BRICS Summit vs. Camp David

In sharp contrast to the BRICS summit in South Africa ushering in a "multilateral organization that will shape the contours of a new system of international relations," (Pepe Escobar), the U.S. hosted Japan and South Korea at Camp David to hammer out a three-way military alliance between grossly unequal partners.

From Sara Flounders writing in Workers World:

The military pact of South Korea and Japan with the U.S. intentionally damages both the South Korean and Japanese economies, as China has been the major trading partner of both countries. However, right-wing militarists in office in each country seem willing to act against their own people’s interests.

The U.S. government has long maintained separate defense pacts with both countries. Based on Japan’s brutal 35-year colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula, from 1910 to 1945, there remains deep hostility among the Korean people toward Japan. Nevertheless, based on U.S. pressure, the regimes have now become “partners” against China.

Excerpt from the White House statement:

Pre­sident Biden commended President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida for their courageous leadership in transforming relations between Japan and the ROK. With the renewed bonds of friendship—and girded by the ironclad U.S.-Japan and U.S.-ROK alliances—each of our bilateral relationships is now stronger than ever. So too is our trilateral relationship.

My translation: the deeply unpopular President Yoon making nice with colonial exploiter Japan was a prerequisite for the new war pact against China.

In an interesting parallel, it now appears that China and Russia's brokering of an historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year paved the way for both nations to join BRICS. 

 

Now being termed BRICS 11 because six nations have joined the original five of the acronym (the other new members are the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia).

From BRICS fan Escobar writing in The Cradle:

Here is the Johannesburg II Declaration of the 15^th BRICS summit. BRICS 11 is just the start. There’s a long line eager to join; without referring to the dozens of nations (and counting) that have already “expressed their interest”, according to the South Africans, the official list, so far, includes Algeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Guinea, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Cuba, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkiye and Syria.

So while the bigger, wealthier group forges ahead with a comprehensive agreement to reign in predatory debt mechanisms of the West against the Global South and, incidentally, to reject new members if they sanction existing BRICS nations, the U.S. continues looking for a nation to play the role of Ukraine in its planned war against China.

As blogger Andrew Korybko observed:

the recent Sino-Filipino incident that was sparked by Manila’s failed attempt to smuggle construction materials to a disputed reef could have been timed to precede the latest trilateral talks and this week’s joint drills, thus enabling them to be spun as defense measures instead of provocations..

All of this leads to “pacifist” Japan saber-rattling against China in its South Sea on the Philippines’ behalf in support of their shared US patrons’ “rules-based order”, which solidifies their nascent trilateral alliance.. and consequently advances the AUKUS+ agenda of “containing” China.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects have been busy on the information war front.

An investigation by Alan MacLeod of MintPress News found that the FBI and the government of Taiwan have been working together to spread hate against China in the U.S.

Official documents reviewed by “MintPress News” show that the Taiwanese government is attempting to drum up anti-China hostility, influence and intimidate American politicians and is even working with the FBI and other agencies to spy on and prosecute Chinese American citizens.

Key points of this investigation
• Taiwanese officials are monitoring Chinese Americans and passing intelligence to the FBI in attempts to have them prosecuted.
• Taiwan is working with “friends” in media and politics to create a culture of fear towards China and Chinese people in the US
• Taiwanese officials claim they are “directing” and “guiding” certain US politicians.
• Taiwan is monitoring and helping to intimidate U.S. politicians they deem to be too pro-China.
• The island is spending millions funding US think tanks that inject pro-Taiwan and anti-China talking points into American politics.

Why do nations like Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, for whom China is a huge trading partner, submit to U.S. demands that run counter to their own economic interests?

Because if you don't submit, they do this to you: "The Outcome Of American Interference In Pakistan."

But much of the world is banding together to say Enough! Note that BRICS came out strongly against war in space, and in favor of arms control treaties in what the U.S. predictably rejects in its key "warfighting domain." Indeed, satellite communications have been integral to the U.S./NATO waging their proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.

Full disclosure: I work for the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space which is prominently featured in Jeremy Kuzmarov's article.

It appears that war has hastened ongoing cooperation with Russia by many nations -- in direct opposition to its stated goal of isolating Putin and his government. For example, check out this speech by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki at the BRICS summit denouncing "U.S. exceptionalism" on the grounds that "it has gravely impaired global progress for over a century now."

