Exclusive: Although the North Korea crisis has largely faded from the headlines, the chances of war breaking out are still unacceptably high – requiring greater attention from both the peace movement and Congress, notes Jonathan Marshall.
By Jonathan Marshall
Like the proverbial calm before the storm, war scares on the Korean peninsula have temporarily gone quiet while its two governments make nice over the 2018 Winter Olympics. But when the games end, count on the Trump administration reviving its ultimatum to North Korea: Stop all nuclear and missile testing and begin to denuclearize, or face a devastating, preemptive attack.
Map showing North Korea’s proximity to Japan, South Korea and China.
Given the sheer number of leaks from the Trump White House, we would almost certainly know by now if the President were simply bluffing about his intent to pursue a “military option”—otherwise known as war—to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. Instead, we’ve heard nothing but confirmation from his senior advisers, within and without the administration, about Trump’s commitment to use deadly force if Pyongyang does not yield.
Millions may die if the White House launches such a war. Given the huge stakes, Americans should be protesting in the streets, and members of Congress should be threatening to shut down the government, until the administration commits to peaceful resolution of the Korea issue. Instead, like anesthetized animals awaiting slaughter, most of us seem to be passively accepting our fate.
The U.S. military is certainly preparing to carry out a presidential order for war. Besides undertaking a host of war games with South Korea over the past year, it has moved long-range B-52, B-1, and “stealth” B-2 bombers to Guam, from which they can strike North Korea with nuclear or conventional bombs. The Defense Department has also been testing the world’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the 30,000-pound GBU-57, which has the capacity to plow through hundreds of feet of earth to destroy “hardened” weapons silos.
As George W. Bush did in the run-up to his invasion of Iraq, Trump has also been building a public case for bringing “fire and fury” to North Korea, most recently in his State of the Union Address.
Echoing Bush’s rhetoric about not waiting for a “mushroom cloud,” Trump warned that “North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland.” Without mentioning the power of America’s vast nuclear deterrent to keep us safe, he again echoed Bush’s rhetoric about Saddam’s regime: “We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and to our allies.”
Staying on message to prevent the Olympics from diminishing Americans’ fear and loathing of Pyongyang, Trump is sending Vice President Pence to the games with the father of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died after being imprisoned in North Korea.
The Cost of ‘Preventive’ War
Another recent signal of the White House’s intent was its decision to rescind its planned nomination of Victor Cha, a Georgetown University scholar who served in the George W. Bush administration, to be ambassador to South Korea. That position remains embarrassingly vacant more than a year into the Trump presidency.
Despite Cha’s hardline stance against North Korea’s nuclear program, he raised questions within the administration about the wisdom of a preventive military strike. Even a small attack, meant to give North Korea a “bloody nose” without escalating to all-out war, “would likely kill tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Americans,” he wrote in an op-ed column published after his nomination was dropped.
Cha added that even a large-scale attack “would only delay North Korea’s missile-building and nuclear programs, which are buried in deep, unknown places impenetrable to bunker-busting bombs. A strike also would not stem the threat of proliferation but rather exacerbate it, [creating] a vengeful effort intended to equip other bad actors against us.”
Meanwhile, a third of a million Americans resident in South Korea and Japan—not to mention millions of Koreans and Japanese—would be vulnerable to North Korean counterattack by artillery, missiles, and biochemical weapons, not to mention any remaining nukes.
“To be clear,” Cha wrote, “the president would be putting at risk an American population the size of a medium-size U.S. city—Pittsburgh, say, or Cincinnati.”
Cha’s casualty estimates aren’t seriously in question. Even Defense Secretary James Mattis said last summer that a war with North Korea would be “catastrophic.”
What’s more significant is the fact that, having spoken in confidence with all the relevant administration insiders, Cha evidently believes they remain committed to the option of preventive war. Trump has long vowed that he will never permit North Korea to develop nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States—a feat that U.S. intelligence analysts say may be only months away.
The greatest immediate threat to U.S. national security, however, is not North Korean missiles per se, but the fact that the Trump White House faces so little push-back from outside the administration to its fast-approaching “military option.”
Indeed, the president’s golfing partner and foreign policy adviser Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, has been whispering in his ear for nearly a year about the pressing need to wipe out North Korea’s nuclear forces before they can reach the United States.
And just last week, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the temptation to launch a preemptive attack on North Korea is “strong and the argument rational.”
No wonder, then, the respected International Crisis Group warned recently that “The threat of nightmarish war on the Korean peninsula is higher than at any time in recent history.” A national poll released in mid-January found 71 percent Americans surveyed were concerned about war breaking out with North Korea.
Where is the Peace Movement—and Congress?
Yet the public has been strangely quiescent. Besides a handful of demonstrations around the country, the peace movement, such as it is, has been largely AWOL on the issue. Current campaigns of antiwar groups focus on “divestment from the war machine” and protests against the U.S. base in Guantanamo, but few have Korea as their focus.
The grassroots organization Peace Action is, however, helping to organize individual and group support for an “Olympic Truce” to promote a nonviolent settlement of issues on the Korean peninsula.
“The peace movement somewhat mirrors the public in concern regarding tensions with North Korea, but not being clear on what to do about it,” Peace Action’s President Kevin Martin told me. “That is beginning to change with our campaign around the Olympic Truce, which 128 organizations, including many Korean-American groups, have now endorsed.”
A few members of Congress have spoken out strongly about the need to “avoid a costly and catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula,” as Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine put it recently. Two bills introduced in Congress, H.R. 4837 and S. 2016, call for “no unconstitutional strike against North Korea” without explicit authorization from Congress. But they have little Republican support and no immediate chance of passage.
In a letter sent to President Trump on Monday, 18 Democratic senators said they are “deeply concerned about the potential consequences of a preemptive military strike on North Korea and the risks of miscalculation and retaliation.”
