President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court

President Obama on Wednesday nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, setting up a protracted political fight with Republicans who have vowed to block any candidate picked by Obama in his final year in office.

Garland, 63, is a longtime Washington lawyer and jurist who is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Considered a moderate, Garland is widely respected in the D.C. legal community and was also a finalist for the first two Supreme Court vacancies Obama filled.

[LIVE updates on Obama’s pick: Reactions from the GOP and more]

In announcing his choice in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said he followed “a rigorous and comprehensive process” and that he reached out to members of both parties, legal associations and advocacy groups to gauge opinions from “across the spectrum.”

He said Garland “is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.”

With Garland standing by his side, Obama said choosing a replacement for the late justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly last month, is “not a responsibility that I take lightly.”

“I said I would take this process seriously, and I did,” the president said. “I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge.”

“To find someone with such a long career in public service, marked by complex and sensitive issues, to find someone who just about everyone not only respects but genuinely likes, that is rare,” Obama said. “And it speaks to who Merrick Garland is, not just as lawyer but as a man.”

Despite “a political season that is even noisier and more volatile than usual,” Obama urged the Senate to take up the nomination, saying that lawmakers should treat the process “with the seriousness and care it deserves.”

After Obama introduced him, Garland promptly became emotional as he thanked the president. “This is the greatest honor of my life,” Garland said, “other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago.”

He added that “a life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving. And for me, there can be no higher public service than serving as a member of the United States Supreme Court.”

Seven sitting Republican senators voted to confirm Garland in 1997: Dan Coats (Ind.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James M. Inhofe (Okla.), John McCain (Ariz.), and Pat Roberts (Kan.).

GOP lawmakers, though, have said since Scalia’s death that Obama should leave the choice of a new justice to his successor and that they have no intention of holding a hearing or a vote on the president’s pick.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said “the next Supreme Court justice could dramatically change the direction of the court” and Americans deserved to “weigh in” before that happens.

Garland is a Chicago native who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. After becoming a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter, he joined the Justice Department, where he handled the drug investigation of then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District.

Ascending the ranks, Garland became principal associate deputy attorney general, where he supervised the massive investigations that led to the prosecutions of the Unabomber and the bombers of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Garland was appointed to the D.C. federal appeals court by President Bill Clinton in April 1997 and confirmed on a 76-to-23 vote. In February 2013, Garland became chief judge of the D.C. federal appeals court.

[Meet Merrick Garland: Here’s his story]

Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general who worked with Garland at the Justice Department in the Clinton administration, considers her former colleague “supremely qualified” for the high court.

Gorelick praised Garland’s role at the Justice Department in supervising the Unabomber and Oklahoma City investigations.

“We had a lot of very seasoned prosecutors, but when you have a matter that is both substantively difficult and cuts across the department, a really talented person such as Merrick will lead those,” said Gorelick. She added that Garland is a “brilliant lawyer and judge” who is known to be highly collegial even with colleagues across the ideological spectrum.

Initial reaction from interest groups supportive of the president was mixed. National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill praised Garland for “ a rigorous intellect, impeccable credentials, and a record of excellence.”

But she also said his record on women’s rights was “more or less a blank slate. Equally unfortunate is that we have to continue to wait for the first African American woman to be named. For this nomination, the so-called political experts ruled that the best choice for the highest court in the nation was a cipher — a real nowhere man.”

[The Fix: Republicans won’t confirm Garland]

A four-page document circulated Tuesday afternoon among a small group of the administration’s allies, with the heading, “Read What Republicans Had to Say About President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee, Merrick Garland, Before He Was President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee,” highlighted the support he has enjoyed from lawmakers in the past.

“Garland has had a distinguished legal career, and prior to the GOP’s historically unprecedented obstruction, was a favorite of Senate Republicans alongside progressives,” the briefing material says. “When earlier Supreme Court vacancies occurred in the seats now filled by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said he would be ‘very well supported by all sides’ as a SCOTUS nominee.”

The document notes that when Obama was filling the first Supreme Court vacancy of his tenure, Hatch was quoted at the time as saying that Garland would be a “consensus nominee” who “would be very well supported by all sides.” The briefing material includes previous descriptions of Garland by leading news organizations as a potential nominee who would attract support of Democrats and Republicans alike.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Garland’s colleague on the D.C. Circuit, once said that “anytime Judge Garland disagrees, you know you’re in a difficult area.”

