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Edition no. 73 December 1, 2010

China must assert itself as a force for stability and peace

                 The recent firefight between North and South Korea proves once again, there is serious danger of a regional conflict engulfing the world in war. The Americans are directly involved with troops and military hardware such as the Aircraft Carrier George Washington, with what some newswires are calling “Gunboat diplomacy,” designed to show North Korea the US is prepared to defend its longtime ally in the South.

                 The problem with all this military posturing is the global financial climate, several ongoing wars, and of course, the new emerging world power, China.  North Korea is a failed state propped-up by China. It is a place where the people are suffering, where the leader Kim Jong Il travels in an armor-plated train, and where there is one of the largest standing armies in Asia.  His son, the heir in waiting, 28-year-old Kim Jong Un, may be more ruthless than his father and could, if left unchecked, set the stage for World War III.

                 North Korea may be a long way from other failed states like Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan and Lebanon, but it does have several things in common with them. Its government reigns with terror, it is economically unstable and presents a regional military threat. North Korea is a  real danger to global security and the future of everyone on the planet, including China.

                 The sober reality is mankind cannot afford another world war. It would be the end of all we know and love, and most likely humanity itself. There needs to be another mechanism for world powers to talk and discuss  security issues which relate directly to one another’s self-interest, because the UN is not working.

                 The United Nations has proven to be a dismal failure and is simply a forum for developing nations to criticize and gain aid from more developed countries. As Romeo Dallaire stated in his book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, “The UN is a third rate corporation with no money.”

                 Indeed, even the six-party talks involving China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and North Korea are proving to be a futile endeavor. In my view, China must make itself known as a force for good in the global community.  Without doubt, Russia the US and Japan are attempting to contain North Korea and China’s assistance would be seen as a great step forward. Unfortunately, China remains silent, even indifferent, as what some would interpret diplomatically as encouraging North Korea’s aggressiveness.  In the long term, this is not good diplomacy on China’s part.

                 Kim Jong Il appears to be China’s bulldog used as a buffer between it and Democratic South Korea supported by the US and the West. Leaders like Kim Jong Il or his heir Kim Jong Un, are not in China’s best interest, because they are reckless and unpredictable.

                 It would be right to assume China is interested in lifting its population out of poverty and into a more prosperous position in the global community. Indeed, China has lifted more than 300 million of its own people out of poverty in the past fifteen years. This is a great achievement thanks to globalization. But as long as China continues to allow North Korea to run as a failed rogue state, the West will be suspicious of  its intentions in the region , or across the world. In its own best interest and in the best interest of the people of China, the Communist Party of China must assert itself as a force for stability and peace. Not a world power who supports rogue states such as North Korea. The Korean attitude of superiority is not welcomed in any community East or West. Why breed distrust and war in the world, when you can build business and profit from peace.

                 Today, more than any other time in human history, the weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems held in the hands of world powers such as China, Britain, Russia and the US are well beyond the capability of destroying the planet several times over.

                 Some weapons are designed to destroy people and leave only buildings standing, such as neutron bombs. Others, which are biological, can be spread by a gas shell exploded over a city, and when inhaled, mimic the bite of a rattlesnake.  Others like white phosphorus, better known as “Willy Pete,” burn the victim’s skin off to the bone, while leaving clothes intact.

                 Humanity has arrived at a pinnacle point in its evolution. We can no longer afford a global conflict, because of the economic financial crisis and the very destructive capabilities of the weapons in our possession. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran undoubtedly threaten world peace.

                 As human beings we have no choice but to address this issue in good faith as members of the global community. One ideology, culture or religion, will not dominate the next. Mankind must now decide the route it will take as a species. This issue is an immediate concern beyond the scale of Globalization or Climate Change, because should there be another world war, it will produce such carnage unforeseen in human history, such horror and death that even at its end, planet Earth will no longer be a viable place to live for human civilization or any other non-human animal.

                 Let us not seek the religious puritanical ideology of welcoming the end of the world. This is not a boy-toy game. In reality, the people left living will envy the dead. Global Warming will appear minuscule compared to the climate backlash of a few thermonuclear weapons.  All hope will be lost and  life as we know it may vanish from the Earth. One madman, rogue missile or dirty bomb, is all it takes. World War III is most definitely not an option.

By Thomas Terrio

World War III is not an option

Readers comments are always welcome

Nothing is more useless in developing a nation’s economy than a gun, and nothing blocks the road to social development more than the financial burden of war. War is the arch enemy of national progress and the modern scourge of civilized men.

King Hussein I

                 Four years of world war, at a cost in human suffering which our minds are mercifully too limited to imagine, led to the very clear realization that international anarchy must be abandoned if civilization was to survive.
Arthur Henderson

Afterthoughts

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