We may never know for sure if Sunday’s launch was a Taepodong-2 missile, as the media prefers to report, or if in fact it was just a satellite as North Korea claims. Regardless, we can be sure that the fear such a threat creates will be trumped up by the US, Japan, and North Korea alike.
The launch was deliberately blown out of proportion, and quite effectively fuels the fire needed to scare the gullible Japanese public into allowing the LDP to continue moving closer to Americanizing Japan. The unpredictable and “evil” North Korea plays perfectly in the minds of safety conscious and neatly framed Japanese society much in the same manner as 9/11 preyed on the American psyche’s tendency to react explosively to perceived threats from unfamiliar cultures. Their fears were used to manipulate the public into backing the Iraq occupation, which we now know was much more about serving the self interests of the politicians and their corporate lobbyists than it was about securing freedom and safety in the homeland.
Under American guidance, the LDP has likely been advised to inflate the capabilities and potential catastrophe already associated with its rogue neighbor. Like Iraq, most people who are taught to fear North Korea, know very little about it. The secretive operations of the NPRK provide the same smokescreen that ignorance did in the early stages of the War on Terror. We know very little about the regime, but the media and opposing governments are happy to fill in the blanks for us. That is not to say that Kim Jong Il’s dictatorship is a peace loving nation. Indeed it should be well monitored and respected with a healthy fear, but the policing bodies charged with its supervision should be carefully kept an eye on as well to ensure the masses aren’t easily led into a mess like they were in the Iraq fiasco
Perhaps suggesting that Japan may use North Korea’s threat as a pretext for war is a bit far fetched. Whether perceived or real, the threat could however, be enough justification to manipulate the media and convince the public to sit idle while the LDP strengthens Japan’s ties with the US. Support for the large US military presence in Japan has been slipping. Parading the recent missile launch will no doubt create some backing for allowing US forces greater freedom and power inside Japan. The overhyped intimidation of Pyongyang can also serve to legitimize increasing Japan’s Self Defense Force budget. Ultimately it could prove to be what is needed to win over the Japanese public as the LDP pushes for increased patriotism and constitutional changes that will permit Japan’s Defense Force to become an attack force-a semantic that may be important if Japan were to assist the Americans in any future operations.
Star Wars
Russia, who calls North Korea’s arms build up “justified” in the face of a growing global US military presence, has been the most vocal adversary against America’s “Star Wars” missile defense program which places US bases around the world and satellites in space to carefully monitor international military action. The stated aim of the program is to create a virtual shield around the US and its allies by stationing missile launch pads that are capable of blasting enemy ballistic missiles out of the sky.
The official name of the program has often changed since its initiation in the Reagan days. This makes it difficult to track spending and even the program’s implementation. Regardless, space-related defense encompasses a huge budget. Many aspects of “Star Wars” are considered classified “off-budget” “black projects“. Publically, however, not including privately contracted research which likely includes ridiculous sums, the US admits it has invested well over $100 Billion on “Space Defense” and is determined to hold on tightly to its commanding lead over all present or potential future competitors of space warfare.
The Star Wars moniker became attached to the missile defense program in the 1980’s because of its potential for science fiction like evil. The program, which is now in the final stages of completion, makes the US the sole holder of nuclear arms in space and gives it unprecedented strike and threat power over the entire planet. Opponents see it not simply as a safety measure but a way to ensure US military dominance. Nations who do not allow the bases on their territory will be left exposed to potential enemy (or American) fire as well as economic backlash. Another criticism is that the implementation of the satellite system requires the United States to modify, withdraw from, or violate several agreements and treaties designed to ensure world peace.
The fears of opponents to the militarization of space were perhaps best confirmed by Joseph W. Ashly, who was the Commander in Chief of the US Strategic Command from 1994 to 1996.
“It’s politically sensitive, but it’s going to happen. Some people don’t want to hear this, and it sure isn’t in vogue, but – absolutely – we’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space. That’s why the US has development programs in directed energy and hit-to-kill mechanisms. We will engage terrestrial targets someday – ships, airplanes, land targets – from space.”