But even they seem to accept the administration’s framing of the issue. Warning that “it would be extremely irresponsible to instigate military conflict prior to exhausting every diplomatic option” (my emphasis), they ignore the success the United States has had deterring every other hostile nuclear power, including Stalin’s USSR and Mao’s China. CIA intelligence analysts have concluded that Kim Jong-un’s regime is both rational and deterrable, meaning that there is no cause for preemptive war, whatever the outcome of diplomacy.
Time is fast running out for Americans and their representatives in Congress to wake up and put handcuffs on the Trump administration before it triggers mass murder in North Asia, and possibly much closer to home. It will take an Olympic-sized campaign, but the stakes could not be higher.
Jonathan Marshall is author or co-author of five books on international relations and history. His articles on Korea include “America Isn’t on the Brink of Nuclear War—It Just Looks That Way,” “What’s Wrong with Talking to North Korea?,” “Trump’s North Korea Delusions,” “The New Trump: War President,” “Hurtling Toward Fire and Fury,” “Risk to US from War on North Korea,” “North Korea Fears ‘Regime Change’ Strike,” “The Negotiation Option With North Korea,” and “Behind the North Korean Nuke Crisis.”
Yes, indeed, follow the Koch brothers’ lead. Donate a few hundred thousand to the campaigns of our legislative shills, and demand peace. Of course, if you’re in a position to afford to legally bribe your representatives and senators, then you probably want war with anybody and everybody on Earth because war is good for the economy. Be aware that half the American economy is directly or indirectly dependent on military spending. America kills people for a living. I wish I was exaggerating.
The mass murderers of the USA are on a global killing spree that must be stopped before it destroys all life on Earth. Nothing is more important for those who love humanity than this. Everything we hold precious is being killed by the monsters who are the Deep State. The very Planet is crying out in agony from this unholy assault…….
The illogic of some people seems to be that if the US is bad, North Korea must be good. That’s pretty dumb.
The fact that North Korea has been threatening other countries such as South Korea and Japan seems to be of no consequence to these sorts of people.
There was no credible threat of any country in the world attacking North Korea until the latter started its bellicose behavior and developing nuclear weapons.
No country in the world including American was going to attack North Korea and therefore have to engage in a war with China. North Korea must accept the blame for the current confrontation.
Still, illogical people blame the US for everything and will make excuses for every other country in the world no matter how aggressive. That’s how these people think.
No, the US has continually threatened NK with massive military exercises since the Korean War, when it killed two million civilians by carpet bombing. You are taking one side and pretending that the opposition must be doing so. There are two sides to this, and we must see both sides to find peace.
You seem to lose sight of the simple fact that it would be totally suicidal on the part of North Korea to launch a pre-emptive strike against the United States or any of the vassal states that we call allies. They have not been threatening this, because they don’t have a death wish. They’ve been warning the United States that they have the ability and the will to fight back is we attack them. Any other characterisation of the issue is a deliberate misrepresentation. Of course, none of that means that Kim Jung-Un is not a ruthless dictator or that the North Korean people are not repressed and not fed daily propaganda by their leadership. At least they have the latter in common with us Americans.
Read the following. It should open your eyes. http://www.unz.com/mwhitney/if-theres-a-war-in-korea-blame-trump/
Kim’s central mistake was that he openly, brazenly and foolishly directly threatened to attack American cities with his ever-more-sophisticated missiles and warheads.
Braggadocio will be his undoing. And, no American president could responsibly ignore what appears to be a credible threat to kill millions of Americans.
The actions of NK since the Korean War have been defensive. Deterrence must not be mistaken for aggression.
“like anesthetized animals awaiting slaughter, most of us seem to be passively accepting our fate.”
Nonsense.
You encourage “resistance” to the warfare state when such resistance would merely land one in jail and ruin their family’s future, or, perhaps far worse.
Americans fear their government for good reason. It visits wanton destruction on anyone who open resists it and their livelihoods, family and even friends.
Single people without families perhaps have freedom of action. Those of us with patriarchal responsibilities must envision well beyond the horizon or our lives or it’s entirely possible that our precious families will suffer or cease to exist. So, stop condemning us as sheeple.
We’re not passive. We’re inmates merely trying to survive in a rapidly deteriorating circumstances where the freedoms to resist that you posit still exist have long since ceased to exist.
Quite simply, we’re helpless once we have responsibility for others.
We are all dependents of jobs at risk, regardless of dependents, who are dependent only half of our adult lives.
Most potential actions are not visible demonstrations, but all action involves commitment and risk to ourselves.
You are right that action without realistic hope is foolish; but inaction is worse, and all action builds strength.
A false flag type of event in PyeongChang during the Olympics in the coming days? … A summer Munich 1972 redux?
Something is desperately needed by the neocon NWO, security establishment and deep state to present a unified, albeit false, front to the rest of the World now that social fragmentation and disintegration, and the economic collapse of the West has begun. Current statements emanating from the powers that be, have been advanced by the MSM in hopes of priming the sheeple.
If North Korea gets nuclear weapons capable of reaching US shores, what is the likelihood of N Korea ordering a pre-emptive strike on the US?
I guess a question like the above will determine whether US decides to launch a pre-emptive or not.
It comes down to what is in the best interest of US citizens. As unpredictable
as Trump seems to be it, will be this sentiment that shapes his decision.
After all, don’t get to be president of the US without at least some appreciation of the public you represent.
If the threat of war is real, than one started by N Korea will ultimately lead to a lot more US casualties than one started by America.
Until/unless N Korea is a real threat to US soil, attacks US personnel, or launches missiles/invades allied home ground, the talk of war on both sides seems to be rhetoric.
Let’s hope it remains so.
