Text Fwd: The Explosive Growth of U.S. Military Power on Guam Confronts People Power 괌의 폭팔하는 미 군사력은 괌 민중의 힘과 대립

* Image source: same as the link

* Text thankfully forwarded by Martha Duenas on Dec. 6, 2010


The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
The Explosive Growth of U.S. Military Power on Guam Confronts People Power
: Experience of an island people under Spanish, Japanese and American colonial rule
LisaLinda S. Natividad and Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero


The United States Department of Defense is planning a massive military build-up on Guahan (Guam) that threatens to change the entire make-up of the island. Guahan, nestled at the southern-most tip of the Marianas Archipelago in the Micronesian region of Oceania, is a mere 212 square miles in area, barely bigger than a dot in most world maps. The island is similarly small in the consciousness of most American and Japanese taxpayers, who will be funding the military expansion. Guahan, however, has a large and rich history. While the island and her people remained in relative isolation from the Western world for over 3,500 years from the earliest indications of settlement, its strategic location as a crossroad between East and West has resulted in colonization by successive maritime powers over the last six centuries.

Spain became the island’s first colonizer after Ferdinand Magellan stumbled upon Guahan in 1521. The Spanish maintained control until they were defeated in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The United States then took Guahan as a spoil of war and made the island a U.S. possession. Guahan was governed much like a naval ship with a naval governor at the helm. In 1941, the United States did not defend the island when Japan invaded on December 8.Guahan surrendered two days later and was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army from 1941-1944.

The United States returned and used the island to win the war with Japan. Guahan’s strategic military value was solidified and the United States secured its presence on the island.

Today, it remains a possession of the United States as an “unincorporated territory,” a colonial relic in a professed era of democratization and post-colonialism. As an unincorporated territory, island residents do not have the rights of full U.S. citizens – they are not eligible to vote in U.S. presidential elections, nor does their one elected congressional representative have the right to vote on the floor level of the U.S. Congress.

Further, Guahan is limited in its ability to develop a viable economy as prescribed in specific federal-territorial policies like the Jones Act, which requires that all goods be carried to Guahan exclusively in U.S. ships. This increases the cost of shipping and diminishes the island’s ability to trade.

Guahan was added to the United Nations’ list of non-self-governing territories in 1946, deeming the island a colony in need of self-determination. However, both the United States and the United Nations have done very little to decolonize Guahan. In fact, the U.S. has made concerted efforts to further colonize the island over the decades. The United States has consistently pointed to the U.S. Congress’ passage of an Organic Act for Guahan in 1950 as evidence of why international monitoring bodies such as the UN should not intervene to protect the rights of its people. However, Guahan’s Organic Act, which designed a government for the island and gave Guahan residents limited U.S. citizenship, is a far cry from decolonization. It is a proxy constitution that creates the illusion of local control over governance but grants the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Congress ultimate power over the island. The Act authorizes the Federal Government to use powers such as eminent domain, which continue to be considered illegal in international law. It also allows the United States to increase their military presence on the island without seeking consent from Guahan’s people.

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See also the below(* Texts forwarded from Martha Duenas on Dec. 6, 2010)

Overseas Territories Review
05 December 2010
International Governance Expert Discusses Changes in Northern Marianas Covenant
'It's always good to assess NMI political status periodically'
By Haidee V. Eugenio, Reporter


Overseas Territories Review
30 November 2010
Governance Expert to Speak at University of Guam
Will discuss recent developments in small island governance


Guam News Watch
Literary Arts Group to Honor Insular Guard's Defens of Guam on Invasion Anniversary
News Release
Monday, 06 December 2010 08:33

Text Fwd: UN Soldiers Suspected in Haiti Cholera Outbreak 유엔 평화유지군, 아이티 콜레라 발생 원인으로 의혹삼

* Image & caption source: same as the Washington Post ink

The head of Nepal's mission in Haiti, Lt. Col. Krishna, second from left, and Prakash Neupane, deputy chief of the MINUSTAH engineering section, left, walks by pipes coming from latrines that lead to septic tanks that crosses a canal that leads to the Artibonite River at Nepal's U.N. base in Mirebalais, Haiti, Sunday Oct. 31, 2010. A cholera outbreak that has killed more than 300 people in Haiti matches strains commonly found in South Asia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday, intensifying the scrutiny of a U.N. base that is home to recently arrived Nepalese peacekeepers, built on a tributary to the Artibonite River. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (Ramon Espinosa - AP)
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* Informed at Just Foreign Policy News Letter on Nov. 4, 2010

Washington Post
Experts: Did UN troops infect Haiti?
Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Researchers should determine whether United Nations peacekeepers were the source of a deadly outbreak of cholera in Haiti, two public health experts, including a U.N. official, said Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the strain of cholera that has killed at least 442 people the past three weeks matches strains found in South Asia. The CDC, World Health Organization and United Nations say it's not possible to pinpoint the source and investigating further would distract from efforts to fight the disease.

