Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Fog of War By Erick San Juan

Fog of War By Erick San Juan

The perceived bully in the region that might start a regional conflict in the process has issued another threat.

North Korea warned the US that it would pay a ‘due price’ for spearheading a UN Security Council resolution against its latest nuclear test, as Washington presses for a vote to impose more sanctions on Pyongyang.

The call for additional sanctions came after the North’s sixth nuclear test on September 3, which Pyongyang said was an advanced hydrogen bomb.

North Korea has also threatened to fire missiles into waters off the Pacific island of Guam, home to US military bases, as a show of force.

The United States wants the Security Council to impose an oil embargo on the North, block its export of textiles and freeze the financial assets of leader Kim Jong-un, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters.

The North’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the United States was “going frantic” to manipulate the Security Council over Pyongyang’s nuclear test, which it said was part of “legitimate self-defensive measures.” (Asia Times, 9/11/17)

Japan and NATO were quick to push for such sanctions on DPRK in order to halt its efforts in building nuclear arms or whatever kind of materiel they are making.

The persistent word wars between North Korea and the United States and its allies are making the countries in the region nervous for it might lead to real shooting war. Although one might notice that this is going on for quite some time now and one may wonder who benefits?

In the article by Mike Whitney (published at Global Research, 9/10/17 and CounterPunch, 8/9/17) he writes – “Donald Trump isn’t going to start a war with North Korea. That’s just not going to happen.

Not only does the United States not have the ground forces for such a massive operation but, more important, a war with the North would serve no strategic purpose at all. The US already has the arrangement it wants on the Peninsula. The South remains under US military occupation, the economic and banking systems have been successfully integrated into the US-dominated western system, and the strategically-located landmass in northeast Asia provides an essential platform for critical weapons systems that will be used to encircle and control fast-emerging rivals, China and Russia.

So what would a war accomplish?

Nothing. As far as Washington is concerned, the status quo is just dandy.”

So what could be the reasons of keeping a bogeyman in the region?

“The crisis has clearly tightened Washington’s grip on the peninsula while advancing the interests of America’s elite powerbrokers. I seriously doubt that Trump conjured up this plan by himself. This is the work of his deep state handlers who have figured out how to use his mercurial personality to their advantage.

Does Trump know anything about the history of the current crisis?  Does he know that North Korea agreed to end its nuclear weapons program in 1994 if the US met its modest demands?  Does he know that the US agreed to those terms but then failed to hold up its end of the bargain?   Does he know that the North honored its commitments under the agreement but eventually got tired of being double-crossed by the US so they resumed their plutonium enrichment program?  Does he know that that’s why the North has nuclear weapons today, because the United States broke its word and scotched the agreement?

That’s not conjecture. That’s history.” (Ibid)

History tells us a lot on why the Korean Peninsula crisis is still a crisis and the role of the big powers which made it difficult for both Koreas to achieve its unification.

Have we forgotten the 'detente' involving China's Mao Tse Tung and Russia's Nikita Kruschev in 1964? North Korea's Kim il Sung felt betrayed and this time, his grand son, Kim Jong Un is playing a different but confusing game plan.

"China may be the real target of North Korea's pressure."(Agence France Presse September 7,2017) China suspected that North Korea's escalating nuclear provocations are putting China, a known ally in a bind and assessed as part of a strategy to twist Beijing's arm into orchestrating direct talks between Pyongyang and Washington which could cause embarassment to China.

So, who is the real bully in the region and will benefit in the process?

“Now the North has hydrogen bombs and Washington is still playing its stupid games. This whole fake crisis is a big smokescreen designed to conceal Washington’s imperial machinations. Trump is using Kim’s missile tests as a pretext to extend the Pentagon’s military tentacles deeper into Asia so the US can assume a dominant role in the world’s fastest growing region. It’s the same game Washington has been playing for the last hundred years.  Unfortunately, they’re pretty good at it.” (Mike Whitney, writer, based in Washington) 

This fog of confusion could lead to a real war soon.

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