Always with a view to fighting the next war vs. the signpost.

Listened to two US "experts" advise the South Korean people on VOA that all political decisions must be considered from the point of view of fighting the next war with North Korea. According to this analysis the South Korean dispute with Japan is little more than irrational, "populist" rabble rousing manipulation. The elephant in the room is the fact that there is absolutely no establishment US interest in the divisive, harmful, and deceitful measures taken by the far right wing Abe regime against South Korea.

The US barely awakened from its semi-comatose state after the Moon administration gave notice of withdrawal from GSOMIA, to blame South Korea without examination of the historical issues or current Japanese policies. This slumbering state has been referred to elsewhere as the "silence of August." * Now disturbed from sleep, the US just repeats Japanese contentions about the 1965 Agreement with Park Chung Hee in a knee jerk fashion. Criticism of Japan by the US is virtually nonexistent, due to Japan's status as a major customer of US military sales, in addition to funishing the US forward military base structure in the Japan, indispensable for anti-China strategies. Abe essentially has Trump, the deal maker, over a barrel, with a lot of room for unilateral maneuver to achieve its own nationalist agenda to "make Japan great again." With the GSOMIA decision, the US only has one remedy, to criticize the democratic government of South Korea, as if badgering them will accomplish something.

*The Silence of August, ROBERT L. GALLUCCI, AUGUST 21, 2019; https://www.38north.org/2019/08/rgallucci082119/

Beyond gross over simplification about the issues between Japan and South Korea, the US is unwilling to examine its own role in creating the problem or its current policies which are destabilizing East Asia. The US, like Abe, is wishing the Moon government would go away rather than taking a more reflective view of how and why the plan to make South Korea and Japan allies moved to the fail column. Erasing the US historical role is a necessary corollary. At the same time, Pompeo and Beigun futilely insist that North Korea must come to the negotiating table while offering nothing but the abortive Bolton "all or nothing" formula. Stephen Beigun's speech on September 6, at the University of Michigan, offered little but vague platitudes unlikely to result in renewed dialogue with North Korea. In fact, his speech was less promising than public statements he has made in the past and represents the retrenchment to the hardline position by the US, revealed at Hanoi, alongside his apparent lack of authority to negotiate.* The world looks on with wonder. Do these experts, know what their doing? Are they the "best and the brightest?"

*Remarks by Special Representative for North Korea Stephen E. Biegun at the University of Michigan’s Weiser Diplomacy Center, Sep 6, 2019; https://www.state.gov/remarks-by-special-representative-for-north-korea-stephen-e-biegun-at-the-university-of-michigans-weiser-diplomacy-center/

( Source- SBS News Videomug Insight 1.17.2017 ) "When walking on a snow covered path don't walk in a disorderly way, because the path I walk forward on today, will later serve as a signpost for others." Bek Beom, Kim Ku