Democrats are also preparing to make the Republicans’ opposition to filling the vacancy an issue in the fall election. Speaking in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday night, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said in her victory speech that one of the reasons the presidential race matters so much is because the Supreme Court appointment has such enormous policy implications.

“Together, we have to defend all of our rights — civil rights and voting rights, worker’s rights and women’s rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities — and that starts by standing with President Obama when he nominates a justice to the Supreme Court,” she said, prompting large cheers from the crowd.

[Brace yourself for a long battle about the future of the court]

While the question of who sits on the nation’s highest court is not traditionally a top-tier election issue, Democrats are hoping to use it as part of a broader narrative about Republican resistance to the president’s policies.

David Greenberg, a professor of history and journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, noted that Richard Nixon first elevated the Supreme Court as an electoral issue in 1968, when he attacked then-Chief Justice Earl Warren and his fellow justices.

“It was putting a liberal-dominated court at the center of the liberal establishment he was attacking,” Greenberg said, for “bringing about all these cultural changes” in the country.

At the moment, more Americans appear to be sympathetic to the White House’s argument. Sixty-three percent of Americans said the Senate should hold hearings on Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, while 32 percent said it should not hold hearings and leave it to the next president, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week. Majorities of Democrats and independents supported holding hearings, while Republicans were more evenly split (46-49) and over half of conservative Republicans said hearings should not be held (54 percent).

Administration officials are hopeful that the GOP senators who are most vulnerable this November — Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Pat Toomey (Penn.) — may lobby their leaders for a vote if they come under fire back home for blocking the nominee.

“The success or failure of this will depend on the pressure that can be brought to bear on those senators who Mitch McConnell marched out to the firing line,” said one former senior administration official, who asked for anonymity in order to discuss internal White House deliberations.


President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1248329_1280x720.jpg

President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court

President Obama on Wednesday nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court, setting up a protracted political fight with Republicans who have vowed to block any candidate picked by Obama in his final year in office.

Garland, 63, is a longtime Washington lawyer and jurist who is chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Considered a moderate, Garland is widely respected in the D.C. legal community and was also a finalist for the first two Supreme Court vacancies Obama filled.

[LIVE updates on Obama’s pick: Reactions from the GOP and more]

In announcing his choice in the White House Rose Garden, Obama said he followed “a rigorous and comprehensive process” and that he reached out to members of both parties, legal associations and advocacy groups to gauge opinions from “across the spectrum.”

He said Garland “is widely recognized not only as one of America’s sharpest legal minds, but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, even-handedness and excellence.”

With Garland standing by his side, Obama said choosing a replacement for the late justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly last month, is “not a responsibility that I take lightly.”

“I said I would take this process seriously, and I did,” the president said. “I chose a serious man and an exemplary judge.”

“To find someone with such a long career in public service, marked by complex and sensitive issues, to find someone who just about everyone not only respects but genuinely likes, that is rare,” Obama said. “And it speaks to who Merrick Garland is, not just as lawyer but as a man.”

Despite “a political season that is even noisier and more volatile than usual,” Obama urged the Senate to take up the nomination, saying that lawmakers should treat the process “with the seriousness and care it deserves.”

After Obama introduced him, Garland promptly became emotional as he thanked the president. “This is the greatest honor of my life,” Garland said, “other than Lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago.”

He added that “a life of public service is as much a gift to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving. And for me, there can be no higher public service than serving as a member of the United States Supreme Court.”

Seven sitting Republican senators voted to confirm Garland in 1997: Dan Coats (Ind.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James M. Inhofe (Okla.), John McCain (Ariz.), and Pat Roberts (Kan.).

GOP lawmakers, though, have said since Scalia’s death that Obama should leave the choice of a new justice to his successor and that they have no intention of holding a hearing or a vote on the president’s pick.

Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said “the next Supreme Court justice could dramatically change the direction of the court” and Americans deserved to “weigh in” before that happens.

Garland is a Chicago native who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. After becoming a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter, he joined the Justice Department, where he handled the drug investigation of then-D.C. Mayor Marion Barry as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District.

Ascending the ranks, Garland became principal associate deputy attorney general, where he supervised the massive investigations that led to the prosecutions of the Unabomber and the bombers of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Garland was appointed to the D.C. federal appeals court by President Bill Clinton in April 1997 and confirmed on a 76-to-23 vote. In February 2013, Garland became chief judge of the D.C. federal appeals court.

