Lt. Ehren Watada: Resister

By Marc Cooper at The Nation (08.01.2007 Issue) :

Since the US invasion in 2003, a handful of active-duty troops have openly refused deployment to Iraq. But the lightning rod case of resistance has been that of 28-year-old Lieut. Ehren Watada of the US Army.

The highest-ranking commissioned officer to resist deployment, Watada faces a court-martial showdown as early as February, a trial that could land him an eight-year jail sentence. He has been charged with missing a troop movement, conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials. What particularly irked the Army was Watada's August appearance before a Veterans for Peace convention in Seattle, where the young officer called for more resistance to the war in Iraq. "The idea is this," Watada said, "that to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can choose to stop fighting it."

Downlaod PDF file (21.2K)

Le Japon se dote d'un ministère de la défense, pour la première fois depuis 1945

Du Monde (15.12.2006) :

Japon, officiellement pacifiste, s'est doté, vendredi 15 décembre, d'un véritable ministère de la défense. Il s'agit d'une première depuis sa défaite à la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale. La mesure entrera en vigueur le 9 janvier 2007. Après la Chambre des députés, le Sénat a adopté cette décision à une confortable majorité, le principal parti d'opposition s'étant rallié au projet de loi présenté par la majorité de droite.

La naissance de ce ministère est largement symbolique, puisque l'actuelle Agence de défense – qui faisait jusqu'à présent office de ministère – disposait déjà de puissants moyens. Créée en 1954 au lendemain de la guerre de Corée, l'Agence de défense était placée sous le contrôle direct du premier ministre. Fumio Kyuma, le secrétaire d'Etat qui la dirigeait, devient ministre à part entière avec la nouvelle loi, qui accroît le contrôle politique – donc civil – sur l'armée.

Voir ce diagramme.

Army Targets Truthout for Subpoenas in Watada Case

By Jason Leopold at TruthOut (13.12.2006) :

In a case that cuts right at the heart of the First Amendment, a US Army prosecutor has indicated he intends to subpoena Truthout Executive Director Marc Ash, a Truthout reporter, and two of the nonprofit news organization's regular contributors, to authenticate news reports they produced and edited earlier this year that quoted an Army officer criticizing President Bush and the White House's rationale for the Iraq War.

Captain Dan Kuecker, the Fort Lewis, Washington-based Army prosecutor, has stated his intent to compel Ash, Truthout reporter Sari Gelzer, and contributors Dahr Jamail and Sarah Olson to testify at the court-martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada. Kuecker is actively seeking the journalists' testimony so he can prove that Watada engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer, directly related to disparaging statements the Army claims Watada made about the legality of the Iraq War during interviews with Truthout and his hometown newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, in June.

Japan, US tune up defense policies

By Hisane Masaki at Asia Times (08.12.2006).

The Next Act

By Seymour M. Hersh at The New Yorker (27.11.2006).

Continue reading "The Next Act"

Japanese nukes: Voicing the unthinkable

By Hisane Masaki at Asia Times (16.11.2006).

Reenacting War

"Reflections on a Country Losing Its Humanity" by Doug Troutman at TomDispatch (10.11.2006).

The Arms Market and the Arms Race

By Rodrigue Tremblay at The New American Empire (06.11.2006).

US Ready to Deploy Patriots in Japan

From Mumbai Mirror (29.10.2006) :

Tokyo: The US is considering deploying its advanced Patriot missile defence system near Tokyo after North Korea’s recent missile and nuclear tests, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Washington unofficially informed the Japanese government it is considering putting Patriot Advanced Capability 3 surface-to-air interceptor missiles around Yokota Air Base in Tokyo’s western suburbs and around Yokosuka Naval Base, south of the capital, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported without saying how it got the information.

The added defences would cover critical US military installations on the outskirts of Tokyo.

It's obvious that Japan will be the front line of the US forces. SDF soldiers are no more than pawns.

Also see "Le déploiement de missiles Patriot envisagé à Tokyo" at Le Monde (29.10.2006).

US turns space into its colony

By Ehsan Ahrari at Asia Times (20.10.2006).

