Creating a North Korean Threat

Stephen Lendman
Activist Post

Washington needs enemies. When none exist, they’re invented. A previous article said North Korea’s straight from central casting.

Pyongyang threatens no one. Media scoundrels say otherwise. So does Obama. On the one hand, he claims no one wants war on the Korean peninsula. He urges Pyongyang “to pursue peace.”

On the other, he’s heightening tensions. He accused its leaders of “bad behavior,” “threats,” and “provocations.” He’s creating crisis conditions that didn’t exist. He’s spoiling for trouble doing so.

On Friday, John Kerry warned Kim Jong-un. Test-launching its Musudan missile threatens to inflame “an already volatile, potentially dangerous situation,” he said.

He claimed Washington’s open to negotiations. Denuclearizing the North comes first. Since Korean War hostilities ended, America never negotiated in good faith.

Promises made were broken. North Koreans remember. Efforts to normalize relations were spurned. A longstanding uneasy armistice continues.

Fidel Castro commented. He discussed “great challenges” humanity faces. The “situation created in the Korean Peninsula (is) one of the most serious dangers of nuclear war since the October Crisis around Cuba in 1962, he said.”

If war erupts, “the peoples of both part of the Peninsula will be terribly sacrificed….” It’ll provide added proof that Obama is “the most sinister character in the history of the United States.”

Avoiding war is his call, said Castro. It’s also up to Americans to demand it.

Heightening tensions is a US specialty. On April 13, a “Joint Statement at the United States-Republic of Korea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting said:

The United States reaffirms its commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea in the wake of recent unacceptable provocations by North Korea.

Both sides agree on the importance of the denuclearization of North Korea, knowing that North Korea’s dangerous nuclear and missile programs threaten not only its neighbors, but also its own people.

The United States stands vigilantly by the Republic of Korea’s side. (Both) countries remain committed to the goal of peaceful denuclearization.

America’s nuclear armed and dangerous. Its arsenal and global delivery systems make the unthinkable possible. Strategic and tactical nuclear weapons target the region.

Washington asserts the right to use them preemptively. Eventually perhaps they’ll do so. The threat is real.

Offensive missile defense systems are regionally land and sea-based. They encircle Russia, China and North Korea. They’re key parts of America’s first-strike policy. Obama accelerated their deployment.

At the same time, America encourages Russia and China to reduce their nuclear arsenals. It wants North Korea denuclearized. Doing so makes a US first-strike more likely.

America’s the only country ever to use nuclear weapons. It’s not hard imagining they’ll do so again. East Asia’s a prime target. China, Russia and North Korea know it. Thermonuclear disaster is possible.

Washington threatens the region. North Korea is blamed. On April 12, New York Times editors headlined “The North Korean Problem,” saying:

….Washington (is) willing to resume long-stalled negotiations but only if the North Koreans….move seriously on denuclearization.

But the window into North Korea’s nuclear intentions and American policy in response was as blurry as ever.

The Defense Intelligence Agency rang alarms bells on Thursday with a report that it had concluded with ‘moderate confidence’ that the North was capable of launching a missile with a nuclear warhead.

“North Korea poses a more imminent nuclear threat than Iran.” Washington so far “failed to curb either the North’s nuclear weapons program or its bellicosity.”

Numerous New York Times reports, commentaries and editorials falsely claim a North Korean threat. Hyperbole and misinformation substitute for hard facts. Fingers point the wrong way.

Readers are systematically lied to. It’s standard Times practice. Doing so marches in lockstep with Washington’s imperial policy. Times editors aren’t alone. Other Western ones match them.

On April 2, the Washington Post’s editorial board headlined “Answer North Korea with financial sanctions,” saying:

North Korea “manage(s) to concoct….provocative announcement(s) aimed at Washington.” Kim Jong Un declared a “state of war.”

“Could this untested, 30-year-old dictator be preparing to (do so against) the United States or South Korea? The worrying reality is that it is virtually impossible for outsiders to know for sure.”

It’s “playing an old and familiar game. (It’s) stoking a crisis atmosphere in order to rally support (and ) pressure the United States and its allies into opening negotiations.”

Previous US administrations “learned the hard way, answering provocations with diplomacy will not lead to concessions….only to another round of provocations.”

As usual, Post editors twisted truth. Pyongyang’s blamed for US belligerence and duplicity. They want tougher policies imposed.

They spurn peaceful conflict resolution. They want measures increasing the chances for war. They might get what they wish for. They may regret having done so.

A Fox News Wall Street Journal Editorial Report asked “what are the Norks up to?” Three panel members responded. Matt Kaminski said what’s ongoing “happened before.”

“If you push them too far, they might do something stupid.” They’re “unpredictable.”

According to Dan Henninger:

Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather were “more unstable than he is.” He accused them of offenses they didn’t commit. It’s standard media scoundrel practice.

Henninger claims Pyongyang’s “capable of (a) Pearl Harbor-type attack.”

Kim Strassel said North Korea “manufacture(d) a crisis.” It did so to “secure high-level talk(s and) get concessions from the West.”

The remaining discussion continued along the same lines. Pyongyang’s blamed for Washington’s provocations. Fingers point the wrong way. At the same time, Journal editors claimed Iran’s about to “go nuclear.”

Chicago Tribune editors headlined “Another North Korea? No thanks. So squeeze Iran. Harder,” saying:

At any moment, North Korea may fire more missiles….

As all of us wait to see what comes next, no one in the West knows the intentions of….Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has a growing nuclear arsenal. It commands world attention with its threats of nuclear retaliation against the US and other enemies.

It may be able to launch a nuclear weapon by ballistic missile. “All of this worries not only American officials but also US allies in the region….”

Now imagine a world with not one rambunctious and nuke-emboldened North Korea, but two.

That is, imagine a world in which the Islamic despots of Iran, too, control a nuclear arsenal.

Today’s Tribune editors replicate former publisher Robert McCormick. He was outspoken and conservative. He was rabidly right-wing, anti-union and belligerent.

He was heir to the International Harvester fortune. He became the Republican party’s kingmaker. He supported America’s 1916 Mexico invasion. He was a cavalry major in the conflict.

In WW I, he was an artillery officer. He rose to the rank of colonel. He was ardently anti-Communist. His editorials condemned it. Today’s follow in his footsteps. They support tough measures against North Korea and Iran. They blame both countries for America’s belligerence.

Alexander Voronstsov heads Russia’s Institute of Oriental Studies. He calls North Korea’s fears justifiable. It’s concerned about annual US/South Korean war games.

They prepare for war. Perhaps that’s Washington’s intention. Its policies belie its rhetoric. Obama’s waging multiple imperial wars.

America wants unchallenged global dominance. East Asia represents the final frontier.

Washington deplores peace. It prioritizes war. It threatens humanity. Attacking North Korea or Iran could precipitate global war. The danger is real. Both countries have justifiable cause for concern.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/