Korea: Every Moment the Trump/Pence Regime is in Power, the Danger of War Intensifies

November 29, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

The media is reporting that North Korea conducted a missile test on November 28 that demonstrated its capability for long range attacks, spanning a range that potentially includes U.S. territory. These could—in the future—be loaded with nuclear warheads, making them lethal and devastating. This is being used to whip up fear of U.S lives at risk, and further propagate the logic and rhetoric of war against North Korea.

Trump ominously stated that he “will take care of it” and Senator Lindsey Graham, a stalwart of the US national security establishment, said “we’re headed to war if things don’t change." Since summer, Trump has been escalating the rhetoric of war against North Korea, threatening to rain “fire and fury” and “totally destroy” North Korea

This is dangerous for the people of the world, for people in the Korean peninsula and the region. The Korean peninsula is heavily militarized and densely populated, and deaths and destruction from nuclear war would be catastrophic. Losses in lives from such a war range in estimates from hundreds of thousands to millions. Some experts estimate the fatalities at possibly a million in the first day alone.

The ground being sown in public opinion and the logic being put forth is that it is unacceptable for a regime like North Korea to have missiles that could strike the U.S. with nuclear weapons—and it may be necessary and acceptable to go to war to prevent this possibility, even with catastrophic consequences. Articulating this earlier, Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that US military action against North Korea isn’t “unimaginable,” even though “anyone who has been alive since WW II has never seen the loss of life that could occur if there’s a conflict on the Korean peninsula.” Yet, what’s unimaginable Dunford said, is “allowing a capability that would allow a nuclear weapon to land in Denver, Colorado.”

While this scenario is “unimaginable” in Dunford’s view, the U.S. on the other hand has far greater destructive powers—by orders of magnitude—in its ability to strike North Korea with nuclear weapons. This asymmetry is justified in the framework of bone-deep American chauvinism, sitting atop an imperialist system.

Whipping up fear, the underlying logic propagated is a rationale of incurring costs in millions and millions of other peoples’ lives to keep America “safe!” This was evident in what Lindsey Graham had earlier quoted about how Trump views the situation: “If there’s going to be a war to stop [Kim Jong Un, the leader of the North Korean regime], it will be over there. If thousands die, they're going to die over there. They’re not going to die here. And [Trump’s] told me that to my face,” Graham continued. “That may be provocative, but not really. When you’re president of the United States, where does your allegiance lie? To the people of the United States.”

NO!, American Lives Are Not More Important Than Other People’s Lives!

As a basic point of orientation, There is NO justification whatsoever for military action or preemptive war against North Korea, of first use of nuclear weapons. However, by U.S. law, doctrine and policy, Trump has the executive power to launch nuclear strikes, with few checks and balances.

Nuclear brinksmanship of this order is fraught with hair trigger situations with tremendous potential for misreading of events and situations, and heightens the role of accident in triggering a catastrophic, even nuclear war. These events could be as simple as faulty radar readings or even radar testing.

All this greatly increases the danger and possibility of war, and any moves toward this have to be fiercely resisted—for, and in the name of the humanity!

Every moment this fascist regime is in power, the threat and imminence of war intensifies ... This REGIME NEEDS TO BE DRIVEN FROM POWER AT THE SOONEST POSSIBLE TIME.

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