L'impossible nucléarisation du Japon

By Any Bourrier at RFI (19.10.2006) :

Le gouvernement japonais souhaite ouvrir un débat sur l’opportunité de doter le pays de l’arme nucléaire. Mais il sait d’avance que ce débat sera purement théorique. Car l’utilisation des bombes atomiques a toujours été un sujet tabou au pays du soleil levant, notamment depuis les explosions de Nagasaki et d'Hiroshima, à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

It's not "taboo" but "insanity" I won't blame her, though.

Nuclear-armed Japan? Forget it

By Brad Glosserman at Asia Times (13.10.2006).

Okinawa: a violation of Japan’s peace constitution

By Tetsuya Takahashi at The Hankyoreh (17.10.2006) :

Civic groups are not the only ones opposed to the arrival of PAC 3s. The overwhelming majority of local governments that host U.S. bases are opposed, as well. The Japanese and U.S. governments say the missiles will defend Okinawa, but what they are really defending are the U.S. bases. Is not Okinawa in more danger for becoming a target of the "enemy" because of those same missiles? Would not Okinawa be a pawn in the game for the Japanese mainland, as it was toward the end of World War II? Following Japan’s defeat, Okinawa was pulled away from Japan and governed by U.S. military rule. This means that during the Cold War this island, the biggest U.S. base in East Asia, was indeed a sacrificual pawn for Japan, which had come under the umbrella of the U.S. military as a result of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Gorbachev in New York, concerned about increased prospect of nuclear showdown

By AP at IHT (16.10.2006) :

"India, Pakistan, now North Korea, Israel," Gorbachev said, speaking briefly to reporters through an interpreter. "I think now all of these countries are nuclear powers and some also have delivery vehicles to deliver those nuclear weapons. This is not good that this is happening."

The 75-year-old former Kremlin leader said the change was occurring "because the main members of the nuclear club are not doing enough to reduce and ultimately get rid of nuclear weapons."

"If they undermine that treaty, that would destroy a very important safeguard, and if they continue to do so the so-called threshold countries, more than 30 countries that could produce nuclear weapons, will say, 'well, if members of the nuclear club are preserving and modernizing their nuclear weapons, why should we be hostages to this situation?'" he said. "This is a very serious situation, and you cannot solve the problem by scaring people."

When asked whether North Korea was trying to scare the world or the other way around, he replied, "I think both sides are trying to scare the other side."

The Militarization of MySpace

By Nick Turse at TomDispatch (01.10.2006).

US in final stages of installing missile defense system in Japan

By AFP at Yahoo! News (30.09.2006) :

The US military has entered the final stage of installing an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system in southern Japan, amid mounting concern over North Korea's missile launches.

The first batch of equipment for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system was unloaded Saturday at a military port on Okinawa island, amid protests from a handful of anti-war activists, press reports said.

The operation was part of a move to relocate an air defense battalion with some 600 soldiers to the Kadena US air force base in Okinawa from Fort Bliss in Texas. The battalion is equipped with 24 (PAC-3) missiles.

Japan could go nuke under Abe, expert reckons

From Kyodo/The Japan Times (29.09.2006) :

Takashi Tachibana, a political expert whose work led to the resignation of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in the 1970s, is concerned that Japan could get nuclear weapons under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

He said during a recent speech at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan that although Abe may not want to go nuclear, people like Kyoto University professor Terumasa Nakanishi, whom Abe relies on heavily for advice on foreign policy, wants U.S. nuclear weapons in Japan on condition that Tokyo has the right to order a nuclear strike, Tachibana said.

Tachibana's weblog (29.09.2006).

US Citizens at Risk for Military-Weapons Testing

By Heather Wokusch at Dissident Voice (25.09.2006).

The five pillars of the U.S. military-industrial complex

By Rodrigue Tremblay at Online Journal (25.09.2006).

Lt. Ehren Watada Does His Duty

By David Howard at Counter Currents (26.09.2006).

Lieutenant Watada Faces New Charges

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (18.09.2006) :

US Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq, faces one new charge, the Army announced Friday. The additional charge, of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen, centers on Lieutenant Watada's statement that "to stop an illegal and unjust war, soldiers can choose to stop fighting it." Lieutenant Watada made the comments during a public address to the annual Veterans for Peace convention held in Seattle, Washington, in mid-August.

In response to the additional charge, Lieutenant Watada stated: "As I've said in the past, my only intent is to impress upon all service members that their duty is to fully evaluate the truth and lawfulness behind every order - including the one to participate in a war. We each have a civic and moral responsibility to make the right choices regardless of the consequences."

