North Korea / South Korea
U.S. Policy and the Korean Peninsula

War is looming on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has declared that it possesses nuclear weapons. The United States is tightening an economic noose around the country in an attempt to force a regime change. The Bush administration is also keeping a military option on the table, a prospect that terrifies all the countries of East Asia, particularly South Korea. A terrifying spiral of tensions has resulted. The aggressive stance of the U.S. government has hardened North Korea's position and threatened rapprochement between North and South. North Korea, meanwhile, is desperate to develop a deterrent that will prevent the Bush administration from following the Iraq scenario with a campaign of aerial bombing.

The Korean peninsula, divided for more than fifty years, is stuck in a time warp. Millions of troops face one another along the Demilitarized Zone separating communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea. In the early 1990s and again in 2002-2003, the United States and its allies have gone to the brink of war with North Korea. Misinterpretations and misunderstandings are fueling the crisis. "There is no country of comparable significance concerning which so many people are ignorant," American anthropologist Cornelius Osgood said of Korea some time ago. This ignorance may soon have fatal consequences.

North Korea, South Korea is a short, accessible book about the history and political complexites of the Korean peninsula. The first section is a snapshot of the current crisis. The second and third sections will put these current developments in a political and economic context through an exploration of the history of the Korean peninsula and the worldview of the leadership in the North. The fourth section will concentrate on the shift in emphasis in U.S. foreign policy from engagement under the Clinton administration to containment under the Bush administration. The fifth section will expand the focus to look at the regional dynamic and the U.S. policy of "gunboat globalization" that seeks to expand U.S. economic and military influence in East Asia. The conclusion will explore practical alternatives to the current policy that build on the remarkable and historic path of reconciliation that North and South embarked on in the 1990s and that point the way to eventual reunification.

Praise for North Korea / South Korea

"As John Feffer's new book shows, Bush administration crisis-mongering about North Korea is no more believable than its intelligence on Iraq. The North Korean reactor at Yongbyon is based on fifty-year-old designs and, incredibly, still uses vacuum tubes. North Korea spends $20 a year per soldier, whereas South Korea, whose economy is 26 times larger, spends $163,000 per soldier. The Koreans themselves are fully capable of unifying the Korean peninsula-if only the Pentagon would let them. Feffer's analysis is the most reliable, balanced report available on the Korean 'threat.'"

Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire

"Northeast Asia is the world's most dynamic economy, with rapidly developing industry, high technology, rich resources, and half the world's foreign exchange reserves. South Korea's social and political achievements are no less remarkable than its spectacular economic growth. Peaceful integration of North Korea into the region, along with desperately needed internal changes, are essential for further progress. The alternative could be military confrontation with frightful consequences. The tasks ahead are not easy ones, but they are feasible. The U.S. role will surely be critical, and it is of the utmost importance for Americans to understand the issues, their background, and the prospects. John Feffer provides a deeply informed and lucid account of all these matters, full of insight, pointing the way to constructive solutions that are within our grasp."

Noam Chomsky

"As described by O'Hanlon and Mochizuki, their "grand bargain" goes beyond "carrots and sticks" to what they call "steaks and sledgehammers." But this approach is simply a new and more sophisticated variant of US efforts for
the past decade to use the normalization of relations with Pyongyang as a reward for the cessation of its nuclear program. After repeated failures, it is clearly time to reassess this approach, which is what John Feffer does in his lucid, hard-hitting overview, North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis. Feffer visited both North Korea and South Korea frequently and represented the American Friends Service Committee in Northeast Asia. He has produced a perceptive, gracefully written book placing the nuclear crisis in a broader policy perspective that embraces the peninsula as a whole, all in 173 easily digestible pages.

The United States should uncouple normalization and denuclearization, Feffer concludes, and "immediately begin the process of establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea. Rather than a bargaining chip, normalized relations thus become a framework for addressing all outstanding U.S.-North Korean issues." My own visits to North Korea, eight since 1972, support his view that "North Korea will not likely feel secure enough to relinquish its nuclear deterrent if it forever remains an outlier, and normalization is an important step toward a future in which North Korea is unlikely to use whatever weapons of destruction it possesses." The idea of uncoupling the nuclear issue from normalization has also been suggested by an influential Japanese security expert, Masashi Nishihara, director of the National Defense Academy in Tokyo."

