, it seems that Europeans who are the furthest away from Russia are the most belligerent, namely the United Kingdom and France. On the other hand, even Poland is reluctant to get involved as its most experienced military leaders are aware that the Kremlin wouldn’t fight NATO with one hand tied behind its back as it does in Ukraine. Western Europe also understands this, but it still wants escalation. To accomplish this, it needs the US, which is in the middle of a major shift under Trump.
America is currently negotiating with Russia and it seems both sides are largely content with how things are progressing. It can be argued that Moscow is cautiously optimistic, but that’s hardly surprising given the fact that the previous administration was effectively waging a war against it. On February 27, Russian and American delegations concluded their six-hour meeting in Istanbul. This is the second round of peace talks after the previous one in Riyadh.
Expectedly, this meeting also excluded the participation of the EU/NATO and the Kiev regime. The talks included much more than Ukraine and have been focused on fully restoring diplomatic ties between the US and Russia. On the same day, President Vladimir Putin praised this as a positive development in a meeting with the representatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
“We all see how rapidly the world is changing, the situation in the world. In this regard, I would like to note that the first contacts with the new US administration inspire certain hopes,” he said, adding: “There is a mutual dedication to work towards restoring interstate relations and gradually resolving the enormous volume of accumulated systemic and strategic problems in the global architecture.”
Putin stressed that these issues provoked both the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict and other crises around the world. Other top-ranking Russian officials also demonstrated cautious optimism, but reiterated that the Kremlin will achieve all state goals and that this is non-negotiable. However, presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow doesn’t see any immediate breakthroughs in the ongoing talks.
“No one expects easy or quick solutions – the problem is too complex and has been neglected for too long. However, if both countries maintain their political will and willingness to listen to each other, I believe we will be able to navigate this working process,” he said, adding: “There is no need to jump ahead. Information on the outcome of the negotiations will be provided in due course.”
And indeed, Russia is in no hurry and it seems Trump isn’t either. However, the EU/NATO is, as they’re terrified of what’s effectively bound to be a strategic defeat. This is why we saw both Emmanuel Macron and Kier Starmer in Washington DC, desperately trying to persuade Trump to “take action”. France even expressed interest in the rare-earth minerals deal. Some are arguing that Macron’s visit was “awkward” and a “waste of time”, but it seems he persuaded Trump not to cancel Zelensky’s visit to the US.
The same can be said for Starmer whose meeting with Trump also seemed “mildly unpleasant”, but still resulted in the latter toning down his usually unrestrained rhetoric on the Neo-Nazi junta’s frontman. Trump is certainly aware that the EU/NATO need him, as evidenced by his comments on the UK’s ability to “take on Russia by itself”, resulting in a sour smirk on Starmer’s face.
However, while Trump’s exchange with both Macron and Starmer was unpleasant, he still seems rather ambivalent. At one moment, he’s calling for “the killing to stop”, but praising “American weapons and good Ukrainian soldiers” in another, stressing that his decision to supply the “Javelin” ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) was supposedly “instrumental”. It should be noted this is another myth that even the endemically and pathologically Russophobic UK recently admitted, pointing out that these weapons are so useless that the Kiev regime troops are abandoning them en masse, resulting in the Russian military now possessing more “Javelins” than the British Army itself. Trump’s ambivalence could certainly be attributed to an attempt of strengthening his negotiating position, but his unpredictability makes it difficult to rely on much of what he says.
This was quite evident during his first presidency, when it often seemed like he’s pushing back against the war party in Washington DC. However, he’d then change the tune and do exactly what they expected from him, as evidenced by the direct attack on the formerly sovereign Syria in 2018. It should also be noted that precisely France and the UK convinced him to do so and also participated in this illegal aggression against Damascus.
This was coordinated with the mainstream propaganda machine that launched yet another campaign of blatant lies about the Syrian government’s supposed “use of chemical weapons”. Interestingly, the same media are now recycling the long-debunked fakes about the supposed participation of North Korean troops in the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, spreading lies about “European security in jeopardy due to Kim Jong Un”.