But leading experts on cholera and medicine consulted by The Associated Press challenged that position, saying it is both possible and necessary to track the source to prevent future deaths.

"That sounds like politics to me, not science," Dr. Paul Farmer, a U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti and a noted expert on poverty and medicine, said of the reluctance to delve further into what caused the outbreak. "Knowing where the point source is - or source, or sources - would seem to be a good enterprise in terms of public health."

The suspicion that a Nepalese U.N. peacekeeping base on a tributary to the infected Artibonite River could have been a source of the infection fueled a protest last week during which hundreds of Haitians denounced the peacekeepers.

John Mekalanos, a cholera expert and chairman of Harvard University's microbiology department, said it is important to know exactly where and how the disease emerged because it is a novel, virulent strain previously unknown in the Western Hemisphere - and public health officials need to know how it spreads.

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Text Fwd: U.N. Command to probe whether N. Korea violated armistice

Yonhap News
U.N. Command to probe whether N. Korea violated armistice
2010/05/21 14:59 KST
By Kim Deok-hyun

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations Command (UNC) in South Korea said Friday it will investigate whether a North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean warship in March was in violation of an armistice agreement.

The UNC and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) will "review the findings of the investigation and determine the scope of the armistice violation that occurred in the sinking of the Republic of Korea Ship Cheonan," the UNC said in a statement.

The UNC's special investigation team will be comprised of representatives from South Korea, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Turkey, Britain and the United States, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, members of the NNSC, the statement said.

The team will report their findings to the U.N., according to the statement.

A South Korean government source said earlier Friday the UNC's Military Armistice Commission will lodge a formal protest with Pyongyang if the North is proven to have violated the armistice pact, a ceasefire that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

On Thursday, South Korea officially accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan, a 1,200-ton patrol ship, in an unprovoked attack, causing it to sink near their Yellow Sea border. Forty-six sailors aboard were killed.

Pyongyang denies the accusation, calling it a fabrication by the Seoul government, and has threatened to wage an "all-out war" if South Korea takes any countermeasures.

The government source said the armistice commission could suggest a joint investigation with North Korea once the probe results are confirmed and verified.

In a meeting of the National Security Council, the first in a year, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said the attack on the Cheonan constitutes a violation of the U.N. Charter and the armistice. He is expected to give a public address early next week on the government's countermeasures against the North.

"Depending on the government's decision, we could take military or non-military measures as early as next week," Deputy Defense Minister Jang Kwang-il said.

The South's military is considering resuming propaganda broadcasts across the border with the North, launching anti-submarine military training exercises with the U.S. and banning North Korean commercial ships from passing through South Korean waters, officials said.

In a diplomatic offensive, South Korea has said it would appeal to the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the sinking.

On Thursday, North Korea's National Defense Commission expressed its intent to send its own investigators to Seoul to assess the investigation results, South Korean defense officials said.

The Seoul government's position is that the issue should be handled by the UNC, they said.

kdh@yna.co.kr

Text Fwd: N. Korea criticizes maritime blockade at U.N. meeting

Yonhap News
N. Korea criticizes maritime blockade at U.N. meeting
By Kim Hyun

SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea argued in a recent U.N. agency meeting that maritime blockades by "certain" countries are threatening the freedom of navigation, the North's media said Monday, in what appeared to be criticism targeting the U.S.

North Korea had sent a delegation, led by Ko Nung-du, to the 26th general assembly of the International Maritime Organization held in London on Friday.

Text Fwd: U.S. Envoy: Information-Sharing Key to N.Korea Crackdown

* Image source: same as below
'Philip Goldberg'

Chosun Ilbo(South Korea's most conservative right wing newspaper)
U.S. Envoy: Information-Sharing Key to N.Korea Crackdown
VOA News / Jul. 31, 2009 08:08 KST

The U.S. envoy working on enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea says sharing information among UN members is key to holding Pyongyang accountable for its banned nuclear activities. Philip Goldberg spoke to reporters Thursday in New York after meeting the UN North Korea sanctions committee.

The UN imposed tough new restrictions on North Korea last month after the reclusive country launched ballistic missiles and conducted its second nuclear test. The sanctions aim to cut off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear, missile and proliferation activities.

Goldberg called the measures "unprecedented," a word he also used to describe China's cooperation in implementing them. He said the U.S. is advising its banks about activities related to North Korean entities. He said he thinks other governments have taken similar positions, and they now have to share that information with each other.

The U.S. State Department says Goldberg will lead a delegation to Moscow on Monday. The delegation will consult with Russian Foreign Ministry and financial officials about enforcing the sanctions. Goldberg also is traveling to undisclosed Asian capitals for similar consultations in mid-August.