I think we can all agree that century is behind us, and history is now remaking itself.

Pivot To Asia, Round Two

I've been hoping to find a digest of reliable information and analysis about U.S./NATO war plans aimed at China. Here is my second attempt, an imitation of my friend JK's valiant efforts on Ukraine news (her mini-digest "contains information you are not likely to read/hear in the Western/U.S. media." If you want to get on her list, message me.) 

A lot has happened since my first attempt back in February; but, since I don't read or speak either dialect of Chinese (or Japanese or Korean), I feel ill-qualified to edit news from China. Maybe someone among the readers here will consider taking this on?

Item #1

BLINKEN IN CHINA: Did it accomplish anything?   (9:41)

Andy Boreham, Reports on China, June 20, 2023

Excerpt:

"The common interests of the two countries should be valued, and their respective success is an opportunity instead of a threat to each other." Chinese President Xi Jinping

Item #2

Corporate media slanders China, Cuba: a lie so blatant even the Pentagon must deny it

by Sara Flounders, Worker's World, June 16, 2023

Excerpt: 

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez, called the [Wall Street Journal] reports “totally mendacious and unfounded… Cuba rejects all foreign military presence in Latin America, including the many U.S. bases and troops” and the U.S. occupation of Guantanamo. 

(Note from LS: Touché)

Item #3

NATO opening an office in Japan

Bruce Gagnon, Organizing Notes, June 17, 2023

Excerpt:

NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Japan (likely hosted at Yokota Air Base), the first of its kind in Asia. The station will allow the military alliance to conduct periodic consultations with Japan and key partners in the region such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand as China emerges as ‘a new challenge’

Item #4

Strategies of Denial

by Gray Anderson, New Left Review, June 15, 2023

Excerpt: 

passage of the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS Acts made tangible the ‘deep integration of domestic policy and foreign policy’. Restrictions on the export of crucial AI and semiconductor components to China.. confirmed the drive to monopolize ‘chokepoint’ or ‘stranglehold’ technologies, a veritable declaration of economic war. ‘These actions’, a CSIS analysis concluded, ‘demonstrate an unprecedented degree of US government intervention to not only preserve chokepoint control but also begin a new US policy of actively strangling large segments of the Chinese technology industry – strangling with an intent to kill.’ 

Item #5

What's behind U.S.-driven reforms coming to the World Bank?

Conor Gallagher, Naked Capitalism (link is to Popular Resistance share), June 14, 2023

Excerpt:

Change is coming to the World Bank.. It’s difficult to predict exactly how the new mission will play out, but one thing is clear: the efforts are being driven by the desire to counter/thwart Beijing’s expanding global influence.. And it looks like the reforms will go hand in hand with pushing the debunked narrative that Chinese lending is a debt trap while also trying to relegate China to the backseat in the growing number of distressed countries.

(Note from LS: Since China kicked butt on accomplishing the "eradicate poverty" goal previously expressed as the World Bank's mission, PR spin is sorely needed.)

Item #6

The Hegemon Will Go Full Hybrid War Against BRICS+

Pepe Escobar, Strategic Culture, June 12, 2023

Excerpt:

U.S. Think Tank Land – inebriated by their self-created aura of power – always telegraphs in advance what they’re up to. That was the case with Project 9/11 (“We need a new Pearl Harbor”). That was the case with the RAND report on over-extending and unbalancing Russia. And now that’s the case with the incoming American War on BRICS as outlined by the chairman of the New York-based Eurasia Group.

