Fry and Laurie (or Laurel and
Hardy) could do it nicely:
- The Chosen have got nukes.
They've gone nuclear!
- Well, is that news? Israel
has had hundreds of nuclear bombs for some twenty years, according to
Vanunu, but only antisemites ever mention it.
- Sorry, I did not mean the
Chosen People, I mean the People of the Chosen, and “Chosen” is the
Korean name for North Korea.
- The Chosen? How
dare they challenge the
international community! Where do these Chosen men get off thinking that
they are chosen?
The successful underground
nuclear test in North Korea unleashed a huge wave – a wave of hypocrisy,
that is. The state with by far the largest nuclear arsenal in the world,
the country that has already used A-bombs against civilians, the US,
expressed its outrage. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said, “The United
States thinks that this is a grave violation of international law and a
threat to regional and international peace and security and therefore
the United States will seek a strong resolution with strong measures.”
According to Rice, it is not invasion, it is not occupation, it is not
aggression, but rather it is arming oneself
against a very probable
invasion, aggression and occupation that violates
international law. Nor did she remind us of a well-forgotten fact: for
many years it was North Korea that called for turning the whole of
Korean peninsula into nuclear-weapons-free zone, and it was the US that
insisted on having its nukes on North Korea’s doorstep.
North Korea, or the Chosen in
its own language, is a country of indomitable men and women. They are
strong, independent and hard-working. They shake hands with an iron
grip. Their names are short, their cabbage is fiery, their national
pride knows no limits – and for good reason: they fought against the US
in its prime, and survived the worst onslaught ever engineered by Man.
Think Dresden, multiply by Gaza and add Iraq to equal Korea in the
1950s. The US and its satraps dropped more bombs on this small
mountainous country than they had dropped on Germany.
General Douglas Macarthur
wanted to nuke them, but Harry Truman stopped him: there were no objects
worth nuking, for every single standing man-made structure had already
been destroyed. The Korean War was mass murder writ large: millions of
Koreans were killed, burned by napalm, shot and executed by the
Americans and their allies. Any Korean village's death rate could
compete with that of Auschwitz.
The Koreans survived and
rebuilt their country. But the massive bombing took a heavy toll on the
people’s psyche. A nation will never be the same after saturation
bombing, any more than will an individual who has been gang raped.
Usually they break down into total submission for a generation (that is
why gang rape is the prisoners’ way to assume control over a disobedient
inmate), so did Serbs, so did Germans, so did the Japanese after being
sodomised by US bombs. The Koreans’ own post-traumatic syndrome
consisted of withdrawal, extreme self-reliance and endless fear of
another attack. This fear was well-grounded in reality: US troops and
bases still occupy the south of the Korean peninsula. South Korea is
still as far from independence as it was before the WWII, only the US
has replaced Japan as the colonising power.
More importantly, the US has
carried out relentless sanctions warfare against unvanquished,
independent Korea. This well-developed strategy of blockade was utilised
with great success against Iraq and Cuba, and now Americans plan to use
it against Iran. Noam Chomsky correctly defined the US strategy: never
give up; keep destroying countries which do not submit by all means
possible including economic warfare. Whoever does not surrender should
be pushed back into the Stone Age.
Korea was willing to
dismantle its nuclear facilities, provided that the US would cease its
economic warfare. They signed an agreement and closed down the reactor,
but the US reneged on the agreement and turned up its hostilities.
America, as ruled by its “Chicago boys,” is neo-liberal to the bone and
cannot tolerate a socialist state. Korea would not let American
companies take over its economy, and that is why the US and its
satellites kept impounding Korean bank accounts and interfering with its
trade. The imperial media were kept busy churning out dreadful stories
(actually, regurgitated anti-Communist urban legends from McCarthy’s
days) about starving Koreans under commies’ yoke. Korea could not be
allowed to live in its own, socialist way.
When the people of South
Korea began to express their wish to unite with the independent North,
South Korea was robbed by the Mammonites who engineered the great Tiger
crisis of 1997. Everything you are experiencing now, during the 2009
crisis, the South Koreans went through
twelve years ago. Their great economy was broken to pieces and bought
for peanuts by the trans-nationals. All their accumulated labour of many
years was snatched by George Soros et al. At
the same time, the American offensive against independent Korea was
intensified.
