QUICK BACKGROUND:
Did North Korea attack South Korea yet? Will they? A combination of my thoughts, but mostly two articles I read today on Counterpunch.
Korea is divided because the United States invaded and divided it after the Japanese surrender. The leaders of the DPRK had been fighting the Japanese since the early 1930s, and 200,000 had lost their lives. When Korean liberation was at hand in 1945, the US intervened and blocked it. The US was supposed to leave in 1948, along with the Soviet Union, but because Kim Il Sung was likely to win planned nation-wide elections, the US made the division permanent and blocked national elections, just as it did later in Vietnam. This lead to the Korean War, the cause of the present militarization: A foreign country divided and occupied their country against their will.
The US may have killed 20% of the population of Korea, said General Curtis Lemay, who was involved in the US air war on Korea. If so, that is a higher rate of genocidal slaughter than what the Nazis inflicted on Poland or the Soviet Union. The Korean War may be unknown ancient history to us, but it is no more ancient history to Koreans than the Nakba is to Palestinians.
Would the US government and people get a little “irrational” if a foreign country that previously had killed 20% of our people, sent nuclear capable stealth bombers off the coasts of New York City, Washington DC, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, there to fly around for a month in preparation for a possible nuclear attack on us? I guess they are just “war games” … warped language from deranged leaders in a supposed “free” world. North Korea doesn’t think it’s a “game.” Over 4 million died in the last war to reunify their country that the US divided.
We are told almost daily now how North Korea is the “aggressor” and a “rogue state” and their Fat Boy cult leader is “mad”, “brutal”, “evil”, etc etc. Let’s not forget that such vilifications are a precursor to invading or over-throwing a country. It is also a means to isolate the few of us who are sick and fucking tired of America’s endless wars. For, surely, you cannot be a true American Patriot if you oppose getting rid of “mad” men … be they named Adolf, Josepf, Sadam, Quaddafi, or Imadinnerjacket. Once again, it’s time to reconsider MSM bullshit.
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So, the $64,000 question; — Is North Korea the aggressor here? Or is the MSM version of a blameless American victimhood correct? Let’s look at the past few months to see what is troubling the North Koreans.
The first step came in October 2012. The United States granted South Korea an exemption under the Missile Control Technology Regime, permitting it to extend the range of its ballistic missiles so that they could cover the entire territory of the DPRK. So … there was one set of terms that applied to every nation which had joined the treaty, and a different set applying only to South Korea …. clearly for the purpose of targeting its neighbor to the north.
Again in October 2012. U.S. and South Korean military officials met for the annual Security Consultative Meeting. A whole new set of rules. Biggest one being “tailored deterrence”. It calls for joint South Korean-U.S. military operations against North Korea in a number of scenarios …. including minor incidents. ANY “provocation” by North Korea is to be met with disproportionate force, and according to a South Korean military official, “this strategy will be applied in both peacetime and wartime.”
“Tailored deterrence” implements a “kill chain”. Quite simply; American satellites and drones detect targets and South Korean missiles and warplanes take them out. The plan calls for a preemptive attack based on the PERCEPTION of an imminent launch of North Korean missiles. To put it plainly, an attack could be launched on missile sites based on supposition, even when North Korean missiles are not in a position to fire.
December 12, 2012; North Korea launched an earth observation satellite into orbit. That was met with immediate condemnation by the Obama Administration. Obamanistas claimed that the flight was a disguised ballistic missile test. Only, it wasn’t.
Missile technology experts pointed out that the missile the DPRK launched lacked the performance to serve as an ICBM and its flight path took a sharp turn to avoid flying over Taiwan and the Philippines, an action that is counter-productive for a ballistic missile test.