The recent North Korean launch raised eyebrows in Washington and in its staunch alley, Japan, largely because it threatens US and friends’ massive investments in monopolizing space militarization. If the North’s launch was in fact a satellite as it claims, it may have been Kim Jong Il’s own attempt at initiating a “Star Wars” program.
Either way, whether it was a satellite or a missile, the launch poses a far bigger threat to America’s domination in world arms sales than it does to regional peace. Led by notorious mega-arms dealers, Lockheed Martin and Boeing (who have a near worldwide monopoly on space warfare technology), the US arms budget makes up more than half of the total world spending on military weapons. Even more relevant, is that America is by far the world’s largest arms dealer with 36% of total word sales. Coincidently, China and Russia are the two largest markets that the US doesn’t sell weapons to, and they are the most vocal nations calling for restraint in the current North Korea situation. While the US-Japan coalition calls for tough but vague economic sanctions and punishment, China and Russia are “concerned about further alienating” the reclusive and secretive fascist state.
Critics of North Korea’s nuclear program (which has never been proven to be anything more than for peaceful energy development) fail to mention the massive arsenal of nuclear weapons the US has. The US maintains more nukes than any other country and during the cold war alone spent more money making nuclear weapons than the entire global economic output of the nineteenth century.
Whether there is legitimate evidence or not to support the theory that North Korea is arming itself with nuclear weapons, the fear of such a possibility may be used to justify a change in Japan’s nuclear policy. Currently Japan’s defensive military stance prohibits it from having nuclear weapons (although, its energy program is set up in a way to make it relatively quick and easy to convert uranium into weapons grade plutonium).
The DPRK’s missile launch challenges the US arms monopoly and strengthens North Korea’s role as a weapons dealer. The launch effectively was nothing short of an elaborate advertisement to Russia, China and other so called “rogue” nations that the US has yet to secure as weapons trading partners. Having an arms trading agreement with massive markets like China and Russia would create exponentially huge profits for whoever holds the contract. If Pyongyang is successful in creating for itself an entire new industry, it might become less dependant on foreign aid, and therefore gain a lot of leverage in future six-party talks.
Obama stuck with the party line saying, “North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles.” The statement was left unchallenged by Japanese media who failed to point out that North Korea gave plenty of advanced notice before the launch, making the event far more transparent than US or Japanese missile tests which happen regularly but receive no media attention at all. As well, no evidence whatsoever has been presented to contradict the North’s claim that it was attempting to launch a perfectly legal satellite.
Iran, is in a similar position over its nuclear program, and is said to be assisting North Korea’s missile technology, defended the launch.
“North Korea, like any other country, has the right to enter space,” Iran’s state TV said adding that the “pressure on North Korea to give up its undisputable right” was “unfair and dishonest.”
Balbina Hwang, a former adviser to the US in the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, told Al Jazeera that there really isn’t any evidence to say that the NPRK did anything wrong since Pyongyang was very clear in conveying its intentions.
“The ability to test a satellite is within the purview of any sovereign nation,” she said.
“The problem is that most satellite launches are done on equipment or missile-rockets that are in fact ballistic-missile capable,” which is against the UN resolution.
Whether the launch was in fact a satellite that now orbits the Earth like Pyongyang claims, is counter to the US and Japan’s assertion that it was a military rocket that hit the Pacific Ocean. If the media were to do its job properly and launch its own investigation independent of any government instead of just swallowing whole whatever information is fed to them, perhaps we might know who to really believe. Until then, there is no way to verify either side of the story.
Sources (BBC, CBC, NHK, Reuters, AP, Al-Jazeera, Global Post, National Post, Infowars.com):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7970985.stm
http://www.globalpost.com/breaking-news/south-korea/nkorea-launch-threatens-undo-disarmament-talks
http://www.globalpost.com/breaking-news/japan/us-has-no-plans-down-nkorean-missile-gates
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090330/n_top_news/cnews_us_korea_north
http://www.english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/04/20094601758486829.html
http://www.infowars.com/north-korea-shooting-down-rocket-an-act-of-war/
http://www.infowars.com/pentagon-deploys-warships-in-response-to-north-korea-rocket/
http://www.infowars.com/japan-prepares-to-blast-north-korean-missile-out-of-the-sky/