The American Military's Cult of Cruelty

By Robert Fisk at The Independent/ICH (16.09.2006) :

In the week that George Bush took to fantasising that his blood-soaked "war on terror" would lead the 21st century into a "shining age of human liberty" I went through my mail bag to find a frightening letter addressed to me by an American veteran whose son is serving as a lieutenant colonel and medical doctor with US forces in Baghdad. Put simply, my American friend believes the change of military creed under the Bush administration--from that of "soldier" to that of "warrior"--is encouraging American troops to commit atrocities.

Dirty Dozen

By Nick Turse at TomDispatch (14.09.2006).  — "The Pentagon's 12-Step Program to Create a Military of Misfits".

Officer’s Refusal of Iraq Deployment Divides the Japanese American Community: The Case of Lt. Watada

By Charles Burress at Japan Focus (12.09.2006).

Murdoch’s media empire girds up for a war against Iran

By Peter Symonds at WSWS/Global Research (09.09.2006).

War-Mongering America Terrorizes the World

By Howard Zinn at Alter Net (09.09.2006).

Israeli-US Strategy: Lebanon and Iran

By James Petras at ICH (06.09.2006) :

A survey of Israeli State pronouncements, documents and press releases echoed by its resident representatives in the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and their supporters writing and speaking in the major media reveals a concerted effort to convince the United States to militarily attack Iran. Beginning in the mid 1990’s, Israel’s top US ideologues promulgated documents and propaganda manifestos, purporting to be strategy papers directed toward joint US-Israeli aggression against Iraq, Syria and especially Iran.

La « guerre au terrorisme », nouvelle mission de l’OTAN

Par Cédric Housez à Voltaire Net (01.09.2006) :

Chargée de protéger les pays occidentaux face au bloc soviétique, l’Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN) aurait dû disparaître avec la Guerre froide. Au lieu de cela, elle s’est élargie et, pour justifier de son existence, s’est défini un nouvel ennemi : « le terrorisme international ». La guerre du Kosovo, contre la Serbie, a créé un précédent sur la possibilité d’attaquer sans accord de l’ONU un pays ne constituant pas une menace. Elle fut bientôt suivie, hors du continent européen, par l’attaque de l’Afghanistan. Au nom de la « guerre au terrorisme », l’Alliance atlantique place peu à peu les armées de ses pays membres en ordre de bataille.

US Unilateralism

By Henry C.K. Liu at Global Research (29.08.2006). "Nonproliferation and Unilateral Proliferation."

The Democratization of Missile Technology and the Future of War

By Mark Williams at Japan Focus (n.d.). Follows Gabriel Kolko's article.

Unbind Japan's Military

By George F. Will at Washington Post (27.08.2006) :

TOKYO -- Ever since Commodore Perry's black ships entered the harbor here in 1853, the Japanese have wondered whether their nation could modernize without becoming thoroughly westernized. Today they wonder whether their nation can provide for their defense and play a proper role in the international security system without jettisoning a national identity imposed in 1947 by the nation that had sent the black ships.

Forced to 'Choose' its Own Subjugation : Okinawa's Place in U.S. Global Military Realignment

By Sato Manabu at ZNet (22.08.2006).

The Rise of Japan's Thought Police

By Steven Clemons at Washington Post (27.08.2006).

Lieutenant Watada Should Be Prosecuted, Article 32 Hearing Finds

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (25.08.2006).

Suicide soldier 'feared need to shoot children'

From Scotsman.com (25.08.2006) :

A TEENAGE soldier may have killed himself because he was worried he might have to shoot child suicide bombers in Iraq.

Jason Chelsea told his parents that, during pre-deployment training, he had been told he might have to shoot suicide bombers as young as two.

After taking a drug overdose, he told his mother Kerry on his deathbed: "I can't go out there and shoot at young children. I just can't go to Iraq. I don't care what side they're on. I can't do it."

Military recruiters cited for misconduct

By Martha Mendoza (AP) at Yahoo! News (20.08.2006) :

More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.

A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.

"This should never be allowed to happen," said one 18-year-old victim. "The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him."

Tax Farmers, Mercenaries and Viceroys

By Paul Krugman at The NY Times/MB Civic (21.08.2006).

