US war party conspires to scuttle Korean peace prospects: Scholar

Both US political parties and their representatives from the military–industrial complex have scuttled efforts to establish peace on the Korean peninsula because they want to keep the embers of conflict alive in order to maintain American imperialism’s position in East Asia, says Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday after Trump called off his planned summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The unprecedented summit was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore, for what would have been the first meeting between an American president and North Korean leader.

Trump made the announcement in a letter released by the White House on Thursday, saying his decision was because of “tremendous anger and open hostility” in a recent North Korean statement.

“I was very much looking forward to being there with you,” Trump said in the letter. “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.”

Commenting on this, Professor Etler said, “After Trump threatened North Korea with decimation if it doesn’t do as its told during the proposed summit and after VP Pence warned Kim Jong-on that he faced the ‘Libyan solution’ if he didn’t unconditionally denuclearize, Trump has the audacity to say, ‘Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.’”

“This has to be one of the most duplicitous statements ever made by a world leader and amounts to the thief crying ‘stop thief’ when caught in the act of theft,” he added.

“Trump boxed himself into a corner with his impetuous agreement to meet Kim Jong-un at a US-DPRK summit. The prospect of the US president meeting with North Korea’s Supreme Leader immediately raised the ire of the US political establishment of both parties who have always wanted to keep the embers of conflict on the Korean peninsula alive in order to maintain US imperialism’s position in East Asia,” the analyst said.

“It is no surprise that the representatives of the US military–industrial complex among Trump’s close associates, such as [new US National Security Adviser John] Bolton and [Vice President Mike] Pence, went all out to muddy the waters and poison the well with their aggressive statements meant to alienate the North. The DPRK had no choice but to respond as they did to the belligerent threats directed against them,” he stated.

“As a result of the push back within his administration Trump has gotten cold feet and withdrawn from the summit. The US will now be seen by one and all as a wrecker and saboteur pushing the world once again to the brink of war,’” the commentator concluded.