Just like the last time, the mainstream propaganda machine is quoting “South Korean intelligence” that allegedly said that “at least 1,000 more North Korean troops have been sent – with some regional media reports saying 3,000 – though the exact number is unknown”. These reports insist that “South Korean intelligence also said other North Korean troops have been re-deployed to frontlines in the western Kursk region after initial reports they had withdrawn from frontline areas in January”.
It should be noted that the Pentagon itself debunked these claims back in December last year. And yet, here we are again. The timing is quite convenient, as the US previously (ab)used these reports as an excuse to “draw red lines regarding North Korean presence in Ukraine”. It remains to be seen whether Donald Trump will use this to escalate or continue along the path of actual peace negotiations.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.
February 28, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | Korea |
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The transition from the Biden to the Trump government was marked by an interesting discussion as to how the outgoing and coming administrations view North Korea’s nuclear potential.
Republicans: DPRK is a nuclear state and de-nuclearisation is unlikely
On January 14, US Secretary of Defence nominee Pete Hegseth called North Korea a “nuclear power” that poses a threat to global stability. He noted Pyongyang’s success in increasing its nuclear potential, bringing down the size of nuclear warheads and improving mobile launch platforms, which is of particular concern given North Korea’s proximity to the territories where US military contingents are located.
Also, Donald Trump intends to appoint Elbridge Colby, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Strategy and Force Development in his first term, to the post of Under Secretary of Defence for Policy. This is a man who believes that the de-nuclearisation of the DPRK is an ‘unlikely’ goal. In addition, Colby believes that US troops on the Korean peninsula should focus more on threats from China and that “North Korea is not the primary threat to the United States”. “It is irrational to sacrifice several American cities to fight the DPRK” and Washington should allow South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons or at least to seriously consider such a possibility.
Democrats: DPRK is not a nuclear state, de-nuclearisation remains the goal
On the same day, January 14, the outgoing US president’s national security adviser, John Kirby, noted that the White House’s policy on this issue had not changed. The current US administration, led by Joe Biden, does not agree with Pete Hegseth’s statement.
On January 7, former US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Philip Goldberg, stated that, despite the issues associated with the development of Pyongyang’s nuclear and weapons capabilities, the de-nuclearisation of North Korea should remain a goal that must continue to be fought for.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry made similar statements: “North Korea’s de-nuclearisation has been a principle consistently upheld by South Korea, the United States and the international community” … Under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons), North Korea can never be recognised as a nuclear-armed state”.
The conservative media in South Korea also began to sound the alarm; such terminology ‘not only changes the international community’s understanding of North Korea’s nuclear status, but also undermines the long-standing efforts of South Korea and the United States to achieve the de-nuclearisation of the North’. “Recognising North Korea as a nuclear power is fundamentally different from recognising its technical nuclear capabilities”. Their writing show concerns that by shifting the conversation from de-nuclearisation to arms control, Washington and Pyongyang may eventually agree to freeze the nuclear programme, from which the US-ROK alliance would take a blow and which could also trigger a nuclear domino effect. “If North Korea is recognised as a nuclear power, countries like South Korea, Japan and even Taiwan may reconsider their non-nuclear positions”.
Marco Rubio’s views
A while later, on January 16, in response to statements that the US’ policy towards North Korea, including sanctions, is ‘ineffective’ and Pyongyang is only doubling down on its nuclear and missile programmes, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio has already noted that Washington should take a serious look at policy on North Korea to study how to reduce the risk of an ‘unintended’ war between the two Koreas and prevent a crisis on the Korean peninsula without encouraging countries to build their own nuclear weapons.
Note that the new Secretary of State does not make the North out to be a ‘threat to humanity’ and sets more practical tasks, avoiding what the author calls ‘conflict for irrational reasons’ and the likely fall of the nuclear non-proliferation regime due to the emergence of new nuclear actors (we shall not name them specifically, but all is clear to everyone).
Rubio admitted that he was initially sceptical about engaging with Pyongyang, but during his first term as president, Trump “stopped missile tests. This did not stop the development of the programme, but at least it calmed the situation down a bit”.