I had to ask myself an important question; did Un send a convincing letter to the CCP, outlining his plan to avenge an all out attack by unleashing bio-weaponry in the USA and or EU? did he enclose a microbiological slide of an attenuated never seen before, plasmid ready for distribution via deep cover agents, agents previously stationed through out the western Occident? A mechanism for plasmid delivery via some contagious bacteria? Perhaps the letter showed evidentiary proof of man-made and highly virulent genetic material, derived from CRISPR technology? Un may or may not have such advanced bio-labs (no Intel agency info available or reliable enough) but in actuality, Un wouldn’t really need high tech germs considering what is already available such as the old threat of a small pox outbreak? In any case, Un is a physically sick man, he has already (privately?) concluded that one way or another, he shall not escape to enjoy his pilfered millions of dollars, no matter which way the cards fall. A very dangerous situation-indeed! CONSORTIUMNEWS readers consider this, Xi could have sent any one of the Tong family (s) or triad gangs to knock off the fat satrap and he didn’t. Certainly, China is well within a postwar radiation contamination zone, along with South Korea, a bit of Russia, mainland Japan and within a few days, the entire northwestern coast of the USA, the Fukushima catastrophe supports this opinion. All I know is, a lot of people are going to perish and the deaths associated with this conflict will end up killing in areas thought to be (completely) remote from the Korean DMZ
Wild speculation is not an important question without an argument; better to get to the point.
Anon, how could you interpret my comment as wild speculation? There are several web based newspapers expressing grave concern about this rather obvious and evolving issue. Web sites such as; businessinsider, washingtonpost, independent.co.uk, chicagotribune theHill and many, many others are asking the same questions.. Argument?, what did you mean to insinuate here? Further, I clearly made my point(s), again, verifiable intel information is scant and our government needs to openly announce their plan that addresses all contingencies, including bio-warfare.. This is the stuff of war planning- in the event that all other means of negotiation fail.
Now Pence is ranting on about the wicked North and South Koreans daring to speak together and even think about avoiding a devastating war which could destroy both sides. Pretending that the North Koreans are going to attack the USA, which of course is fearful of its defenseless tiny weak country being assailed by an unprovoked (!) nuke because the DPRK might have the capacity to produce one, is hyperactive nonsense which even the “defense specialists” of the Land Of the Free must know. The recent speech by Mad Dog Mattis about improving the US arsenal of death tells us that Pence is not the only dangerous one advising Trump.
” Instead, like anesthetized animals awaiting slaughter, most of us seem to be passively accepting our fate.”
You hit the nail on the head. We are a conquered nation. Not one US representative has demanded a Grand Jury investigation into the murder of 3000 Americans. Who can oppose a power which can turn human flesh into dry bone slivers to waft over the rooftops of NY in 10 seconds? Resistance is futile to the “War Mach” hell bent on world conquest. The 2000 year warning of “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul”? is not only ignored, but grinds on unabated, wreaking a path of mayhem, massacres with “collateral damage”, foreign or domestic, being non-issues.
This year would be the perfect time to rebalance power in America’s favor by attacking North Korea. The hand writing has been on the wall that US influence around the world is fading due to the incompetence, deep divisions within the National Security State, and corruption. I think planners believe that a war with NK would succeed in revising the credibility of the US military and their ability and willingness to dish or and accept mass casualties to continue to impose the will of Imperial Washington on the entire planet. I believe Washington believes China will not respond because their leadership class is sane. Everybody also knows that there would be no domestic opposition to another war within the USA because our culture worships violence as the best solution to most problems.
And, is our modern culture (throughout the “West,” including both Japan and South Korea, not just in the United States) so down with that might-makes-right winner-take-all philosophy that we’ve basically all stopped reproducing to the point where the demographic trends predict extinction and replacement of many ethnic groups? Perhaps we’ve given up hope on bucking the madness, violence and anomie even within our own borders, or most of us have bought into the Orwellian inverted realities.
Indoctrination may really work, except for we few who apparently cannot by hypnotized by the talking heads on the boob tube and the internets. Maybe we just took all the paeans to logic and reason too seriously back in school and could be happy with all the rest if we had only been slackers. A little bit of Budweiser and oxycodon does seem an easier approach to all the assaults and contradictions heaped upon us by modern day life. Cheaper than having kids to boot.
Excellent comment!
I’m getting a little impatient with writers who wonder why I’m not out in the street protesting against fundamentalist foreign policy, or on any number of policies practiced for hundreds if not thousands of years. It’s because it does nothing but inconvenience me. Did protest stop the first world or second world war, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Iraq war, or any of the other little wars that empires have always relied upon for control of their territory? Should I go out there and get put in jail, get myself beat up, or get myself shot and killed trying to stop this insanity? Ask Rachel Corrie how that works. Oh, yeah, you can’t because she’s dead. Someone just called me on the phone asking me to give $200 to the Democrat Senate coordinating committee or whatever, and I told him that I was stretched as far as I can go and can’t give him any money today. Why? Because $20 is quite dear to me, and David Kock can easily give $20 million to the other side. There is no stopping this, but for those who want to try, I say, good luck.
I marched a fair amount against the Iraq War and I vowed not to march any more. I did some Oocupy stuff but quickly saw that was a nothing burger. Marching worked the days of Labor, Civil Rights, and anti-Vietnam because a fair number of Americans had a conscience and cared about public life and democracy. We now accept, with few exceptions an inverted totalitarian society moving inexorably towards either full-scale neo-fascism or some version of neo-feudalism.
Any thoughts as to what “flipped the switch?” Why have we collectively changed so much? Too much fear from all the economic punches? From the carnage across the globe presented nightly on the news, whilst being told it’s all done in our name to protect us because our enemies have painted this big target on our wonderful country, which they hate for our freedoms? Too many one-man jury trials ending in instant executions out in the streets? Something else I missed? All that and more?
What flipped the switch is Operation Mockingbird both actual and virtual. The U.S. public has been served by a series of targetted and centralized propaganda organs that replaced the Mighty Wurlitzer of old with Ableton Live (a flexible music software I use and own). The oligarch class sees that the more they can confuse people the easier their rule. Opposition to official policies of the permanent war state/Empire, the financialization of the economy, the astonishing corruption and/or incompetence of almost every public institution gets almost no response other than tribalism, and various varieties of howling at the Moon. The public is in a stupor–too much information and an utterly bogus education equals confusion and a desire to escape into “entertainment.” There is no hope in politics–whatever change we need will happen through a change in culture.