President GW Bush (or his
speechwriter David Frum) designated Korea,
next to Iraq and Iran, as part of the Axis of Evil. In this situation,
the Koreans were right to develop the ultimate weapon of defence. And
this holds equally true for Iran today. A Korean and Iranian nuclear
deterrent would be a defensive shield for these independent countries.
Korea is not taking it lying
down. This rather small and far away country, enfeebled by blockade and
sanctions, contributes more than its fair share to the most important
battle over Palestine. The Koreans, who suffered so much from the
American-imposed siege, do help besieged Gaza and other neighbours of
the Jewish state to acquire weapons. Not necessarily nukes – even
conventional arms interfere with the total freedom of Israelis to kill
Palestinians and to fly over Beirut and Damascus.
Using the nuclear issue as a
pretext, the pro-Israel Lobby pushed for the decision to search all
Korean shipping. They also orchestrated a vast public campaign in the
mass media, uniting anti-Communists and nuke-fearing pacifists against
socialist Korea. We are supposed to be afraid of Korean A-bombs and call
upon Obama and Netanyahu to disarm the
rebels.
God knows I am a peaceful
man, but I'm not a pacifist. Weapons are needed to defend people from
Israeli-American state terrorism. A so-called pacifist who supports
American and Israeli attempts to maintain their monopoly on nuclear arms
is, in my book, just another supporter of the Judeo-American war
machine. If he is an honest man, let him call for the disarmament of the
Chosen Peoples of Israel and America, and postpone dealing with the
Chosen people of Korea and the Iranians until after
Dimona is dismantled and American nukes are turned into
ploughshares.
The struggle for Korean
nuclear independence is extremely relevant for the Middle East, and
first of all, for the Iranian nuclear project. It is true that Iran is
not seeking military application for its nuclear industry, being
perfectly content with peaceful energy. However, the Judeo-American
interests want to turn North Korea into an example for Iran. They wish
to do something nasty to not-too-relevant Korea so that Iran will fall
in line.
Obama
could settle with Korea at the quite reasonable price of stopping
the interference with its life. Sign a peace treaty, stop the threats,
remove the sanctions, terminate the campaign
of hate. The Koreans would pay for normalisation of their relationship
with the US by giving up their nuclear facilities. But
that would neither frighten nor seduce Iran. So
Obama may choose a violent action including
a naval blockade, so that a suitably impressed Iran will close down its
reactors.
This would be a pity. A pity
for Koreans who deserve, like everybody else, to live their lives the
way they like. A pity for Korea’s enemies, for the
Koreans are not easy to defeat. And a pity
for the Middle East which badly needs the deterring presence of a
nuclear-capable Iran.
The Israeli media published a
poll claiming that “some 23 percent of
Israelis would consider leaving the country if Iran obtains a nuclear
weapon”. The idea is to push the US and Europe
into a frenzy of anti-Iranian action, for no country would like to
absorb two million Israeli refugees. This is the secret Doomsday weapon
of Zionist propaganda: if pushed hard, we’ll just go back to your
countries and you are not going to like it. However, the fine print in
this survey shows that this fear of Iran is spread mainly among
suggestible Israelis, 39 percent of women as
opposed to 22 percent of men – they swallowed their government's
propaganda -- hook, line and sinker.
Paradoxically for us
Israelis, nuclear Iran represents hope for peace, not a threat to it.
Our greatest danger lies in the aggressive tendency of our generals and
politicians. They have already caused so many unneeded wars by attacking
Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinians. There is
need for a counterbalance, for a great and powerful state that would
keep our [Israeli] hawks in check. Since Iraq was subdued by the US army
and Egypt by political means, Israeli generals have gone to war every
two years. Only a nuclear Iran is likely to check Israeli warmongers and
force Israel to proceed with peace process.
No sane Israeli expert, not
even an extreme hawk, believes that a nuclear Iran would endanger or
threaten Israel. Israel is too powerful, perfectly capable of delivering
a deadly second strike. But this mind-boggling freedom of action the
Israeli military enjoys would be gone, and that would be a good thing.
The balance of
fear, or MAD (mutual assured destruction) is
still the only way to deal with the Israeli-American threat. This was
the reason for the martyrdom of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; by helping
the USSR to build their nuclear bomb they saved uncounted millions from
horrible death, even at the price of their own life.