Rubio did not directly mention de-nuclearisation, but noted that Kim Jong Un “used nuclear weapons as an insurance policy to stay in power” and “no sanctions prevented him from developing this potential”.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry’s response to Rubio’s remark on January 16, 2025, was similar to the answer to Hegseth: the de-nuclearisation of North Korea is a “unanimous goal” shared by the international community. We have heard Rubio, but “the new Trump administration has yet to outline its policy towards Pyongyang” and South Korea “intends to maintain close contacts with the United States in the process of reviewing its policies to ensure a coordinated response to North Korea’s nuclear and other challenges”.
In summary…
Previously, US officials refused to publicly recognise North Korea as a nuclear power, even though Pyongyang has called itself a nuclear power in its constitution, adopted a nuclear doctrine and showed no willingness to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons. In their opinion, the use of this term can be interpreted as the recognition of the DPRK’s nuclear status and thus negatively affect US efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Biden administration tried to look the other way and not acknowledge the reality, perceiving the North Korean regime as a country that does not yet have real nuclear potential and, importantly, may even be subject to de-nuclearisation. Although, it was clear by the end of the 2010s that such a process was possible only after a regime change.
The Trump administration is more realistic in this regard. Perhaps the fact of the matter is that there are quite a lot of military personnel who have worked in the field and are well aware of what real North Korean nuclear missile power is.
The question, however, is how US policy will be adjusted in relation to the idea of a nuclear North. Say Trump decides to recognise North Korea’s nuclear status; what practical steps will follow and how it will affect changes in sanctions? On the one hand, it becomes clear that de-nuclearisation, which was the main formal goal of the negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at the previous stage, no longer makes sense. At best, it makes sense to talk about arms control and here there are some theoretical prospects. On the other hand, for American public opinion, North Korea remains an ‘evil state’ to which concessions are unacceptable. This means that Donald Trump will have to think very carefully to come up with a proposal that Pyongyang will actually be ready to discuss. Moreover, if such a proposal is formulated, the American deep state and public opinion will be strongly opposed to such concessions and it is unclear whether Donald Trump will be able to put his ideas into practice.
Nevertheless, it is still pleasant that the new US administration is beginning to recognise reality vis-à-vis Korea.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, Leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies, Institute of China and Modern Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences
February 4, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Militarism | Japan, Korea, United States |
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South Korean prosecutors have formally indicted President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of leading an insurrection during his brief imposition of martial law last month, local media reported on Sunday. Yoon, who was impeached on December 14, faces accusations of abusing power and undermining democratic institutions.
Yoon declared emergency martial law on December 3, claiming the opposition was plotting a “rebellion” and accusing it of sympathizing with North Korea. The controversial measure was overturned within days, leading to his impeachment by the National Assembly. Yoon’s arrest on January 15 sparked violent protests by his supporters, who stormed the Seoul Western District Court.
“After comprehensively reviewing the evidence from the accomplice cases investigated so far… and the evidence from cases referred to the police and investigated, we determined that it was appropriate (valid) to indict [Yoon],” the prosecution said in a statement, as cited by Yonhap news agency.
The prosecutors indicted Yoon without further investigation, citing sufficient evidence already collected and concerns that he could destroy evidence of his alleged crimes unless formally charged. Prosecutors have alleged that his martial law decree was part of a broader plan to seize control of state functions.
Insurrection is among the few charges for which a South Korean president does not have immunity. If convicted, Yoon could face life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Yoon’s legal team has dismissed the charges against him as politically motivated, describing the martial law declaration as a necessary measure to counter legislative gridlock and opposition-led impeachments of his cabinet members. Yoon, who remains in custody, previously vowed to “fight alongside” his supporters “to the very end to protect this nation.”
The country’s Constitutional Court is currently deliberating whether to permanently remove Yoon from office. A decision must be made within 180 days. Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended following his impeachment, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.
Yoon is the first sitting South Korean president to face criminal charges while in office.