[Meet Merrick Garland: Here’s his story]

Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney general who worked with Garland at the Justice Department in the Clinton administration, considers her former colleague “supremely qualified” for the high court.

Gorelick praised Garland’s role at the Justice Department in supervising the Unabomber and Oklahoma City investigations.

“We had a lot of very seasoned prosecutors, but when you have a matter that is both substantively difficult and cuts across the department, a really talented person such as Merrick will lead those,” said Gorelick. She added that Garland is a “brilliant lawyer and judge” who is known to be highly collegial even with colleagues across the ideological spectrum.

Initial reaction from interest groups supportive of the president was mixed. National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill praised Garland for “ a rigorous intellect, impeccable credentials, and a record of excellence.”

But she also said his record on women’s rights was “more or less a blank slate. Equally unfortunate is that we have to continue to wait for the first African American woman to be named. For this nomination, the so-called political experts ruled that the best choice for the highest court in the nation was a cipher — a real nowhere man.”

[The Fix: Republicans won’t confirm Garland]

A four-page document circulated Tuesday afternoon among a small group of the administration’s allies, with the heading, “Read What Republicans Had to Say About President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee, Merrick Garland, Before He Was President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee,” highlighted the support he has enjoyed from lawmakers in the past.

“Garland has had a distinguished legal career, and prior to the GOP’s historically unprecedented obstruction, was a favorite of Senate Republicans alongside progressives,” the briefing material says. “When earlier Supreme Court vacancies occurred in the seats now filled by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said he would be ‘very well supported by all sides’ as a SCOTUS nominee.”

The document notes that when Obama was filling the first Supreme Court vacancy of his tenure, Hatch was quoted at the time as saying that Garland would be a “consensus nominee” who “would be very well supported by all sides.” The briefing material includes previous descriptions of Garland by leading news organizations as a potential nominee who would attract support of Democrats and Republicans alike.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Garland’s colleague on the D.C. Circuit, once said that “anytime Judge Garland disagrees, you know you’re in a difficult area.”

Democrats are also preparing to make the Republicans’ opposition to filling the vacancy an issue in the fall election. Speaking in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday night, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said in her victory speech that one of the reasons the presidential race matters so much is because the Supreme Court appointment has such enormous policy implications.

“Together, we have to defend all of our rights — civil rights and voting rights, worker’s rights and women’s rights, LGBT rights and rights for people with disabilities — and that starts by standing with President Obama when he nominates a justice to the Supreme Court,” she said, prompting large cheers from the crowd.

[Brace yourself for a long battle about the future of the court]

While the question of who sits on the nation’s highest court is not traditionally a top-tier election issue, Democrats are hoping to use it as part of a broader narrative about Republican resistance to the president’s policies.

David Greenberg, a professor of history and journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, noted that Richard Nixon first elevated the Supreme Court as an electoral issue in 1968, when he attacked then-Chief Justice Earl Warren and his fellow justices.

“It was putting a liberal-dominated court at the center of the liberal establishment he was attacking,” Greenberg said, for “bringing about all these cultural changes” in the country.

At the moment, more Americans appear to be sympathetic to the White House’s argument. Sixty-three percent of Americans said the Senate should hold hearings on Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia, while 32 percent said it should not hold hearings and leave it to the next president, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week. Majorities of Democrats and independents supported holding hearings, while Republicans were more evenly split (46-49) and over half of conservative Republicans said hearings should not be held (54 percent).

Administration officials are hopeful that the GOP senators who are most vulnerable this November — Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Pat Toomey (Penn.) — may lobby their leaders for a vote if they come under fire back home for blocking the nominee.

“The success or failure of this will depend on the pressure that can be brought to bear on those senators who Mitch McConnell marched out to the firing line,” said one former senior administration official, who asked for anonymity in order to discuss internal White House deliberations.




News, nominates Merrick Garland, President Obama, President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, to the Supreme Court, World, world news

US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger

US President Barack Obama has warned White House contenders to avoid raising tensions, a day after a rally by Donald Trump was called off amid clashes.

Mr Obama said candidates should not resort to “insults” and “certainly not violence against other Americans”.

Mr Trump, who leads the race for the Republican nomination, cancelled his Chicago rally after fighting broke out between his supporters and protesters.

His rivals and others have accused him of using inflammatory rhetoric.

What Trump says about protesters at his rallies

Why are Americans so angry?