That’s exactly what I’d like to know!
So what’s the answer? Doing nothing and waiting for the big people to destroy the planet?
I suspect there are many of us here who refuse to be included in that collective “we” moving towards full-scale fascism!
Here’s some ideas. Not saying they will work. Use the force! I mean use the internet! It has become a very powerful tool today as info travels fast and to almost every corner of the earth. If ISIS used it to recruit jihadists and if Kim Kardashian crashed the internet with her nude pics why can’t people use it to promote anti-war messages. Blitz your House Representative or State Senator with messages or e-mails. If enough people do it at about the same time then maybe their sites will crash. Use Twitter, Facebook and other social websites. Make a YouTube video. Good ones will go viral in no time at all. Kids send memes to each other all the time; they seem to spread faster than the speed of light. Come up with a catchy meme and pass it on. And you can do it from the comfort of your home.
Join an anti-war organization or a movement that’s popular right now is ICAN. Even if you don’t want to march or protest the staff probably have other ways for people to participate. Sign petitions, and write letters to politicians. Inundate them, the more people who participate the better. And then again join a protest. It seems this is still a favoured method for demonstrating grievances.
Excellent ideas….. Going to get going with the blitzing!
There has not been a President since 1940’s that has not been using US military to destabilize nations.
Foreign poor in wealth but rich in resources or been conquered trying to Poke the Russian Bear or China’s yellow hordes, in order to keep in the background wartimes tensions ongoing.
But for the American people foreign wars gave their kids a way to become national heros, or
find a job.
Not just the poor uneducated as the leaders needed college educated to be privy to good pay, as Fed administrators , college on down to kindergarten propagandist and indoctrin Aires of youth.
All the while the populace like cattle got to graze mostly unaffected upon US of A riches..
Generations of worshipping lies as to Americans as being above rest of world. Allowed a mass form of National psychopathic and todays selfie ingnoance to become its cultural norm.
Contrary to all hype the Demonstrators of ice Era did not end that war or the continuing rise of US militarism and our now domestic police occupiers.
There is no way public , if you could hold most of their 15 second attention span see no reason for anti war.
Yet let one of our sexually chimed members including females cries abuse and every toms dick and Harriet clit hit the news and then the street.
Come wars let us hope those psychopaths kill off rest of world without destroying their herds of domestic animals.
This morning I saw a story about Trump and North Korea which was new to me. Two headlines:
Trump considers “bloody nose” strike on North Korea
07/02/2018
Trump’s “bloody nose” plan for North Korea could make a mess of the Olympics
By Max Kim Feb 7, 2018
Given the nest of idiots working at the White House and Pentagon and other DC places, I’m not sure they’ve given this much thought.
So far as I know, any kind of attack at all would be illegal in many ways. But if it is going to happen without regard for that little technicality, I’d like to see it an effective one. North Korea has already built a number of nuclear weapons. Short of a land invasion, I don’t see that situation being changed. Pulverizing the electrical systems powering their centrifuges and other nuclear factories seems to me to be both the safest and simplest way of preventing them from building any more such weapons.
h**p://www.defenddemocracy.press/trump-considers-bloody-nose-strike-on-north-korea/
h**ps://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/evmdyn/trumps-bloody-nose-plan-for-north-korea-could-make-a-mess-of-the-olympics
Like other targets of imperialism, NK needs to pre-install nuclear weapons in the US, both for a few remotely-located demonstrations and potential hits, to balance the warmonger ability to deliver them during conflict. After one demonstration, the chickenhawks will decide that peace is the only option, which is better for everyone.
Naturally this would be a nightmare for whoever the target happened to be. Practical considerations for the aggressor would be an issue, though. How to be sure your agents didn’t go “rogue” and sell out. The devices would surely have a substantial market value.
I’ve not read about any war gaming of such a situation as you describe, but surely plenty of thought has been given to such a scenario. For example, there is the possibility the victim nation would not react in the predicted – or even a predictable manner.
Each state could test the agents and processes by sending and planting a few duds for each new team. They could not rely upon anyone who might be an agent or might defect to the target state, but some persons involved could be pre-tested locals who do not know the destination.
Of course such technology could be abused. But the final result would not be chaos, because it would empower international cooperation. As with weapons control within a society, the individual weapons owners are not relied upon to prevent abuses, the larger group is required for its control.
So UN processes would ensure that the rogue user of pre-installed nuclear weapons is accountable to the society of nations. A demonstration blast might be tolerated where a state is under such a threat, but any aggressive or extortionate use is criminal and would be punished by the the society of nations.
South Korea has a great deal of money and is not a weak country, they should wise up and buy the Washington presstitutes to get coverage on this issue before it is too late.
They could easily buy pages on the NYT to discuss this issue.
Excellent idea.
Years ago, Sun Myung Moon (who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus) bought the Washington Times. But his embraced politics exacerbated the march towards authoritarianism in America. The oligarchs are way ahead of you guys and have been buying up what remains of America’s formerly great newspapers. Bezos (does not rhyme with Jesus) has deliberately made the Washington Post a propaganda rag for the Deep State and the MIC. I guess Murdoch started the trend in buying up the NY Post, Wall Street Journal, Times of London and more. The Chicago Tribune went from bad to worse in terms of ownership–not sure who the people are that lunatic Sam Zell sold to. You want to buy what was formerly a respectable purveyor of truth in print? Both the LA Times and the San Diego Union Tribune are presently for sale to the highest bidder. I doubt they will wind up in the hands of altruists.
Every time this topic of right wing media messaging success comes up, I think of Justice Lewis Powell’s memo.
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/
That memorandum was highly organised and fully annotated, the work of a “scholar,” but it was basically pure paranoia and a plan of attack on the working classes. (“What can be done about the public?” The words of a fascist.) A distressing roadmap for the future of America, which it seems to have turned out to be. If it was intended as a job application to Richard Nixon for the open court seat, unfortunately, it worked. You are so widely read and always ready with a new nugget from the chronicles, Joe.