January 26, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Deception, False Flag Terrorism | Korea |
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SEOUL – South Korea’s prosecutor’s office on Saturday requested another extension of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s detention after a Seoul court rejected their previous request, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
On Friday, the court dismissed the prosecutors’ request to extend Yoon’s detention until February 6. The court said that the prosecution, which received a request from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) to initiate a criminal case against the president, lacked sufficient grounds to continue the investigation. In response, the president’s lawyers said that the court should disregard the CIO’s findings and reopen the investigation.
A new request to extend Yoon’s detention was filed at the Seoul Central District Court four hours after the court’s rejection, Yonhap said.
“In light of past cases in which prosecutors conducted supplementary investigations, including raids, over CIO-transferred cases, and regulations of the Criminal Procedure Act, prosecutors’ right to a supplementary probe is naturally recognized … Thus, there is a need for an extension of the detention period,” the prosecution was quoted by Yonhap as saying.
Yoon’s current detention ends on January 28, which coincides with the Lunar New Year, a public holiday in South Korea. To avoid delays, the prosecution plans to expedite the transfer of the case to court, where a suspect can be held for up to six months. As a result, Yoon’s interrogation may take place at the detention center over the weekend, as moving him to the prosecution’s building poses security challenges.
Given the seriousness of the charges against Yoon, he will be required to answer questions in person, as submitting written responses is not an option. It remains uncertain if he will cooperate, as he has previously refused to answer questions.
On December 3, 2024, Yoon declared martial law, claiming that the opposition was sympathizing with North Korea and plotting a “rebellion.” The parliament quickly voted to lift his declaration just hours later, which Yoon complied with, subsequently apologizing to the nation. On December 14, the South Korean parliament impeached Yoon over his controversial martial law declaration.
January 25, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties | Korea |
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SEOUL – Supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is accused of attempting to violently seize power, caused mayhem in the court that decided to detain the president, the Yonhap news agency reported.
After Yoon was put in custody early in the morning of January 19 (around 18:00 GMT Saturday) on charges of leading a rebellion, his supporters entered the Seoul Western District Court and caused mayhem there, the agency said.
According to the agency, the angry crowd overcame police resistance and broke into the courthouse through the gate behind the building, and some of the president’s supporters climbed over the fence. They began to break windows and managed to get inside the building, where they also smashed glass and furniture with fire extinguishers and other improvised means, shouting “President Yoon Suk-yeol.”
Some also tried to find the judges who ordered his detention, threw plastic chairs at police officers, took away their shields and rubber batons and used them against the police officers themselves. Other supporters of Yoon Seok-yeol tried to calm their comrades, convincing them that this was “not what the president wanted.”
Law enforcement reinforcements that soon arrived began detaining rioters, calling on those remaining in the building to immediately leave it, and everyone in front of the court to disperse, stop the unauthorized rally and other illegal actions.
Earlier on Saturday, the court granted the request of the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) to detain the country’s president Yoon, suspected of attempting to violently seize power. The court supported the investigators’ opinion that if released, the president might try to destroy evidence pointing to his guilt.
The maximum period of detention requested by the investigators is 20 days, including the two days that Yoon has already spent in a pretrial detention center after his arrest on December 15 for repeatedly ignoring requests to appear for questioning. However, the CIO plans to soon hand over the results of the investigation to the prosecutor’s office, which will forward the president’s case to the court in early February. The court has the right to order the suspect’s detention for two months, with a subsequent extension of up to six months on each count. In this regard, it is expected that the court of first instance will make a decision on the rebellion charges as early as August.
January 19, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Aletho News | Korea |
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By Drago Bosnic – January 10, 2025
The end of last year saw some pretty incredible breakthroughs in military technologies, the most impressive among which is the first “Oreshnik” strike, demonstrating Russia’s growing dominance in hypersonic weapons. Apart from the “Oreshnik”, Moscow also started the large-scale deployment of its unrivaled S-500 SAM/ABM (surface-to-air missile/anti-ballistic missile) systems that can track and down all sorts of targets (including hypersonic). Multiple sources are also reporting that the Eurasian giant is speeding up its “sixth generation” program, with both the Sukhoi and MiG developing their own designs. In the meantime, existing and proven Russian fighter jets, such as the Su-30 (multirole), Su-34 (strike fighter), Su-35S (air superiority) and Su-57S (next-generation multirole) are not only conducting regular missions, but in the case of the Su-35 are also helping countries like Iran maintain security amid constant US/NATO threats.
