This article first appeared on GR in April 2013.

The real threat of the escalation of hostilities on the Korean peninsular – and consequently the world – comes not from North Korea, but from the United States itself, political analyst Michel Chossudovsky told RT.

The director of the Centre for Research on Globalization and professor of economics at the University of Ottawa believes it is the US which is trying to light a match.

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“Just a few weeks ago it was revealed that the Pentagon had implemented a so-called playbook, which was to ratchet up tension with North Korea. During the war games it has dispatched [nuclear capable planes]… We have to put it in historical perspective, because these threats have been ongoing for more than half a century, since the end of the Korean War,” he said.

Chossudovsky also added that it does not seem at all that the world is serious in its intentions at curbing nuclear threats as such: “Looking at US nuclear doctrine, we have a $352 billion refurbishing of nuclear weapons, which is barely acknowledged by the mainstream media. We have a $10 billion refurbishing of tactical nuclear weapons, which can be launched from a B-2 bomber, which have currently been deployed. And then we have a Senate decision which says that nuclear weapons are harmless to the surrounding civilian population and can be used in the conventional war theater.”

When asked what tactics could possibly be implemented to avert the current crisis, Chossudovsky said that he sees a way out if “the people across the land, in Western countries, come to realize that the United States and NATO are a threat to global security, and if they wish to wage a pre-emptive nuclear war on any country in the world, that is a prelude to global warfare.”