Jeju Island - Now it Gets Real

Armed South Korean military forces arrived yesterday in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island.  The Navy base there is nearly complete and it is just a matter of time before US-South Korean military operations begin from what is known as the "Island of Peace".

There can be no doubt that the growing US-South Korea-Japan military alliance is aimed at China.  The US Navy just last week was provocatively sailing Aegis destroyers inside China's exclusion zone.  US Air Force spy planes are continually bumping up against the Chinese coast trying to get a reaction and thus create a pretext for battle.

At the same time the US and South Korean armed forces are moving toward deployment of the THAAD (Theatre High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense (MD) system. The US has several types of MD systems - each for a particular layer of space to intercept retaliatory strikes after a Pentagon (and allies) first-strike attack.  Different MD systems have varying success rates in their testing phase.  Added all together they are key elements in Pentagon war planning.

The Navy Aegis destroyers that will be ported on Jeju Island are also outfitted with MD systems (which have the best testing rate of any of the MD systems now being deployed).

China warns of consequences should South Korea go ahead with THAAD deployment, the Hankyoreh reports:

China believes that THAAD would be targeted not at North Korea but at itself. Since the X-band radar, which is a key component of the THAAD system, has a detection radius of more than 3,000 kilometers, China considers it a major threat to its security. The prevailing view is that deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula is part of the US’s strategy of pivoting to Asia.

“No matter how good the excuse, China probably won’t relent in its opposition to deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula,” said Cheng Xiaohe, a professor at Renmin University of China.

“THAAD’s detection radius goes beyond North Korea into China and Russia,” said Lu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences. “China and South Korea may be good friends, but how smooth can a relationship be when one party [South Korea] is holding a machine gun under the table? The US may be behind the THAAD issue, but South Korea gets to decide whether or not to deploy it.”

Also commenting on the US-South Korea-Japan military buildup aimed at China is Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law and long-time peace activist.  He wrote today:

When we provoke a war against China, Japan will be right there with us. Or maybe [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe will provoke the  war with China and bring us along with him. Either way, under Abe the Showa Constitution [that outlawed offensive operations since WW II] has become the Proverbial Mere Scrap of Paper.  Seventy years after World War 2, the Japanese Empire is back!

The US and its NATO allies (South Korea, Japan, Australia, Mongolia and New Zealand have been made NATO "partners" in the Asia-Pacific in order to extend the military bloc's power) are playing a dangerous game that many knowledgeable experts are predicting could lead to WW III.

The corporate dominated US-NATO war machine wants to rule the world and they see Russia and China as obstacles to their global domination.