7 Facts You Might Not Know about the Iraq War

By Michael Schwartz at TomDispatch (20.08.2006).

Australia’s New Security Bond With Japan

By Paul Kelly at Japan Focus (19.08.2006).

Iraq War Vets' Support for Lt. Watada Growing

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (16.08.2006).

Even the dead were being forced to fight

By David McNeill at The Japan Times (13.08.2006) :

Satoru Omagari was a 23-year-old mechanic and a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force when he was ordered to the defense of Iwo Jima in 1944. Before he was drafted into the military he was a university student. Here, published for the first time in English, are some of his horrific recollections of the battle.

His Emperor's reluctant warrior

By David McNeill at The Japan Times (13.08.2006) :

Samurai-born and steeled in Japan's harsh military culture, Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi had lived five years in North America but was largely unknown to Washington's leaders when he was ordered to defend Iwo Jima "at all costs." The U.S. would pay dearly for underestimating him.

Ehren Watada

By Dahr Jamail at TruthOut (14.08.2006). Introduces Lt. Watada's speech.

Hezbollah Fighters Better Trained, Equipped Than Chechens — Russian-born Israeli Soldiers

At Mosnews.com (16.08.2006).

Bush to dead soldier's mom: "How do you know his life would have been good?"

By Jeff Norman at U.S. Tour of Duty (11.08.2006) | Video (MP4) :

Dolores tried to give Bush a sense of what type of person Erik had been. She described her son as a "comedian" whose favorite saying was, "Life is good." The president replied, "How do you know his life would have been good?"

Dolores was shocked by Bush's eagerness to question the value of her son's life. She told the president, "Nobody wants to die."

Lt. Watada's Mother Asks For Your Support

By Carolyn Ho at TruthOut (15.08.2006).

Weapons of Mass Destruction Discovered Here : Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and North Dakota

By Bill Quigley at ICH (03.08.2006) :

Fr. Carl Kabat, 72, Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, sit in jail in North Dakota awaiting a federal criminal trial because of weapons of mass destruction and because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I visited them last week.

Their crime? They tried to disarm one of the 1700+ nuclear weapons in North Dakota. On June 26, 2006, they went to the silo of a Minuteman III first-strike nucclear missile and wrote on it "If you want peace, work for justice." Then they hammered on its lock and poured some of their own blood over it. They waited to be arrested and have been in jail ever since. If convicted, they face imprisonment of up to ten years for criminal damage to federal property.

Israel to Occupy Area of Lebanon as Security Zone

By Greg Myre & Helene Cooper at The NY Times (26.07.2006).

"Israel to establish 'killing zone' on Lebanon border" at IMEMC (26.07.2006).

Les néo-conservateurs et la politique du « chaos constructeur »

By Thierry Meyssan at Réseau Voltaire (25.07.2006). A lead :

À Washington et à Tel-Aviv, on se réjouit des opérations militaires en cours au Moyen-Orient. Selon l’expression de Condoleezza Rice, les douleurs du Liban sont les « contractions de la naissance d’un nouveau Moyen-Orient ». Pour les théoriciens du « chaos constructeur », il est nécessaire de faire couler le sang pour imposer un ordre nouveau dans une région riche en hydrocarbures. Planifiée de longue date, l’offensive de Tsahal contre le Liban est supervisée depuis le département de la Défense des États-Unis.

Readers Write: Rape and the U.S. Military

By Laura Barcella at AlterNet (24.07.2006).

The New Totalitarianism

By Norman Liverpool at Global Research (23.07.2006).:

The depraved international cabal that has a stranglehold on American political and financial power constitutes a new type of totalitarianism, pillaging the world through barbaric annihilation and creating a World Police State.

American and world citizens have not fully awakened to the monstrous, diabolical nature of this totalitarian regime; they assume it must have some modicum of concern for its people, its nation, and human decency. Wrong! Unless we arouse ourselves from this deadly self-imposed stupor of ignorance, these homicidal maniacs will destroy us and the world.

Nasrallah's Game

By Adam Shatz at The Nation (31.07.2006 Issue).

Japan's Political and Constitutional Crossroads

Discussion by John Junkerman, Gavan McCormack and David McNeill at Japan Focus (n.d.).