How extreme is Donald Trump?

Could Trump’s vulgarity cost him the nomination?

Later on Saturday, Mr Trump suffered heavy defeats in Republican caucuses in Washington DC and Wyoming.

Mr Obama, who will be standing down next January following November’s presidential election, was speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Dallas on Saturday.

He said: “What the folks who are running for office should be focused on is how we can make it even better – not insults and schoolyard taunts and manufacturing facts, not divisiveness along the lines of race and faith.”

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionDonald Trump was surrounded by security agents during an incident in Dayton, Ohio

The clashes at Mr Trump’s Chicago rally on Friday began more than an hour before the event was due to start, and continued after it was cancelled.

‘Tremendous anger’

On Saturday Mr Trump campaigned in Ohio, one of several key states – also including Florida and Ohio – holding primaries on Tuesday.

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionJedidiah Brown: “I was told to go back to Africa”

In Dayton, Ohio, he was briefly surrounded by Secret Service agents on stage after a man tried to breach the security cordon.

Mr Trump has taken a strong anti-immigrant stance, promising to build a “great wall” at the border with Mexico.

Commenting on relations between Muslims and America earlier this week, he said: “Islam hates us.”

Speaking to Fox News after Friday’s events in Chicago, Mr Trump denied fostering division.

“I represent a large group of people that have a lot of anger,” he said. “There is tremendous anger out there on both sides.”

Mr Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, have both called the incident “sad”.

Texas Senator Cruz accused Mr Trump of creating “an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse”.

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionTrump supporter Ryan James Girdusky says he is sad to see what happened in Chicago

Mr Rubio and another Republican challenger, John Kasich, suggested they might not rally behind Mr Trump if he wins the nomination.

Mr Rubio said it was “getting harder every day” to keep his promise to unite behind the eventual Republican nominee.

Mr Kasich said Mr Trump’s rhetoric “makes it very difficult” to support him.

On Saturday, Mr Cruz won a convincing victory in the Wyoming caucus, while Mr Rubio narrowly defeated Mr Kasich in Washington DC. Mr Trump came a distant third in both contests.

Mr Cruz also won on the island territory of Guam.

In the Democratic race. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is continuing his challenge against frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Mrs Clinton won the first ever Democrats’ vote in the Northern Mariana Islands.


US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/88744983_031945321-1.jpg

US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger

US President Barack Obama has warned White House contenders to avoid raising tensions, a day after a rally by Donald Trump was called off amid clashes.

Mr Obama said candidates should not resort to “insults” and “certainly not violence against other Americans”.

Mr Trump, who leads the race for the Republican nomination, cancelled his Chicago rally after fighting broke out between his supporters and protesters.

His rivals and others have accused him of using inflammatory rhetoric.

What Trump says about protesters at his rallies

Why are Americans so angry?

How extreme is Donald Trump?

Could Trump’s vulgarity cost him the nomination?

Later on Saturday, Mr Trump suffered heavy defeats in Republican caucuses in Washington DC and Wyoming.

Mr Obama, who will be standing down next January following November’s presidential election, was speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Dallas on Saturday.

He said: “What the folks who are running for office should be focused on is how we can make it even better – not insults and schoolyard taunts and manufacturing facts, not divisiveness along the lines of race and faith.”

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionDonald Trump was surrounded by security agents during an incident in Dayton, Ohio

The clashes at Mr Trump’s Chicago rally on Friday began more than an hour before the event was due to start, and continued after it was cancelled.

‘Tremendous anger’

On Saturday Mr Trump campaigned in Ohio, one of several key states – also including Florida and Ohio – holding primaries on Tuesday.

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionJedidiah Brown: “I was told to go back to Africa”

In Dayton, Ohio, he was briefly surrounded by Secret Service agents on stage after a man tried to breach the security cordon.

Mr Trump has taken a strong anti-immigrant stance, promising to build a “great wall” at the border with Mexico.

Commenting on relations between Muslims and America earlier this week, he said: “Islam hates us.”

Speaking to Fox News after Friday’s events in Chicago, Mr Trump denied fostering division.

“I represent a large group of people that have a lot of anger,” he said. “There is tremendous anger out there on both sides.”

Mr Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, have both called the incident “sad”.

Texas Senator Cruz accused Mr Trump of creating “an environment that only encourages this sort of nasty discourse”.

Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionTrump supporter Ryan James Girdusky says he is sad to see what happened in Chicago

Mr Rubio and another Republican challenger, John Kasich, suggested they might not rally behind Mr Trump if he wins the nomination.

Mr Rubio said it was “getting harder every day” to keep his promise to unite behind the eventual Republican nominee.

Mr Kasich said Mr Trump’s rhetoric “makes it very difficult” to support him.

On Saturday, Mr Cruz won a convincing victory in the Wyoming caucus, while Mr Rubio narrowly defeated Mr Kasich in Washington DC. Mr Trump came a distant third in both contests.

Mr Cruz also won on the island territory of Guam.

In the Democratic race. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is continuing his challenge against frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Mrs Clinton won the first ever Democrats’ vote in the Northern Mariana Islands.




against campaign, anger, News, obama, Obama warns, US election 2016, US election 2016: Obama warns against campaign anger, World, world news

Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike

One of Pyongyang’s few remaining allies says country is in danger of creating legal grounds for international military intervention. NK News reports

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied. Photograph: Rodong Sinmun/EPA

Chad O’Carroll for NK News, part of the North Korea network

Russia has warned North Korea that threats to deliver “preventive nuclear strikes” could create a legal basis for the use of military force against the country, suggesting that even Pyongyang’s few remaining friends are growing concerned about its increasingly confrontational stance.

The Russian foreign ministry statement, which follows a North Korean threat to “annihilate” the US and South Korea, also criticises Washington and Seoul for launching the largest joint military drills yet to be held on the peninsula.

North Korea threatens to reduce US and South Korea to ‘flames and ash’

Read more

“We consider it to be absolutely impermissible to make public statements containing threats to deliver some ‘preventive nuclear strikes’ against opponents,” the Russian foreign ministry said in response to North Korea’s threats.

“Pyongyang should be aware of the fact that in this way the DPRK will become fully opposed to the international community and will create international legal grounds for using military force against itself in accordance with the right of a state to self-defense enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” continued the statement, translated by Itar Tass news agency.

Washington and Seoul launched their annual joint military exercises on the peninsula on Monday, stepping up the manoeuvres in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and rocket launch in February.

North Korea and Russia forge ‘year of friendship’ pariah alliance

Read more

But while the statement said Moscow was opposed to the tone of North Korea’s response, it also said the scale of the American-South Korean joint exercise put “unprecedented … military and political pressure on Pyongyang”.

“Naturally, as a state, which is directly named as an object of this kind of military activities, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) cannot but feel reasonably concerned for its security,” the statement said.

Pyongyang had said the drills, which are set to run to the end of April, are rehearsals for invading.

Russia has historically had close relations with North Korea, making its warning that the country may be laying itself open to military action particularly notable.

But one observer said Moscow’s response could be expected, given the tone of North Korea’s recent public statements.

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“Pyongyang should be learning that the types of threats they continue to make will have consequences,” said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based North Korea researcher at Troy University.

“The security dilemma dynamics that the behaviour and rhetoric set in motion are making Son’gun Korea less secure, not more secure,” he said. “This is the flaw in their national security strategy, and it will continue to be exposed in the future.”

Another North Korea watcher said the statement might be better viewed as a warning to Pyongyang of what others might do, rather than Russian actions in particular.

“Russia is pointing out to North Korea that its inflammatory rhetoric risks giving its opponents – primarily South Korea and the US – just cause to pursue military action against it,” said regional expert Christopher Green.

Inter-Korean relations have worsened significantly in recent weeks, with Pyongyang showing particular sensitivity to the UN sanctions agreed last week.

A version of this article first appeared on NK News – North Korean news


Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2048.jpg

Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike

One of Pyongyang’s few remaining allies says country is in danger of creating legal grounds for international military intervention. NK News reports

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered nuclear weapons to be readied. Photograph: Rodong Sinmun/EPA

Chad O’Carroll for NK News, part of the North Korea network

Russia has warned North Korea that threats to deliver “preventive nuclear strikes” could create a legal basis for the use of military force against the country, suggesting that even Pyongyang’s few remaining friends are growing concerned about its increasingly confrontational stance.

The Russian foreign ministry statement, which follows a North Korean threat to “annihilate” the US and South Korea, also criticises Washington and Seoul for launching the largest joint military drills yet to be held on the peninsula.

North Korea threatens to reduce US and South Korea to ‘flames and ash’

Read more

“We consider it to be absolutely impermissible to make public statements containing threats to deliver some ‘preventive nuclear strikes’ against opponents,” the Russian foreign ministry said in response to North Korea’s threats.

