Introducing The New Nuclear Pandemic

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

Americans should be more concerned by the proliferation of nuclear weapons from North Korea to other states or non-state actors, rather than focus on a direct N.Korean nuclear attack on the Western World.

Such was the conclusion of former Secretary of Defense William Perry when addressing the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on U.S nuclear weapons policy today.

“When we are concerned about proliferation, for example from N.Korea to Iran, we are concerned with the possibility that nuclear terrorists might be a bomb... The greater danger is that the bomb or the fissile material leak from one of these countries.” said Perry.

On Monday, N.Korea announced that it had successfully detonated and underground nuclear bomb, and on Tuesday, it launched two short-range ballistic missiles. As a result, the Obama administration may be facing an unexpected turn in the nuclear debate.

The topic is gaining momentum as talks between the U.S and Russia on the renewal of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) are feared to be unsuccessful.

That N.Korea has nuclear capabilities and is testing missiles has fanned the flames on the necessity to reconsider the reduction in the Department of Defense FY2010 budget.

Perry was joined by Brent Scowcroft, former assistant to the President for National Security Affairs who explained that “a great danger in nuclear terrorism lies with the civilian nuclear power and the loose fissile material that comes with that.”

Scowcroft appealed to the security dilemma to provide a link between N.Korea or Iran acquiring a nuclear power and nuclear terrorism.

“If we don’t put a cap on proliferation now, we could easily face 30 or 40 countries with that capability, That is not a better world,” said Scowcroft, adding that “If [Iran and N.Korea] are free to enrich uranium to weapons grade, then you have others who want to do it just for protection or whatever and then you have a tremendous danger of terrorists getting hold of fissile material and then its relatively easy.”

The U.S government had already started to deal with this problem under the Bush junior administration, as Perry explains: “For one thing I support the initiative of the previous administration called the Proliferation Security initiative (PSI) and the recent moves to strengthen this initiative.”

Former President George.W. Bush said that PSI’s aim is "to keep the world's most destructive weapons away from our shores and out of the hands of our common enemies."

The initiative is limited to controlling alien ships in one’s waters to search for weapons. Airways are however not part of the PSI.

McCain: "That's Not Bi-Partisanship"

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) spoke during the Senate debate today, to discuss the compromised version of the stimulus package.

McCain said: "I don't believe things are going to get better in the
world real soon."

"We need to sit down together before the bill is written, outline the
principles, turn those principles that we share into concrete
legislation and work together, and I hope we never again have a
repetition of a bill of such enormous consequence that would pass
through both bodies with literally no Republican support.”

McCain added: "Three Senators out of 178 [Republicans] in the House and 40 here in the United States Senate. That's not bi-partisanship."  

"I hope the American people respond again by sending us the message,
they want us to address the economic woes we face, and they want us to
address them together. This legislation, in my view, is very, very bad
for the economic future of America," McCain concluded.

Clinton, Obama Duke it Out

The much awaited debate between Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. Enormous crowds of supporters lined the street in anticipation of the event, holding signs, chanting slogans, and trying to out-shout each other. The debate was referred to almost as if it were a boxing match, with Moderator Charlie Gibson saying it was like the fifteenth round in a scheduled ten rounder.

In his brief opening statement, Obama said everywhere he goes, he is struck by the frustration that he sees. It’s typical for people to be frustrated and not feel as if they are being heard. In her opening statement, Clinton said the “promise” is alive and well, but the people feel as if the government is not solving problems. Make our education the true passport to opportunity. “We the people, can have the kind of future” that our children and grandchildren so richly deserve, she said.

ABC moderator Charlie Gibson asked both candidates why they would not choose each other as a running mate, and both of them grinned at the camera but didn’t say a word, causing the audience to burst into laughter.

During the lengthy question and answer period, it seemed that the rules were not being followed. The rules were ninety seconds for an answer, and sixty seconds for a rebuttal. However, Senator Obama ended up speaking quite a bit more than Senator Clinton, but whether or not it was to his advantage will not be known until April 22. When asked about this air time difference, Clinton Campaign Communications Director Howard Wolfson said, “That, I did not notice.”

In response to a question about making a comment about bitter small town Pennsylvanians, Obama said, “It's not the first time that I've made a statement that was mangled up.  It's not going to be the last.” He pointed out that when people feel that Washington is not listening, and their situation doesn’t change, they focus on things that are constant.

In her sparring move response, Clinton said that she didn’t think people cling to religion when Washington isn’t listening to them. What’s important, she said, is that we all listen to each other and we respect one another, and we understand the different 
decisions that people make in life, because we're a stronger country 
because of that. People want to be summoned to something greater than themselves.

