A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
The U.S. and its South Korean minion, over which Washington exercises deep and overlapping layers of control, hold military exercises that are, in essence, rehearsals for invading North Korea. The Americans simultaneously send a carrier task force into waters claimed by the world's number two economic power, China. Yet, U.S. media are full of wild and fanciful stories about North Korean “provocations,” “paranoia” and insanity, and the need for China to rein in its neighbor. Who are the real madmen, here?
The Racist Maligning of North Korea and Asians in General
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“If anyone is pushing the envelop towards war in the Korean Peninsula, it is the United States.”
The United States and its South Korean underlings are conducting massive military maneuvers near the most heavily armed spot on the face of the Earth – but all the American corporate media can talk about is how dangerous, provocative, irrational and possibly insane North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Il, is. The United States has repeatedly declared that South Korea is protected by the American nuclear umbrella, meaning the Americans have targeted North Korea for pre-emptive nuclear attack – yet the American people are urged to live in terror of North Korea's handful of primitive atomic weapons, for which they have no effective long range delivery system. If anyone is pushing the envelop towards war in the Korean Peninsula, it is the United States, which is now engaged in a New Cold War with China.
The artillery exchange two weeks ago between North and South Korean forces – leaving 4 southerners dead and an unknown number of northern casualties – is portrayed in U.S. media as brazen aggression by a North Korean regime that is driven by a bizarre need to keep the rest of world on edge, or to show that Kim Jong Il’s son is a fierce warrior, or simply because the North’s leadership is hopelessly paranoid. The facts are, the U.S. and South Korean exercises are nothing less than rehearsals for an invasion of North Korea and, therefore, inherently provocative. The U.S. and South Korea are engaged in a kind of terror, sailing up and down the disputed waters off the coast of North Korea, firing off rockets and artillery shells, in defiance of repeated North Korean warnings that such behavior is scary and extremely warlike.
“The U.S. and South Korean exercises are nothing less than rehearsals for an invasion of North Korea and, therefore, inherently provocative.”
This year’s aggressive maneuvers are also directed against China, whose capital city, Beijing, is within easy range of the American aircraft carrier task force that is churning around the Yellow Sea, whose waters China considers to be part of its exclusive economic zone. The Americans have chosen to simultaneously bully China and North Korea, while at the same time warning China to rein in North Korea’s behavior. This is outrageous conduct, but from the way it's reported by the U.S. corporate media, the Americans and South Koreans are simply engaged in a friendly walk in the park.
The latest U.S. maneuvers follow on the heels of Barack Obama's high-profile swing through Asia, a trip that was universally described as an attempt to isolate and encircle China, diplomatically and geopolitically. The current maneuvers are intended to make the point, militarily.
South Korea is now loudly proclaiming that they will launch air strikes against the North if there are any more artillery barrages. That, too, is a direct threat to North Korea from the United States, because the Americans control the U.S./South Korean Combined Forces Command, without which no effective air strike is possible.
The Americans are playing a dangerous game of provocation in Korea, and relying on a racist media to portray the North Koreans as madmen. I'm reminded of General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam, who said, "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner.” By saying that, Westmoreland justified killing two or three million Vietnamese Orientals – proving who was the real barbarian and madman. For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
Isaac Saney is a Cuba and Black studies specialist and historian at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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