Five Reasons Why the Ukraine Is a Bigger Threat to Peace and Safety than the DPRK Is

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It doesn’t fit the western narrative, but the Ukraine is a far bigger threat to its own people and its neighbours than the DPRK is or has been for decades.  Often, people think of the Korean Peninsula as a volatile region, a dangerous region, an unpredictable “weaponised” region.  In particular, the USA accused the DPRK of being a threat to regional peace and stability.  Objectively, there is some truth to all of this, but the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Korean states is far less unstable than the Syria/Iraq border currently controlled by ISIS.  However, when it comes to threatening regional instability and causing bloodshed, one place is vastly more deadly and volatile than the Korean Peninsula… the battlezone between the fascist Ukraine and the Donbass Peoples Republics.  Despite the fact that the ROK and the DPRK are technically still at war, the region has been remarkably stable and calm since the ceasefire that ended the hot conflict on the peninsula in 1953.  Despite occasional worrying movements on the DMZ separating the two Koreas since 1953, life in the ROK and the DPRK has developed in such a way that all Koreans live their daily lives in a normal way according to the standards that each unique Korean state set for its citizens over the decades since the hot period of the Korean War.  For all of its rhetorical bluster, the DPRK remains technically committed to a “no first strike” policy in respect of nuclear weapons.  Because of this, letting a sleeping dog lie would be good advice for the more hawkish forces in Washington.  Compare that to the Ukraine/Donbass conflict.

1. Duration and Nature of the Conflicts

The Ukraine, a united country between 1991 and 2014 but with deep political divisions, has split.  The DNR and LNR arose after the fascist coup in Kiev.  Since then, regular forces, mercenaries, and terrorists loyal to Kiev invaded and attacked the DNR and LNR, almost without cessation.  This is in total violation of the Minsk II ceasefire agreement, which unlike the successful Korean War ceasefire, was dead on arrival.  The Ukrainian war of aggression against the Donbass Republics started in February 2014 and still rages.  It’s already gone on for longer than the 37 months of the Korean War.  That war lasted between June 1950 and July 1953 before the ceasefire took effect.  Besides this, there were attempted terrorist attacks on neighbouring Russia, attacks thankfully thwarted by Russian security services.  By contrast, the last time the DPRK violated the ceasefire with the ROK was in 1975 when DPRK soldiers committed an “axe murder” of two American soldiers chopping down a tree in the DMZ.  When all was said and done, the USA reacted by chopping down the rest of the tree as a “show of force”.

2. Chemical Weapons 

Whilst no heavy weapons have fired from one Korean state to another since 1953, the Ukraine is guilty of using illegal chemical weapons on civilian targets in the Donbass.  The SK RF concluded that white phosphorus was Kiev’s chemical weapon of choice when attacking the Donbass.

3. Deaths

While death hasn’t been a daily feature of Korean life since 1953, you can’t say the same for the Donbass.  As of December 2016, the UN reported that nearly 10,000 people, including women and children, died in the Donbass conflict, and many suggest the UN figure is low, compared to the even grimmer realities on the ground.  Many more people, including civilians, died since then.  Beyond the deaths, torture and rape, including child rape is a feature of Kiev’s war of aggression.  No such analogue exists in the Korean states.

4. Political Maturity 

Although both Koreas have a goal of uniting the peninsula under their respective flags, so, in turn, don’t acknowledge the political legitimacy of the other state, in reality, both accept the fact that for the foreseeable future they’ll have to live side by side.  Not even the most radical anti-communists in the ROK plan to storm the border in a “war of liberation”, nor will the DPRK turn Seoul into a “sea of flames” unless provoked.  It’s all bombastic rhetoric and has been since the 1950s.  Just as the Federal Republic of Germany and the DDR lived side-by-side without engaging in war, a similar “cold peace” exists between the ROK and the DPRK.

