Preserving the ICBM “old boys” network

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Jamie C.

The ICBM “old boys” network’s board of directors — more formally known as the UN Security Council permanent members — has, along with its temporary members, unanimously agreed that the socialist ‘rogue’, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), must be prevented from joining the network at all costs.

They must be heavily punished for their dastardly attempts to improve their ICBM capability — “they just don’t have the right breeding, old boy”. “What’s more they believe in their Juche ideology of self-sufficiency, military self-reliance and an independent foreign policy. We wouldn’t even be able to control them”.

So, just to get a clearer picture of the current position, let’s have a quick look at the board and their ICBM activity as simplified from the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ICBMs

The three other ICBM-owning nations are: India (one active with two under development), Israel (one, with unknown status), DPRK (1 under development according to the table, but now having been tested). 

India & Israel are both capitalist nations so, of course, they aren’t “rogue” nations. 

But because the very highly vulnerable DPRK — being the only ICBM owning nation that has any real claim to be currently socialist — has the temerity to protect itself by building an ICBM able to hit much of the USA, who has been continually threatening the DPRK, the DPRK is labelled a “rogue” nation.  This is part of US Imperialism’s long-term policy: isolate perceived enemy nations one at a time, and paint them as rogues.

When genuinely rogue nations, who have jointly led to the deaths of millions in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, label a peaceful, socialist country as a “rogue” nation, one can’t help thinking of the apposite words of Mao Zedong in his May 26, 1939 article, To be attached by the enemy is not a bad thing but a good thing: “It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work.”

China today disagrees with the DPRK Juche policy. China’s government believes the DPRK should open up to the West by acting as China did, such as accepting the capitalist World Bank philosophy and rules; that the DPRK should follow a line similar to Deng’s interpretation of the “socialism with Chinese characteristics” concept, the “black cat, white cat, it doesn’t matter the colour as long as it catches mice” philosophy (meaning: using capitalist methods or socialist methods, it doesn’t matter, as long as the population is fed) and “it is glorious to be rich” philosophy, which under President Jiang Zemin led to his “three represents” policy, opening the party membership to wealthy capitalists. Is it any wonder that China today is marching along the capitalist road, rapidly dropping one socialist concept after another?

The Trump-sponsored UN Security Council resolution to horrendously restrict world trade with the socialist DPRK has been estimated to rob the DPRK of one billion US dollars a year, a third of North Korea’s export income. 

If China were still a socialist country, the decision to support US imperialism’s motion would be an absolute disgrace. It would be unthinkable for a genuinely socialist country to do anything but stand in total solidarity with another socialist country under imperialist attack. But China today has replaced walking the socialist path by chauvinistic self-aggrandisement supporting private and state capitalism and by running at an unbelievable rate towards the imperialistic strategic goals of capital export and political influence. 

The DPRK is struggling to survive and build socialism whilst being surrounded by capitalist enemies. Yet last year despite sanctions, it achieved a 17-year high in GDP.  It deserves our admiration and support in solidarity.

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