Thanks for the compliment, but we each on this comment board bring something of value, but it is always nice to be appreciated…so thank you Realist. Joe
I look at the Lewis Powell memo as a watershed moment, in the Republican Rights movement to overcome their bad PR due to the Vietnam war. Little did any of us even notice Powell’s advice he gave Richard Nixon, but apparently Roger Ailes heard the future Supreme Court Justice loud and clear, and now we’re here.
Sadly, America has no Left worth talking about to rival the words of Lewis Powell, and if we do, well then the Left Wing cavalry better arrive soon before we are all wearing swastikas.
From the Feb. 6th,2018 LA Times:
“Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong close to deal to buy the L.A. Times and San Diego Union-Tribune”
“Soon-Shiong was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents who fled from China during the Japanese occupation in World War II.His parents were originally from Toisan in Guangdong, China, among the Hakka people and language group”
Perhaps China is beginning to understand how to put their money to work.
Ah, but with whom does he identify? The place of origin for his genome? Or the place where he made his fortune? I don’t know of him, will have to google the name.
Okay, he’s a very talented and altruistic man who made his vast fortune in biomedical technology, but (upon just a quick read) he seems to be strictly based in California. I don’t think he will be bucking the Washington agenda. He’s in the “big club” that George Carlin brought to our attention. I doubt he will be stinking up their garden party.
From my experience with the politics of Asian diaspora communities, there is no way politicians from the old country, would ignore a very wealthy luminary in LA making such a consequential decision. The culture is not based upon independence, so it is very likely that second generation is still involved with their former countries, and they/we are not liberal, so don’t expect a lot of pussy hats.
This strikes me as a bit odd. The implication here seems to be that the majority of 485 members can agree to defy the constitution. And let us not forget that a preemptive strike also defies international law,
Come on now! The congressional critters D and R represent Wall Street interest. They are not “our” representatives!
Should we all invest heavily into the Stock Market? Good comment. Joe
Dubya quite clearly explained the role of the U.S. constitution in matters of war and peace: it’s just a piece of paper. Call it the “Decider Doctrine.” The Congress is clearly subordinate to the military junta running the country out of the White House and Pentagon, and that junta is beholden only to the small multinational cadre of very rich men pulling its strings. Money and clout determine national policy, including the sell-by date for the entire civilised world, not votes or the common interests. They simply don’t teach reality in high school civics classes any more, just outdated feel-good anachronisms that TV anchors can deliver with a smile on their faces.
I think the point of those measures is to keep trump from acting all by himself to launch a war, or nukes, etc. Apparently only Congress can declare war, but that didn’t stop Bush.
Why do these discussions focus so narrowly? The over riding policy principal of the US sense WWII has been: “Global gull spectrum domination.” Any war with North Korea would be a war with China (China has already stated plainly it will fight for North Korea if it is first attacked.) and Russia, any war with Iran would have the same result.
The recent NPR clearly names the four countries as challengers to US supremacy.
These four countries are a vital part of the Eurasia land mass which the US must control to be a global power and dominate the full spectrum. Whatever they do next, the relentless aggression toward the ultimate goal will not hesitate as it has never hesitated for a moment to slaughter innocent people to achieve total domination.
This is about the final push to take it all nothing less.
The idea that the US can attack NK either small or large, will start a war with China immediately and others will join in. India on the US side will enter and presto – world war and the use of nuclear weapons.
It could all be over in a matter of hours with glowing pits where cities stood and the deep twilight of a Nuclear Winter beginning.
My gut feeling is, is that a sudden strike to N Korea will set off a global war. Seriously, just take a look at what is going on with all the saber rattling towards Iran. If Iran wasn’t enough, then take a look at the U.S. rearming the thugs in Kiev, and ask yourself WTF. If the adversarial nation’s the U.S. has demonized form a suitable coalition, then attacking all U.S. military installations worldwide could prove to stretch the mighty U.S. out, as the larger the army advantage turns into the larger problem of coordination, which only becomes that much more confusing, and cumbersome to manage. Big isn’t always better, and efficient management of big, is sometimes bigs biggest problem…so which will it be, a big military with big managerial difficulties, or a small negotiating peace conference to finally settle the long overdue peace accord between the two Koreas?
American FP planners are convinced that the leadership class on Russia and China are sane and don’t want to destroy their countries. They also know the leadership class in the USA is both ruthless and insane or at least appear to be. This class is willing to risk a global cataclysm in order to dominate the world in a thousand year Reich. The main point to understand is that Washington believes Russia and China will blink first or so it seems.
For the Americans who have made Putin a devil, and have aided to help and create this little cottage business of demonizing the Russian leader, these critics might think twice about who they are picking on. I hear the word ‘regime change’ used from time to time when describing the Russian situation and it’s pragmatic leader. How insane, when Putin shows the patience and reserve which he uses to allow the harsh rhetoric of the American warmonger to roll off his back. I’m sure there are those at the Pentagon and at Langley, who are baffled at how resilient this Russian is. I mean, ‘what does it take to get him angry enough to fight’, must be the big question of the day. So why promote his removal from his highly responsible office, when the next Russian leader maybe trigger happy.
I do agree that the resolve of the Russians, and the Chinese, is being abused by our nation’s chicken-hawk leaders, and with that I feel that our leaders are playing a fool’s game, and only making the possibility of war that much more possible.
Alas, the sooner Washington loses assets in those far flung bases, the sooner it will start lobbing the nukes. It distinctly resents any of its targets fighting back. As both things are inevitable, once American aggression begins in earnest against a major power, expect nuclear armageddon. You know the fanatics in the Pentagon are still miffed that they lost in Vietnam and have been planning payback for over 40 years.
