“Rogue nation” accusation

Missing from the “rogue nation” accusation against North Korea is our history of aggression, including carpet bombing the country in 1951, our refusal to sign a peace treaty, our billeting of tens of thousands of nuclear-armed troops on its border, our continued embargo and blockade since 1953. Finally, the example of all those other countries we attacked that did not have nuclear arms to defend themselves.

Demonizing North Korea is the same stratagem used to attack Cuba (1959), Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), Iraq (2003 to present), Yugoslavia (1999-2000), Afghanistan (2001), Libya (2011), Syria (2012) ad nauseam. In each case, our formal attack was preceded by a propaganda campaign demonizing a leader and/or a country with accusations of calumny, insanity, brutality or “weapons of mass destruction,” etc.

Rather than frightening children into diving under their desks, why not sign a peace treaty and open normal relations with North Korea? Or might that mean fewer billions to spend on a military that is already more costly than much of the rest of the world combined?

Michael Poulin

Spokane