The Nation, by Selig Harrison (excerpt)

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Power Trip :
U.S. Unilateralism and
Global Strategy After September 11

John Feffer, Editor

A concise dissection of the new U.S. unilateralism, Power Trip is the first book-length critique of this fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy to consolidate and extend U.S. global control. Exploring the transformation of U.S. foreign policy begun by the Bush administration when it took office in 2001 and implemented with greater ease and heightened zeal after September 11, Power Trip introduces the cast of characters responsible for the new U.S. power trip and wrestles with the consequences of the new trends in U.S. foreign policy.

In Power Trip , editor and Foreign Policy In Focus advisory committee member, John Feffer, collects the work of leading legal, geopolitical, and cultural analysts in one comprehensive volume.

Feffer participated in an online forum answering questions put to him by Washington Post Online 's readership on August 13, 2003 . The book also received a glowing review in the August 24, 2003 edition of The Oregonian.

Praise for Power Trip

"The current team in Washington is acting like fanatics, tearing up treaties and ignoring old alliances in pursuit of a new and dangerous doctrine of preemption. Every day in Washington, spineless politicians marching in lockstep with their special interest patrons auction off our national interest to the highest bidder. As a result, our government by, for, and of the people is going, going, gone! POWER TRIP powerfully details this sorry state of affairs and, even more importantly, suggests what we can all do to start moving America back in the right direction."

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, author of Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed And Political Corruption Are Undermining America

CONGRESSMAN DENNIS KUCINICH (D-Ohio)

"These are times for despair over the suffering that the U.S. military has inflicted on people in Iraq and elsewhere. But these are also times for rejoicing over the budding global movement for peace and justice that is challenging U.S. militarism. And these aretimes for educating ourselves so we can build our movement with intelligence and foresight. POWER TRIP gives us the critical road map we need to understand where those in power would like to take us, and how we can veer off that dangerous course to build a kinder, gentler nation and planet."

MEDEA BENJAMIN, cofounder of Global Exchange and Code Pink: Women for Peace

"Finally, here's a book which demonstrates authoritatively that a foreign policy based on the American values of fairness, compassion, and justice is a policy that best serves the interests of America. It's beautiful to see that what's good for our hearts is also good for our wallets and security."

BEN COHEN, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's and president of TrueMajority.org

"I really like this book. It is part of an encouraging, broader trend among American progressives to better present, market, and articulate their ideas and policies so that ordinary Americans might actually understand and appreciate them. Power Trip is a collection of short essays by some of the best American writers and analysts on the left including Barbara Ehrenreich, Michael Klare, Bill Hartung and others who will be familiar to PSR members from conferences, coalitions, and the pages of journals like The Nation. In fact, the authors are affiliated with Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a project of the Institute for Policy Studies.

Power Trip is edited by John Feffer, a former Scoville Peace Fellow and rising, prolific young progressive analyst. It is presumably his hand that has made a collection of essays seem as if it were written by a single, lucid, highly readable and jargon-free author.

That is what makes this small volume so ideal for busy people, policy makers, journalists, or young people new to left analysis and other moderns who want or need a coherent overview of the Bush Administration's ideology, grand strategy, and reckless tactics. For PSR members, there is not a lot new here, though sections on economics or Central Asia may be. Rather it is the comprehensive, coherent set of explanations for preemptive war, new nuclear weapons, rising military spending, attacks on the UN and other international institutions and treaties that makes Power Trip worth buying and giving out like candy to friends, relatives, and at least moderately persuadable policy makers.

I even love the cover, which features an attractive, close, full color photo of George W. Bush chopping wood in light snow fall. The President looks either handsome, virile, and All-American (the Marlboro Man sans cigarettes) or, depending on your visceral response to Bush, like an axe murderer. In either case, browsers lucky enough to find Power Trip in their local bookstore will stop, look and pick up the book. They won't be repulsed by 1930's style left graphics with woodcut workers and stenciled fists or by ecologically and politically correct covers designed to be eaten when finished and which appear to be made from oat bran.

So grab Power Trip. And if you can't find it and that smashing Bush photo, go to Amazon.com through our web site and we'll end up with a portion of proceeds. Enough said."

Physicians for Social Responsibility, 2003

To order Power Trip securely online directly from the IRC , and pay $14.95 plus $3 shipping, or by mailing your order to PO Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196, or calling 505-388-0208.