Japan Focus も、６月にハックされて、最近新装開店。こちらは日本のサイトだから、なんとなく犯人の目星がつくね。

Japan is exploiting the North’s missile tests

By Motofumi Asai at The Hankyoreh (17.07.2006) :

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government wants a stronger U.S.-Japan military alliance and buildup of Japanese military power, and North Korea’s launching of a series of missiles was more than it had hoped for. You can see how the LDP does not consider the action a military threat in the way prime minister Junichiro Koizumi said he was "lucky it didn’t happen while at Elvis Presley’s house" and when foreign minister Taro Aso said "Thank you, Kim Jong-il." They are greedily taking advantage of a media that are making a big deal of "the North Korean threat" as well as public sentiment against the North, using both as material for pushing ahead with their military plans.

Pretrial hearing for Watada set for mid-August

By Gregg K. Kakesako at Star Bulletin (14.07.2006).

Army Charges Lieutenant Who Wouldn't Go to Iraq

By Hal Bernton at The Seattle Times/CommonDreams (06.07.2006) :

A Fort Lewis Army officer who refused to serve in Iraq could face seven years in prison under charges filed Wednesday.

The Army accused 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of missing his brigade's troop movement to Iraq, twice speaking contemptuously of the president and three acts unbecoming an officer. The alleged actions are violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Fireworks Deferred

By Chip Ward at TomDispatch (29.06.2006).

Koizumi, Bush trumpet new global-scale alliance

By Kyodo/AP at The Japan Times (30.06.2006).

"President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Participate in a Joint Press Availability" at The White House (29.06.2006) | Video (RM, 65 mb).

"Fact Sheet: The Japan-U.S. Alliance of the New Century" at The White House (29.06.2006).

"New" だの "Century" だのといった単語のついているものに、ろくなものはない。

Opponents of Iraq War Rally around Lt. Watada

By Alex Fryer at Seattle Times/CommonDreams (27.06.2006).

Resistance in the US Military to the War on Iraq

By Ann Wright at TruthOut (25.06.2006).

Tokyo war crimes tribunal 'unfair, but must be accepted,' 61% of Diet members say

At Mainichi Daily News (25.06.2006).

Open Letter From Mother of Lt. Ehren Watada, Resister of Illegal War

By Carolyn Ho at TruthOut (22.06.2006).

Interview with Giuliana Sgrena

At Democracy Now! (22.06.2006) | Video (RM).

Lieutenant Watada Refused Iraq Deployment Orders Today

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (22.06.2006).

Japan: Ready for a real army

By Patrick M. Cronin at IHT (15.06.2006).

When Soldiers Refuse to Fight: Is the US Army Trying to Silence Lt. Watada?

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (14.06.2006).

Lieutenant Watada's War Against the War

By Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith at The Nation (26.06.2006 Issue).

Military attempts to stop Lt. Watada from speaking against illegal war

At TYLT (09.06.2006).

"Statement of Lt. Ehren Watada" (with video) at TYLT (07.06.2006).

Les ambitions militaires du Japon passent par les Etats-Unis

By Emilie Guyonnet at Le Monde Diplomatique (Avril 2006) :

Pas de trêve dans la course aux armements en Asie. La Chine a prévu d’augmenter ses dépenses militaires de 14,7 %, les portant à 35 milliards de dollars en 2006. Le premier ministre japonais s’en est inquiété, oubliant de préciser que son propre budget de la défense atteint déjà… 40 milliards de dollars. Et le nouvel accord stratégique avec les Etats-Unis va renforcer l’alliance politique et militaire entre Tokyo et Washington.

Don't forget those other 27,000 nukes

By Hans Blix at IHT (08.06.2006).

First Officer Publicly Resisting War Gains National Support

By Sarah Olson at TruthOut (08.06.2006).

A New "Perle Harbor": Neocon Foreign Policy Architect Richard Perle reveals US War Plans in the Iranian Theater

By Dr. Michael Carmichael at Global Research (07.06.2006).

First Officer Announces Refusal to Deploy to Iraq

Sarah Olson interviews Ehren Watada at TruthOut (07.06.2006) :

SO: What is your intellectual and moral opposition to the Iraq war? What is that based on?

