Nations that chart a self-defining
course, seeking to use their land, labor, natural resources, and
markets as they see fit, free from the smothering embrace of the US
corporate global order, frequently become a target of defamation. Their
leaders often have their moral sanity called into question by US officials
and US media, as has been the case at one time or another with Castro,
Noriega, Ortega, Qaddafi, Aristide, Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Hugo
Chavez, and others.
The North Korea nuclear crisis deepened today after the regime reportedly restarted its main nuclear reactor and threatened to attack South Korea if it joined US-led inspections of vessels suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.
In its most belligerent broadside yet in the standoff, North Korea warned that it would view as a declaration of war any participation by Seoul in the naval exercise, known as the Proliferation Security Initiative.
WASHINGTON - Sunday's underground nuclear test by North Korea drew strong condemnation here Monday from U.S. President Barack Obama who suggested that Washington will seek strong international sanctions by the U.N. Security Council and possibly impose tough unilateral measures of its own.
According to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, the blast slightly exceeded the force of Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006. Analysts here said the test was likely to pose an especially difficult policy challenge for China, which also condemned it.
