Daily Lessons from Life 14 June 2009

2 World News to look at and reflect for me...

"Sun, Jun 14, 2009 AFP - NKorea's Kim praises military amid nuclear moves

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has heaped praise on the military as his country defies United Nations sanctions by vowing to increase its nuclear arsenal, state media said. Kim highly praised the 7th Infantry Division's "militant training spirit and set forth the tasks for increasing its combat ability in every way," the communist state's official news agency reported. It did not say when the visit was made.

The report came one day after Pyongyang vowed to build more nuclear bombs and start enriching uranium for a new atomic weapons programme after the Security Council imposed sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would do all it could to prevent continued proliferation by the North.

"The North Koreans' continuing provocative actions are deeply regrettable," she told reporters Saturday during a visit to Canada. The North Koreans, Clinton said, "have now been denounced by everyone. They have become further isolated. And it is not in the interests of the people of North Korea for that kind of isolation to continue."

The 15-member Council voted unanimously Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the North to cripple its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes."

North Korea, a country with a dictator that puzzled many. It is scary to think of what may be with an increasingly erratic person making nuclear, potentially, decision! The good thing, or the bad thing, depending on where you are and who you are, is there is South Korea and PRC surrounding North Korea. They will have every incentive to not let that happened besides that rest of the world! It will be a very difficult and delicate decision to make about what to do with North Korea if the provocation and posturing turns into real menacing actions! I shuddered just thinking about it!!


"Sun, Jun 14, 2009 AFP - Street riots as Ahmadinejad wins landslide in Iran

TEHRAN, IRAN - Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner by a landslide in Iran's hotly-disputed presidential vote, triggering riots by opposition supporters and furious complaints of cheating from his defeated rivals.

Ahmadinejad went on television to declare the election a "great victory," even as baton-wielding police were clashing with protestors in the streets of the capital in unrest not seen since student riots a decade ago.

Thousands of supporters of Mousavi swept through Tehran shouting "Down with the Dictator" after final results showed Ahmadinejad winning almost 63 percent of the vote. The moderate ex-premier Mousavi, who earlier in the day had cried foul over election irregularities and warned the outcome of the vote could lead to "tyranny," late Saturday issued a call for calm.

"The violations in the election are very serious and you are right to be deeply hurt," he told his supporters in a statement posted on his campaign website. "But I firmly call on you not to subject any individual or groups to hurt. Do not lose your calm and restraint. Everybody should draw a line between themselves and any violent behaviour," Mousavi said.

Ahmadinejad in his television address rejected allegations the vote was rigged. "The election was completely free... and it is a great victory," he said, calling on his supporters to gather on Sunday at 5:00 pm (1230 GMT) in the capital's Vali Asr Square, where many of Saturday's clashes occurred. Even as he was speaking, Iran's main cellular phone network was cut while social networking site Facebook was also blocked. The interior minister said Mousavi had won less than 34 percent of the vote, giving Ahmadinejad another four-year term in a result that dashed Western hopes of change and set the scene for a possible domestic power struggle. Iran's all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Ahmadinejad's victory and urged the country to unite behind him after the most heated election campaign since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The vote outcome appears to have galvanised a grass-roots movement for change after 30 years of restrictive clerical rule in a country where 60 percent of the population was born after the revolution."

Another potential hot spot in the unstable world political landscape. This one will have to be decided by the Iranian people themselves. The international communities can comment on it but cannot intervene as it is internal affairs of Iran.

If there are injustice and unfairness, the truth will eventually emerged and the parties who have done wrong will be found out eventually as the truth seekers do not normally rest till the truth is revealed. They are simply not afraid of threats or deaths and are willing to make the ultimate sacrifices. Of course, if this is not handle well, it will deteriorate into civil war and only the Iranians suffered!

May the world find peace and stability in an increasingly dangerous posturing phase!!