<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div id="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 40px; position: relative; float: left; width: 490px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" class="">
<h2 style="margin: 0.42em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 2.6em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">
The US on the brink of war with North Korea</h2>
<h5 style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);" class="">
12 October 2017</h5>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Amid accelerating US preparations for conflict with North Korea, yesterday’s night-time flight by two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula was designed to provoke a North Korean response that could be used as the casus belli for all-out war.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The supersonic bombers were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets for the first joint night-time training exercise that involved practicing air-to-ground missile drills in waters off the east coast of South Korea, then off the west coast. This rehearsal
for war with North Korea followed another first when two B-1B bombers late last month flew the furthest north along the North Korean coast since the start of this century.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
At the same time, the Pentagon is assembling a naval armada off the Korean Peninsula. The nuclear attack submarine USS Tuscon arrived off South Korea on Saturday. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group of cruisers and destroyers is due
to arrive later this month for joint exercises with the South Korean navy. Two Australian frigates are also en route to Korean waters.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The Trump administration’s relentless campaign of bellicose threats and military provocations makes clear that the danger of a catastrophic war, which could drag in major powers such as China and Russia and escalate into a nuclear exchange, is real and imminent.
As he faces a mounting political crisis at home, the US president may see a war with North Korea as a means of shoring up his administration and crushing domestic political opposition.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
From the standpoint of military logic, the US has deliberately placed the Pyongyang regime in an impossible situation. In his fascistic rant at the UN last month, Trump declared that North Korea confronted “total destruction” unless it capitulated completely
to US demands. He flatly ruled out any negotiations with Pyongyang when he rebuked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for “wasting his time” in sending out diplomatic feelers.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
North Korea’s foreign minister responded to Trump’s UN speech by declaring that it amounted to a declaration of war and warned that his country had the right to take countermeasures, including the shooting down of US strategic bombers in international airspace.
Yet the Pentagon has continued to send B-1Bs to conduct war games in close proximity to North Korea.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Confronted with the most powerful military on the planet armed to the teeth with thousands of nuclear weapons, the Pyongyang regime could conclude that it has to attack first, including with its limited nuclear arsenal, before its military is totally destroyed.
Each B-1B flight poses the immediate question to the generals in Pyongyang: is this another drill, or the start of an all-out attack?</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
In Washington, the military is being prepared and primed for war against North Korea. In a keynote speech to top army officers on Monday, Defence Secretary James Mattis insisted that the military had to be “ready to ensure we have military options that our
president can employ if needed.”</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The Army Association paraphrased General Robert Abrams, commander of US Army Forces Command, who spoke at the same event as saying, “Sending American forces to fight a World War II-style all-out war would mean facing a harsh reality: Troops will die, and in
large numbers. “</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dunford met with Trump on Tuesday to review military options, including “to prevent North Korea from threatening the United States and its allies with nuclear weapons.” In other words, the Trump administration
is on the brink of an illegal war of aggression on the pretext that North Korea's small nuclear arsenal poses a threat to the US.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
A US attack on North Korea would inevitably lead to a confrontation with China and Russia, which have repeatedly called for an easing of tensions and a return to negotiations. A war on their borders and the installation of a US puppet regime in Pyongyang cuts
directly across their strategic interests in Asia. Moreover, the subjugation of North Korea is part of Washington’s far broader ambition to undermine, encircle and, if necessary, go to war with China to ensure American hegemony in Asia and the world.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Trump has accelerated the Obama administration’s so-called “pivot to Asia” against Beijing on every front—diplomatically, economically and militarily. He has strengthened US ties throughout the region, threatened China with trade war and confronted Beijing
militarily, not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the South China Sea. On Tuesday, a US navy destroyer carried out another provocative intrusion near China’s Paracel Islands to challenge Beijing’s “excessive maritime claims.”</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The US drive to war is not simply the product of the fascistic President Trump. Rather, he is the expression of the deepening political, social and economic crisis of American imperialism, which has sought to arrest its historic decline through its aggressive
