US, Aquino govts accused of hypocrisy over nuke issue

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Progressive labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) criticized the Aquino government’s echoing of “US imperialism’s” opposition to and misrepresentation of North Korea’s planned satellite launch.

In a strongly worded statement, Elmer “Bong” Labog, chairman of KMU, pointed to numerous cases of hypocrisy of the United States and the Aquino government who, they said, seems to blindly follow every line being taken by US on foreign relations. The KMU pointed to US “hypocrisy in raising furor over North Korea’s nuclear research and development program, when it is the world’s biggest nuclear power.”

The US reportedly owns and controls the biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. If the current furor over North Korea’s project is fueled by the desire to dismantle nuclear weapons and plants due to its potential of destroying the environment and human life, the KMU suggests directing the calls instead not to tiny North Korea but to the giant nuke owner which is the United States.

KMU blames US imperialism for having forced North Korea to develop its nuclear weapons program in self-defense. It is no secret that the US has long been threatening to attack North Korea, having branded it as one of the so-called enemies or “rogue states” under the US-led, borderless “war on terrorism.” The US has used the so-called “war on terrorism” as pretext for invading Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and further forwarding its troops’ presence all over the globe. All these US wars of intervention are seen as the reinforcement that drove North Korea into holding on to its own nuclear weapons program.

The labor group also pointed to the North Korea’s current satellite project as a ” routine procedure” which countries such as the US, France, Japan, China, the UK, India, Israel, Ukraine, Russia and Iran have all done before, using long-range rockets. So why, the KMU asked, is the Aquino government opposing the North Korea’s launch when it agrees with the United States’ use of drones in the Philippines?

“The first is a routine action of countries while the second is an abominable act of imperialist maneuvering,” said Labog.

The KMU condemned the US for also dragging China into the picture, trying to turn it against North Korea, and setting the tone for possible wars in the future.

When all is said and done, this warmongering of the US and the Aquino government’s echoing of it is viewed now as part also of the campaign to allow the expansion of US basing, or rotational deployment, or whatever the US government prefers to call their increased permanent presence in the Philippines. The KMU condemned President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III for going as far as creating public paranoia.