Item #7

U.S. Navy preparing for war with China - COI #432 (51:51)

Kyle Anzalone & Connor Freeman, Conflicts of Interest, June 10, 2023

China portion begins around 11:40

Excerpt (from Antiwar.com post describing the contents of the video):

..details a top US admiral – the head of INDOPACOM – saying he’s been tasked by the president and the Pentagon chief to win direct a war with China over Taiwan

Item #8

Taiwan Says It's in Talks on Being Brought Under US Nuclear Umbrella

Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, May 28, 2023

Excerpt:

Taiwan’s foreign minister said last week that the US and Taiwan are in talks on the possibility of the island being brought under Washington’s nuclear umbrella, a step that would make a catastrophic war between the US and China much more likely.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu made the comments before Taiwan’s parliament

Item #9

Psy-ops warriors: Tiananmen Square and the media-pack

Gregory Clark, Pearls & Irritations, June 12, 2023

Item #10

Fixing an American Mess: China, Iran, and Pakistan link up to secure Afghanistan

F.M. Shakil, The Cradle, June 13, 2023

Excerpt:

As part of their strategic partnership agreement for 2021, China reportedly pledged a $400 billion investment in Iran over the next 25 years, while Pakistan hosts the flagship project of the BRI, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is in this complex security context that the first-ever trilateral anti-terrorist parley between China, Iran, and Pakistan took place last week.

Item #11

The generational divide in Australian politics is widening

Alan Patience, Pearls & Irritations, June 17, 2023

Excerpt:

AUKUS is becoming a rallying point for those who are fed up with the old politics. Local [Australian Labor Party] branches.. are rising up to condemn the Albanese government’s morally flawed commitment to the project. Indeed that commitment is likely to become counterproductive for the government at the next election. 

(Note from LS: AUKUS is a military alliance to threaten China -- Australia's largest trading partner -- and its provision to station nuclear submarines in Australia is a violation of that nation's constitution.)

Item #12

Fukushima plan a nuclear threat to Asia-Pacific

Shaun Burnie, China Daily, June 13, 2023

Excerpt:

There is no scientific, legal or moral justification for Japan to deliberately contaminate our shared and common marine environment. And concerned citizens, scientists, maritime lawyers, the fishing communities across the Asia-Pacific and the world's leading oceanography universities and institutes have spread public awareness about the nuclear dangers, something that has rarely been done before.

Item #13 (mainstream media source)

Space race: how the U.S. and China are locked in a battle to become superior in space

Rachel Shilke, Breaking News Reporter, Washington Examiner, June 20, 2023

Excerpt:

China launched its Tiangong space station in 2022, working as the sole operator and user. Tiangong was created after China was excluded from the [International Space Station], largely because of the U.S.'s reservations over Chinese space programs and their ties to the [People's Liberation Army].

(Note from LS: "Breaking news" from mainstream media alleges U.S. is "locked in battle" with China for space dominance, but "U.S. remains superior." Delusional thinking by the declining empire.)

---

Want to know more about how space figures into plans for war on China? 

More details and link to register for a July 15 Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space webinar here. (Note that the NY time should read EDT not EST.)

Pivot To Asia Ramping Up Ominously

Source of map: researchgate.net

The only nation that has hundreds of military bases outside its own borders is about to open a new one. 

A huge new U.S. Marine Corps base on the island of Guam was paid for, in part, by Japan. Why would Japan do this? I read that it was part of a deal during the Obama administration's "pivot to Asia" to get Marines out of Okinawa. Locals there despise the presence of gaijin (foreigners) who rape and kill girls and women, and Okinawans have been struggling for decades to get rid of them.

Why export the misery to Guam? The indigenous population of Okinawa understands all too well what it's like to live under Japanese imperialism. And taxpayers in Japan are by no means on board with ramping up military spending and abandoning Article 9 as the U.S. is demanding. 

Source: "Japan's rearmament is a worrying sign" by Jamil Ragland, CTNewsJunkie

Demonstrations against Japan's remilitarization are common in Tokyo and other Japanese cities these days -- but don't expect to read about it in the U.S. corporate media.

Instead, those who consume corporate media should expect to read more ranting from psychopaths like U.S. Air Force general Michael Minihan. He was in the news this week due to a memo (that the Pentagon disavowed, for what that's worth) urging preparations for war with China which he predicted will be underway by 2025.

He ordered his underlings to practice shooting targets in the head to prepare.

He's been quoted as believing that,

“[W]hen you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better. Your marriage is stronger."

No comment on what we're all imagining about Minihan's marriage.

Meanwhile another ex-Marine, weapons inspector Scott Ritter, shared his examination of the shift in U.S./NATO policy toward east Asia and also the "war-fighting domain" of outer space.

