Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

What’s going on over on the Korean Peninsula, and how afraid should we be, here in Hawaii, of threats to blow us away?

The mainstream press has finally noted what on-line media have been reporting for some time: North Korea’s “provocations” appear to be a response to repeated US-S. Korean war games held 50 miles from their coastline.

If Russia and Cuba held war games 50 miles from the coast of Long Island, would the US tolerate it for a minute?

It has now reached the point where Washington has used this year’s war games, which began in early March, as a vehicle for staging a mock nuclear attack on North Korea by flying two nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth bombers over the region March 28. Three days later, the White House ordered F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets to South Korea, a further escalation of tensions.

[Foreign Policy Journal, Behind the U.S.-North Korea Conflict, 4/3/2013]

and most recently:

North Korea, after weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for joint military drills, has told other nations that it will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in the North's capital beginning Wednesday.

[Star-Advertiser (AP), U.S. prepares for more North Korean provocations, 4/7/2013]

The US provocation of N. Korea is nothing new. First, to set up the next clip, remember that during the Korean war, the US bombed every structure in N. Korea until only splinters remained. People remember that sort of devastation aimed squarely against the civilian population. People in N. Korea remember, that is. Most Americans alive today know nothing about that war.

At the end of March, Obama upped the ante by sending B-52 and B-2 Stealth bombers soaring over South Korea to drop dummy bombs. It was a needless and provocative re-enactment of “the empire strikes back”; more than sixty years ago, Washington initiated its nuclear blackmail of the North when it launched B-29s on simulated Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing missions over North Korea in the fall of 1951. Operation Hudson Harbor dropped dummy A-bombs or heavy TNT bombs in a mission that called for “actual functioning of all activities which would be involved in an atomic strike, including weapons assembly and testing.” Ever since, nuclear weapons have been part of our war plans against the North; they were not used during the Korean War only because the US Air Force was able to raze every city in the North with conventional incendiaries. Hardly any Americans know about this, but every North Korean does; no wonder they have built some 15,000 underground facilities related to their national security. However provocative the North appears, we are reaping the whirlwind of our past nuclear bullying.

[The Nation, Korean War Games, 4/3/2013]

How afraid should we be?

So, should Hawaii be afraid of a nuclear-tipped missile headed towards Oahu? Who knows. In theory, N. Korea wouldn’t dare, because we would detect and intercept any such attempt and then retaliate with devastating effect.

So, ok, no missile is likely to reach here even should one be launched. Whew!

Wait a minute, though. There are easier ways to blow up the Pacific Command than to launch a misguided missile. We should not become complacent.

All they need to do is pack their bomb into a wooden crate, mark it “Fireworks” and ship it freight collect to Hawaii. On arrival, a few days before our July 4 Independence Day celebrations, someone will pry off the cover and blam. Mission accomplished.

As we all know, there’s no problem getting illegal fireworks into the state. Happens all the time.

Why freight collect? Well, N. Korea is a poor country, after all.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 4/07/2013 03:54:00 PM