What a waste. I served in the Navy during the Vietnam years, and I can tell you of how even back then our military had no idea of how to win that war. The generals and admirals always blamed their losses on the politician, and the politician always scared us citizens with ‘the commies are coming to get us’, and that was that. Now these half wits yearn to fight the Vietnam war all over again, but in different places, as to prove what? It all sounds good on paper in a Situation Room, but hardly does it ever transfer over to an easy win. It’s all garbage, and we tax payers are the lube that primes the pistons of war, and the fuel which accelerates the death of those who’s fate is to die in these god forsaken wars. The best way to view Vietnam, is to study to how we could have avoided it.
In the 60s the military wanted a war, any war preferably a nuclear war. Johnson compromised and gave them Vietnam the first war that was fought just to use up military equipment and jeepbinternational tensions high. This has been the overall policy particularly since 911 when the marks fell for the con hook, line, and sinker.
As long as uncle sam packs his bags and gets out of the way, I’d bet the Koreans could manage to bridge their divide just fine. Wouldn’t you say Joe? I love your play on bigness.
Dr. Strangelove now staging a career comeback, appearing in his most heartwarming cameo appearance since 1963!!!
Movie fans who have missed him so long applaud!
Donald J. Trump is the World’s Greatest Negotiator. Appoint Hillary Clinton ambassador to North Korea now; plan to attack later.
To be fair to the absent American peace protester, our MSM isn’t to on to this N Korean thing. All I see on Korea is commercials for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and the pundits on tv are talking about the ‘Memo’. I mean come on man, we Americans just got done watching all those commercials during the Super Bowl, and now you speak of war with Korea. Seriously, without football the biggest thing to watch will be entertainment awards shows, and or binge watching new releases on Netflix, but no war.
We Americans live in an abstract world that is totally void of what should most matter. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing, I mean everybody deserves an escape, but in America the ‘wall’ to news from the outside world is regulated by it’s intake to output quality by the infamous MSM. In fact, with a war to report, I can see the cable news executives dancing in the halls over the ‘War Boom’ in ratings. (Remember in 1991 Desert Storm was the Bar mitzvah for CNN.) Afterwards the pundits, and news anchors, will fight for who will get to broadcast the huge ‘Military Parade’. Will Kelly Ripa get to host the Parade coupled up with Anderson Cooper, or will Anderson prefer Andy over Kelly, as this will be the debatable conversation of the day.
The good news for Trump is, is that the NYT and Wapo will honor our wartime president. I can see Jeff Bezos upping Melania’s account to free shipping greatness of ‘Amazon Prime’, while Brian Williams will be quoting Leonard Cohen’s song: “I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.” This is America, and if war is viewed and accepted in this manner then it must right, and very correct in it’s infrequent presentation, because after all America is the exceptional nation and everyone should know that.
The good news is girls eat the same Dorito’s as men do…now doesn’t that just make your day?
Here’s more ….
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/07/wanted-homicidal-maniac-for-us-ambassador-to-seoul/
Listen to what Edward Luttwak has to say, and hope that Trump doesn’t pick up on Luttwak’s advise….
http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/08/its-time-to-bomb-north-korea/
Lutt-whacko actually has the incredible insensitivity to blame any mass homicide inflicted on South Korea and the South Koreans, themselves, twistedly terming it “self-inflicted.”
Bear in mind, in doing so, he’s describing a scenario where Washington starts the fight, Pyonyang fights back and South Korea is not an active player, at all.
That’s akin to two NYC mobs divided by one neighbourhood firing hails of bullets at each other and blaming their common neighbour for those killed in the crossfire “Dey shudda all put in bullet proof glass like we tol’ dem – or moved somewheres else. It’s all der fault!”
Clearly, the man is certifiably insane; it’s just that he’s surrounded by other, equally insane people and, therefore, thinks himself “normal.”
That a platform like Foreign Policy Magazine would aid and abet that delusion by featuring his homicidal fantasy-lit simply confirms that The Powers That Be have valuable work they need well-placed and wholly deranged actors to incite and cheer on.
Equally confirmed, however, is the need of each and every one of us to recognize it all for the sheer madness that it is and to refuse, outright, any orders issued therefrom.
In short, “Just say, ‘no’!”
While you correctly describe the mental condition of Luttwak keep in mind that there are those in our DC Beltway who feel the urgency of now to use our military might, while N Korea is only at the current stage they are in, as in regard to N Korea’s ability is to strike back. This after a 60 year peace agreement is left undone. You should have been so lucky with your late handed in term paper, or your mortgage payment when your workman’s compensation didn’t kick in, but there again this is how Washington rolls, or is it rules?
The paranoid and delusional are constantly stuck in fight-or-flight mode, hence the intense urgency of their preemptive encouragements. In that regard, The Beltway might best be seen as an asylum’s perimeter whose inmates the rest of us should keep well away any tools or controls.
Bruce another thing to consider is Israel’s influence. I have read an article or two which describes a scenario where Iran is purchasing nukes from N Korea. Now, if that should prove to be more than rumor, or there is evidence pointing toward the possibility of a nuke trading business going on between Iran and N Korea, well then hold on to you hats, because now we will have Netanyahu rooting for the destruction of Kim Jung un and the Back to the Stone Age threat will become a reality for N Korea.
I just thought I’d throw that Israel bit out there for your assessment Bruce, of the Korean Peninsula, and the many turns it could take to bring about a full fledged war of total destruction. Joe
There is a real possibility that the US confrontations of NK and Pakistan may both be due to potential nuclear development and exchange with other US targets such as Iran, causing politicians to oppose them to get zionist bribes. Yet the presence of nuclear deterrents in those nations, and their spread to other US targets, might very well be a stabilizing influence.
I’ve followed Luttwalk for many years and had a boss that new him very well and I don’t think he is insane. He is or was a realist and and his article makes a reasonable case for attacking NK. I’m opposed to it because I believe the most dangerous and negative force in the world is the Empire, not North Korea and, somehow, the U.S. military will find a way to fuck it up. Also, I think Luttwalk underestimates North Korea–they have been able to do quite a lot on a shoestring budget so they may be more capable than we think.