Then we have China, which presented not one, but two working “sixth-generation” jet prototypes, named Chengdu J-36 and Shenyang J-50 by the media, respectively. The two aircraft show what can only be described as a quantum leap for Beijing, which is now ahead of Washington DC in jet technologies, an unimaginable prospect until just a few years ago. In fact, this was such a shock for the US-led political West that the mainstream propaganda machine is now openly engaging in a rather pathetic denial, claiming that the Pentagon supposedly “flew its own prototype years ago”, something for which there’s zero evidence. However, this development sent Lockheed Martin’s stocks crashing as concerns for the troubled F-35’s future in the USAF started emerging. However, to make matters worse for Washington DC, there are also reliable reports that China also flew the H-20, its first stealthy strategic bomber.
In addition to this aircraft, which the Pentagon expects to enter service in the next five years, Beijing also inducted a number of other weapon systems, including the KJ-3000 AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) aircraft and Type 076 carrier (named “Sichuan”). What’s more, China is also helping several other countries to strengthen their armed forces in the wake of the US-led aggression against the world. This includes Algeria, which got a license to locally produce the Chinese Type 056 corvettes, as well as Serbia, whose HQ-22 SAM systems acquired from Beijing just became fully operational. Thus, just like in the case of Russian Su-35 fighter jets for Iran, these Chinese systems will help others maintain security and sovereignty, which is greatly contributing to global peace by deterring war criminal organizations such as NATO, by far the world’s most aggressive racketeering cartel.
To that end, North Korea is also updating its already impressive arsenal, including the “Hwasong-16B” IRBM (intermediate-range ballistic missile) armed with an HGV (hypersonic glide vehicle). The weapon was test launched on January 6, demonstrating that Pyongyang is still ahead of the US in hypersonic technologies. Just like in the case of Chinese next-generation jets, the mainstream propaganda machine is also engaging its coping mechanisms with ludicrous claims that the Pentagon will “soon outpace” Russia and China in hypersonics, a laughable (and extremely unlikely) prospect given just how far behind the US is. In the meantime, North Korean Russian-derived ATGM (anti-tank guided missile) systems, specifically the “Bulsae-4”, are obliterating Western weapons in NATO-occupied Ukraine, which is yet another embarrassment and humiliation for the political West which regularly mocks Pyongyang.
India is also upgrading its armed forces with Russian missile technologies, specifically the “BrahMos” supersonic cruise missile which is set to be updated and deployed on a ground-based launcher. The weapon is based on the Russian P-800 “Onyx” supersonic cruise missile, one of the deadliest in its class, as proven by its superb performance during the special military operation (SMO). Inspired by Chinese advances, Delhi is also expected to invest heavily in next-generation aircraft, likely in cooperation with Moscow, while supporting and helping its domestic military industry. This also includes hypersonic technologies, based on both Russian and homegrown designs.
All these developments stand in stark contrast to America’s growing technological ineptitude. It turns out that its much-touted ABM systems aren’t exactly working as marketed.
Namely, military sources report that the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system deployed in Israel failed to intercept Houthi missiles fired from Yemen. In addition, the Pentagon is reconsidering the future of its V-22 “Osprey” tiltrotor aircraft amid numerous crashes and operational faults. However, such failures don’t seem to deter the US and its vassals and satellite states from engaging in threats of more aggression against the world. There are numerous reports that Washington DC is preparing to attack Iran, with both the outgoing Biden and upcoming Trump administrations poised to do so regardless of their supposed differences in foreign policy approach. What’s more, there’s talk of the US annexing not just Canada, but also Greenland and even attacking Panama. What started out as a “joke” turned out to be anything but, once again confirming America’s aggressive nature.
Such developments demonstrate that expecting groundbreaking changes in American foreign policy is overoptimistic, to put it mildly. The outgoing Biden administration is making sure that some of the worst people on the planet, including unrepentant war criminals such as Hilary Clinton and Victoria Nuland still have major influence in US politics even after Trump takes office.
