A MISTAKE IN THE FAR EAST

The world needs to lower tensions and conflict, so why does Washington insist on insisting on the South Sea and the Korean peninsula?

 

By Sidney Hey

 

In the current global scenario, the conflicts in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip and their reverberations on the Lebanese border and the Red Sea have been distracting public opinion from another possible war front that the Pentagon has been working on for some time and is about to open at any moment.

The situation on the Korean peninsula is far from stable or even peaceful, but when we look more closely and see in detail the constant back and forth between Seoul and Pyongyang we can intuit that there is a progressive degradation between the two sides which, to make matters worse, is encouraged by the ever clandestine meddling of Washington and its Atlanticist allies.

It is impossible not to repeat it. If Washington were not fuelling the secessionist ambitions of the political elite in Taiwan, the animosities and suspicions against China in the states bordering the South Sea, and provoking North Korea (which Washington considers a dangerous actor) at every turn, we would certainly not have a high fever in this region.

The US needs unconditional vassals in the region, such as Japan, who are willing to be fulminated by a nuclear strike first.

This concern is not only seen by the Japanese who, every now and then, have to watch North Korean intercontinental missiles whizzing past their heads as if it were a lottery or rather a "Russian roulette" in which every Japanese wonders: Will it land in the sea or on the island?

Australia, for its part, is not that far from North Korean missiles without meaning that Kim Jon Un has any intention of launching a strike against the big island. Sadly, the Canberra government's flirtations with Washington are getting Pyongyang to target us with a number of numbers.  But the ordinary Aussie who is more concerned about the rising cost of living, unemployment and high taxes might well ask, Hey mate! Why would the fat boy in Pyongyang launch an attack on us if we haven't done anything to him? And someone standing next to him who is well informed about what is going on over the horizon might ask him, "You don't think so?

It is governments that weave or cooperate with these plots of intrigue and constant threats. At the gates of the Pacific Ocean we have Papua New Guinea and Australia, as two obsequious collaborators with the plans of the State Department and the Pentagon. In the case of Australia, the obsequiousness with which the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese approaches the White House and the US State Department is a tradition. Without considering all the manoeuvres that the Americans carry out, such as the private negotiations conducted by actors like USAID, USIP and other supposedly innocent initiatives to open dialogue between the two Koreas, as well as the large black holes of money, they are nothing more than part of the soft tactics implemented -together with the “Five Eyes” agency- by the US intelligence agencies to impose their guidelines.

Of course, Canberra is not going to question these games. Prime Minister Albanese and his entire cabinet are in the mistaken belief that “we are Anglos” and as part of the Commonwealth, the Americans and the British regard us as equals and as such will stick up for Australians. If the issue were not so serious I would certainly laugh uncontrollably. Many would ask you what part of our nation's history have you studied? So obedient has the local government proved to be that all that is missing from official communiqués is a caption saying “I will do immediately as you command!!”.

This is no exaggeration. For decades we have been playing the American side's dirty games and what have we gained? We participated in the aggressions against Iraq and had a role to forget after the 2003 invasion and let's not dig into what we did in Afghanistan. Oh sure, a big handshake from the US president that our conspicuous representatives receive, lagging military hardware and promises of many benefits for supporting the agendas they weave in Washington.

But down here, in reality, things are different. We are currently playing the Biden administration's little games to maintain “security” in the Indo-Pacific in exchange for a few old US Navy ships and a promise to provide the RAN Royal Australian Navy with used "Virginia Class" nuclear submarines by 2032 or 2035 at the latest.

If that is not enough, the government has also reached an agreement with Britain to build a nuclear submarine SSN-AUKUS that would operate in both fleets, with the first to be delivered by the late 2030s and allowing Canberra to build its first ship only in the 2040s, which is already being considered for future budgets.

Meanwhile the Australian Navy as a mere vassal of Washington will continue to be involved in operations in international waters to screw whoever they command, the ultimate goal being to go to the Red Sea to deal with the Huties.

As can be seen, we are giving magnificent signals that we intend to keep the peace in the region. It is not enough for our conventional ships to prowl non-national jurisdictional waters. Our Navy is part of a task force such as AUKUS, which the Americans formed and which the Americans direct, and which is only destined to fulfil objectives that the Americans want. We have to get out of this narrow mindset that our politicians and our military have adopted from the Americans that only sees what they see, the rest does not matter.

In the last month, Seoul has been threatening its northern neighbour with possible consequences for its development in the space field. The launch of a North Korean satellite last November using its advanced TAEPO DONG propellant development not only raised the ire of Seoul but also raised alarms in Washington and the NATO secretariat who immediately came out to condemn this development and, of course, to sow further fear in the South Koreans about this technological advance which, if you haven't noticed, can propel their missiles as far as New Zealand, including Stewart Island and a few hundred kilometres beyond.