We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, April 4, 2013

U.S., NATO Expand Into Asia-Pacific With North Korea As Pretext.

Click here to access audio interview and transcript of remarks by Rick Rozoff posted on The Voice of Russia. Note: This geopolitical analyst has long followed NATO related events and his reports are widely posted on a number of reliable websites.

Rozoff's assessment of US's current hostile relations with North Korea makes a lot of sense given the US administration's recent focus on the Pacific region. Every year US and South Korean forces like to intimidate North Korea by holding military exercises near their border, but this year a new element was introduced which understandably has rattled the leadership of North Korea:
What is most alarming about this year’s however, is the fact that in recent days the United States deployed two B-2 Strategic Long-Range Nuclear Bombers, they flew non-stop from the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to South Korea to fly over the Korean peninsula. These are nuclear capable bombers, that is they are capable of dropping nuclear payloads.
Rozoff goes on to explain why this was done as a part of an overall Empire strategy to contain China and Russia. Although both countries transformed their economic systems to capitalism and thus ended the Cold War, that does not indicate more peaceful relations as we are witnessing. Capitalist circles are always seeking dominance over others in their competition to secure access and control of key resources, markets, and cheap labor. After all, wasn't that what two devastating world wars were fought over? (See my commentary posted here.) China and Russia for the most part refuse to follow the diktats of the NATO led Empire, and therefore must be intimidated and contained.