use of military might. Having created one disaster after another in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, Washington is upping the ante and preparing for a direct conflict with its major rivals, China and Russia in the first instance.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The danger of war is further heightened by the immense turmoil and conflicts within the American political establishment, including in the White House, and more broadly, popular opposition to war and austerity. Trump is publicly at odds with both Tillerson
and Mattis, who have suggested that diplomatic efforts need to be exhausted before any attack on North Korea—not because they are opposed to war, but because they fear the immediate eruption of a mass anti-war movement in the event of undisguised US aggression.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The bitterness of the infighting was underscored when a well-sourced NBC article last week revealed that Tillerson had threatened to resign and called Trump “a moron” following a top-level Pentagon meeting.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
On Wednesday, NBC reported that what prompted Tillerson to make that remark was a proposal by Trump to increase the number of US nuclear weapons ten-fold, which would put the US in violation of all existing nuclear treaties and effectively render it a pariah
state.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
In a chilling expression of the type of crackdown that could be imposed in the context of a further escalation against North Korea, Trump threatened in a tweet to suspend NBC’s broadcasting license over the story.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
The deep divisions in American ruling circles that are fuelling speculation about Trump’s impeachment were summed up in a <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">Washington Post</em> editorial on Tuesday entitled “What to do with an unfit president.”</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Far from halting the drive to war, the political crisis only adds to the danger. Beset with conflict at home, Trump is being propelled to extricate himself by seeking to project political and social tensions outwards against a foreign foe. His critics and opponents
are not opposed to war—many are criminally culpable for the US acts of aggression over the past 25 years. The differences are purely tactical—how to attack and who to attack first.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Without the development of a mass anti-war movement of the working class in the United States and internationally, war is not only possible but inevitable. Such a movement cannot be based on appeals to the powers-that-be, but rather on a revolutionary socialist
perspective to abolish the diseased capitalist order that threatens to drag humanity into the abyss.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
Peter Symonds</p>
<div class=""><a href="http://wsws.org" class="">WSWS.ORG</a></div>
<div class="campaign" style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.wsws.org/en/special/1917/lectures.html#pk_campaign=bottom&pk_kwd=imagelink-lectures" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 86, 137); text-decoration: none; display: block;" class=""><img src="http://www.wsws.org/en/media/photos/legacy/frontpage/lectures1917-bottom.jpg" width="490" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none; width: 490px; max-width: 100%; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""></a>
<div class="censorship" style="margin: 0px; padding: 30px; background-color: rgb(216, 240, 248); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">
<h3 style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1em; font-size: 22px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); clear: both; height: 1em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-image: none;" class="">
Fight Google's censorship!</h3>
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.36em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">
Google is blocking the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">World Socialist Web Site</em>from search results.</p>
<p style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.36em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class="">
To fight this blacklisting:</p>
<h4 style="margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="">
Share this article with friends and coworkers</h4>
<ul style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em; list-style-type: none;" class="">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 103.1875px;" class="">
<a class="facebook" href="https://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2017%2F10%2F12%2Fpers-o12.html&t=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea%20-%20World%20Socialist%20Web%20Site" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span class="circle" style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px; height: 24px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-left-radius: 24px; border-top-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-left-radius: 24px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><svg class="icon" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1343 12v264h-157q-86 0-116 36t-30 108v189h293l-39 296h-254v759h-306v-759h-255v-296h255v-218q0-186 104-288.5t277-102.5q147 0 228 12z" fill="#fff"></path></svg></span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle;" class="">Facebook</span></a> </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 103.1875px;" class="">