Furthermore, South Korean naval vessels managed to salvage debris from the North Korean missile. Analysis showed that a small engine with a low 13 to 14-ton thrust powered the second stage. Munich-based aerospace engineer Marcus Schiller reported that a low-thrust, long-burn time second stage, such as the North Koreans used, is precisely the design needed for a SATELLITE LAUNCHER. Such a design is needed to attain a high enough altitude to place a satellite into orbit. That design, however, is INAPPROPRIATE FOR A BALLISTIC MISSILE TEST, as it would cost more than 1,000 kilometers in range. To test a ballistic missile, the second stage should have the opposite design, having a high-thrust and short burn-time. Schiller concludes that Western media reports that North Korea’s satellite launch served as a ballistic missile test “are not true.”
Furthermore, Michael Elleman, security analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, notes that the results of a satellite launch “have limited application to ballistic missiles,” as only a fraction of issues can be tested. “Other requirements, most notably re-entry technologies and operational flexibility requirements, cannot be adequately addressed by satellite launches.” Elleman reports that for these and other reasons, North Korea’s satellite missile launches “are not a substitute for ballistic missile testing.”
Furthermore, the United States is not lacking in aerospace engineers, and U.S. officials were surely aware that North Korea’s satellite launch could not be technologically construed as a disguised ballistic missile test.
IT APPEARS THAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DELIBERATELY CHOSE TO MISREPRESENT THE NATURE OF THE LAUNCH IN ORDER TO FURTHER ITS OWN POLITICAL ENDS. The satellite launch provided the Obama Administration with an opportunity to tighten the noose around North Korea,.
January 2013: The United States managed to push a resolution through the United Nations Security Council. According to a State Department spokeswoman the sole goal was to “further isolate this regime.”. Crushing new sanctions were imposed on North Korea …. despite the fact that the international outer space treaty grants the right to explore space to “all states without discrimination of any kind.”
February 2013: To no one’s surprise, North Korea chose to express its resistance to the aggressiveness of U.S. policy by conducting its third nuclear test. In fact, it’s what the United States wanted.
February 2013, one day after the nuclear test. South Korea announces deployment of cruise missiles capable of striking anywhere in North Korea. Also says it will accelerate development of ballistic missiles. Most disturbingly to NK they announce implementation of the “kill chain” would be sped up to be completed this year.
March 2013: European Union forged ahead with its own set of measures, 1) prohibition on trade with North Korean public entities, 2) prohibiting trade in DPRK public bonds, 3) a ban on European banks opening in the DPRK and 4) North Korean banks establishing a branch in the EU.
March 7, 2013; the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2094
—- all nations to inspect North Korean ships and planes that are suspected of carrying prohibited goods
—- Strong restrictions are placed on North Korean banking operations.
—- Nations are ordered to prevent North Korean individuals from transferring bulk cash
—- North Korean diplomatic personnel are to be subjected to “enhanced vigilance” ( a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations).
In short, the new sanctions cut off most of the few remaining means North Korea has for engaging in international monetary transactions. Most international banks cannot transact with North Korea, forcing them to conduct much of its foreign trade on a cash basis, which it doesn’t have. Going after banks was the surest way to inflict massive damage on the North Korean economy … what little there was to begin with.
It is the measure restricting business with North Korean banks that promises to inflict the most harm on the North Korean economy. “Going after the banking system in a broad brush way is arguably the strongest thing on the list,” observes former U.S. State Department official Evans J. R. Revere. “It does begin to eat into the ability of North Korea to finance many things.” Primarily normal trade, it should be noted.
U.S. Department of Treasury followed up with its own sanctions, prohibiting transactions between North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank and U.S. individuals and businesses, and placing a freeze on assets held under U.S. jurisdiction. The sanctions are structured such that even “Chinese banks aren’t going to be able to help North Korea out,”.
South Korea adopts policies that increase the danger of war. According to a South Korean military official; — “Commanders have been given the authority to act first at discretion in the event of a North Korean provocation to inflict a retaliation that is more than TEN TIMES as harsh as the level of provocation.”
The United States is beholden to South Korea due to a recently signed “counter-provocation plan”. Amazingly … U..S. forces are pledged to provide support even if South Korean forces attack a North Korean target unprovoked.