Watada: First, the war was based on false pretenses. If the president tells us we are there to destroy Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and there are none, why are we there? Then the president said Saddam had ties to al-Qaeda and 9/11. That allegation has been proven to be false too. So why are we going there? The president says we're there to promote democracy, and to liberate the Iraqi people. That isn't happening either.

Second, the Iraq war is not legal according to domestic and international law. It violates the Constitution and the War Powers Act, which limits the president in his role as commander in chief from using the armed forces in any way he sees fit. The UN Charter, the Geneva Convention, and the Nuremberg principles all bar wars of aggression.

Finally, the occupation itself is illegal. If you look at the Army Field Manual, 27-10, which governs the laws of land warfare, it states certain responsibilities for the occupying power. As the occupying power, we have failed to follow a lot of those regulations. There is no justification for why we are there or what we are doing.

Thank you Lt. Ehren Watada

At TYLT (07.06.2006) :

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 7th U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will become the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to the unlawful Iraq war and occupation. He will announce his intention to disobey the illegal order to deploy to Iraq in coordinated press conferences in Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Via Uruk News Sokuho & Comment (07.06.2006).

"Statement On Behalf Of Lt. Ehren Watada" by Francis A. Boyle at After Downing Street (07.06.2006).

Vietnam revisited

By Derrick Z. Jackson at The Boston Globe (03.06.2006).

Earplugs, Marines, and Haditha

By Larry C. Johnson at No Quarter (02.06.2006).

Don't Become Them

By Maureen Dowd at The NY Times/Donkey o.d. (27.05.2006).

'We the Japanese people'

By Hikari Agakimi at Asia Times (25.05.2006) :

Japan is in the midst of a grand social transformation. Political manners, economic rules, patterns of everyday life and international relations are all in flux. The last time Japan saw change of great magnitude was after the defeat in World War II by US design. This time there is no blueprint, and the Japanese are groping for a vision. What do the Japanese want?

Beware the muted enemy within remilitarizing Japan

By Roger Pulvers at The Japan Times (14.05.2006) :

The Japanese people, thanks to this deliberate LDP policy executed by Nakasone and refined by Koizumi, have accepted the need for a proactive, alerted defense. But the last 20 years have done nothing to bolster and refine the democratic processes in society that could prevent a newly empowered military from once again overstepping its bounds. If you have a full-fledged military under civilian control, then those civilian decision makers need to be controlled themselves by a populace aware of its democratic rights and knowledgeable about how to exercise them.

The postwar era in Japan -- with its deeply felt aversion to militarism -- is over. The question is: If push came to shove, who would stop it from being an interwar era presaging something unimaginable -- even compared with the horrors of the last war?

Japan losing military "allergy": top officer

Isabel Reynolds interviews Hajime Masaki at Reuters (12.05.2006).

Under fire: US's misguided defense budget

By Jim Lobe at IPS/Asia Times (05.05.2006).

Dimona

At YouTube (Flash movie).

Japan wants U.S. to explain military cost

By Kana Inagaki at AP/.TheState.com (27.04.2006) :

"We need to ask the U.S. side which items are included," Abe said. "This amount is not the result of any agreement, and we have not received any request from the U.S. to shoulder this amount."

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that he did not know how the Americans arrived at that estimate, and that the government would not impose a tax increase to pay for the realignment.

Defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Lawless was probably not speaking with precision.

"I believe Mr. Lawless just presented his rough plans," Nukaga said, adding there was no official total yet. "After the final agreement is reached, we will come up with an estimated total and present it to the public."

アメリカ政府にばらされても、なおもとぼけるか。

Cost of U.S. Military Shuffle Stuns Japan

By Hiroko Tabuchi at AP/Yahoo! News (26.04.2006) :

Top Japanese officials on Wednesday expressed shock at a U.S. estimate that put the price tag for the planned reshuffling of U.S. forces in Japan at $26 billion or more.

"My impression is that's an incredibly huge amount of money," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe told a news conference, saying he couldn't comment further because he wasn't aware of the details.

"Where did you get that number? Don't tell me groundless stories," a shocked-looking Foreign Minister Taro Aso earlier said on TV Asahi. "We shouldn't overreact over one official's estimate."

どんな密約があったのかな。白状したまえ。

U.S., Japan Agree on Troop Realignment

By Foster Klug at AP (23.04.2006) :

The United States and Japan have struck a bargain over a plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan, with Japan agreeing to pay $6.1 billion of the nearly $10.3 billion cost, the Japanese defense chief said Sunday night.