By contrast, the Ukraine is totally confused about its own position on the Donbass Republics.  On the one hand, they claim that the territory is part of a unitary Ukrainian state, but on the other, they cut off water, electricity and other vital supplies to the Republics.  The Ukraine legally removed the rights of Russian speakers throughout the country and purged Russian from Ukrainian media.  The Kiev régime refuses to allow trains from the Donbass into Kiev-controlled regions and they don’t issue passports and birth certificates in the Donbass, which led Russia to accept legal ID issued in the Donbass Republics as legitimate documents.  The Ukraine calls the Donbass people terrorists, “Russian agents”, and everything else to make them as distant as possible.  By contrast, neither Pyongyang nor Seoul challenges the “Korean-ness” of those on the other side of the DMZ.  Just yesterday, President Putin said that Moscow didn’t lure the Donbass Republics into its realm, but rather Kiev simply cut them off, isolated them, alienated them, and pushed them away.  One could add historical inevitability to this list. 

5. The Nuclear Question 

While there are no longer nuclear weapons in the Ukraine, there are many nuclear power facilities and most are in a state of total disrepair.  The Ukrainian nuclear sector is amongst the least safe in the world. The combination of lack of funds and a disorganised central government allowed a situation to develop that could result in another Chernobyl-style disaster.  The Energy Post described the Ukrainian nuclear sector as having “persistent safety problems”.  In an article from 2016, the Energy Post described how the Ukraine’s neighbours live in fear of another nuclear meltdown in the Ukraine:

“The Ukraine’s neighbours are also concerned.  Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria sent multiple questions for clarification and requests for participation in transboundary consultations.  However, Kiev, in response, denied its obligation to conduct any.  One might think that this experience, or perhaps civil society’s repeated warnings, would make decision makers reconsider this reckless adventure, but not the Ukrainian government”.

While “nuclear war” is a better headline than “nuclear safety concerns”, the fact is that since 1945, the world’s biggest nuclear disasters were the result of poorly managed nuclear power facilities and not nuclear weapons.  In this sense, the Ukraine’s “nuclear problem” is a more dire danger to global safety than the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme, which thus far has never fired a missile in anger.

Between 2014 and the present day, the Ukraine killed more innocent civilians than either Korean state has even attempted to do since 1953.  The Ukraine breaks ceasefire agreements on a daily basis while the Korean states haven’t.  The Ukraine used chemical weapons on civilians whilst neither Korean state has done so, nor unlike the quiet Korean political conflict, Kiev’s war of aggression is going on at this very moment.  Furthermore, the Ukraine’s silent nuclear problem is manifestly more worrying than the DPRK’s weapons programme.  Objectively, no one could argue that either Korean state is as dangerous or as volatile as post-coup Ukraine.

3 May 2017

Adam Garrie

The Duran

http://theduran.com/5-reasons-why-ukraine-is-a-bigger-threat-to-peace-and-safety-than-north-korea/

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Ten Countries that Threaten World Peace More than the DPRK Does

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The DPRK doesn’t pose a critical threat to the world. However, these countries have done so and still very much do. Often, people portray the DPRK portrayed as a rogue state that endangers its region and according to some, the world. Nevertheless, the DPRK hasn’t engaged in a hot conflict since the ceasefire that ended the Korean War in 1953. There’s little evidence that the DPRK is actually as menacing as it often pretends to be, let alone as menacing as others claim it is.

READ MORE: The US should accept China’s proposal and talk to North Korea. Here’s why.

You can’t say the same for the following ten countries:

1. The USA

Since 1998 alone, the USA conducted unprovoked illegal aggressive attacks on the following countries:

• Iraq
• Yugoslavia
• Afghanistan
• Iraq (again)
• Libya
• Sudan
• Somalia
• Yemen
• Syria

During this time, the USA also funded and provoked an illegal coup in the Ukraine. If invading and overthrowing governments in countries that haven’t even attempted to invade the USA isn’t a danger to world peace, I don’t know what is.

