Published: 2024-06-21
Happy Solstace Day, everyone!
Mafia Macro-economics
The history of the US economic behaviour towards non-aligned nations during the cold war is exemplified in John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". This brutal subjugation of foreign nations to US corporations via the servitude of national debt is the subterranean bar above which China and Russia, and the other nations of the BRICS+/SCO group, need to operate to offer an escape. Here, country X, you can have foreign investment in infrastructure on a cooperative basis, or you can continue being trapped in servitude and bound to US banking institutions with the IMF dictating your economic policy. Come and talk to us.
This is the backdrop of the growth of the BRICS+/SCO geopolitical and geoeconomic group.
Coming in from the Cold
Its been almost a quarter century since a Russian president visited North Korea. During this period of hegemony, the US has achieved nothing for the north Korean people with its policy of isolation, sanctions and belligerence. Vladimir Putin's visit on June 18th, 2024, came after months of discussion and negotiation. His visit was preceeded by a letter published in North Korea's offical media in which he spoke to the Korean people in their language, of their and Russia's common history. With Kim Jong Un he signed several agreements including a "comprehensive strategic partnership agreement".
Kim Jong-un described the agreement as “peaceful” and “defensive”. And much more: it will become “the driving force accelerating the creation of a new multipolar world.”
The agreement cements Russia as a strategic ally, and enables Russia to assist the Democratic Peoples Republic in its development. How beneficial that assistance is to the people of North Korea, time will tell. It can certainly be no worst than nothing, the US achievement since President Putin last visited Pyongyang.
Securing Northeast Asia
In response to the declaration of war, by the US and leading NATO member states France, Germany and Great Britain with their permission for people on the territory of Ukraine to fire NATO weapons into the Russian Federation, President Putin informed NATO that they should expect a response. It has been suggested that that response would be the arming of groups or nations which are antagonistic to the US, its foreign military bases and foreign policy. While many considered elements of the Axis of Resistance in southwest Asia as likely recipients of Russian technology, the first indications are on the other, diagonally opposite corner of the massive continent.
Andrei Martyanov suggests that analysts draw some circles of 800 Km radius (to correspond to the limit of a P-800 Onyx hypersonic missile) and 2 500 Km (for an Iskander hypersonic cruise missile) to understand the implications of a Russian and North Korean alliance. He generously did this for them:
what you get is the full coverage of the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan and well into the South China Sea. With that North Korea begins to cover the whole theater of operation of the US Navy (its bases in Japan included) and we all understand what it all means.
Statesmanship
Gilbert Doctorow remarked that Vladimir Putin's visit with Kim Jong Un received embrace from two sections of Russia's politics which have been uneasy due to the recent "too forgiving" peace offer over the war in Ukraine. On the one hand, those wishing for a stronger response have recieved evidence of just that. On the other, socialist and communist groups will be overjoyed to see their Korean comrades welcomed:
Putin has outmaneuvered his critics on the Right by his conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance, aka a military alliance with North Korea. And he has the Left, by which I mean the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, eating out of his hand now that he has brought back the glory days of Russia in Asia, now that he has described the colonialist parasitic West, and the USA in particular, in his Pyongyang speech in terms that could have come straight out of Pravda in the 1970s.
[Doctorow]
Doctorow, on Juding Freedom, expressed article 4 of the agreement between Russia and North Korea as equivalent to NATO's article 5, a common defense. This, in essence, brings North Korea into the CSTO and means that further attacks on Russia by NATO bring North Korea into the war.
The Human Touch
Following the signing of the comprehensive partnership agreement, both leaders issued public statements. Kim Jong Un conveyed his sense of the occassion with:
“At this moment, as the whole world turns its eyes to Pyongyang, where a friendship mission from Russia has arrived, I stand with my Russian comrades, true friends and associates, in this solemn hall," Kim Jong Un said. He noted that the conclusion of their latest "very robust treaty" between Russia and North Korea would be impossible without the "outstanding foresight" and determination of Putin, "the dearest friend of the Korean people.”
[TASS]
Other cultural initiatives have been quietly achieved in the backgroud.
North Korea organized a holiday for the children of the deceased participants of the special military operation at the North Korean Songdowon International Children's Camp: "We highly appreciate this sincere gesture of care and friendship."
"under the personal patronage of Comrade Kim Jong Un, the ballet troupe of the Primorsky branch of the Mariinsky Theatre had a very successful tour in North Korea."
[TASS]
The Russian Presidency of BRICS+
The Russian President continued his tour of east Asia to Vietnam where he thanked his counterpart, Vietnamese President Tô Lâm, for the warm welcome. Agreements were signed for various economic initiatives as trade between the two nations in their national currencies has continued to increase beyond the 40% level of 2023. Agreements in other areas of cooperation were also signed; research and University exchanges, culture and tourism, and agriculture and food.
The inexorable unification of Asia continues.
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Sources
Putin Visits North Korea To Discuss Security Pact, Will Porter, Antiwar, 2024-06-18
Russia, North Korea Sign Mutual Assistance Pact, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-19
Strategic partnership, rejection of sanctions: results of talks between Putin, Kim Jong Un, TASS, 2024-06-19
Kim Jong Un calls Russia 'true friend', TASS, 2024-06-19
IN BRIEF: Russia, Vietnam agree to deepen strategic partnership following Putin’s visit, TASS, 2024-06-20
"We Need Icebreakers" – and More Strategic Partnerships, Pepe Escobar, The Unz Review, 2024-06-20
But, Of Course..., Andrei Martyanov, Reminiscence of the Future..., 2024-06-20
Judging Freedom: Discussing Vladimir Putin’s latest moves on a 3-dimensional chessboard, Gilbert Doctorow, Gilbert Doctorow, 2024-06-20
Russia and DPRK rustle up an alliance, M. K. Bhadrakumar, Indianpunchline, 2024-06-21
MKB takes are more cautious line on the new strategic partnership, citing discussions between China and South Korea.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins, archive.org
Dr. Gilbert Doctorow: Putin’s Peace Plan Panned, Napolitano interviews Doctorow, Judging Freedom, 2024-06-19
Scott Ritter: Netanyahu Destroying Israel, Napolitano interviews Ritter, Judging Freedom, 2024-06-19
John Perkins Confession of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins, Special Agent Noble, uploaded 2016-08-31
Copyleft: CC0
Meanwhile the Deep State accelerates the implosion of the West