North Korea warns of nuclear ’sacred war’, saying it will use its “nuclear deterrent” in response to joint US-South Korean military exercises this weekend.

In a hot war confrontation how many allies might North Korea really have? 

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The US and South Korea’s plans to hold joint military exercises pose a major danger to the region, Pyongyang says. Some 20 ships and submarines and 100 aircraft are to take place in four days of manoeuvres in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from Sunday.

Sanctions and war games — what next?

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In August 1990, the United States linked a UN vote on Iraq sanctions to aid packages to  poorer countries who were temporary members of  the Security Council – such as Ethiopia, Zaire and Yemen.   Yemen voted against the resolution and three days later found that the US had cancelled its entire aid programme to the country. The Yemeni ambassador to the UN was told: “That will be the most expensive ‘no’ vote you ever cast.” 

But expensive to whom? Twent years on, Yemen is seen as one of the biggest sanctuaries for Al Qaeda terrorism. 

A brilliant review by Andrew Cockburn in the London Review of Books on Joy Gordon’s Invisible War: The United States and Iraq Sanctions

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China and Taiwan have signed a historic trade pact, seen as the most significant agreement since civil war split the two governments 60 years ago.

Not long ago the China-Taiwan story was about missiles and invasions.  It’s amazing what trade can do

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The US warns that North Korea may be preparing for another missile test.

 

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Britain already has the most video cameras per head of population among Western democracies, now the Sunday Times reports that a network of ‘intelligent’ listening devices that can monitor conversations and detect threatening language are being deployed for the first time in a city centre — Coventry.   I story I wrote about three years ago in From Our Own Correspondent Click here: Big Brother is watching us all

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China has been cutting deals in debt-ridden Greece in what’s being seen as a relentless pursuit of global influence. The European Council on Foreign Relations has recently warned that Chinese behaviour poses a ‘huge test’ for Europe — a view shared by many in the United States. 

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A prairie fire is an issue that begins at the grass roots and spreads quickly to face down those in power. Three that come to mind are in 2006 when Dubai Ports World bought P & O that happened to own ports in the the United States and led to a scare that Muslims were running American ports; when the American public backed the invasion of Iraq because Saddam Hussein was linked to the 9/11 attacks; and now we have BP.  Let’s see what happens there.

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Much comparison is being made between America’s treatment of Union Carbide responsible for the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India and of BP for the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.  In America, President Obama is responding to the concern of his own citizens.  In India, despite many more deaths and far higher levels of toxic pollution, the government has felt no electoral need to respond and/or the people felt helpless to exert pressure and/or they didn’t care.  As for Bhopal and America, it protected its own. Such are the workings of democracy.

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It’s very interesting to compare the two opening ceremonies of the China Olympics and the South African World Cup. Both contained huge visions of the future. Both came from countries that represented a whole region and the dreams of millions.  Both were spectacular. China was more meticulous, but by God, the Africans could dance.

Click here: Democracy Kills                                                 Click here: The Third World War — A Future History