2. The Ukraine

Since 2014, the Ukrainian régime has fought a genocidal war against ethnic Russians in the Donbass. The war hasn’t ceased and the Kiev régime constantly violates the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. The war has seen the use of chemical weapons on civilian targets as well as the deprivation of food, medical supplies, and electricity to the Donbass. The DNR and LNR never sought to attack Kiev, merely to defend their democratic socialist republics against aggression that hasn’t ceased since 2014. This is an attempt at ethnic cleansing that the world should’ve condemned and put a stop to a long time ago.

READ MORE: When the Ukraine dropped chemical weapons on the Donbass, the West didn’t care (VIDEO)

3. Israel 

Israel has continually occupied lands recognised by the UN as Palestinian territory since 1948. Israel has illegally occupied Syrian territory since 1967. In 1982, Israel invaded and occupied Lebanon and only left in 2000. Combined Lebanese forces, primary those of Hizbullah, stopped an attempt to invade Lebanon in 2006. Israel continues to illegally invade and bomb Syrian territory, thus exacerbating the current crisis in that country. Israel’s Yinon Plan is a long-term strategy that many in Israel’s government and deep state plan to execute in order to annex further land among Israel’s neighbours.

4. Turkey 

Turkey illegally occupied Northern Cyprus since 1974. Under President Erdoğan, this will almost certainly not change. Erdoğan’s forces continue to occupy parts of Syria and Iraq. The Turkish jihadist proxy militia FSA is guilty of numerous atrocities against civilians in Syria. In the most populous regions of Syria, the FSA is an even bigger throat-cutting and car-bombing menace than ISIS or al-Qaeda.

READ MORE: Turkey poses a bigger threat to Syria than ISIS

5. The UK

British Prime Minister Tony Blair made NATO’s illegal invasion of Yugoslavia something of a personal crusade, where for Bill Clinton it was to a great extent, merely an opportunity to get Monica Lewinsky out of the headlines. Blair was the only major leader apart from George W Bush to make passionate pleas for Iraq’s invasion. Since then, Britain has followed the USA into every major illegal conflict in the Arab world and beyond.

READ MORE: Why Tony Blair isn’t wanted back in Britain

6. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) 

The KSA is the world’s leading sponsor of Wahhabist terrorism. A long time sponsor of al-Qaeda, now the KSA supports ISIS covertly too. The KSA’s aims for the Arab world are nefarious to, say the least. With oil prices plummeting, the KSA turned to imperialism, fought not with a regular army, but conducted by infusing money into extremist causes including and especially, violent terrorism.

READ MORE: Wahhabi terrorism: the Saudi route to conquest

7. Qatar 

Qatar is guilty of many of the same crimes as its larger neighbour, the KSA. In particular, part of Qatar’s motivation for funding jihadist killers in Syria is a desire to build a gas pipeline from Qatar to Turkey. In order to do this, the pipeline would need to go through Syria. Qatar’s war is there for gas war in the guise of blood-soaked jihad.

8. France 

The most profound trail of blood left by France in the Arab world was in Algeria, where the French murdered and tortured Algerian freedom fighters between 1954 and 1962. France’s footprint on its former mandate/colony Syria is also widely hated by all Syrians. Under Nicholas Sarkozy, France led the public charge for war on Libya and under President Hollande, France committed war crimes in Syria, its former colony. The audacity is incredibly insulting to Syria. France’s intervention in Mali in 2013-14 also received wide criticism as a duplicitous post-colonial exercise.

9. Germany 

As the de-facto leader of the EU, Germany was essential in helping to foment the illegal fascist coup in the Ukraine. In 2014, along with Poland and France, Germany authored an agreement that was supposed to ease tensions in Kiev. In reality, the agreement bought time for the extremists who finalised their coup against the legitimate Ukrainian President, V F Yanukovich, on the following day. Germany also illegally bombed Syria as part of the US coalition in the region. One could legitimately describe Germany’s actions towards Greece and Cyprus in particular as economic warfare.