The guy is about as “reasonable” as Richard Perle or Paul Wolfowitz, and you’ve seen where their “realism” has led us. He’s just another out-of-whack neoconservative fanatic who used to get a lot more air time during the first cold war. Not surprising he’s back for a reprise. His answer to every problem America creates in the world is to start another war.
“U.S. military officers have cited the fear of a “sea of fire” to justify inaction. But this vulnerability should not paralyze U.S. policy for one simple reason: It is very largely self-inflicted.”
Yes, the Dr. Strangelove Frankenstein has come to life as Luttwak to castigate South Korea for not buying and installing Iron Dome missile batteries from Israel.
What a cocky POS when it comes to putting other people’s lives on the line simply to entrench the empire. How does dying to maintain the power of a hegemon on the opposite side of the world meet the interests of South Korean citizens? Their interests can only be met by arriving at a permanent peace with all their neighbors, most notably with their estranged relatives on the other side of the DMZ. They know that. Washington does not care. It only cares about its ability to intimidate China from the massive citadel it has built in South Korea. Everyone in the equation knows the truth, which revolves around the THAAD’s. The South Koreans are just pawns with no real ability to throw their biggest existential menace out of their country.
Here’s one more worth your read…
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/06/if-theres-a-war-in-korea-blame-trump/
Yep, the business of America was once business now it is War.
Yep! That, and “financial products”….
Great comment. Culturally Americans love wars even if the US military performs poorly. I see no interest in this country for peace or diplomacy. On the other hand a major new war may force people to wake up.
Your right, our American culture has had war in it’s DNA since the founding, and even before the founding of this nation as a British colony we warred against the Native-American. A young culture, indeed. A culture still in it’s evolutionary stage of this nation’s short history. It would be worth a prayer or two, that if the U.S. makes it through this phase of it’s development that the U.S. accept a humble role to become a member of a worldwide sovereign class of peaceful nations. This can happen, if the U.S. is willing to quit being the policeman of the world, and if the U.S. wants too.
Not going to happen. Too much money and power riding on trillion dollar+ security budgets. I hope we spend that money on lot’s of military parades and not war. Our culture needs to change or war, chaos, coercion of all kinds and anti-convivial policies will continue and expand as we’ve seen.
TOWARD 2020…
It is typical (has been for centuries (and more) for belligerents
to wrap themselves in aggression That aggression is always
sold as being 1. easy 2. quick 3. “cheap” in the sense of
costing the belligerent little. 4. nearly risk-free (- a must-win,
no questions are permissible.
Our current President (whose name you may recall) may sense
that his other programs and promises may not “work”. The
out-of-work rust belt may possibly not bloom with investments
in high-salaried jobs. (Rather, as judging by the current
stock market volatility in the US and globally, it will probably
result in profits for the wealthy. Sorry, nothing left for
the miner, steelworker whose many years are wasted as may be
his personal life, family etc.)
(For a deeper discussion see Dr. Jack Rasmus, SYSTEMIC FRAGILITY
AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.)
What this President and his sycophants (like those in previous administrations)
is his proven ability to gather the nation around “patriotism”. This President
is a demagogue but a very good one!
How many may die is to him irrelevant.
In fact it is far from irrelevant. But to many, that is “beside the point.”
On with the US show!
——–
RE: Jonathan Marshall’s comment:
“…. The Defense Department has also been testing the world’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the 30,000-pound GBU-57, which has the capacity to plow through hundreds of feet of earth to destroy “hardened” weapons silos…”
Who (which defense contractor?) is “testing this weapon? At what price. Details
are important. The Defense Department doesn’t do “testing” but pays a contractor
or several to do it. Time frames are important. When precisely was this deal
agreed to? Under what Administration. Where is it now.
(Note: We know well that enormous weapons have been “tested” and
for years failed for one reasons or another.
Has this item been specified in the budget/
Where will the manufacturing and testing be done. (What states etc.).
Dates are required.
—————–
Regarding the lack of demonstrations by “the peace movement”,
I can only remind readers that there were not many such demonstrations
as National Socialism overtook Germany. Many were for peace, and
many (including non-Jews) died for that. Off hand I would guess
that raw fear plays a role.
I would caution readers to pretend that previous ( often Democratic)
Administrations were also pro-defense. For an example, when
battling a plane being produced by Lockheed (thus producing
“jobs” saith Lockheed) the Obama Defense Department raised (by 4 times)
the number of drones to be made…also by Lockheed.
With thanks to Jonathan Marshall and many commenters.
Peter Loeb, Boston, MA USA
Hey Banger here’s something to accompany our conversation….
https://www.globalresearch.ca/america-has-been-at-war-93-of-the-time-222-out-of-239-years-since-1776/5565946
Do you actually think a majority want war? I don’t. I live in a very conservative area, and that’s not what I see – locally, anyway.
Here is an interesting look at how Rex Tillerson measures the effectiveness of sanctions against North Korea:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2018/01/rex-tillerson-and-effectiveness-of-anti.html
There’s nothing like sacrificing civilians to accomplish America’s political agenda.
Nazi Germany has demonstrated the usefulness of “collective punishment”. Those “above the law” find it useful still.
The Warmbiers appear to be an entire clan of useful idiots.
An attack on North Korea by the US military would be such a disaster on so many fronts than nobody seems to take it at all seriously. One major issue that goes undiscussed is the likelihood of the military destruction of South Korean nuclear power plants and their vast piles of ‘spent’ fuel rods – hundreds of tons. There’d be no hope of controlling the fallout, unlike Chernobyl and Fukushima, so fallout levels could be 100 times as high and span the entire region, affecting Japan, China, etc. Let alone all US people in the region, so. . . It seems that nobody wants to believe Trump would be such an idiot, or at best, they hope the US military would never go along with such orders, there’d be some kind of mutiny.
The sheer insanity of even thinking this is a rational idea. . . Hard to believe.
And Vladivostok Russia, a modern city of 650,000, is only 120 miles from the North Korean border. This sounds like the worst idea we could think of.