<a class="twitter" href="https://twitter.com/home?status=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea%20-%20World%20Socialist%20Web%20Site:%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2017%2F10%2F12%2Fpers-o12.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span class="circle" style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px; height: 24px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-left-radius: 24px; border-top-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-left-radius: 24px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><svg class="icon" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1684 408q-67 98-162 167 1 14 1 42 0 130-38 259.5t-115.5 248.5-184.5 210.5-258 146-323 54.5q-271 0-496-145 35 4 78 4 225 0 401-138-105-2-188-64.5t-114-159.5q33 5 61 5 43 0 85-11-112-23-185.5-111.5t-73.5-205.5v-4q68 38 146 41-66-44-105-115t-39-154q0-88 44-163 121 149 294.5 238.5t371.5 99.5q-8-38-8-74 0-134 94.5-228.5t228.5-94.5q140 0 236 102 109-21 205-78-37 115-142 178 93-10 186-50z" fill="#fff"></path></svg></span> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle;" class="">Twitter</span></a> </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 103.1875px;" class="">
<a class="email" href="http://www.wsws.org/en/special/sendlink.html?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2017%2F10%2F12%2Fpers-o12.html&t=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span class="circle" style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px; height: 24px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-left-radius: 24px; border-top-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-left-radius: 24px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><svg class="icon" style="top:6px; left:6px;" width="12" height="12" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1792 710v794q0 66-47 113t-113 47h-1472q-66 0-113-47t-47-113v-794q44 49 101 87 362 246 497 345 57 42 92.5 65.5t94.5 48 110 24.5h2q51 0 110-24.5t94.5-48 92.5-65.5q170-123 498-345 57-39 100-87zm0-294q0 79-49 151t-122 123q-376 261-468 325-10 7-42.5 30.5t-54 38-52 32.5-57.5 27-50 9h-2q-23 0-50-9t-57.5-27-52-32.5-54-38-42.5-30.5q-91-64-262-182.5t-205-142.5q-62-42-117-115.5t-55-136.5q0-78 41.5-130t118.5-52h1472q65 0 112.5 47t47.5 113z" fill="#fff"></path></svg></span> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle;" class="">E-Mail</span></a> </li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 103.1875px;" class="">
<a class="reddit" href="https://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2017%2F10%2F12%2Fpers-o12.html&title=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea%20-%20World%20Socialist%20Web%20Site" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span class="circle" style="margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px; height: 24px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-left-radius: 24px; border-top-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-right-radius: 24px; border-bottom-left-radius: 24px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><svg class="icon" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 1792 1792" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M1792 846q0 58-29.5 105.5t-79.5 72.5q12 46 12 96 0 155-106.5 287t-290.5 208.5-400 76.5-399.5-76.5-290-208.5-106.5-287q0-47 11-94-51-25-82-73.5t-31-106.5q0-82 58-140.5t141-58.5q85 0 145 63 218-152 515-162l116-521q3-13 15-21t26-5l369 81q18-37 54-59.5t79-22.5q62 0 106 43.5t44 105.5-44 106-106 44-105.5-43.5-43.5-105.5l-334-74-104 472q300 9 519 160 58-61 143-61 83 0 141 58.5t58 140.5zm-1374 199q0 62 43.5 106t105.5 44 106-44 44-106-44-105.5-106-43.5q-61 0-105 44t-44 105zm810 355q11-11 11-26t-11-26q-10-10-25-10t-26 10q-41 42-121 62t-160 20-160-20-121-62q-11-10-26-10t-25 10q-11 10-11 25.5t11 26.5q43 43 118.5 68t122.5 29.5 91 4.5 91-4.5 122.5-29.5 118.5-68zm-3-205q62 0 105.5-44t43.5-106q0-61-44-105t-105-44q-62 0-106 43.5t-44 105.5 44 106 106 44z" fill="#fff"></path></svg></span> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle;" class="">Reddit</span></a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.36em;" class="">
</p>
<div id="commenting-rules" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">
<p style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.36em; text-align: right;" class="">
<a href="http://www.wsws.org/en/special/commenting.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(68, 86, 137); text-decoration: none; font-weight: 700;" class="">Commenting Discussion Rules »</a></p>
</div>
<div id="disqus_thread" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="">
<iframe id="dsq-app9812" name="dsq-app9812" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" tabindex="0" title="Disqus" width="100%" src="https://disqus.com/embed/comments/?base=default&f=wsws&t_i=6e4fcb97-539f-4e83-add8-198c90196e8N&t_u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Fen%2Farticles%2F2017%2F10%2F12%2Fpers-o12.html&t_e=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea&t_d=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea%20-%20World%20Socialist%20Web%20Site&t_t=The%20US%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20war%20with%20North%20Korea&s_o=default&l=en#version=1261a849bb5ef133f8824fa0f78d17b8" horizontalscrolling="no" verticalscrolling="no" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 1px !important; min-width: 100% !important; border-style: none !important; overflow: hidden !important; height: 1690px !important;" class="">
</iframe>
</div>
</div>
<div id="sidebar" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px; position: relative; float: right; width: 440px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" class="">
<div class="column" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; float: left; width: 210px; overflow: hidden;">
<div class="infobox" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(223, 223, 223); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>