“Pyongyang should be aware of the fact that in this way the DPRK will become fully opposed to the international community and will create international legal grounds for using military force against itself in accordance with the right of a state to self-defense enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” continued the statement, translated by Itar Tass news agency.

Washington and Seoul launched their annual joint military exercises on the peninsula on Monday, stepping up the manoeuvres in response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test in January and rocket launch in February.

North Korea and Russia forge ‘year of friendship’ pariah alliance

Read more

But while the statement said Moscow was opposed to the tone of North Korea’s response, it also said the scale of the American-South Korean joint exercise put “unprecedented … military and political pressure on Pyongyang”.

“Naturally, as a state, which is directly named as an object of this kind of military activities, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) cannot but feel reasonably concerned for its security,” the statement said.

Pyongyang had said the drills, which are set to run to the end of April, are rehearsals for invading.

Russia has historically had close relations with North Korea, making its warning that the country may be laying itself open to military action particularly notable.

But one observer said Moscow’s response could be expected, given the tone of North Korea’s recent public statements.

Advertisement

“Pyongyang should be learning that the types of threats they continue to make will have consequences,” said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based North Korea researcher at Troy University.

“The security dilemma dynamics that the behaviour and rhetoric set in motion are making Son’gun Korea less secure, not more secure,” he said. “This is the flaw in their national security strategy, and it will continue to be exposed in the future.”

Another North Korea watcher said the statement might be better viewed as a warning to Pyongyang of what others might do, rather than Russian actions in particular.

“Russia is pointing out to North Korea that its inflammatory rhetoric risks giving its opponents – primarily South Korea and the US – just cause to pursue military action against it,” said regional expert Christopher Green.

Inter-Korean relations have worsened significantly in recent weeks, with Pyongyang showing particular sensitivity to the UN sanctions agreed last week.

A version of this article first appeared on NK News – North Korean news




#Europe, #North Korea, #Nuclear, #Russia, #Russia warns North Korea over threats of nuclear strike, #South Korea #Asia Pacific, #weapons

Team Canada’s sweet 16 named for World Cup

An injury has kept Carey Price sidelined since November.

But Team Canada’s management team had no doubt the Montreal Canadiens star goaltender should be named to the initial 16-man roster for the World Cup of Hockey.

Price, 28, Chicago’s Corey Crawford, 31, and Washington’s Braden Holtby, 26, were named Wednesday as Canada’s three goalies when the eight nations named their preliminary list of 16 World Cup players.

The 23-man roster will be filled out in early June for the best-on-best tournament that kicks off in Toronto Sept. 17.

Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong said he talked to Price at the beginning of February about whether he wanted to be named; Price said yes.

“When healthy, he’s the No. 1 goalie on the planet,” Armstrong said. “We wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the decision.”

Armstrong added Price’s condition will be evaluated as the NHL season goes on.

“I don’t want to get the cart in front of the horse,” Armstrong said. “There is a lot of time left in the season.”

The goaltending is strong, with Crawford having won two Stanley Cups and Holtby closing in on 50 wins this season.

Heading Canada’s roster are two superstars who have struggled at various points this season: Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews. The pair nonetheless were locks because of their proven track record of international success.

The rest of the names were no-brainers, too.

The selection of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos had the element of redemption after an injury resulted in him being left off the 2014 gold-medal winning Olympic team in Sochi.

And the defence has the look of that Sochi lineup, and that was by design.

“We looked at that Sochi group and that might have best defensive group for an international competition,” Team Canada’s GM said. “They played as a group.”

No Subban? Reaction on Twitter

When picking the initial 16 players, Armstrong knew what Canada head coach Mike Babcock likes when it comes to short international competitions.

“Mike likes predictability,” Armstrong said. “He wants it so he can play a player in any situation. You can’t hide anyone and there are no good matchups when you are playing the Russians.”

Crosby had a slow start to his season but he’s caught fire lately. “I never really had a question that he would find his game,” Armstrong said.

He added that former Montreal star Bob Gainey, who had a long career, once told him every player, regardless of who it is, will have bad stretches.

“Don’t let one small portion overlook the rest,” Armstrong said. “Sidney is a great player. He’s not only going to be on the team, he’s going to be a huge part of the team.”

