© Damir Sagolj / ReutersNorth Korea on parade
The recent diplomatic breakthrough between the Trump administration and North Korea provides a hopeful opportunity for peaceful resolution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula. Immediately after the announcement,
the media went into overdrive to try and undermine the development, worrying more about
photographs of Kim Jung-Un than of preventing nuclear war.
This, however, is only the latest iteration in a long history of media reporting which has enabled an aggressive US foreign policy.
While the momentum during the Olympic Games was pushing towards détente, the Trump administration ramped up its "maximum pressure" campaign. Meanwhile, the media constantly reminded its audiences of the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons. A threat not only to the people of the region - but likely even the United States itself.
When faced with such a threat the bellicose posturing of the Trump administration seems perhaps to have been warranted. After all, if the US does not coerce North Korea into denuclearization, what else will protect us?
There is a problem though.
This threat is not real. North Korea's nuclear program - according to official US intelligence assessments - is defensive.
Its overall military posture is designed to deter an attack - exactly the kind that Trump has threatened them with.By falsely portraying North Korea as the aggressor, the press have functioned much in the same way that state-sponsored propaganda would, bolstering an aggressive foreign policy despite the chance that it will descend the world into a possible nuclear war.
Comment: Perspective: Millions have died horribly at the hands of Western waring nations, as well as multiple assassinations of world leaders...where was the outrage? But a likely false flag, and a small one at that, has caused a deep and profound rip around the world. Was it to justify collective future action validated by this display of solidarity?