A recent statement by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) head Bill Nelson that the US was in a space race with China, when combined with recent moves by both the US and China to militarize space, could send the US on a policy trajectory that transforms established policy regarding space-based activities as being exclusively exploration-driven in nature, to one where conquest and domination become the dominating factors. 

Why do I pay attention to these "coulds" when the clear and present danger of Ukraine escalating into a nuclear confrontation grows daily?

Because weakening Russia and overthrowing Putin is the first stage of the neocon plan to take out China as the U.S.'s only feasible economic competitor. 

"Paratroopers take part in a joint military drill among Japan, the US, Britain and Australia at Narashino exercise field in Chiba prefecture on January 8, 2023. Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images"   Source: "'History might repeat itself': Chinese ambassador warns Australia to be wary of Japan", CNN

But the sanctions that were supposed to cripple Russia's economy have instead strengthened it, and boomeranged on the economies of the U.S. and NATO nations.

Early indications are that sanctions on China are having a similar effect: weakening the dollar, and pushing the targeted nation toward more cooperation with others and diversification of its industrial capacity.

Reporting in The Verge:

[Dutch tech manufacturer] ASML CEO Peter Wennink previously told CNBC that China accounted for around 15 percent of the company’s sales in 2022. 

Wennink has said that any restrictions are unlikely to prevent China from building its own versions of the machines eventually. “If they cannot get those machines, they will develop them themselves,” Wennink told Bloomberg. “That will take time, but ultimately they will get there.”

On the Japanese side, the restrictions are expected to impact companies such as Nikon and Tokyo Electron.

As its old ally Germany has suffered under U.S. leadership from helping to conduct war on Russia via Ukraine, I think it's reasonable to expect Japan to suffer from helping its old enemy conduct a proxy war on China via Taiwan.

Certainly Australians as traditional allies of the U.S. military empire are increasingly concerned about being targeted as a consequence of hosting bases and spying outposts on their soil, and of their economy unraveling if their extensive trade with China is disrupted. And some observers have speculated that neighboring New Zealand saw the recent resignation of PM Jacinda Ardern because she had lost the battle for Kiwis to remain neutral and nuclear-free.

In the U.S. we have half a million people unhoused and at risk of freezing to death this winter. We have 1 in 5 children growing up impoverished and hungry, and the federal government tells us there is no money for universal health care, student loan forgiveness, or to house and feed the people. Yet, at $858 billion for 2023, the military budget is at it highest point ever, and ominously increasing every year.

Historically, wars have caused untold suffering for populations who had little to no interest in pursuing them. War profiteers hijacked their governments and raked in profits while their people starved and died. 

Are we doomed to repeat these disasters?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

From Barefoot Gen, graphic novel about Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa, author and illustrator (Hadashi no Gen).

Today, August 6, is the one Japanese people remember from WWII. When my oldest child was born in Tokyo on December 7, I remarked on the irony to a college-educated Japanese friend who replied, "What's Pearl Harbor?" (kind of like Afghan men responded when asked their views on 9/11).

On August 6, 1945 the US dropped the first nuclear weapon on the city of Hiroshima. It had been developed without the help of Austrian scientist Lise Meitner, who declined to participate despite having been one of those who discovered fission, and despite having been a Jew hounded from her university position by Nazis.

This event, plus the bombing of the city of Nagasaki a few days later with a different kind of atomic bomb, was always sold to the U.S. public as having been "necessary" to end WWII without a invasion of the Japanese mainland that was sure to cost the lives of many in the U.S. military. But the Japanese were already negotiating to surrender, and knew the war was lost for them. Some have speculated the U.S. went ahead anyway in order to both test the weapons, and intimidate their WWII ally the U.S.S.R. in a spectacular kick-off to what would become the Cold War.

U.S. citizens knew that some kind of catastrophic weapon had been deployed, and that the Japanese emperor soon surrendered, but it wasn't until John Hersey's long piece in the New Yorker in August, 1946 that many learned the gruesome details. Even then, the protracted suffering from radiation poisoning of the surviving hibakusha (a term that had to be coined) was largely unknown.

My own grandfather, drafted into WWII, was among the first U.S. troops to enter Nagasaki after the bomb. Despite pestering by his daughter (my mother), he would never talk about it.