The experienced backline consists of San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic, 28, Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty, 26, Chicago’s Duncan Keith, 32, and Nashville’s Shea Weber, 30.

Team Canada went for balance on the back end with two right-handed shots in Doughty and Weber; the others all are left-handed shots.

The forwards include Crosby, 28, Toews, 27, Stamkos, 26, Dallas Stars’ Jamie Benn, 26, and Tyler Seguin, 24, the New York Islanders’ John Tavares, 25, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron, 30, L.A.’s Jeff Carter, 31, and Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf, 30.

Armstrong was questioned why Anaheim star Corey Perry was left off the preliminary list. He said this list was finalized about a week ago, just before Perry got hot again.

“We couldn’t change the fine print,” Armstrong said with a laugh.

The decision on Carter was based on his play on a nightly basis, Armstrong said.

“It was based on his skating . . . based on Sochi,” he said.

The World Cup of Hockey is different from the Olympics in two important areas: the NHL-sized rink at the Air Canada Centre is smaller than the international ice surface, and players in the World Cup will have more prep time than was permitted in the compressed schedule of the Olympics.


Team Canada’s sweet 16 named for World Cup

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Team Canada’s sweet 16 named for World Cup

An injury has kept Carey Price sidelined since November.

But Team Canada’s management team had no doubt the Montreal Canadiens star goaltender should be named to the initial 16-man roster for the World Cup of Hockey.

Price, 28, Chicago’s Corey Crawford, 31, and Washington’s Braden Holtby, 26, were named Wednesday as Canada’s three goalies when the eight nations named their preliminary list of 16 World Cup players.

The 23-man roster will be filled out in early June for the best-on-best tournament that kicks off in Toronto Sept. 17.

Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong said he talked to Price at the beginning of February about whether he wanted to be named; Price said yes.

“When healthy, he’s the No. 1 goalie on the planet,” Armstrong said. “We wanted to make sure he was comfortable with the decision.”

Armstrong added Price’s condition will be evaluated as the NHL season goes on.

“I don’t want to get the cart in front of the horse,” Armstrong said. “There is a lot of time left in the season.”

The goaltending is strong, with Crawford having won two Stanley Cups and Holtby closing in on 50 wins this season.

Heading Canada’s roster are two superstars who have struggled at various points this season: Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews. The pair nonetheless were locks because of their proven track record of international success.

The rest of the names were no-brainers, too.

The selection of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos had the element of redemption after an injury resulted in him being left off the 2014 gold-medal winning Olympic team in Sochi.

And the defence has the look of that Sochi lineup, and that was by design.

“We looked at that Sochi group and that might have best defensive group for an international competition,” Team Canada’s GM said. “They played as a group.”

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When picking the initial 16 players, Armstrong knew what Canada head coach Mike Babcock likes when it comes to short international competitions.

“Mike likes predictability,” Armstrong said. “He wants it so he can play a player in any situation. You can’t hide anyone and there are no good matchups when you are playing the Russians.”

Crosby had a slow start to his season but he’s caught fire lately. “I never really had a question that he would find his game,” Armstrong said.

He added that former Montreal star Bob Gainey, who had a long career, once told him every player, regardless of who it is, will have bad stretches.

“Don’t let one small portion overlook the rest,” Armstrong said. “Sidney is a great player. He’s not only going to be on the team, he’s going to be a huge part of the team.”

The experienced backline consists of San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic, 28, Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty, 26, Chicago’s Duncan Keith, 32, and Nashville’s Shea Weber, 30.

Team Canada went for balance on the back end with two right-handed shots in Doughty and Weber; the others all are left-handed shots.

The forwards include Crosby, 28, Toews, 27, Stamkos, 26, Dallas Stars’ Jamie Benn, 26, and Tyler Seguin, 24, the New York Islanders’ John Tavares, 25, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron, 30, L.A.’s Jeff Carter, 31, and Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf, 30.

Armstrong was questioned why Anaheim star Corey Perry was left off the preliminary list. He said this list was finalized about a week ago, just before Perry got hot again.

“We couldn’t change the fine print,” Armstrong said with a laugh.

The decision on Carter was based on his play on a nightly basis, Armstrong said.

“It was based on his skating . . . based on Sochi,” he said.

The World Cup of Hockey is different from the Olympics in two important areas: the NHL-sized rink at the Air Canada Centre is smaller than the international ice surface, and players in the World Cup will have more prep time than was permitted in the compressed schedule of the Olympics.




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