[A-List] The Korean Crisis: Cui Bono

[Nadja Tesich]

Todd,
Bravo!You sound so optimistic.
Nadja

________________________________
> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 17:57:13 -0800
> To: a-list at lists.econ.utah.edu
> From: toddfboyle at gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [A-List] The Korean Crisis: Cui Bono
>
>
>
> But of course. It was somebody's intention to escalate
> the tensions.
>
>
> There is a vast inventory of other psychopathic stunts that have not been
> done, and which the neocons, jihadists, etc. have on their
> "To-Do" lists. Blow up mecca, shoot the pope, nuke
> the congress, etc. Wall Street has their own
> list. Blowup your 401K, sink the dollar, shutoff the money supply,
> force an oil crisis, etc.
>
>
> They have so many stunts, Naomi Klein has figured it out exactly right---
> the answer is keep your ship pointed in the direction you originally
> intended-- steady as she goes--- and we win, in the end. By
> seeing past our fears, and using these stunts to identify the
> perpetrators, and tighten the screws on them, another notch.
>
>
> Todd
>
>
> At 04:02 PM 6/1/2010, Bill Totten wrote:
>
> The alleged North Korean sinking
> of a South Korean boat has dramatically
>
> escalated tensions between North and South Korea
>
>
> by F William Engdahl
>
>
> Global Research (May 31 2010)
>
>
>
>
> The alleged North Korean sinking of a South Korean boat in March has
>
> dramatically escalated tensions between north and south Korea. It has
> also
>
> caused a reversal of a planned Japanese government push to close the
> US
>
> military base on Okinawa. The major question in the bizarre affair is
> Cui
>
> Bono?
>
>
> On March 26, a 1,200-ton Cheonan corvette was sunk apparently by a
>
> torpedo. Forty-six sailors died when the ship went down near the
> disputed
>
> Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea following a sudden
> explosion.
>
> On May 26, a special investigative commission of South Korean military
> and
>
> unnamed experts from the US, Canada, Britain, and Sweden, issued
> their
>
> report stating that, "Cheonan was sunk as the result of an
> external
>
> underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea. The
> evidence
>
> points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by
> a
>
> North Korean submarine."
>
>
>
>
> That report has detonated an explosive rise in tensions in the
> entire
>
> Korean Peninsula and beyond to Japan. It has involved the Chinese
> and
>
> Russians in efforts at defusing the crisis. It also comes at an
> extremely
>
> convenient moment for the Pentagon. North Korea vehemently denies that
> it
>
> fired the torpedo and has accused Washington of provoking the clash.
> North
>
> Korea, angered by the accusations, has declared it is cutting all
> ties
>
> with Seoul and allegedly has ordered its 1.2 million armed forces to
> get
>
> ready for combat.
>
>
> The United States and South Korea will hold joint military drills to
>
> practice interception of submarines "in the near future", a
> Pentagon
>
> spokesman has stated, calling the maneuvers "a result of the
> findings of
>
> this recent incident". The Obama Administration has said Pyongyang
> should
>
> face consequences and expressed its "unequivocal" support to
> South Korea.
>
> Obama has directed his military commanders to coordinate with South
> Korea
>
> to "ensure readiness" and "deter future
> aggression".
>
>
> Curious proof
>
>
> The key piece of evidence cited by the anonymous commission is a
> fragment
>
> of a torpedo propeller - somehow recovered at the final phase of the
>
> investigation - with a marking which reads "Number 1" and
> matches a North
>
> Korean torpedo found seven years ago in the Yellow Sea, according to
>
> Alexander Vorontsov, Head of Korea Department of the Institute for
>
> Oriental studies of the Russian Academy of Science. He adds,
> "Considering
>
> that the blast was allegedly caused by a torpedo carrying a net
> explosive
>
> weight of 250 kilograms, investigators must have been remarkably lucky
> to
>
> find the right fragment with the marking implicating North Korea.
> The
>
> marking, which is the sole indication of the country of origin of
> the
>
> torpedo, could of course look exactly the same on a South Korean
>
> torpedo." {1}
>
>
> The Obama White House has rushed to endorse the Commission report.
> The
>
> White House condemned "the act of aggression" in a statement
> made
>