Now we watch in horror as the Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to spew radiation into the atmosphere and groundwater, and attempts to clean it or contain it prove futile. Just last week TEPCO announced radiation levels instantly lethal to humans had been detected, presumably from fuel rods that we already know melted down after cooling failed in the wake of earthquake and tsunami damage.

We of the baby boom generation have lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation our entire lives. We've watched in horror as nuclear weapons and energy have proliferated, despite the best efforts of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol and many other efforts to have humans swear off nuclear before it is too late for everybody.

When young people find out about the disaster visited on Hiroshima, they ask an essential question: Why did the U.S. drop an atomic bomb on the people of Hiroshima? I think this propaganda film made by the Army about Okinawa is a succinct explanation of the overall strategy, though it leaves out the build-up to Pearl Harbor engendered by blocking oil shipments to rapacious Imperial Japan.


My neighbors in Tokyo saw Japanese as the victims, not the aggressors, in WWII. Their view in the early 1980's when I lived there: a cabal of businessmen and highly ranked government officials conspired to drag Japan into building an empire in the region, profiting mightily, while the people paid the price. Japanese starved their way through the war (kamikaze planes were designed in part to save yen by not having to build landing gear), and then suffered conscripted labor and fire bombing of many of their cities even before nuclear disaster struck.

In our times Japanese are leaders in the movement to ban all nuclear weapons -- and, increasingly, the ill-fated attempt to harness nuclear power as an energy source. Today, my thoughts and prayers are with 日本.

Update from Fukushima

☆☆☆★　real news via Hisae Ogawa / Codepink Osaka JAPAN ★☆☆★★  http://codepink.jp

Upon Ms. Goto's request, I am sending you hereby her report on the current situation in Fukushima City where she lives.  She would very much like to give the rest of the world the report on the situation she has been experiencing...

I was an administrator of the Center for the Japanese Studies at UC Berkeley that hosted her as a visiting scholar, and currently living in Tokyo. Please let people know of the hardship she and the citizens in Fukushima have been facing.
Thank you very much for your assistance.
Best regards,
Keiko Hasegawa Hjersman

Nobuyo Goto lives in Fukushima City.  The earthquake in Fukushima was magnitude over 6.0.  Goto lives in the part of Fukushima City 43 miles (70 kilometers) away from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Today, as of March 17, 2011, the current  evacuation warning has been sent to the surrounding homes within 18.75 miles (30 km), the evacuation order within 12.5 miles (20km ).

The Japanese Government and TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) have not disclosed accurate information and data, which has made inhabitants increasingly anxious and upset.

The water outage still continues in Fukushima City.  It makes it sound hollow for the residents to hear experts in Tokyo tells people to wash radiation off with water.

Former Governor of Fukushima Prefecture was opposed to Fukushima plutonium-thermal project.  But the Governor had to resign later, since the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors indicted him for a corruption charge. The current Governor approved the Pluthermal project that allows the use of the depleted nuclear fuel.  Unit 3 of the Fukushima plant uses the pluthermal.  Yesterday, the Unit 3 caught fire.  The complete cooling of pluthermal is said to take three years.

The citizens have been afraid of invisible radiation.  Some residents have already voluntarily evacuated from Fukushima City.  However, the majority of residents have been unable to evacuate due to the blockage of general vehicles on the highway, and interrupted Tohoku Shinkansen and local Lines. Even the people who own cars cannot escape due to the gasoline shortage. Goto was visiting the USA as a visiting scholar when the Hurricane Katerina hit in 2005, and the present status of Fukushima City indeed reminds her of the incident.

The residents in Fukushima have been encountering the growing food shortage, and there is a long line of people want of food.  In addition to the fear of the radioactivity, they have to face the fear of starvation.  The distribution of supplies has slightly improved, but the quantity has been definitely too small.

In spite of the above situations with the devastation from the Earthquake, frequent and strong aftershocks, the destruction of lifelines, and the nuclear power danger, the citizens in local communities have been enduring helping and encouraging each other.  They show their resilience standing in neat lines for supplies without stealing or robbing each other.

Report by Nobuyo Goto/Translated by Keiko Hjersman

Terrible things to share

Interview with the astonishingly well-informed pediatrician Dr. Helen Caldicott of Australia, on the real nuclear threat right now, and for a long, long time to come.

