Tracy Watkins is in Korea paid for by the US to head off any support fro President Moon’s visit here. US security chiefs are here in Wellington today with the 40-grit sandpaper on Huawei. A high-ranking Russia “expert” from the UK was here last week because they thought Winston Peters wasn’t sufficiently outraged by the Skripal false flag affair. We’re in the gun in the information wars.
Tracy Watkins trip US-sponsored trip coincides with South Korean President Moon’s visit to New Zealand; in my opinion it is no coincidence. The US’s key message is in Watkins’ article, headlined about inter-Korean tourism.
Moon is also expected to raise the issue of sanctions in his meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Minister Winston Peters. New Zealand air force planes play a role in enforcing the sanctions, alongside our traditional allies, the US and Australia. Any repositioning by our government in favour of Moon’s call for greater engagement would put us at odds with those allies. That is because the US view is that tough new sanctions were what bought North Korea and any relaxation now would ease the pressure on Kim to comply.
The truth is that Koreans are not masters in their own country. South Korea would like peaceful engagement with the North; the US demands complete submission before any leniency.
We are being sucked into other people’s wars. Richard Harman’s Politik says that the Huawei decision “saw the old friends prevail.” It was Lord Palmerston of Opium War infamy who said that Britain did not have allies, it only had interests. The same is true of the US; it only has military bases, 800 or so around the world.
The US has effectively declared war on China, Russia, Iran and North Korea by name. We are being drawn in to take sides alongside our “traditional allies,” supposedly on the basis of common values. I’m not at all attracted to the values demonstrated by Donald Trump in his support for Saudi murder, genocide in Yemen and planetary destruction through climate change denial. And as the UK heads for Brexit self-destruction, like the US Democrats it looks for Russian distraction.
We used to stand up to them, and stand up for our values of peace and conciliation. We can’t expect the media to do it for us, but in my opinion letting ourselves be bullied is not in our interest.
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