> available almost immediately on release of the report. Even before
> the
>
> report was released, Obama talked to South Korean President Lee
> Myung-bak
>
> by phone and reportedly told Lee that all contacts with North Korea
> should
>
> be suspended until it becomes clear who perpetrated the attack, not
>
> exactly a calming move.
>
>
> Japan, whose new Government had won election on a pledge to close
> the
>
> controversial US Naval base on Okinawa, suddenly capitulated and
> agreed
>
> with Washington to "settle" the dispute, citing the Korean
> crisis as
>
> grounds. Japan and the United States have now come to an agreement on
> the
>
> relocation of the US military base in Okinawa. Japanese Defense
> Minister
>
> Toshimi Kitazawa and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met at the
> Pentagon
>
> the same day the Korean commission issued its
> "findings".
>
>
> To date both the Russian and Chinese governments have reacted
> extremely
>
> cautiously to the Seoul claims. Russian foreign minister Lavrov has
> stated
>
> that Moscow would carefully review pertinent materials, both those
> from
>
> South Korea and "from other sources". He made clear that Moscow
> had
>
> reservations about the South Korean version of the incident and
> deemed
>
> further verification necessary. Lavrov also urged restraint on both
> sides,
>
> a stark contrast to the Obama Administration.
>
>
> China's position is generally similar. China's foreign ministry
> spokesman
>
> described the sinking of Cheonan as a tragic incident and stated that
> the
>
> priority in dealing with it should be to sustain peace and stability
> on
>
> the Korean Peninsula and in the entire North East Asia. Beijing is
> calling
>
> for calm and restraint until it transpires what exactly happened.
>
> Unofficially, China criticizes the evidence at South Korea's disposal
> as
>
> unconvincing, patchy, and contradictory and says it is going to assess
> the
>
> situation independently.
>
>
> North Korea insists that the evidence was forged and is ready to send
> its
>
> inspectors to assess it. Pyongyang is offering to delegate
> representatives
>
> to review South Korea's "evidence", a timely and rational
> initiative
>
> intended to keep the inter-Korean dialog afloat during the crisis and
> help
>
> defuse the conflict. South Korea's refusal to enter talks with
> Pyongyang
>
> would further diminish the credibility of their evidence.
>
>
> In addition to the dispute over the status of the key US base on
> Okinawa
>
> in Japan, the US is under pressure to end its military command in
> South
>
> Korea and turn it over to the South Koreans in 2012. The US has
> 28,000
>
> troops on the peninsula. In line with an agreement reached after the
> end
>
> of the 1950s Korean war, South Korean soldiers follow US military
> orders
>
> in case of war on the Korean Peninsula. The latest incident comes as
> North
>
> Korea appeared ready to resume the six-party talks on North Korea's
>
> nuclear program, involving Russia, Japan, China, the United States and
> the
>
> two Koreas, stalled in April 2009 when Pyongyang pulled out of the
>
> negotiations in protest against the United Nations' condemnation of
> its
>
> missile tests.
>
>
> In 1999 this writer spoke with a former US Ambassador to Beijing, a
> career
>
> CIA officer and close friend of the Bush family. The former diplomat
>
> stated, in an incautious moment, "If North Korea did not exist, we
> would
>
> have to create it. They allow us to keep our fleet in the Japanese
> waters
>
> despite the end of the Cold War." Perhaps the sudden heating up of
> Korea
>
> tensions is also related to a longer-term Pentagon agenda for the
> region.
>
> If we ask Cui Bono, the clear reply is Washington.
>
>
> Note {1} Alexander Vorontsov, The Conundrum of the South Korean
> Corvette,
>
> RIA Novosti, Moscow (May 26 2010).
>
>
> _____
>
>
> F William Engdahl, author, Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian
> Democracy
>
> in the New World Order (2009).
>
>
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>
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> the
>
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> (c) Copyright F William Engdahl, Global Research, 2010
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> http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com
>
>
> http://www.ashisuto.co.jp 		 	   		  
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