Reading Mad Dog Mattis’s recent “speech” on upgrading the nukes to have sea-based easy to use tiny ones shows how serious the whole situation has already become.
If the USA with all its sanctions of others kept to the NPT and reduced the nukes, not upgraded (which Obama vastly increased in his term, so Trump is continuing the good work), we would have plenty of money to spend on all the unimportant things in the USA, like environment, health, schools, infrastructure!!!!!!!!
Yes, this is why we can’t have nice things. After the damn gentrifying of every city in this country is complete, then the surplus weapon stockpiles that we continue to make more of, extra nukes, dead and failed F-35 parts will move into next door ’cause the newer residents don’t need no stinking life.
Damned fools have no foresight whatsoever. Do they think that, even if they destroy North Korea’s military as easily and effectively as they did Saddam’s (and I don’t think there’s a chance of that short of Washington itself using nukes in their attack), China will simply allow them to waltz in and occupy the country? Besides, China has already committed itself to defending North Korea in any conflict with Washington that Kim Jong-Un does not start. Start this war with North Korea and you’re fighting a full blown war with China which probably escalates into WWIII.
The opening moves of such a conflict have been discussed many times, with South Korea and Japan being decimated. The American garrison along the DMZ will be quickly eradicated. Trump and Mattis will create about 40,000 gold star mothers in a single day. Do they assume that every country in the world will simply play rope-a-dope with Washington like Saddam did and not fight back? If so, they are idiots, as well as mass murderers.
The rest of the world desperately needs a sudden economic collapse in America which necessitates that it pull in its horns around the globe. As long as there are any resources available they go only to feeding the American war machine. That damned monster needs its blood supply cut off.
So true, but we keep re-electing the same vermin who have bankrupted this once great land, sold our progeny into involuntary servitude by taxes spent on insane, murderous massacres of small nations. Their blood-lust for world dominion has “gone to their heads” and pride and conceit is egging on for more massacres, thus bringing on nuclear winter, where “the living envying the dead”.
Very succinctly put! We need at least one actual opposition party, and it should be clear by now that it’s not going to be the dim party of today, with its corporate leadership and zeal for “business friendly candidates” (as Chuck Schumer said). In terms of future major elections, they are going to make sure no progressive dem gets the nod, like they did in 2016.
I guess some things we need to explore now are: Are there potential alternative candidates that would run for office? How can we get widespread support for grassroots candidates? How can we change the lock-down the D&R duopoly has on the election process? How do we form a national political party with a platform that a significant number of citizens can support? Write-in candidates are possible in most states, at least for federal elections…is a grassroots, nationwide write-in effort do-able, providing there’s a desirable candidate?
I don’t even pretend to have the answers. But maybe we can let these and other questions percolate….because if we get to 2020* and the dims run a Hillary +/or Schumer clone, and the repugs run trump, we’ll just have another 2016, where millions stayed home instead of going 3rd party or writing in a candidate, and we ended up with herr trump.
What I DO know is that doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to come out differently is insanity. And the answer is NOT staying home and doing nothing.
*keep your fingers crossed!
Much truth there, but presently there is little unity among the true liberals and potential write-ins.
We need parties that truly represent their constituencies, to form a powerful coalition, excluding all sources of corrupt money influence such as the MIC, zionists, and Wall St.
The first acts upon winning must be to abolish money power in politics, with constitutional amendments restricting funding of mass media and elections to limited individual contributions. That will require executive overreach, to investigate and throw out nearly all of Congress and the Judiciary for financial corruption, turn over the mass media temporarily to the universities (with preparations), and hold new elections. We must then demand those amendments and repeat the expulsions and elections until we get them.
When we have laws defining and regulating mass media corporations (interlocked groups of organizations controlling media with more than say ten percent of audience in any subject or region), the media can be returned to such groups, to avoid politicizing the universities.
Its not a question of if, its when the US Neocon gangsters and the deep state will attack North Korea. I will be absolutely astounded if the attack doesn’t come some time this year. The dirty US war mongers are highly agitated and disturbed by the tiny buds of of good will between the North and the South so we can expect some kind of false flag incident soon. Its been said before on this forum many times, that the US war machine is now so bloated it simply HAS to have some kind of military conflict in order to justify its existence.
True True..
The last couple of decades have shown that America’s dependency on war is not just financially motivated, but American tax dollars go to support regime change and deep state civil war instigators.
America really is the world’s Bad cop.
Public enemy number 1 disguised as the police.
I hope not. Perhaps a big military parade may satisfy Trump. One of the chief problems we face is both the foreign policy establishment and the military has proven incompetent. Prayer is indicated to avoid war.
That’s never a bad idea, but also please include taking actions like daily calls/letters/emails to legislators, letters to the editor, talking with friends & neighbors, or participating in group actions, and so on.
The naysayers who claim none of that does any good are the people who are doing exactly nothing, and then claiming that “it won’t do any good”….or, “it won’t work.” They actually think that sitting around and making scathing and defeatist commentary is somehow intellectually superior to attempting resistance. Crazy, huh?
What is lacking in all these discussions, is a reminder of who and what the factions are, and were, in WWII Korea and all of the years since. Our western habit of recording our own war propaganda as unquestioned history, renders us out of touch with reality. An awareness of our own horrendous distortion of history, and the injustice of it, makes it only a small leap to understand the DPRK defensive reflexes.
A quick read on the subject is Sir John Pratt’s “The Lie That Led To War” (1951).
Further reading: I.F.Stone’s “The Hidden History of the Korean War: 1950-1951” (1952)
The fledgeling UN fell for American insistance that their vicious puppet in the south was the only legitimate government of Korea, and that North Korea not be heard on the claims that it had initiated hostilities. The war, thus instigated against the north, destroyed every city and major life sustaining infrastructure, in blatant violation of all the rules of war. Cruel sanctions have been in place for nearly 70 years. The armistice required the beligerents to refrain from introducing new armaments to the peninsula, and yet the US has violated those terms many times over, even to the extent of placing nuclear weapons in the south for a time, and now with the massive build-up off shore.