READ MORE: EU action in Kiev and Donbass has been paid in blood

10. Albania 

Although one of NATO’s smallest and poorest members, Albania is a swamp, from which a constant threat of war in the Balkans looms. Since the late 1990s, Albania transformed itself into a hotbed of regional imperialism as well as radical political Sunni Islam. Albanian leaders seek to create a so-called Greater Albania by annexing parts of Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and even Greece. Recently, the Albanian Prime Minister threatened to annex part of Serbia if the EU didn’t fulfil Albanian demands. Likewise, the infamous Tirana Platform is essentially a blueprint for an Albanian-led breakup of the Republic of Macedonia. In spite of its name, the original draft of the Tirana Platform was drafted in English, written in the West, and then passed to Albanian authorities in Tirana, who themselves then passed it onto extremist Albanian insurgents in the Republic of Macedonia (they can’t read a word of English). Nevertheless, they’re already slowly executing the plan.

READ MORE: Serbia responds to Albanian threats to annex its territory

Each of these states threatens the world far more than the DPRK ever has or likely ever could. However, these countries all share something that the DPRK doesn’t. They either are all NATO members or otherwise, very close US allies.

30 April 2017

Adam Garrie

The Duran

http://theduran.com/10-countries-that-threaten-world-peace-more-than-north-korea/

Is Yatsenyuk on the Way Out? More Evidence Surfaces… But I’m Not Puttin’ Any Green on that Bet, Yet…

“I’m sorry, Ukrainians, but I’ve sold my soul to the IMF, and the people into slavery!”

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Read this. A report surfaced Wednesday of junta “Prime Minister” Yatsenyuk being in the shitter. Well… it was April Fool’s Day… like many another experienced internet journalist, I dismissed it as an April Fool as there wasn’t corroborating information. Well… evidence is trickling out… more of it in Russian (but this is an English-language item, for my readers’ convenience). There’s still not enough intel for my taste. What it means is that big-time players are buying into the story. I’d love to see it… it’d mean that the junta’s on its last legs (throwing people off the bus rarely helps any foundering enterprise)… but that’s precisely why I set the bar so high. Since it WOULD be a sign of terminal sclerosis, I don’t want to claim it until we can nail it down as fact. If this is so (and I do mean IF), it’s a sign of approaching death for the junta. That wouldn’t mean the end… there are enough Galician Uniate nationalist crazies afoot to cause much mischief until they’re put down. However, if this is so, it means that the junta may not last out the year (bringing Elder Iona’s prophecy to fruition… “the third Easter will be victorious”). Arseny Petrovich WAS Darlin’ Yuliya the Landshark’s bagman, he’s pals with the deep-pocketed Scientologists (his sister in the USA is one), and he’s got a tub-full of money to spread about… as I said, I’m not going to believe that he’s out until the Munchkin Coroner sings his song.

I think that all discerning readers will understand my reluctance to call this guy “politically dead” until it happens. I do hope so; I truly do.

BMD

15 March 2015. Effigy of Yatsenyuk Found Hanging in Odessa… Gee, I Think that He Might be Slightly Unpopular There

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The placard on the effigy says, “I’m sorry, Ukrainians, but I’ve sold my soul to the IMF and the people into slavery!” I think that such isn’t a good sign for the junta at all (yes, I know it’s a bad pun…)… there are car bombs in Kharkov, oligarch flunkies killed in Dnepropetrovsk, unrest in Vinnitsa, and draft dodgers in the Lvovshchina. It won’t be long, but it won’t be tomorrow. It’s Saigon in 1975, Beijing in 1949, Berlin in 1945, and Richmond in 1865… the end is near, but no one knows exactly when…

May God cut the time short to lessen the suffering… that’s my prayer… that the “Ukrainian” state disappears so that peace may return and the killing end. It’s the only way…

BMD