Fire and Fury | Book and Movie Reviews |Axisoflogic.com

FIRE AND FURY

How the US Isolates North Korea, Encircles China and Risks Nuclear War in Asia

T.J. Coles, Clairview Books, 2017 ISBN978-1-905570-93-5

There have been several books given the title Fire and Fury, including the recent book alleging to tell tales out of school about the doings inside the White House. I looked at that one in a bookstore, and then pretty quickly put it aside. While there may be some truth in the book – maybe even a lot of truth – I’m not interested in the gossip that seems to be its mainstay.

This book by Axis of Logic columnist T.J. Coles, on the other hand, was a fascinating read from start to finish. As I’ve mentioned in reviews of earlier books by this author, I like his clear and concise writing and I can’t help but be impressed by the depth of the research he undertakes.

So let me talk about this book. We all think we know North Korea, we all recognize it as a hermit kingdom run by a madman, and we all fear it presents a tangible threat to the peace of the whole world. The trouble is, we’re all wrong.

To start with the Introduction, Coles notes that:

North Korea is not globally isolated. It has diplomatic relations with over 100 countries – not exactly a hermit kingdom.
It has not sought isolation – the United States has put it there.
It is not a global threat because its global strike capacity is limited and highly exaggerated.
North Korea has repeatedly made efforts to negotiate with the United States and regional powers, only to be rejected or undermined on each occasion.
America’s policy regarding North Korea is ambiguous. US planners see both pros and cons to keeping the regime alive.

That last point is particularly important because it helps direct the reader to the real United States endgame in the Far East: Containment of China and Russia. The US is fully committed to ‘full-spectrum dominance’. That is, if a place or a thing is not completely within their control, they need to fix that. As playwright Harold Pinter noted in his 2005 Nobel lecture, the United States’ “official declared policy is now defined as 'full spectrum dominance'. That is not my term, it is theirs. ‘Full spectrum dominance’ means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources.”

And to that end, the US sees everything on the planet that does not serve its interests as an enemy that must be contained. Note that ‘serving its interests’ has only a tangential relationship to US border or military security – its ‘interests’ means mostly the ability of US business to own everything and everybody.

So how does North Korea fit into this dominance theory? It sits in a position right up against Russia and China, and within rocket distance of Japan and South Korea. The United States already owns Japan and South Korea, but North Korea’s geostrategic location helps to create an impediment or a benefit to controlling the economic development of Russia and/or China – whether it’s to be seen as impediment or benefit varies from time to time and from analyst to analyst.

And let me note again – this urge to control everyone and everything everywhere is simply a business goal. North Korea is not a military threat to anyone.

Coles gives us a history lesson on Southeast Asia – much of which, I confess, was new to me – and shows that the current US posture regarding North Korea is simply an extension of the long game of commanding Asia from Washington.

The opening paragraphs of the concluding chapter (What Can We Do?) are:

The events outlined in this book are serious indeed. Four nuclear-armed states – the US, China, North Korea (allegedly) and Russia – are involved in a complex geostrategic game. The US is committed to global domination at a potentially ultimate cost to its citizens, namely nuclear annihilation by war, or more likely accident. Russia, China, and North Korea are seeking to defend themselves. The US is actively trying to keep North Korea isolated and successive governments have rejected offers of conciliation.

The likelihood of North Korea alone initiating or provoking a nuclear holocaust is extremely slight.

In keeping with the excellent research Coles has always shown us, what we see in this book is not simply his opinions. Every statement he makes is backed up with sources, very often directly from the US government itself. It seems that journalists these days are willing to accept whatever crafted language government officials offer at news conferences without bothering to look at the actual source material. Coles has, and the story that emerges is very different from what graces the front pages of the New York Times and The Guardian.

And let me make this very clear – because the writer does himself: T.J. Coles is not an apologist for North Korea. He declares that the North Korean regime is despicable [his word] but he adds to that a caveat that our proper course of action is to use peaceful means to help North Koreans – if the people of North Korea truly want reform. Noting the numerous incidences where North Korea has reached out – particularly to the United States (Coles provides the evidence of this) – it seems abundantly clear that North Korea does seek change.

In one referenced US Congressional Research Service report, we find ‘[M]any would argue that the potential costs of inaction arguably could outweigh the risks of action’ (emphasis in the original). As Coles notes:

Three nuclear powers – China, North Korea and Russia – will respond and are responding to US military expansion in the region. It is a chilling insight into the psychology of US war planners and policymakers who would rather risk nuclear confrontation or accident than abandon a region and allow it to develop independent of US influence.

I think ‘chilling’ is Coles’ understated way of saying ‘damn frightening’.

And of course – as always for the US – oil looms big in the picture. Some 70% of the world’s oil and petroleum vessels transit the seas in this region along with about 50% of all other trade, making this region ripe for the US to clamp down on any other country who thinks it might like to have a share of all that.

To quote Coles again:

“ … North Korea is a threat because it behaves in ways not approved by the USA. This is more confirmation of the mindset of US war planners; that anyone who acts independently, even if they do not intend to materially hurt the USA, is a threat. By this standard, the USA is the biggest threat on Earth to every nation because it does not compromise.

Coles reveals the numerous treaties/agreements/promises that have come from the United States over the years and shows how the US failed to live up to almost every one of them. As any country that has ever tried to negotiate anything at all with the US soon learns – whether it be peace, trade deals, or anything else – the US cannot be trusted to stand behind its promises.

I found this book to be very educational, grounded in excellent research, all presented in an easy to understand narrative.

So before you start spouting off to your Uncle Dave about your convictions regarding North Korea, you could do Uncle Dave a favour and expose yourself to the facts and story that your evening news is not sharing – assuming they even know about it. This book will give you that insight.

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