Japanese Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters after his three-hour meeting with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that Japan wanted to have an appropriate sharing of costs in transferring 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam.

Japan has offered to pay $2.8 billion, and the remainder of its $6.1 billion share would take the form of loans to the United States. Japan would shoulder 59 percent of the realignment cost.

"We have come to an understanding that we both feel is in the best interests of our two countries," Rumsfeld said after the meetings.

アメリカ軍の移転費用を負担する国家なんて、日本以外にあるのかな。

Time to Rethink U.S.-Japan Relationship

At Cato Institute News Release (18.04.2006).

次の PDF ファイルのほうが本編。ざっと目を通しただけだけど、よく調べてある。 "Two Normal Countries : Rethinking the U.S.-Japan Strategic Relations" by Christopher Preble at Cato Institute (PDF). From summary :

A new U.S.-Japan strategic relationship will be crafted over a period of several years, but the process should begin immediately. As a first step, the United States should refrain from interfering in the decisions that the Japanese people may make with respect to their own defense. Washington should remain agnostic on the question of revisions to the Japanese constitution, including the crucial Article 9. Further, while U.S. policymakers might advise the Japanese of the uncertain benefits of acquiring their own nuclear weapons relative to the high costs, the United States should not expect to be able to prevent the Japanese from developing such weapons—nor should it try. Finally, the new strategic partnership should culminate with the removal of U.S forces from Japanese soil. The two countries could negotiate basing agreements for U.S. naval vessels and aircraft, and possibly also some prepositioning of heavy equipment in depots for rapid deployment in the region, but such agreements need not depend on the continuation of a largescale, and effectively permanent, U.S. troop presence. The new alliance between two normal countries— as opposed to one between a patron and a de facto client—will provide a more durable foundation for addressing the most pressing security challenges in East Asia and beyond.

A discussion at Asia Times Forum.

Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator

A flash movie at The Union of Concerned Scientists. Via Majikthise (15.04.2006).

The Paradox of Japanese Remilitarization

By Mike (in Tokyo) Rogers at LewRockwell.com (14.03.2006) :

Today’s Japan is at a crossroads. The US security umbrella that Japan has lived under these past 60 years often hampers relations between Japan and her neighbors. Japan’s economic relations with those neighbors hum along at a fantastic rate, while her political relations are constantly hindered by political stumbling at home and Japan’s security agreement with America. Even though many Japanese are beginning to think that staunchly supporting the United States is not a good idea with over 75 percent "quite dissatisfied" with Japan’s support of the illegal invasion of Iraq, Japan today is at the beck and call of the American empire.

But what can Japan do about the current situation? Many people in Japan feel that the US-Japan security agreement is an outdated and ill-fitting rented suit that must be changed. But how?

ポストするのを忘れていた。ファイルを整理していて気づいた。

U.S. Military Plans to Make Insect Cyborgs

By Shaun Waterman at UPI/CommonDreams (14.03.2006) :

The Pentagon is seeking applications from researchers to help them develop technology that can be implanted into living insects to control their movement and transmit video or other sensory data back to their handlers.

In an announcement posted on government Web sites last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, says it is seeking "innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect cyborgs," by implanting tiny devices into insect bodies while the animals are in their pupal stage.

鮫の次は、昆虫かい。冗談なのか本気なのか、さっぱりわからん。東京大殺戮を展開したペンタゴンが、どんな末路を辿るのか、じっくり見届けてやろう。

Iwakuni voters reject realignment plan

By Eric Johnston at The Japan Times (13.03.2006) :

IWAKUNI, Yamaguchi Pref. -- A majority of Iwakuni residents voted "no" in a closely watched plebiscite Sunday, rejecting the central government's plan to move 57 U.S. warplanes and 1,600 additional marines to the area, according to partial vote counts and exit polls.

According to Iwakuni City Hall, 21,000 residents had voted "no" and 3,000 "yes" as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, with 48.31 percent of the votes counted.

きわめてまともな結果。国民や住民が望まない方向へ、政治家は懸命に舵取りをしてきたからね。法的には効力がなくても、社会的には影響があるだろうし、そうあってほしい。