Each of the candidates agreed that the other could win against McCain, but they each said that they, themselves, were the better candidate. We’re going to have a Democratic president, either him or me, Clinton said, and we’re going to make that happen.

Hillary Campaign: Obama Made of Strong Words, Little Action

Chief Strategist Mark Penn and Communications Director Howard Wolfson held a conference call on behalf of the Clinton campaign to discuss the current state of the presidential race.

Penn and Wolfson said that although Obama has proclaimed he is front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, recent polling has gone against his declarations. Clinton’s campaign alleged that Senator Obama is a less worthy candidate to defeat republican candidate John McCain than Clinton is.

To back Senator Clinton, Penn and Wolfson emphasized polls have proven voters have a higher opinion about her economic plans and her chances to succeed as the next Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces than Obama. Also, the Clinton group noted that Hillary is more aggressively fighting for the voters of Florida and Michigan to have their still-being-debated votes counted than Obama.

Obama, said Penn and Wolfson, has made a “pattern of using words” without supporting them through “action.”

Showdown in Ohio

By Ellen Ratner

Last Monday, Cleveland, Ohio, had its usual winter snowfall. I was traversing the state from Columbus to Cleveland getting a sense of how the state might vote this Tuesday. The race is on between Sens. Obama and Clinton, and it is a must-win state for Clinton.

It used to be in presidential politics that "So goes Ohio, so goes the nation." But the nation's demographics have changed, and Ohio is not the microcosm of the United States it once was. The United States is about 69 percent Caucasian, but Ohio is 84.6 percent Caucasian. Industry has left Ohio. It was once considered the powerhouse of the Midwest, especially for iron, steel and industry. Fifty years ago, Cleveland was the seventh largest city in the nation; now it ranks around 40.

The Clinton people felt they had Ohio sewn up. Almost all the influential politicians have been stumping for the senator from New York. The governor; the lieutenant governor ( Lee Fisher, whom I have known since childhood) and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the very influential member of Congress from the Cleveland area, have been out for Clinton full time. The problem is that that Ohio has had a very, very hard time lately, and although Bill Clinton is beloved as is Gov. Strickland, their charm and reputations are not able to sooth the sting of General Motor layoffs and NAFTA blowback. In addition, the Ohio plains are littered with closed factories that moved to China. Five years ago, for example, the Ohio Art Company, makers of one of America's all-time top-selling toys, Etch-A-Sketch, moved its factory to China, decimating the town.



Given the demographics of race and age in Ohio, most would assume that it would favor a Clinton candidacy. But Ohio has endured years of disappearing jobs and neglect for developing new industry and technology. As of the latest Sunday polls, Obama was within one point of Clinton.

Growing up in Ohio when it was an industrial powerhouse of the nation, I understood the values that many in Ohio still hold near and dear. So having sat in the debate hall last Monday night, I was not surprised when many of the citizens were furious with Tim Russert for what they considered was an unnecessarily contentious debate. They said they wanted to hear about issues, not his Sunday-style "Meet the Press" "gotcha journalism."

But his questions may have turned the debate and may actually make the Ohio election closer than anyone thought. Here is a play by play of some of the moments inside with Ohioans:

Obama brought up the issue of her campaign making "robo" (automatic calls) after he was attacked for sending out mailers on Clinton's health care plan. She skillfully moved the conversation to getting to his facts on health insurance. Was it that skillful? The audience could not get the dreaded "robo calls" out of their minds. So he sent out a mailer – big deal. Throw it away. Would you rather get a mailer or a "robo" call? There was much seat shifting in the audience at the very mention of "robo" calls.

Then, Clinton says her plan will be affordable. Obama moves his hands in disbelief. The audience chuckles. Clinton nicely goes after the moderators asking why she always gets the first question and invokes the "Saturday Night Live" skit. The audience had been told not to react, but makes a soft booing noise.

Obama warms up Ohio sounding good on trade. She sounds good on green jobs, but doesn't explain what that would look like in Ohio. Clinton delivers her line of the night about him not having one hearing on his subcommittee. He scores on his summary about Iraq, "Once we have driven the bus into the ditch, there are only so many ways you can drive the bus out." The audience loves the analogy. They can relate.

It went back and forth for an hour and a half but Obama used the magic word. No, it was not the "please" and "thank you" that we learned in our Ohio public schools. It was the other word that was present in all of our elementary school teachers' admonitions: "Fair." We were taught to always be fair. Tim Russert takes a page from the Clinton campaign and asks about Obama's changing stance on taking public financing in the general campaign. Obama hits bingo and says if he is the nominee he will sit down with Sen. McCain and makes sure it is fair. That one word won him many votes in Ohio and makes Tuesday's primary a very close race indeed.