NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong
New polling demonstrates the growing fear and unpopularity of Donald Trump around the world. The Washington Postgleefully reported that the exception was Russia: “But in the survey of 37 countries, Russia is a bright spot for Trump. As beleaguered as the president is at home, a majority of Russians say they have confidence in him. And Russians’ attitudes toward the United States have improved since Trump took office.” You had to scroll way down to read that the other country which liked Trump was Israel.
Trump Is on Course to Get a Hot War Going with North Korea
The combination of Trump’s ignorance and belligerence has worried U.S. and international nuclear experts from the start of his presidency. Now North Korea’s response to Trump—fast improving ballistic technology and Kim Jong-un’s own brand of belligerence—has the world growing alarmed. South Korea felt obliged to respond with its own show of force, firing a barrage of ballistic missiles into the sea. Russia joined with China to call on Trump to embrace a Chinese de-escalation plan designed to defuse tensions around Pyongyang's missile program, according to a Reuters report. But Trump himself responded with a tweet suggesting that he was finished with working with China. The top U.S. general in South Korea says only "self-restraint" is preventing war… Needless to say, self-restraint has never been a strong suit of the American president. More
This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations
The North wouldn’t have nukes if we’d kept our word in the past. As I wrote for this magazine in January 2016, the North Koreans must be astonished to discover that US leaders never seem to grasp the import of their history-related provocations. Even more infuriating is Washington’s implacable refusal ever to investigate our 72-year history of conflict with the North; all of our media appear to live in an eternal present, with each new crisis treated as sui generis. Visiting Seoul in March, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asserted that North Korea has a history of violating one agreement after another; in fact, President Bill Clinton got it to freeze its plutonium production for eight years (1994–2002) and, in October 2000, had indirectly worked out a deal to buy all of its medium- and long-range missiles. Clinton also signed an agreement with Gen. Jo Myong-rok stating that henceforth, neither country would bear “hostile intent” toward the other. The Bush administration promptly ignored both agreements and set out to destroy the 1994 freeze. More
Over 120 Nations At The UN Are About To Ban Nuclear Weapons
The exclusion of the 9 nuclear armed states has actually sped up the writing process, with no hardline dissent in the room, the treaty has come to fruition quickly. In the United Nations, language is at the core of every negotiation. UN delegates argue for hours and weave words so definitely, sensitively and strategically to make policy – to enact change – that impacts the world. Member states have together agreed upon words to form treaties that prohibit landmines, cluster bombs, chemical and biological weapons; and other treaties that recognize states, support refugees and lift nations out of poverty…It is clear that the nine nuclear weapons powers will not sign the treaty. They have boycott the negotiations… But one thing is certain — the unprecedented effort of civil society has democratized disarmament, and pushed the majority of the worlds countries to observe the will of the people in an effort to save the planet from the threat of nuclear war. More
The Foolishness of Regime-Change Fantasies
The United States has tried its hand a lot at regime change. By one count, the US tried to overthrow 72 different governments during the Cold War alone—and that’s before the most recent misadventures in Iraq and Libya. It’s not exactly a track record of success: the United States failed most of the time to accomplish the fundamental goal of toppling the target. And a quick glance at Iraq is enough to remind you that even when America “succeeds,” it often really fails. Despite this track record, the Wall Street Journal opinion pages called for US-led regime change in North Korea and Iran on the same day. That’s the same Wall Street Journal that championed the Iraq War over and over again with tales of Saddam Hussein’s phantom nuclear weapons and millions of “cheering Iraqis” who would greet the U.S. military as liberators… As bad as America’s recent history with regime change has been, it pales in comparison to the horrors that await in North Korea and Iran. A war with Iran would be like Iraq and Afghanistan combined. A war with North Korea would be unlike anything since World War II, and that’s before factoring in the potential of a mushroom cloud over Seoul, Tokyo, or Honolulu. More
The Saudi-American-Iranian-Russian
In his 2016 campaign run, Trump’s animus toward Iran sharpened only after he imbibed the apocalyptic and Islamophobic views of retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn who would become his first national security adviser. In Flynn’s fixation on the threat of “radical Islam,” with Iran as his linchpin nation in plots against the West, he conflated Iranian-backed Shia radicalism with Sunni jihadism. In the process, to fit his rabid thinking he ignored the theological and other differences between them… To complicate regional matters further, the first crisis of the post-Trump visit involved not Iran or Shias but Qatar, a tiny Sunni emirate adjoining Saudi Arabia. Its transgression in Saudi eyes? It has had the temerity to maintain normal relations with Iran across the Persian Gulf… If anything, the pressure on Trump in his imagined new world order is only increasing to do the Saudis one better and push a regime-change agenda in a big way when it comes to Iran. It’s a formula for disaster on a breathtaking scale. More
