The actor Samuel Johnson won the TV Week Gold Logie on Sunday night for his portrayal of the Countdown host, Molly Meldrum, in the eponymous television miniseries.

But his moment of triumph was overshadowed by a rambling, expletive-laden speech from Meldrum, who ambushed his acceptance speech.

“Sorry, my family is all based out of a house in Preston,” an emotional Johnson said. “Amongst ourselves we call it the Prestonian Institute for the Temporarily Defeated. I know you are watching in Preston – not tonight.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/apr/24/samuel-johnson-wins...

Please read: http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33426

Ridiculously, many people in the West are worried about the situation not because of Donald Trump’s insane militarism, but that of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Such thinking is irrational and ahistorical, and is rooted largely in mass-media deception and good old-fashioned 'Yellow Peril' racism.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has invaded and bombed not a single country. The United States of America, on the other hand, has invaded and bombed dozens of countries - including Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Grenada, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and, yes, Korea.

The war waged by the US and its allies against North Korea (1950-53) was nothing short of genocidal. All major cities were destroyed. At least 20 percent of the population was killed. Only through extraordinary heroism and creative genius - along with the selfless support of China and the USSR - did the country survive. Since then, the North Korean people have lived every single day under the threat of nuclear annihilation.

As Bruce Cumings, the leading Western academic expert on the DPRK, puts it:

"North Korea is the only country in the world to have been systematically blackmailed by US nuclear weapons going back to the 1950s, when hundreds of nukes were installed in South Korea… Why on earth would Pyongyang not seek a nuclear deterrent? But this crucial background doesn’t enter mainstream American discourse. History doesn’t matter, until it does - when it rears up and smacks you in the face."

The DPRK’s leadership never tires of pointing out that it doesn’t actually want to be a nuclear state; its demand is for denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula. However, given the nuclear threat that it lives with, it is by no means unreasonable for it to develop a deterrent.

What about talks? The DPRK has consistently said it is willing to engage in negotiations, as long as these don’t take place in a context of bullying and threats. China has worked hard over the years to facilitate such talks. It is precisely the US that has made bilateral or multilateral talks impossible, by including an unreasonable and hypocritical precondition that the DPRK abandon its weapons program.

Any reasonable person wants to see a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and to avoid a nuclear war. The key first step towards this is for the US to drop its preconditions to negotiations, and to lessen its aggressive stance – at least by reciprocating the North Korean assurance of nuclear no first use. Negotiations will need to cover a number of tough issues, including the removal of US troops from South Korea, removing the nuclear threat against North Korea, and steps towards national reunification.

Resolution on these issues feels out of reach after so many decades of mistrust, but as Selig Harrison writes in his authoritative book, Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement, “if the United States agrees to play the role of an honest broker and to remove what North Korea regards as threatening aspects of its conventional force presence, in return for missile limitations, Pyongyang would be more likely than it is at present to give up its nuclear weapons option and to permit a meaningful inspection regime.”

Under international law, countries have the right to independence and sovereignty; to choose their own path, even if that path doesn't correspond with the needs of US economic, political, cultural and ideological domination. Do you want the DPRK to be less of a siege state; to devote more resources to social welfare and less to military development? Fine. The key to that is taking away the constant threat of war, nuclear annihilation and regime change.

READ MORE:

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/385762-threat-regime-change-north-korea-us/

You may not have noticed but what our Aussie Julie says applies to both the US and North Korea. The US is always threatening someone or a skunk somewhere with a nuke or some shrapnel. And Donald has no idea of history repeating itself as he tries to repeat the crap of history...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all sides to exercise restraint when dealing with North Korea during a phone call with US President Donald Trump, as Japan conducts joint drills with a US aircraft carrier strike group headed for Korean waters.

• Mr Xi told Mr Trump that all sides should avoid doing anything to worsen the tense situation
• Japanese destroyers have joined the US carrier group for drills in the western Pacific
• North Korea will celebrate the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People's Army tomorrow

The carrier group was sent by Mr Trump for exercises in waters off the Korean peninsula as a warning, amid growing fears North Korea could conduct another nuclear test soon in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

Angered by the approach of the US carrier group, a defiant North Korea said at the weekend it was ready to sink the USS Carl Vinson.

Two Japanese destroyers have already joined the carrier group for drills in the western Pacific, and South Korea has said it is also in talks about holding joint naval exercises.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-24/xi-warns-trump-to-avoid-aggravatin...

A warning? As meaningful as a Batman comic...

The UN Security Council should be ready to issue a set of new punitive measures against North Korea, US President Donald Trump said prior to a working lunch with ambassadors of the Council’s 14 member states on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Trump underlined that North Korea remains "a real threat to the world" and a problem that must be resolved as soon as possible.

"The status quo on North Korea is unacceptable and the Council must be prepared to impose additional and stronger sanctions on North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile programs," Trump told reporters.

Earlier on Monday, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should not take any provocative actions that may cause retaliation against him with US military force.

On April 14, media reported that Trump might direct a military strike against Pyongyang if the country's leadership decides to launch another nuclear weapon test.

The North Korean General Staff responded with threats of a "preemptive strike" against US military bases in Japan and South Korea, as well as the presidential residence in Seoul in case of US aggression.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201704241052951394-trump-korea-sanctions-unsc/

--------------

We unfortunately know that the Idiot Occupant of the White House (IOWH) will use the smallest of pretext, including fabricated ones (false flag event) to bomb the shit out of NK while holding his right hand on his heart with his left hand wiping his arse clean, leaving a mess of dead people, including "beautiful babies" behind him in the toilet bowl of history. 

Having more fire farting power in his underpants, Le Donald wants to show that blackmail is the way to make a deal -- as he has done all his life, robbing silly people of their silly cash.

Break one NK window, Donald, and the region could be on fire. This gamble you and your mates of the military -- and that stupid arse, Nikki Haley, will be the most stupid decision ever made by a human being. 

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's presence and participation in the Gallipoli Anzac Day dawn service compelled a grudging Erdogan to ramp up desultory security, writes contributing editor-at-largeTess Lawrence.

AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER Julie Bishop is attending Gallipoli's Anzac Day dawn service in a counter-terrorism operation.

The service takes place today (Australia time) amidst concerns of a terrorist attack.

Bishop's last-minute departure for Turkey came as a surprise to her as well and is made against the backdrop of Turkey's President Recep Erdogan's declared contempt for Turkey's first President, Mustafa Atatürk, the man known as the "father" of Turkey.

It is a term coveted by the jealous Erdogan, and a crown he is clearly determined to place upon his own head through fear and military force rather than earned through personal respect from his people.

Bishop's presence and participation in the dawn service will not only compel a grudging Erdogan to ramp up desultory security at the Anzac Cove ceremony, but has also facilitated a greater security contingent from Australia on the ground, including plain clothes operatives.

We understand that the Australian Federal Police and other intelligence agencies put forward a case that if a high profile politician attended the Gallipoli dawn service, it would force Erdogan to deploy a serious security force rather than the farcical pretence that was initially promised but which had started to fall away, only to be ramped up days ago at Australia's insistence.

Despite spin to the contrary, IA has been told that Erdogan was diffident about security for the enigmatic dawn service and had issued instructions to the hapless organisers to stop deifying Attaturk, whom he considers a secular traitor who betrayed the legacy of the Ottoman Empire by capitulating to Westernisation.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/ia-exclusive-...