Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Avoiding Nuclear War: Why Kim Jong-Un’s Strategy Makes Sense

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Avoiding Nuclear War: Why Kim Jong-Un’s Strategy Makes Sense

Click here to access article by Federico Pieraccini from Strategic Culture Foundation. (My thanks go to Christopher P. in northwest Oregon for alerting me to this excellent article.)

There's method to Kim Jong-Un’s reported madness (in US corporate media). This is the thesis argued by the author that attempts to give a rational perspective from North Korea's point of view, and I think he is quite convincing.

...the strategy of the Pyongyang is working: on the one hand, they are developing a nuclear weapon to deter external enemies; on the other, they are obligating the PRC to adopt a particularly hostile attitude towards South Korea’s deployment of THAAD. In this sense, the numerous economic actions of Beijing towards Seoul can be explained as a response to the deployment of the THAAD batteries. China is the main economic partner of South Korea, and this trade and tourism limitation is quite damaging to South Korea’s economy.

My only criticism is this statement referring to the THAD missiles the US has installed in South Korea: "As repeatedly explained, it is useless against North Korean rockets...." I am quite well-read (def.), but I often skip over technical details of weapons. Thus I was offended by this statement and the fact that he didn't bother with furnishing a link to support it. Here is such a link from a South Korean source.