Ian Shilling -- There are no military solutions to the Korea crisis - Whatever happened to "America First"?

There are no military solutions to the Korea crisis - Whatever happened to "America First"?

North Korea is developing nuclear weapons as a deterrence against a U.S. invasion / attack. North Korea restarted its nuke program after Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech in 2002 and accelerated it after Obama took out Gaddafi and attacked Syria with al-Qaeda terrorists in 2011.

Kim wants to stay in power and preserve his regime. Kim is a despot but he is not suicidal. North Korea and his regime would get wiped out if he attacked the U.S. or anywhere else & Kim would be dead.

China has already stated that if Kim attacks first, China will stand aside but if the U.S. attacks first, China will prevent the U.S. from Regime Changing North Korea.

As Steve Bannon recently and correctly stated there is no military solution to North Korea. North Korea has 20,000 long range artillery pieces buried in the hills along the border, 8,000 of which can reach South Korea's capital Seoul with a population of 10 million. The U.S. has over 30,000 troops stationed near the border who would be sitting ducks if war breaks out.

Upwards of 1 million South Koreans and 10,000 U.S. troops would get killed in the first hour, if the U.S. started a war on North Korea.

In addition there is a sizable risk of North Korea smuggling some sort of basic nuke into South Korea or Japan on board a boat or container ship and exploding it near Seoul or Tokyo causing millions of deaths.

If the U.S. chose to try and take out North Korea's artillery with nukes this would result in nuclear fallout across South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and North East China, which would eventually cross the Pacific Ocean and poison Hawaii, and the West Coasts of the U.S., Canada and Mexico

N.B. the THAAD missile defense system is not designed to protect South Korea or Japan. It is designed to take out what's left of Chinese nuclear missiles after a first strike by the United States. China knows this and wants the U.S. THAAD missiles taken out of South Korea.


N.B2 The North Koreans have been indoctrinated for 60 years to absolutely hate the Imperialist Yankees and their "lapdog Imperialist lackeys in South Korea".
They also remember, and are constantly reminded of, the complete devastation caused to North Korea by American carpet bombing in the 1950-53 War.
Most of North Korea looked like it had been nuked like Hiroshima.
A picture of Pyongyang from this time.

Even if the U.S. managed to forcibly Regime Change North Korea and install a U.S. or South Korean puppet, the 1.5 million strong Korean Army has been trained to mount a sustained guerilla war against South Korea and any other U.S. assets or allies. Estimates predict something like 300,000 North Koreans fighting a 30 year long Guerilla War against the U.S. occupation of Korea. (See ISIS and Syria/Iraq times 10.)


The only solution to the Korea crisis is a complete withdrawal of all American forces in South Korea which are the main obstacle to peace and let the Koreans sort it out for themselves.
Neither the North or South Koreans want to commit suicide by starting a war.
With an economy 45 times greater than the North's, South Korea is more than capable of defending itself from any threats.

China and Russia have proposed that the first step in a peace process should be "a double freeze".
North Korea should freeze its nuclear and missile development in return for the ending of the massive U.S. and South Korea military drills practicing to attack North Korea which occur every year. North Korea already supports such a proposal.

If Trump was serious about resolving the crisis with North Korea he would be pursuing the proposal outlined above and arranging talks between the U.S., North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia and possibly Japan.
But he has said the exact opposite, warning South Korea not to talk to North Korea because of the possibility it might defuse the current alarming situation.


During the period circa 1996 to the early 2000's there was somewhat of a thaw in the Cold War between North and South Korea with a freezing of North Korea's nuclear program and the development of cross border family visits, some trade, and some start up investments in North Korea factories in a Development Zone near the border.
GW Bush made sure to put an end to this thaw and once again increase the tensions.

Korea’s “Sunshine Policy”: How Bush Jr Quashed the Movement for Korean Reunification
http://www.globalresearch.ca/koreas-sunshine-policythe-reunification-of-north-and-south-korea/5585282

South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in was elected in May 2017 on a promise to improve relations with North Korea and revive Korea's Sunshine Policy of a decade ago. 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/south-korea-election-moon-jae-set-to-become-president
This has now flown out the window with the recent escalation of tensions. 

The U.S.occupation of Korea is NOT to protect South Korea. The U.S. presence makes the South Koreans LESS safe as it increases the tensions and possibility of war on the peninsula.

The U.S. occupation of South Korea is part of the encirclement of China with U.S. military bases to maintain tensions between the Superpowers and thus maintain the profits of the U.S. Arms Industry and private Military Contractors.
This policy costs U.S. taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year which would be much better spent at home.

Whatever happened to "America First"?

Update 10th Sep 2017
Why Trump Won't Start a War With North Korea
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47771.htm
The purpose of ratcheting up the tensions with North Korea is to provide the pretext for:-
Maintaining a large troop presence in SE Asia
Justify the $1tn a year War Budget
Encircle China.
Extract from the above article:-
Donald Trump isn’t going to start a war with North Korea. That’s just not going to happen.

Not only does the United States not have the ground forces for such a massive operation but, more important, a war with the North would serve no strategic purpose at all. The US already has the arrangement it wants on the Peninsula. The South remains under US military occupation, the economic and banking systems have been successfully integrated into the US-dominated western system, and the strategically-located landmass in northeast Asia provides an essential platform for critical weapons systems that will be used to encircle and control fast-emerging rivals, China and Russia.

So what would a war accomplish?

Nothing. As far as Washington is concerned, the status quo is just dandy.

And, yes, I realize that many people think Trump is calling the shots and that he is an impulsive amateur who might do something erratic that would trigger a nuclear conflagration with the North. That could happen, but I think the possibility is extremely remote. As you might have noticed, Trump has effectively handed over foreign policy to his generals, and those generals are closely aligned to powerful members of the foreign policy establishment who are using Trump’s reputation as a loose cannon to great effect. For example, by ratchetting up the rhetoric, (“fire and fury”, “locked and loaded”, etc) Trump has managed to stifle some of the public opposition to the deployment of the THAAD missile system which features “powerful AN/TPY-2 radar, that can be used to spy on Chinese territory, and the interceptors are designed to protect US bases and troops in the event of nuclear war with China or Russia.”

THAAD is clearly not aimed at North Korea which is small potatoes as far as Washington is concerned. It’s an essential part of the military buildup the US is stealthily carrying out to implement its “pivot to Asia” strategy.

Trump’s belligerence has also prompted a response from the North which has accelerated it ballistic missile and nuclear weapons testing.  The North’s reaction has stirred up traditional antagonisms which has helped to undermine the conciliatory efforts of  liberal President Moon Jae-in. At the same time, the North’s behavior has strengthened far-right groups that –among other things– want to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in the South. By playing to the right wing and exacerbating hostilities between North and South, Trump has helped to fend off efforts to reunify the country while creating a justification for continued US military occupation. In other words.