Namely, Clinton was recently awarded the so-called “Presidential Medal of Freedom”, along with the no less infamous George Soros. Individuals like Clinton, Nuland, Soros, etc. are extremely dangerous for sovereigntist nations and the multipolar world as a whole. Their activities, much akin to political (and, in many cases, literal) terrorism, aim to destabilize non-compliant countries that want to break free from the political West’s extremely malignant influence. All this makes the development of adequate defenses all the more important.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.
January 10, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Militarism | China, Iran, Korea, NATO, Russia, United States |
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South Korean investigators renewed their call for the acting president to enforce an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday following a tense standoff at Yoon’s compound.
On Friday, Yoon’s presidential security service, supported by soldiers, obstructed prosecutors from executing the warrant during a six-hour confrontation. The warrant was issued in connection with Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law on December 3, which marked the first time in South Korean history that an arrest warrant was issued for a sitting president.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading the investigation, announced on Saturday that it had again urged Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who also serves as finance minister, to instruct the presidential security service to comply with the warrant.
When asked for a response, a finance ministry spokesperson declined to comment.
Additionally, the police have summoned Park Chong-jun, the chief of the presidential security service, for questioning on Tuesday, according to Yonhap news agency.
Warrant to shortly expire
A CIO official told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday that the current arrest warrant for Yoon is valid until January 6, adding that Yoon could be held at a police station or the Seoul detention center.
“The reason for the warrant is that there is a concern that the individual may refuse to comply with summons without justifiable reasons, and there is sufficient probable cause to suspect the commission of a crime,” the official explained.
January 4, 2025
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties | Korea |
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SEOUL – Two high-ranking South Korean military officials have been indicted over their role in the president’s failed attempt to impose martial law, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo is suspected of sending troops to the National Assembly on December 3 and ordering the arrest of 14 people, including opposition party leaders, while Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung is accused of ordering troops to the parliament and telling the police commissioner to dispatch officers to detain lawmakers.
The officers face accusations of inciting insurrection to overturn constitutional order, the prosecutors reportedly said.
The parliament voted 191-71 on Tuesday to launch a special committee investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration to assess the legality of a cabinet meeting that was held shortly before the martial law was imposed, as well as the role of the military and police. The probe is expected to end by February 13, 2025.
On December 3, President Yoon declared martial law, claiming that the opposition was sympathizing with North Korea and plotting a “rebellion.” The parliament defied the presidential declaration and voted to lift martial law hours later. Yoon obeyed and apologized to the nation. On December 14, the South Korean parliament voted to impeach Yoon over his controversial declaration of martial law.
The Constitutional Court will make a final decision on the matter by June 11, 2025. Yoon will be suspended from office pending the ruling and will not be able to leave the country, while an interim president will be in charge until the final verdict is passed.
December 31, 2024
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties | Korea |
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South Korea’s Parliament has voted to impeach acting head of state Han Duck-soo over his refusal to appoint justices to the Constitutional Court, local media reported on Friday. The appointments are necessary to finalize the impeachment of Han’s predecessor, President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was stripped of his powers earlier this month.
The motion to impeach Han, filed by the opposition Democratic Party, was passed with 192 votes in favor in the 300-member parliament, called the National Assembly, speaker Woo Won-shik announced in a televised statement.
The National Assembly initially voted to impeach Yoon on December 14 over his brief imposition of martial law in the country. On December 3, he had declared emergency martial law on the grounds that the opposition – which he accused of being sympathetic towards North Korea – had allegedly been preparing a “rebellion.”
The impeachment decision by the National Assembly meant that Yoon was automatically suspended from office. However, in order to complete the procedure, it must be upheld by the Constitutional Court. The nine-member bench is currently short of three judges, and, while it can technically vote with only six members, a single dissenting vote would reinstate Yoon to office under South Korean law.
As interim head of state, Han was expected to appoint the justices to fill the vacancies following requests from the opposition party, which is against Yoon’s reinstatement. On Thursday, the National Assembly passed the appointment consent bill for three candidates, two of which were nominated by the opposition and one by the ruling conservative People Power Party. However, at an emergency press-conference immediately after, Han said he could not appoint the justices right away as the PPP did not support the nominees, and the appointment could harm the constitutional order.