Living in Hope: People Challenging Globalization

Praise for Living in Hope

"Living in Hope is an Inspiring collection of stories about people who are creating economic alternatives on the ground. Their work and their lives are a sign of hope for us all."

SUSAN GEORGE, author of The Lugano Report

"There is no better way to understand globalization than to listen to the voices and pain of the globalized, and to scrutinize the discourse and wealth of the globalizers. This collection furthers our understanding and debunks notions of neutrality or resignation in the face of globalization."

ALEJANDRO BENDANA, Jubilee South

"When the advocates of globalization declare "there is no alternative", they ignore a few billion people who are building alternatives in their own communities around the world. To learn their inspiring story, read this exciting book."

JEREMY BRECHER, author of Strike and Globalization from Below

"The numbing template of globalization has proved to be economically devastating for people worldwide. Individual economic systems are now replaced by global assembly lines. Economic growth, free trade, deregulation, privatization all mechanisms that benefit the powerful, but further hamper the poor.

How to reckon with this rough beast that continues to slouch forward? A piece of the daunting puzzle is addressed in a new book called Living in Hope: People Challenging Globalization, published by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The book proposes the creation of human-centered economics as an antidote to the sweeping, often destructive exchanges wrought by globalization. A compilation of nine essays profiles communities throughout the world, their struggles with the twin specters of globalization and technology, and solutions found in the sphere of alternative economics.

The book is particularly relevant in light of recent developments in South America, specifically in Venezuela and Brazil. While controversy swirls about the suitability of Hugo Chavez's presidency in Venezuela, it is evident that the U.S. cannot tolerate the anti-capitalist stance of the current administration. Leftist President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who unlike Chavez enjoys the support of his constituency, may eventually prove to be an even greater challenge to the U.S. goal of a single Western Hemisphere trade area.

Yet alternatives to globalization are necessary if the billions of ordinary people are to survive. Living in Hope is a comprehensive handbook about these alternatives with a commentary on globalization and its historical roots. A compendium of acronyms listed alphabetically provides a user-friendly aspect to a complicated subject. The book is clearly set up to instruct; through its essays it addresses different levels of globalization, i.e., local, regional, transnational, and multilateral: The authors, all representatives of AFSC, provide scenarios that reflect the machinations of a particular community whether that is a small-scale farmer in Honduras, migrant labor in the Andes, the urban poor in Bosnia, Cambodian woodcutters, and Mexican textile workers.

The publication of Living in Hope evolved from an AFSC program called International Affairs whose mission is to counteract the impersonal yet debilitating effects of globalization on poor communities by putting the human at the center of a alternative economic system. AFSC is focused not on building things, but on building relationships, says Martin Garate, Associate General Secretary for International Programs in the book's preface.

While all of the essays provide important insights, one in particular stands out in terms of historical content and current events. In her essay, titled "Constructing Economic Solidarity: COMAL in Honduras," Mary McCann Sanchez uses the Portillo family, small-scale farmers who have watched the goods they produce fall in value, as a touchstone into the larger issues of war, free-trade policies, and globalization. Sanchez has a facile knowledge in these areas and shows how each is affected by the other: the effects of prolonged war in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by demilitarization, the acknowledgement of human rights, and suspension of economic rights as determined by a global economy.

As the author begins to analyze the problems in her Honduran community, she finds, "the common thread in the discussion was rural peoples marked exclusion from economic decisions and processes on a practical, business level as well as on the policy level." This is a particularly interesting passage, especially in light of current leftist political and economic developments in other parts of South America, namely Venezuela and Brazil. These socialist leanings, an anathema to free trade and an aggressive global agenda, are also threatening to U.S. policies. What emerges from the ongoing discussions with the Honduran community is a project called COMAL where a network of social organizations from the productive sector would market fairly priced basic grains and staple items to margin- alized rural and urban communities. COMAL's multi-disciplinary agenda includes as its goals: to establish an efficiently run network of local organizations, to become economic and political players, and to practice solidarity and justice. Furthermore, as a safeguard- against exclusion from decision making in the market place, COMAL requires that prospective members participate in training sessions in organization, marketing, gender in community economics, and administration.