Ongoing: United States provocation is massive. B-52 bombers taking off from Guam and dropping practice munitions in South Korea is especially inflammatory to N Koreans … given the stinging memory North Koreans have of the Korean War, when U.S. bombers carried out a scorched earth policy and razed very many North Korean towns and cities to the ground.
Wait, there’s more! Then of course there’s the nuclear-powered submarine USS Cheyenne, equipped with Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Stealth bombers which can penetrate N Korea’s anti-aircraft defense to drop conventional and nuclear weapons, advanced F-22 Stealth fighter planes, 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, the United States new approval for the sale of 200 bunker buster bombs, suitable for targeting North Korean underground facilities, South Korea’s new purchase of 200 air-launched Taurus cruise missiles from Europe, which are capable of penetrating up to six meters of reinforced concrete, aircraft carriers, and interceptor missiles everywhere.
MORE!!! There’s even a US Special Ops group responsible for entering North Korea and seizing nuclear facilities and weapons in the event of a crisis in the DPRK. In that scenario, U.S. forces would also arrest “key figures” and gather classified information. Which North Korean individuals would be subject to arrest by U.S. forces has not been disclosed. The force would be comprised of U.S. armed forces, intelligence operatives and anti-terrorism personnel. A mock drill implementing the plan was part of the recently concluded Key Resolve exercises.
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It’s all One Big Fucking Charade … a dangerous one
The Wall Street Journal reports that this show of military force WAS PLANNED IN ADVANCE, in what the Obama Administration termed “the playbook.” The United States acted with the deliberate intention of threatening North Korea before the crisis even started.
But the Obama Administration wishes to convey to the American sheeple (and world public opinion) that the United States is acting responsibly in order to defuse the situation. Nothing can be further from the truth. Obama & Co. is ratcheting up the pressure behind the scenes trying to get almost literally every nation on earth to sanction North Korea. A State Department official recently said; — “I don’t know what will succeed, but we haven’t maxed out sanctions, there is headroom, and we have to give it a try.”
Yes … without question, North Korean officials and media have been issuing fire-breathing proclamations, and they have taken actions such as severing the military hotline with South Korea, announcing their intention of restarting the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, and temporarily closing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which appear to recklessly exacerbate tensions. Yet, there is logic to their behavior.
The Obama Administration has NEVER been willing to negotiate with North Korea, and it clearly aims to effect regime change as it piles sanctions upon sanctions and develops military plans that threaten the North Korea’s very existence. In effect, U.S. actions have encouraged North Korea to develop a nuclear weapons program as its only realistic deterrent against attack, given the outmoded technology of its conventional weaponry.
What choice does America give North Korea? 1) North Korea can meekly accept round after round of punishment while helplessly witnessing the mounting damage to their economy and threats to their nation, or 2) ramp up their rhetoric as a means of sending a message to the United States. Of course, option 2 produces a feedback loop …. the more the United States punishes North Korea, the stronger the North Koreans resist, and the more they resist, the more punishment comes their way.
RESOLUTION: There are two ways to resolve this impasse for a long-term solution; 1) a genuine negotiated peace or, 2) war. The piece of shit running America knows absolutely nothing about the former so it’s not even worth pondering, … and everything about the latter, as he is truly a war-mongering criminal. There may indeed be logic to North Korea’s Fat Boy cult leader. But the really crazy fucker willing to start a nuclear war over nothing is a black asshole on the other side of the world.
What is REALLY going on in this “crisis”? Here is the best quote I’ve read to date;
“The United States did not respect the security concerns of the DPRK and that is the reason why the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has not been solved. Washington may not want Pyongyang’s nuclear issue to be solved because it offers an excuse for the U.S. to deploy anti-missile systems and hold military drills in the region, which are in line with its military rebalance to East Asia.”
————— Chen Qi, International Affairs Analyst, Tsinghua University
