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Toward World War III

5 September 2017, 12:28

In the UN Security Council yesterday, the United States dramatically raised the stakes in the intense crisis on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s nuclear test on Sunday. Washington’s response targeted not only Pyongyang, but Beijing and Moscow as well.

A clear division emerged. The US and its allies threatened an economic blockade and, by implication, war against North Korea, while China and Russia continued to appeal for a reduction in tensions and talks.

In a belligerent and provocative speech, US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, delivered an ultimatum to China and Russia: end all economic relations with North Korea or face a full-blown trade war with the US. Moreover, if Beijing and Moscow did not bring Pyongyang to heel, the US would do so through military means.

Standing reality on its head, Haley declared that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was “begging for war.” The Pyongyang regime is escalating its nuclear program in a desperate and misguided attempt to ward off a devastating war with the United States that it would inevitably lose. Its latest nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb and had an estimated yield of 100 kilotons, came just days after the US and South Korea finished major annual joint exercises to rehearse for war with North Korea.

Haley demanded that the UN impose “the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.” She warned Washington would not accept what it regarded as half-measures. “We have taken an incremental approach and despite the best of intentions, it has not worked,” she declared.

While no details have been released, the sanctions being mooted include cutting off oil supplies, freezing all financial transactions and ending the export of North Korea labourers. Trump is threatening to cut US trade with any country that conducts any economic activity with North Korea.

“The United States will look at every country that does business with North Korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions,” Haley warned. She declared that US patience was running out, saying “the time has come for us to exhaust all of our diplomatic means before it’s too late.” By implication, the US would resort to war.

American military allies in Asia and Europe all joined the chorus of condemnation of North Korea’s latest nuclear test and demanded the toughest sanctions. Grossly inflating the threat posed by North Korea’s limited nuclear arsenal, Japan’s ambassador Koro Besso declared the danger posed by Pyongyang had been “raised to an unprecedented level” and was “a grave threat to the peace and security of the world.”

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