Stephen Lendman

US imperial madness risks catastrophic nuclear war. Its reckless agenda makes the unthinkable possible.

The late Gabriel Kolko said “(t)he way America’s leaders are running the nation’s foreign policy is not creating peace or security at home or stability abroad” - just the reverse.

America is the most reckless, ruthless nation in world history. The late Chalmers Johnson explained its “empire abroad requires resources and commitments that will inevitably undercut (the republic and) produce a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent.”

“The founders of our nation understood this well and tried to create a form of government - a republic - that would prevent this from occurring.”

“But the combination of huge standing armies, almost continuous wars, military Keynesianism, and ruinous military expenses have destroyed our republican structure in favor of an imperial presidency.”

“We are on the cusp of losing (republican governance) for the sake of keeping our empire.”

Since the neoliberal 90s, each US administration exceeded the worst of its predecessors, Trump the latest example. His reckless militarism risks catastrophic nuclear war on his watch.

On April 16, London’s Sunday Times headlined “Trump ‘ready to strike nuclear sites,’ “ saying:

His “closest military advisers have told Britain that America has the firepower to neutralise North Korea’s nuclear programme - and may even launch a pre-emptive strike to do so.”

“(S)enior sources said the United States could ‘utterly destroy’ (DPRK) key targets using conventional weapons.”

National Security Advisor McMaster claims Washington knows the right sites to target.

An unnamed senior British source said “(t)hey’ll do anything it takes. Nothing is off the table. They think they’ve got the capabilities to target things and utterly destroy them. They are confident they know where everything is and can target it efficiently.”

An unnamed UK military source said McMaster knows attacking DPRK nuclear or other sites “would come at a terrible cost” - South Korea, US regional bases and Japan vulnerable to heavy counterattack.

The Times quoted another unnamed UK senior government source, saying the Trump administration is “getting to the point where (it) think(s) (it) may have to take out the ­facilities pre-emptively.”

Washington is “much closer to taking military action than…a year ago.” A former unnamed Bush administration official, knowledgeable about Pentagon war planning, said “Trump is pushing the Chinese hard, but in his gut he ultimately feels he will have to take a strong step himself.”

With Pence in East Asia through April 25, and upcoming May 9 South Korean elections, US military action if intended isn’t likely imminent.

Trump is determined to stop Pyongyang from launching nuclear-armed ICBM’s able to strike America, The Times said.

Risking nuclear war on the Korean peninsula is no way to do it.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.