“The consistent principle embedded in our Constitution and laws is to refrain from exercising significant exclusive presidential powers, including the appointment of constitutional institutions,” he argued in his address, adding that “a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties in the National Assembly, representing the people, must first be reached.” In response to this, the opposition proposed impeaching Han as well.
“It has become clear that Prime Minister and acting President Han Duck-soo has neither the qualifications nor the will to protect the Constitution,” Park Chan-dae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader, said in a statement announcing the motion.
Friday’s vote marked the first time in South Korea’s modern history that an impeachment motion has been filed against an acting president. The country’s finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, is now expected to take over as acting president.
December 27, 2024
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties, Deception | Korea |
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It’s been a bad few months for democracy. Election results offensive to the European Union were annulled in Romania; an attempted coup occurred in Georgia over elections that didn’t go the way the west wanted; the French government, widely hated, teetered over the abyss as president Emmanual Macron tried to ignore the last election; on December 16, Washington’s pet German government fell; lots of funny-business happened in the Moldovan referendum and election, amid widespread disenfranchisement of Moldovan voters living in Russia; elections were long ago cancelled in dictatorial Ukraine; and South Korea hosted an attempted coup. In short, western democracies’ storied enchantment with elections is over. As western populations grow sick and tired of their political class and vote against it, what are elites to do? Annul, cancel, overturn and ignore the elections, that’s what. The problem, for the west, is the voters.
What will happen if far-right Alternative for Deutschland sweeps the early German elections in February, or if far-left France Insoumise does the same in France? Will the U.S. through its NATO and EU tentacles annul those votes? Don’t think it won’t try. And Washington doesn’t even have to give the order, because its European puppets know exactly what’s expected of them. Granted, the Romanian front-runner, so feared by NATO, Calin Georgescu, was far right. But so what? Besides, I doubt that’s what led to the constitutional court vacating the vote. More likely it was his opposition to the Ukraine War – hence the court citing “foreign influence” (translation: Russian) via TikTok as its flimsy basis for negating the election. Incidentally, reports are coming in that the heat and internet to Georgescu’s house have been cut off, and, surprise! he can’t get anyone on the phone to help with this.
But you can’t blame European honchos for ditching elections. They’re just following Washington’s lead. After all, the post-2016 phony Russiagate hysteria may not have succeeded in ousting Trump, as was intended, but it did provide the template for American vassals. The four years of lawfare against Trump (and then another four after he left office) blazed the trail for Europe, so that now, if a candidate not favored by political bigwigs wins, all they have to do is scream “Russian influence!” to dump the election. In other words, democracy is dying in the west. It’s kicking the bucket in Europe – and if Trump ends the Ukraine War (provided Biden doesn’t utterly sabotage his peace efforts before he takes office) or gets us out of the NATO sinkhole, you can bet your paycheck the 2028 establishment campaign will dust off the 2016 playbook and get right to work.
In western media, Georgescu has been portrayed as an unknown. This is false. He is well-known in Romania and had a diplomatic career. But he is also a religious nationalist, and that’s verboten in the EU; worse yet, the U.S., aka NATO, built its biggest military airbase in Europe – where? You got it, Romania. So Washington can’t have just anybody running that country. It must be someone who will keep everything copacetic with the U.S. A nationalist opposed to Washington’s pet proxy war in Ukraine is not that someone.
As for Georgia, there the electorate proved itself most unreliable to the Exceptional Empire. It voted in a government that actually dares to require foreign NGOs to register as such – you know, the way we do, here in the United States. But here, those NGOs don’t aim to overthrow the government, like they do in Georgia, in order for Tbilisi to open a second front against Moscow. Indeed, the vast majority of rioters against the Georgian government, who were arrested, were – I’m shocked! Shocked! – foreign, i.e. European. The icing on the cake is that the French president of Georgia refused to leave office when her term expired – a president with French and Georgian passports, who boasts Nazis in her family tree.
