21st Century Wire says…
Before the New Year, DPRK leader Kim Jung Un announced that his country had finalized the remaining outstanding components needed for its functioning nuclear deterrent. Depending on which way you look at this, it could either mean peace and stability for the region, or it could be a prelude to a major war – pitting a bellicose U.S. Administration against what CNN affectionately calls “the Hermit Kingdom.”
What Kim actually has in terms of operational nukes, or even an ICBM delivery system is anyone’s guess. One thing is absolutely certain though: U.S. desperately needs an enemy on the Pacific front to justify its military occupation of Japan and South Korea, but also in order to justify its climbing defense budget, now topping $700 billion per year – and expected to rise to over $1 trillion by next year.
North Korea is much more profitable to the U.S. with its military industry as a “threat”, than it is as a non-threat. The real target, however, is China, and as the U.S. cannot directly confront China militarily without putting its bilateral trade and investment relationships at risk, North Korea will remain Washington’s primary bogeyman along the Pacific Rim.
In 2018, expect the rhetoric, and the threats, between North Korea and the U.S. to continue – until such a time when Trump calculates a political opportunity in pursuing more peaceful lines of diplomacy – like in the run-up to US mid-term elections, or to secure a “win” in his pocket for a 2020 re-election run.
There’s not a week that goes by without the U.S. receiving some type of major blow to its global hegemony, sure to trigger more fighting talk from hawks in Washington.
Just recently, China issued another dollar blow, announcing plans to launch a new ‘Yuan-Ruble’ payment mechanism with the aim of reducing risks and improving efficiencies with its foreign exchange system. This breaking development coincides with other recent moves, including news that China will “compel” Saudi Arabia to trade oil in Yuan. If this happens, the rest of the global oil market could follow suit, which would spell catastrophy for the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. These two stories are absolutely linked. This is a full-frontal challenge to the Anglo-American World Order.
Expect Washington to continue using its North Korea ‘Threat’ as a means to increase its leverage in Asia, in an effort to extract Chinese concessions, and head-off China’s new financial ascendancy.
READ MORE 2018 PREDICTIONS AT: SHAKE & BAKE: 2018 Trends and Predictions
READ MORE CHINA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire China Files
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