Time to "smoke out" some yak herders

[eauclaireliberal]

US signs shipboarding agreement with landlocked Mongolia

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Somebody should have looked at a map.

The State Department with great fanfare on Tuesday signed an agreement with landlocked Mongolia that will allow Mongolian ships to be boarded and searched if they are suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

This despite the fact that Mongolia -- a vast land that's home to the Gobi Desert, windswept steppes and largely populated by nomadic yak herders -- has no navy at all and lies thousands of miles from open waters.

Still, its tiny merchant marine is recognized as one of 32 "flag of convenience" countries by international maritime authorities.

The U.S.-Mongolia shipboarding pact, the eighth signed between the United States and usually coastal or island nations, is designed to cover those Mongolian-flagged ships in international waters that might be used by other countries, notably North Korea, to disguise cargos of illegal weaponry, U.S. officials said.

Asked what Washington hoped to achieve with the agreement, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said "I'll have to check," but stressed it was a key part of the "Proliferation Security Initiative" that aims to halt trade in nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/world/news/20071024p2g00m0dm003000c.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Fantastic!!!

I hope this leads to the replenishment of the Yak supply around here. New opportunities in Yaks have always been appreciated on DU.

[eauclaireliberal]

2. That is always good to know

LOL

[underpants]

3. Seriously, W gets played in a way NO ONE thought possible

I know I know it is State not him but this is just indicative of how played the entire administration is. They have no street smarts and for all the degrees they don't read very well.

[Hardrada]

5. I miss the yak threads.

Like the pope threads and the Schiavo threads they were a cherished part of Olde DU.

[madeline_con]

4. Landlocked Mongolia's Seafaring Tradition

In 2003, Japan, traditionally an important trading partner of North Korea, adopted a policy of stringent safety and customs checks of North Korean flag vessels visiting Japanese ports. As a result of this enforcement, the number of port calls by North Korean flag vessels to Japan in 2003 plummeted by 29 percent, hitting 1,007. At the same time, port calls by Mongolian flag vessels jumped in Japan. In April and May, there were 115 port calls by Mongolian flag vessels, almost five times the 24 registered in April and May of 2003.

http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/flags/2004/0702landlocked.htm

[Whisp]

6. I can surely laugh at the personal slights against Bush.

he's such an easy target.
but he and the anchors he has behind are not dumb. They know what they do . and they are laughing as well.