The EU finagled things more successfully in Moldova. That nation’s October 20 referendum on joining the EU won – kinda. In country, the Moldovan government only snagged 50 percent of the vote, but Moldovan expats in Europe gave it a boost, while the 400,000 Moldovans living in Russia found, to their dismay, only two polling stations open for them, by their government, in Moscow. That meant as few as 10,000 of them got to vote. And as East European expert and political scientist Ivan Katchanovski tweeted October 21, many pro-Russian citizens in Transdniestria could not vote. So all in all, the Moldovan referendum was a sorry excuse for a democratic exercise. Then there was also Moldova’s presidential election, equally compromised. But hey, Washington’s EU vassal got to lure a country out of Russia’s orbit, and that’s all that counts, not mere democracy, right? After all, Washington doesn’t stand for democracy. It stands for and has long stood for something quite different – power. Just look at it backing a terrorist takeover of Syria, among them a ruler on whose head Washington has a $10,000,000 bounty. Let that sink in. One American hand posts a huge reward for a terrorist, while the other hand paves his way to power. The obvious conclusion (also obvious to any student of American-backed coups and regime changes abroad going back at least 70 years) is that U.S. doesn’t stand for anything besides power (certainly not anything as antiquated and nettlesome as international law). That’s the definition of a gangster state.
If you doubt that, just peek at South Korea, where the CIA’s man, president Yoon Suk Yeol, faced a grim electoral future. The voters were unlikely to support him in the next election, given that they mostly back the opposition. And that opposition, per Col. Douglas Macgregor, wants a Korean four-star general, not an American one, to head the roughly 500,000 Korean armed forces and also wants to boot the 30,000 U.S. troops off the peninsula. This, of course, goes over in Washington with all the joy of a root canal.
So what to do? Yoon took the bull by the horns December 3 with martial law. During the few hours when it looked like our man in Seoul had pulled off a coup, the Biden gang was coyly silent. But there is nothing enduring in this world, as Gogol noted, and even the most brazen attempts at subverting democracy occasionally fail. The opposition gathered and voted against Yoon. His defense minister was deposed, jailed and attempted suicide, and Yoon’s own tenure came now, ahem, under a cloud, to say the least, as insurrection charges loomed, and he was impeached and suspended from office.
And don’t forget France, where Macron, affronted by an EU parliament vote last summer that installed many anti-Ukraine War representatives, totally lost it and, quite idiotically and hubristically, called snap elections. He promptly lost those to the left, but then snubbed the voters by breaking with tradition and refusing to appoint a left-wing prime minister. Surprising no one, the center-rightist he chose received a vote of no confidence, and Macron’s government looked likely to fall. That was temporarily forestalled by the appointment, December 13, of a centrist prime minister. But if his government does ultimately crash, expect Macron to do something really stupid, like suspend the legislature, call a national emergency or, a la Yoon, declare martial law.
Lastly of course we have Ukraine, that shining example of democracy, where its president rules illegally, having cancelled elections, banned the opposition, throttled the press, exiled the church, jailed anyone he doesn’t like and press-ganged thousands of vehemently objecting Ukrainian men into the military. All this while ferociously lining his pockets with western, mainly American, funds. This is the tyranny upon which Biden bestows hundreds of billions of our hard-earned tax dollars. It’s not even supported by Ukrainians, most of whom, according to recent polls, want the war over. But Joe “War Is My Legacy” Biden, in his crazed enthusiasm for Ukrainian combat, just won’t stop. On December 11, Ukraine fired six ATACAMS into Russia. We can all thank God they did little damage, since the Russians shot two down and diverted four with electronic warfare. Had they inflicted real harm, we in the west might very well have had worse troubles than the death of democracy, namely death itself. Biden appears oblivious to this reality. For us, what’s at stake is life itself, and the whole, wondrous human and natural world. For him, it appears to be just another step on the path of endless war, another day, another dollar.
Eve Ottenberg is a novelist and journalist. Her latest novel is Booby Prize. She can be reached at her website.
December 21, 2024
Posted by aletho |
Civil Liberties | European Union, France, Georgia, Korea, Moldova, Romania, United States |
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