​The quest for American hegemony in Asia…starting with the Korean War
All most people know about the Korean War is that it was dubbed the “forgotten war.” They may not fully understand that it occurred at the height of anti-Communist blacklists, the purges of so-called “red” journalists and movie stars and so on - and that all this resulted in a media blackout. The tangled sequence of events leading to the Korean War were obfuscated in plain sight in order to prep the ground for a never-ending Cold War which aims to secure enduring American hegemony in East Asia, above all else.
In spite of every effort to intentionally obfuscate the details of the Korean war as it was happening, the well-beloved journalist I.F. Stone copiously documented it in full, producing an important document from the time with lasting significance for all of us today. Stone looked at openly available US intelligence sources, the actions of Chiang Kai Chek and the like, and demonstrated indisputably - via 600 citations- that there were those in the U.S. government and military who saw instability in the region as in the U.S. national interest. Stone made a strong case that the Korean War was a proxy war that sought to lay the ground for long term American dominance in Asia.
At first no one would touch Stone’s findings - they were too hot. But Stone got in touch with Monthly Review (then a magazine started with writing by the likes of Einstein) and this was the first book it published. Courageously written at the height of the McCarthy era, officials never refuted nor denied the book’s claims, but Stone’s book still got a real audience due to the durable reputation of the journalist himself.
Join us for a discussion co-hosted by the Korea Policy Institute’s Christine Hong and Martin Hart-Landsberg as they talk with the writers of the book’s new introduction. Tim Beal and Gregory Elich, and broach some fascinating questions:
*How does a divided Korea boost US militarism in the region, and globally, to this day?
*With the continuation of the war to this day, what have been the costs of division for Koreans?
*How is the book a “master class” in how to read imperialist elites and their global machinations?
PURCHASE THE BOOK FROM MONTHLY REVIEW HERE: monthlyreview.org/product/hid...
CHECK OUT KPI'S SYLLABUS ON THE KOREAN WAR HERE: www.kpolicy.org/ending-korean...