‘Nuclear Ash’ Carter Has Dramatically Expanded Obama’s Nuclear War Threat in Asia

PRESS RELEASE

‘Nuclear Ash’ Carter Has Dramatically Expanded Obama’s Nuclear War Threat in Asia

Oct. 20, 2016 (EIRNS)—In a "2+2" meeting of U.S. and South Korean Defense and Foreign Ministers yesterday in Washington, the Obama Administration announced a major escalation in the nuclear war threat against China and Russia in Asia, under the cover of enormous over-kill preparations against North Korea. According to Voice of America yesterday, quoting defense and diplomatic sources, the two nations announced the launch of talks on "extended deterrence" against North Korea.

"The U.S. is considering the permanent deployment at its bases in South Korea of B-1B and nuclear-capable B-52 bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets, and nuclear-powered submarines,"

VOA said.

The meeting established a high-level "Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group," accompanied by

"unusually blunt public comments from the U.S. secretaries of defense and state about the possibility of nuclear war initiated by Pyongyang on the Korean peninsula,"

said VOA.

This must be read as a transparent excuse for tightening the nuclear ring around China and the Russian Far East, since an overwhelming response to a North Korean attack would not require such deployments, just as the THAAD deployment is aimed not at North Korea, but at China and Russia.

"Any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an overwhelming and effective response," blustered Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, adding that South Korea’s security is guaranteed by the "full spectrum of U.S. defense capabilities," meaning nuclear weapons.

South Korea was represented at the meeting by Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se. Yun said Pyongyang is nearing the "final stage of nuclear weaponization," compelling the United States and South Korea to utilize "all tools in the toolkit" to defend themselves and make the North Koreans "feel the panic under their skins." Han then said that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles are akin to "a dagger against our throats."

Left out of the discussions was the fact, acknowledged by nearly everyone, that Obama’s Korea policy, known as "strategic patience," has entirely failed to end the North Korean nuclear program—which was, in fact, the intention. By allowing their development of nuclear weapons, through a refusal to talk to the North, Obama now has his excuse for preparing for war with China.

Sources in Seoul told EIR that the country was rife with rumors, based on the current intense round of discussions about a U.S. military build-up in the region, that Obama wants to "decapitate" North Korea before the end of his term.

VOA notes that some analysts recognize that the nuclear delivery systems being deployed in the South make no sense in regard to North Korea.

"I don’t see why you need B-52s and B-1s on the peninsula. That puts them within D.P.R.K. short-range missiles, and therefore more vulnerable than if they remain at [Guam]. They can fly to Korea in a few hours,"

said Troy University international relations professor Daniel Pinkston, author of "The North Korean Ballistic Missile Program." Basing such aircraft and THAAD on the Korean peninsula would cause China "to be in an uproar" and officials in Pyongyang and Beijing to assert that such forward-deployed assets are intended to deter the Chinese, Pinkston told VOA.

Carter’s stark reference to nuclear retaliation is expected to raise serious questions about the nuclear option, said Tara O of CSIS, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel. "Someone has to make a decision on what will be an acceptable cost if we are to carry out anything beyond rhetoric," O told VOA.