The Voice
of Saruman
It is extremely worrisome
that Russia and China, two friends of independent Korea, did not throw
the American-sponsored resolution right out the high window of the
Security Council. True, they refused the Americans’ call for sanctions,
but this is not enough. They should not agree with any sort of
condemnation of an independent country acting
within its own legitimate rights. Russia and China fought on the side of
Pyongyang against the US, and they should not betray their war-tried
ally, and with it their own dead soldiers of the People’s Liberation
Army and the fallen pilots of the Russian Air Force.
Chinese leaders may remember
Mao’s decision to go nuclear. When China exploded its first atom bomb,
he declared:
“This is
a major achievement of the Chinese people in their struggle to
strengthen their national defence and oppose the U.S. imperialist policy
of nuclear blackmail and nuclear threats. To defend
oneself is the inalienable right of every sovereign state. To
safeguard world peace is the common task of all peace-loving countries.
China cannot remain idle in the face of the ever-increasing nuclear
threats from the United States. China is conducting nuclear tests and
developing nuclear weapons under compulsion.
The
Chinese Government has consistently advocated the complete prohibition
and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons. If this had been achieved,
China need not have developed nuclear weapons. But our proposal has met
with stubborn resistance from the U.S. The nuclear tests ban treaty of
1963 by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union was an attempt
to consolidate the nuclear monopoly of the three nuclear powers and tie
the hands of all peace-loving countries, and that it had increased, and
not decreased, the nuclear threat of U.S. imperialism against the people
of China and of the whole world. . . .By developing nuclear weapons,
China's aim is to break the nuclear monopoly of the nuclear powers and
to eliminate nuclear weapons.”
Every word in this wonderful,
ringing declaration is as right today as it was then. Just put ‘Korea’
or ‘Iran’ in place of ‘China’, and you’ll agree that Korea and Iran
“cannot remain idle in the face of the ever increasing nuclear threats
from the United States”. Korea and Iran are “conducting nuclear tests
and developing nuclear weapons under compulsion”. If and when President
Obama eliminates American and Israeli
arsenals, Korea and Iran’s turn will surely come.
Russia’s leaders
Medvedev and Putin
should apply their own doctrine of a multipolar
world to the case of Korea. If they sincerely dispute the US doctrine of
full spectrum dominance and believe in the sovereignty of every state,
they should accept the sovereign right of Koreans to self-defence and
deterrence. Nuclear monopoly is ethically wrong, for it establishes two
tiers of states: these entitled to a nuclear shield and those deemed
unworthy of one.
They should reject the ploy
of “joint responsibility” that the Russians have repeatedly fallen for.
There is no such thing as “joint responsibility” or “joint security”
between the Empire and the rebels. Gorbachev was a great adept of joint
responsibility and security, and he ruled long enough to see his Russia
skinned by creditors and surrounded by NATO bases.
Putin was taken in by this ploy in 2001, when he supported George
W. Bush’s War on Terror, facilitated his conquest of Afghanistan, and
willingly dismantled two important naval bases in Cuba and Vietnam.
Later he learned that the US had exploited his credulity to move its own
bases forward and undermine Russia’s standing in her own backyard.
Russia and America are
interlocked in a zero-sum game, and that is why America promotes the
anti-Russian policies of Georgia and the Ukraine, and tries to isolate
Russia in the great pipeline competition. Russian leaders should
recognise this sad fact of life and give more support to Iran and Korea.
They should kick their oh-so-human desire to hobnob with the Western
leaders. This is a constant problem of people’s representatives: trade
union leaders discover that they do enjoy sumptuous lunches with factory
owners more than hanging out with factory hands. Socialist leaders are
prone to accept the cajoling of Western leaders and then to sign on the
dotted line against the best interest of their people.
Gorbachev has sold his
country down the river for the sheer pleasure of being embraced by
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Anwar
as-Sadat would give up Arab interests for a
prime-time interview with Barbara Walters. In the very beginning of his
rule, Vladimir Putin was for a while taken
in by the bonhommerie
of his G8 mates, fellow rulers and shepherds of men.
They listened to the voice of
Saruman. In the Lord of the Rings, the evil sorcerer Saruman tries to
snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, and he proposes to Gandalf, the
leader of the good guys, a “joint responsibility” proposal in front of
his friends and foot soldiers:
“Our friendship would profit
us both alike. Much we could still accomplish together, to heal the
disorders of the world. Let us understand one another, and dismiss from
thought these lesser folk! Let them wait on our decisions! For the
common good I am willing to redress the past, and to receive you. Will
you not consult with me? Will you not come up?”