Message about how to help. Source: 日本 Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo) via Codepink co-found Gael Murphy.

Dear friends,
Thank you very much for your warm messages and support to us. Your
messages are of great encouragement to us and all victims of the
disaster. We have translated your messages into Japanese and passed
them on to the victims and all Japanese people.

The damage caused by earthquakes and subsequent tsunami is so
horrible. All buildings were swept away. Thousands of bodies are
found every day. The number of those dead and are missing is expected
to be more than 11,500. The evacuees have increased more than
450,000. They are forced to stay at shelters with not enough food,
water, cloths, oil for heaters and gas for cars, etc.

In addition to that, the frightening accident of Fukushima power
plants is threatening the safety of people and their uneasiness is growing.

The municipalities and citizens of the damage struck areas have so
far given strong support to our signature campaigns for abolition of
nuclear weapons, our peace marches and the World Conference against A
and H Bombs. We have to help them when they are suffering.

Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo) set up an account and
called on Japanese people to donate to help the victimized people and areas.

Postal Money Order
Account No.: 00110-9-1780
Account Name: Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)

If you wish to donate or send support to the victims, we can accept
your donation at the above account. We will transfer your donation
to the victims or/and we will send necessary goods and services to
the victimized people and areas.

Thank you in advance for your support and cooperation. If there is
any questions/requests, please do not hesitate to ask us.

Sincerely,

(Ms.)Yayoi Tsuchida
Assistant Secretary General
==============================
===============
Japan Council against A & H Bombs (GENSUIKYO)
2-4-4 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8464 JAPAN
phone: +81-3-5842-6034
fax: +81-3-5842-6033
Email: antiatom@topaz.plala.or.jp
URL: http://www.antiatom.org/

How is bowing in apology after you helped General Electric get rich at the expense of the Earth going to help?

for 日本 with ♥♥

Children in Fukushima are scanned for radioactivity. Could someone remind me what standard of living we consider "worth it" even at the risk of creating these kind of memories for preschoolers?  Reuters photo via Al Jazeera

From Hisae Ogawa of Codepink JAPAN comes news of peril and survival, and relief efforts  getting underway. Even in the midst of the natural disaster compounded by radioactive contamination of Japan's people, Hisae-san was undeterred from her efforts to resist U.S. military bases in her native land. She wasn't too busy to share the text of this lecture by Kevin Maher, the ex-U.S. Consul General in Okinawa, given at American University last December. It is so full of fabulations and Orwellian talk that I was inspired to annotate it as I read. My comments, in bold, are dedicated to Hisae-san and all the brave protesters. May they be held safe from further depredations.

"U.S. Military Bases and Their Impacts in Okinawa, Japan"

-The controversial bases in Okinawa were originally in the middle of rice fields, but are now in the middle of towns because Okinawans allowed urbanization and population growth to surround United States facilities. Who do they think they are, using their own land as they see fit? Uppity natives.

-The US bases in Okinawa exist for regional security. for NATO. The Japanese obligation under the US-Japan security treaty is to provide land for bases. Because we say so. The relationship between Japan and the US under the security treaty is asymmetric and benefits the Japanese to the detriment of the US. This remark is such a steep lie it gave me vertigo. Japan is not obligated to defend the United States if US forces are attacked, but the United States must defend and protect Japan’s people and property. We can only imagine how much safer THAT makes the Nihonjin feel.

-Collective security is not a constitutional issue, but a policy issue. Remember that Constitution we insisted on that forbade Japan from having anything more than a self defense force,  and created all that asymmetry between us? Policy overrides it.

-Eighteen thousand (18,000) US Marines and an air wingare stationed in Okinawa. The United States needs bases in Okinawa for two reasons: bases are already there i.e. facts on the ground take on a life of their own and Okinawa is an important geographical location. Notice how these are the only situations where my fellow countrymen suddenly seem to develop a clear grasp of geography?

- (While showing a map of East Asia) US Forces Japan is headquartered in Tokyo and is the location of a logistics　hub that would coordinate supplies and troops in theevent of a crisis. Misawa, an important base in the Cold War, is the closest U.S. base to Russia and the base at　Iwakuni is only 30 min from Korea, yet Okinawa’s geographic location is important to regional security. Translation: we've got you covered. Okinawa is just one of many fiefdoms.

