Trump on Korea

“We Think the Olympics Will Go Very Nicely, and After that, Who Knows?”

February 12, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Watch and spread the most concise, compelling, evidence-based, and damning exploration of how the history of the U.S. has led to the coming to power of the Trump/Pence regime—and why it must, and can, be driven out in the interests of humanity.

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Let’s get down to basics: We need a revolution. Anything else, in the final analysis, is bullshit.
Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t unite with people in all sorts of struggles short of revolution. We definitely need to do that. But the proffering of any other solution to these monumental and monstrous problems and outrages is ridiculous, frankly. And we need to be taking the offensive and mobilizing increasing numbers of masses to cut through this shit and bring to the fore what really is the solution to this, and to answer the questions and, yes, the accusations that come forth in response to this, while deepening our scientific basis for being able to do this. And the point is: not only do we need to be doing this, but we need to be bringing forward, unleashing and leading, and enabling increasing numbers of the masses to do this. They need to be inspired, not just with a general idea of revolution, but with a deepening understanding, a scientific grounding, as to why and how revolution really is the answer to all of this.

Bob Avakian, BAsics 3:1

The Winter Olympics are underway in PyeongChang, South Korea—a two-week spectacle of grace and strength, endurance, skill, and stamina by athletes from across the globe. The eyes of the world are on PyeongChang.

Tension has been building between the U.S. and North Korea for months. And Vice President Mike Pence, the highest-ranking U.S. official at the Olympic Games, was in Korea to let the world know who’s calling the shots. Just before his arrival at the games, he warned that the U.S. is keeping “all options ... on the table” (imperialist-speak for the U.S. not ruling out the use of nuclear weapons) in its conflict with North Korea.

Preparing, Positioning a Strike Force

While the world’s attention was on the Olympic Games, the U.S. was threatening North Korea with far more than Pence’s icy stare at the opening ceremony. Just before the Olympics began, the U.S. deployed “at least one extra aircraft carrier [in addition to two already there] ... to the region.” Each carrier holds 60 warplanes and helicopters, as well as thousands of sailors, Marines, and pilots. Alongside the carriers are “carrier strike groups” of missile-armed destroyers and stealth submarines. Assault vessels carrying Marines and fighter jets were sent to provide amphibious support.

In late January, the U.S. Air Force transferred three B-2 “stealth” bombers and 200 personnel to maintain them from Missouri to the Pacific island of Guam—a base from which they can easily reach Korea. A February 11 Associated Press article described the B-2 as the “most advanced bomber in the Air Force [which] ... can carry nuclear weapons. It’s also the only known aircraft that can drop the Air Force’s biggest bomb, the 14,000-kilogram (30,000-pound) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator [the ‘MOP’]. The ‘MOP,’ capable of penetrating deep into the ground to destroy reinforced tunnels and bunkers, was explicitly designed with North Korea in mind.”

Perhaps most ominously of all, the Pentagon announced that U.S. and South Korean forces will hold massive naval, land, and air “war exercises” shortly after the Olympics and Paralympics end. In late January, Secretary of “Defense” James Mattis told reporters, “We could fight tonight, shoulder to shoulder with the ... South Koreans, if they’re attacked. An attack [by North Korea] ... will be severely rebuffed if it’s attempted.” As we have previously pointed out, the U.S. has ratcheted up its war preparations in and around the Korean Peninsula to such a degree that a major war—even one that began "accidentally" could quickly escalate to global conflict involving nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons—could be triggered by a “mistake” like the false alarm of a ballistic missile strike in Hawaiʻi several weeks ago.

There is nothing socialist or liberatory about North Korea. And U.S. political and military leaders know that North Korea’s few nuclear weapons pose no “first strike” threat to the U.S. But they also think that stopping North Korea’s nuclear program is essential to removing an obstacle to their unfettered domination of East Asia, and in fact to their entire global power.

The Threat Is Real... the Future Is Unwritten

While the U.S. complained about North Korea holding a military parade in its capital and sending some athletes to the Olympics, it was sending weapons capable of killing tens of millions of human beings across the Pacific Ocean, preparing its forces for significant military action, and tightening an economic chokehold on North Korea.

Look at what these war mongers are doing. Listen to what their Fascist-in-Chief is saying.

At the beginning of February, Donald Trump was asked if he expected a war with North Korea soon. He replied, “We think the Olympics will go very nicely, and after that, who knows?”

In no way should anyone accept this! Political protest and mass opposition in the streets to U.S. threats on North Korea are urgently needed. This fascist regime must be driven from power before it inflicts irreparable damage upon the people of Korea, and all of humanity.

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