North Korea

Australia is being dragged into US wars

The threat of nuclear annihilation is closer than at any time since the end of the Cold War as two heads of state use nuclear weapons as props in what looks like a fight between two adolescent boys.

On one side is a narcissistic bully, born to inherit great power and with credible reports that his personal life includes indulging in acts of sadism, whose policies in government are driven by a combination of xenophobia, ego and whim and who is threatening nuclear Armageddon if he doesn't get his way.

On the other side is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

The nuclear threat to Trump all others

The unthinkable possibility of nuclear war is once again in the headlines after US officials reacted with shrill threats to the North Korean government claim to have tested its most powerful nuclear bomb yet.

This is the latest escalation in a game of nuclear chicken, with calculated provocations on all sides. But to judge from the mainstream media, it is only North Korea鈥檚 Kim Jung-un who is driving the world to the brink of a nightmare.

This is false.

US is the real nuclear threat

US President Donald Trump's August 8 statement that any threats from North Korea would be 鈥渕et with fire and fury like the world has never seen鈥 should have made us all very worried. But it has .

Letter from the US: Korea crisis could play into Trump's authoritarian agenda

The threat by US President Donald Trump to unleash nuclear war against North Korea is not a Trumpian 鈥渆xcess鈥.

That has been made clear by his Secretary of Defense, retired Marine General James Mattis, who backed Trump. The administration is demanding that North Korea freeze its nuclear program, including the testing of missiles.

The last time the US launched 鈥榝ire and fury鈥 in Korea, millions died

Many commentators in the US and elsewhere have poured cold water on the idea there could be a short term war between the US and North Korea.

The Guardian said on August 9: 鈥淏ut despite two unpredictable nuclear-armed leaders trading barbs, most observers believe the possibility of conflict remains remote, with the North Korean leadership using its nuclear program as a bargaining chip rather than an offensive weapon.鈥

Dangerous US-China tensions behind North Korea crisis

US exports to China totalled US$116 billion last year, while its imports reached $463 billion. The $347 billion deficit accounts for almost 70% of the US鈥檚 total trade deficit.

US President Donald Trump鈥檚 most influential senior advisers, Peter Navarro, who heads the National Trade Council, and US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross, call China 鈥渢he biggest trade cheater in the world鈥.

North Korea: Behind the US war threat

The cycle of belligerency and threat making on both sides is intensifying. And it is always possible that a miscalculation could trigger a new war, with devastating consequences.聽

But even if a new war is averted, the ongoing embargo against North Korea and continual threats of war are themselves costly: they promote and legitimise greater military spending and militarisation more generally, at the expense of needed social programs, in Japan, China, the US, and the two Koreas.

War on terror begets more terror

We condemn the terror attacks in London and Manchester, but we also need to call out the cynical and dangerous response from those in charge who have one solution 鈥 more of the same.

British Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump are using these tragedies to ramp up Islamophobia, expand police powers, weaken civil liberties and strengthen the 鈥渨ar on terror鈥 鈥 the same policies that have failed to stop individuals from carrying out terror attacks.

South Korea: Right loses presidency after mass movement 鈥 what Moon鈥檚 win means

Moon Jae-in, of the liberal Democratic Party, won South Korea鈥檚 May 9 presidential election with 41% of the vote, easily defeating his arch-conservative opponent Hong Jun-pyo, who won about 24%.

The elections took place after the impeachment of conservative president Park Geun-hye for her involvement in a huge corruption scandal. Park, from Hong鈥檚 right-wing Saenuri Party (renamed Liberty Korea Party in a bid to rebrand), was forced out by the huge 鈥淐andlelight Revolution鈥. Millions of Koreans mobilised in an ongoing series of candlelight protests to demand her impeachment.

The elections also took place in a context of the threat of war in the Korean Peninsula with US President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration ratcheting up tensions with North Korea.

The US, not North Korea, is the biggest threat to peace

Less than three months into President Donald Trump鈥檚 reign we can already say that there is a non-trivial chance that the United States will soon be engaged in a nuclear war.

The threat is still remote, but the pieces are in place. An aircraft carrier group is聽en route聽to the Korean peninsula and anonymous sources have threatened a pre-emptive strike against North Korea.

Behind Donald Trump鈥檚 dangerous sabre-rattling

During last year鈥檚 presidential election campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump favoured a more militarised foreign policy. They differed on the main target: Clinton aimed at Russia, while Trump singled out China.

Clinton wanted to continue the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union of steadily expanding NATO up to Russia鈥檚 borders in Europe. She also proposed challenging Russia in Syria.

Nuclear explosions since 1945 graphic

Marshall Islands challenges nuclear powers

In April last year, the government of the Marshall Islands announced it would be taking nine nations 鈥 China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Britain and the US 鈥 to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over their possession of nuclear weapons.