The good guys got scared.
They felt like “stupid servants overhearing the elusive discourse of
their elders, and wondering how it would affect their lot. It was
inevitable that Gandalf and Saruman should make alliance. Gandalf would
ascend into the tower, and they would be left outside, dismissed to
await the allotted work or punishment. Even in the mind of Théoden the
thought took shape, like a shadow of doubt, “He will betray us; he will
go, we shall be lost.”
Then Gandalf laughed. The
fantasy vanished like a puff of smoke.”
This is the right reply to
the American offers of “joint responsibility”. Russia and China are the
leaders of the free world, the world free from American bases and
troops, free from Israeli diktat, free from consumerist mania, free from
neo-liberal dogma. They are responsible for the Freedom of Man, and they
should laugh off every suggestion about what they will do together with
the great oppressors.
We would all love to see
President Obama taking his soldiers and
hardware back home from Iraq and Afghanistan, from Italy and Germany,
from Japan and South Korea, and turning the US into a friendly giant.
This still can happen: this week, his Pentagon issued a medal for
courage to an American soldier who survived the Israeli attack on USS
Liberty in June 1967, 42 years after that atrocity was first hidden from
the public. This could herald a new turn in American politics and the
end of Zionist ascendancy. If and when
that happens will be the
time for greater cooperation between countries. But meanwhile, it is
freedom that is at stake, and North Korea is the place to defend it.
_________________________________________
Appendix
The Atomic Bomb,
Statement of the Government of the
People's Republic of China, October 16, 1964
China exploded an atomic bomb
at 15:00 hours on October 16, 1964, thereby successfully carrying out
its first nuclear test. This is a major achievement of the Chinese
people in their struggle to strengthen their national defence and oppose
the U.S. imperialist policy of nuclear blackmail and nuclear threats.
To defend
oneself is the inalienable right of every sovereign state. To
safeguard world peace is the common task of all peace-loving countries.
China cannot remain idle in the face of the ever increasing nuclear
threats from the United States. China is conducting nuclear tests and
developing nuclear weapons under compulsion.
The Chinese Government has
consistently advocated the complete prohibition and thorough destruction
of nuclear weapons. If this had been achieved, China need not have
developed nuclear weapons. But our proposal has met with stubborn
resistance from the U.S. imperialists. The Chinese Government pointed
out long ago that the treaty on the partial halting of nuclear tests
signed in Moscow in July 1963 by the United States, Britain and the
Soviet Union was a big fraud to fool the people of the world, that it
was an attempt to consolidate the nuclear monopoly of the three nuclear
powers and tie the hands of all peace-loving countries, and that it had
increased, and not decreased, the nuclear threat of U.S. imperialism
against the people of China and of the whole world. . . .
The atomic bomb is a paper
tiger. This famous statement by Chairman Mao
Tse-tung is known to all. This was our view in the past and this
is still our view at present. China is developing nuclear weapons
not because it believes in their omnipotence nor
because it plans to use them. On the contrary, in developing nuclear
weapons, China's aim is to break the nuclear monopoly of the nuclear
powers and to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The Chinese Government is
loyal to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. We believe
in the people. It is the people, and not any weapons, that decide the
outcome of a war. The destiny of China is decided by the Chinese people,
while the destiny of the world is decided by the people of the world,
and not by nuclear weapons. China is developing nuclear weapons for
defence and for protecting the Chinese people from U.S. threats to
launch a nuclear war.
The Chinese Government hereby
solemnly declares that China will never at any time or under any
circumstances be the first to use nuclear weapons. . . .
The Chinese Government will,
as always, exert every effort to promote, through international
consultations, the realization of the lofty aim of complete prohibition
and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons. Until that day comes, the
Chinese Government and people will firmly and unswervingly follow their
own path to strengthen their national defence, defend their motherland
and safeguard world peace.
We are convinced that man,
who creates nuclear weapons, will certainly be able to eliminate them.
Source:
from
Break the Nuclear Monopoly,
Eliminate Nuclear Weapons (Peking: Foreign Languages Press,
1965), pp. 1-5.