-Okinawa was an independent Kingdom paying tribute to China, although it has never been a part of China. The U.S. occupied Okinawa until 1972. For your own good.


-The Okinawan people’s anger and frustration is directed at Japan rather than the United States.The DPJ government　does not understand Okinawa. The Japanese government does not have a “pipe” of communication to Okinawa. When I offer to contact people in Okinawa DPJ officials say “Yes! Yes, please!” Hilarious, in that this is probably his translation of DPJ officials saying "Hai, hai."  "Hai" is a very common polite word in Japanese, often meaning little other than "I hear you."

-One third of people believe the world would be more peaceful without a military. It is impossible to talk with such people. Mostly because they don't just say "Yes! Yes, please!" to my idiotic suggestions.
 ...
-The US will relocate 8000 Marines from Futenma to Guam in order to reduce the US Military footprint on Okinawa. The plan will allow the US to maintain a military presence in the region to provide regional security and deterrence capability. Under the Roadmap, Japan will provide money for the relocation and it is a sign of a tangible effort from Japan. ...

-Japanese culture is a culture of "Wa" (harmony) that is based on consensus. Consensus building is important in Japanese culture. While the Japanese would call this “consensus,” they mean extortion” and use this culture of consensus as a means of “extortion.” By pretending to seek consensus, people try to get as much money as possible. Okinawans are masters of “manipulation” and “extortion” of Tokyo. We taught them well (see Roadmap above).

-Okinawa's main industry is tourism. While there is an agricultural industry, the main industry is tourism. Although Okinawans grow goya, other prefectures grow more than Okinawa. Okinawans are too lazy to grow goya. This is so boorish it defies comment.

-Okinawa has the highest divorce rate, birthrate (especially out of wedlock) and drunk-driving rate due to Okinawa’s culture of drinking liquor with high alcohol content. Lazy brown skinned people should never do this, even though it may be fine even during the work day for people with the right genetic makeup.


-You should be careful about “tatemae and honne” while in Japan. Tatemae and honne is the “idea that words and actual intentions are different." e.g. see "Yes! Yes, please!" above. While in Okinawa, I said MCAS Futenma “is not especially dangerous." My statements caused Okinawans to protest in front of my office.Why can't they just forget about brutal rape and even murder of Okinawan women by marines already? Although Okianwans claim MCAS Futenma is the most dangerous base in the world, they know it is not true. Fukuoka Airport and Osaka Itami Airport are just as dangerous.

-Japanese politicians do Tatemae and Honne all the time Okinawan politicians will agree to a negotiation in Tokyo but return to Okinawa and claim they did not. The US Ambassador and other representatives to Japan are constantly criticized for speaking the truth because the Japanese culture is too focused on tatemae and honne. Wrong, that's NOT the reason. Guess again.

-The US Military and JSDF have different mentalities. The US Military trains to prepare for possible deployment, but the JSDF train without actually preparing for deployment. Possibly have they been infiltrated by "lazy" Okinawans?

-Local people oppose to night training by the US Military but it is necessary because modern warfare is far more important than human mental health, for which a good night's sleep is needed is often fought at night. Night training is essential to maintain deterrence capability. Because everyone knows that night raids in Iraq and Afghanistan have been really effective at reducing terrorism and improving security. Right?

-I don’t think Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution should change. I doubt it will ever be changed. It would be bad for the United States if the Japanese Constitution was changed because Japan would not need the United States’ Military. If the Japanese Constitution was changed the United States would not be able to use Japanese land to advance US interests. The high host nation support the Japanese government currently pays is beneficial to the US. We’ve got a very good deal in Japan. A deal so good that it made brave Japanese people protest outside my office.

##

That was the bulk of the speech. I'll add a link to the whole thing online if I find one.

Japan has quite a history of militarism itself. It's a casebook study for the need to bring war yen home, and what can happen when you fail to do so. A cabal of industrialists, generals and admirals led the country down a rapacious road of ruin. And to this day the weight of the industrial power that irradiated them remains firmly on top of the gorgeous Okinawa, forced to serve the U.S. military, "a good location" for tsunamis and worse.

ウチナー県 (Okinawan: Uchinaa-ken)