What was Panetta thinking?

Opinion

What was Panetta thinking?

Former U.S. defense secretary's revelations about going nuclear raise disquieting questions

Tim Beal November 20, 2014

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visits Caserma Ederle - US Army Africa - CC BY 2.0

I have long considered North Korea’s frequent charge that the U.S. is contemplating a nuclear strike clunky and unconvincing. The assertion seemed very much over the top, and as we know from the fairy story, crying wolf unnecessarily is not a good strategy. The accusation surfaces most frequently in denunciations of the biannual joint U.S./South Korea military exercises. For instance:

The north-targeted war exercises staged by the U.S. together with the puppet army in south Korea are a heinous nuclear war rehearsal to bring a nuclear holocaust to the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia and other parts of the world.

About the Author

Tim Beal

Tim Beal did a MA (Hons) in Modern Chinese Studies at Edinburgh University, followed by a PhD there on Chinese foreign trade. He moved to New Zealand in 1987 teaching at Victoria University of Wellington until his retirement in 2009. He has written extensively on International and Asian affairs, including two books relating to Korea: ‘North Korea: The Struggle against American Power’ (London: Pluto, 2005) and ‘Crisis in Korea: America, China, and the Risk of War’ (London: Pluto, 2011). He has been visiting both Koreas since the 1990s and maintains a geopolitical website focused on the peninsula at http://www.timbeal.net.nz/geopolitics/

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