While Sanchez provides a window into the world of small-scale producers in South America, Arnie Alpert explores the world of large-scale consumers in North America. In his essay called "Bringing Globalization Home is No Sweat", Alpert links the subjects of sweatshop labor, lower prices, and abuse of workers' rights to globalization and multinational corporations. He targets a major shopping center in Manchester, New Hampshire that is also home to J.C. Penney, Nike, and Disney, corporations that run sweatshops overseas for purposes of mass production. The Manchester mall, which became a rallying point for activists distributing leaflets about the exploitation of workers, proved to be a potent symbol for a couple of reasons. It not only raised awareness about the sweatshop problem overseas, but pointed to homegrown problems as well, namely the abandonment of American workers by employers in search of cheap, non-union labor.

Corporations like Nike often set up shop in countries that are under military rule instead of a democracy, Alpert says in his essay. For example, Nike was a major producer in Korea and Taiwan when these countries were under military dictatorships, but avoided the Philippines in the 1980s, when democracy predominated.

Other essays address such issues as the importance of cooperatives as a way of reconciliation in a divided society, i.e., the Community Gardening Project in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and a credit program in Vietnam to serve provinces excluded during the transition process to a market economy. In her essay Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due, Le Thi Hoai Phuong describes how this lending program for the poor puts humanity back into the concept of economics. This revolving credit program, which makes low interest loans to some of the poorest members of the community, enables them to dig a well, buy groceries, and send their children to school. Furthermore, the repayment rate in two of Vietnam's poorest districts is over 98 percent, according to the author.

Living in Hope is an adaptable text, one that could be used for study groups or in the classroom. It is especially pertinent in the 21st century as the Janus face of globalization and technology continues its march into the heart of people's lives across the world and that includes us."

Z Magazine, February 2003, by Andrea Kleinhenz

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Europe's New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict
Co-editor, with Richard Caplan

In the short period since the end of the Cold War, Europeans have witnessed the rebirth of nationalism as a harrowing threat to stability on the continent. The collapse of Yugoslavia, the newly-won independence of the Baltic states, the unification of Germany, the bloody civil wars in Bosnia, and Georgia, Chechnia's abortive attempt at independence, and state-sanctioned xenophobia in France all attest to the rapid expansion of nationalist fervor in Europe.

This provocative volume collects essays by fourteen prominent European scholars and journalists, in which they reflect on the meaning, origins, and implications of the "new nationalism." The authors--some of the best-known experts on European politics and history, including Adam Michnik, Mary Kaldor, Dan Smith, Michael Ignatieff, and Tomaz Mastnak--explore issues such as the role of intellectuals, the impact of nationalism on democracy, culture, and European identity, the distinctions between eastern and western nationalism, and the conflicts nationalism begets. Charged with controversy and emotion, the essays aim to offer fresh perspectives from thinkers with diverse national origins and ideological backgrounds, and suggest viable solutions. Europe's New Nationalism is bound to spark debate about the nature and consequences of this rejuvenated political doctrine.

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State of the Union 1994: The Clinton Administration and the Nation in Profile
Co-editor with Richard Caplan

This look at the first months of the Clinton administration, published in cooperation with the Institute for Policy Studies, is the first of an annual series. The collection of 14 essays written by such authorities as Barry Commoner and Ralph Nader evaluates the administration's record in key policy areas as it relates to the institute's progressive philosophy. The report card they present is strongly critical of the administration's inability to follow through on the promise of change offered throughout the 1992 campaign, with little allowance for the uncooperative Congress Clinton has thus far had to confront. Perhaps future editions will offer more balance. Excellent graphs and charts clarify spending and demographic points. Recommended for strong political science collections.

Jill Ortner, SILS, Univ. at Buffalo, NY

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Shock Waves: Eastern Europe After the Revolutions

Praise for Shock Waves

"Feffer examines each country's unique conditions and dissident movements, yet shows how all the dissidents are linked."

Utne Reader

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Beyond Detente: Soviet Foreign Policy and U.S. Options

Praise for Beyond Detente

This is a report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization. Aimed at the informed general reader, the book argues that the recent shifts in Soviet foreign policy under Gorbachev result from domestic imperatives. Whether or not this positive trend in the cycle of detente is sustained depends on timely American responses to Soviet overtures. A generally balanced treatment; readers will especially benefit from Feffer's concise and informative discussion of domestic sources of Soviet external relations. Rapidly transpiring events in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe have dated portions of the book--an occupational hazard for works of this type. Still, a useful addition for larger international affairs collections.

Cleveland R. Fraser, Furman Univ., Greenville, S.C.

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