Fwd Text: Reply to Cordaro News Release - "Bravo" Bomb Test Anniversary Vigil and Action / 6 arrested - Winona CW John Heid among them

* Image source*
http://picasaweb.google.com/subversivepeacemaking/PacificLifeCommunityActionBravoTestAnniversary#

Fwd from Frank Cordaro on March 4, 2009
[ Reply to Cordaro News Release - "Bravo" Bomb Test Anniversary Vigil and Action / 6 arrested - Winona CW John Heid among them!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Subversive Peacemaking
Date: Tue, Mar 3, 2009


News Release “Bravo” Bomb Test Anniversary Vigil and Action

For: Immediate Release March1, 2009


From: Leonard Eiger, 425-445-2190
subversivepeacemaking@comcast.net
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
16159 Clear Creek Road NW Poulsbo, WA 98370
www.gzcenter.org

In commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the U.S. "Bravo" nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll, members of the Pacific Life Community, hosted by Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, held a vigil and nonviolent resistance action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, in Kitsap County, Washington.

Participants gathered at the Trigger Avenue entrance to the Trident nuclear submarine base around noon, holding signs and banners with various messages, including a large banner that read, "Nuclear Free Pacific Now". Another sign read, "1000 Trident patrols are nothing to celebrate."

Six members of the Pacific Life Community crossed the blue line onto the base and kneeled, blocking the roadway. They were arrested by base security personnel, processed and released; no citations were issued at that time. Those arrested were Jerry Zawada, 71, of Tucson, AZ, Edwin Ehmke, 62, of Menlo Park, CA, Mary Jane Parrine, 63, of Menlo Park, CA, John Heid, 54, of Winona, MN, Megan Rice, 79, of Las Vegas, NV, and Mark Kelso, 52, of Las Vegas, NV.

After reading their "CITIZEN ACTION STATEMENT", members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Denny Moore, 64, of Bainbridge Island, WA, Jesica Arteaga, 23, of Tacoma, WA, Larry Kerschner, 62, of Centralia, WA, Bernie Meyer, 71, of Olympia, WA, and Jackie Hudson, 74, of Bremerton, WA blocked traffic while standing in the crosswalk holding a banner that read (in part) "Nuclear Bomb Deaths 55 Years Ago". All were arrested by Kitsap County Sheriff deputies, and transported to a county facility where they were processed and released; no citations were issued at that time.

On March 1, 1954 the United States tested the first deliverable hydrogen bomb, code named "Bravo”, at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. Bravo was the largest U.S. nuclear test ever exploded, with a yield of 15 megatons, 1000 times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (and well beyond the predicted yield of 6 megatons).

Marshallese Islanders and American military personnel in the area at that time received radiations doses substantially in excess of those considered safe, and Marshallese Islanders continued to receive radiation exposures (for years) due to radioisotopes from fallout in
water and soil contaminating food and drinking water.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is home to the U.S. Navy's West Coast Trident nuclear submarine fleet. "The warheads assigned to the ballistic missile submarines stationed at Bangor and at Kings Bay, Ga., now constitute more than half of the U.S. strategic weapons force" (source: Seattle Times).

The Pacific Life Community is committed to ending nuclear weapons and war-making through nonviolent direct action along the Pacific Rim in collaboration with the global peace movement. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action is committed to nonviolent resistance to Trident and the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

*******************

Photos available at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/subversivepeacemaking/PacificLifeCommunityActionBravoTestAnniversary#.


Contact Leonard Eiger at subversivepeacemaking@comcast.net for high resolution images.

The "Citizen Action Statement" read by arrestees is printed in its entirety below:


CITIZEN ACTION STATEMENT AT SUB BASE BANGOR ON OCCASION OF 55TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIKINI ATOLL NUCLEAR TEST

March 1, 2009

On March 1st, 1955, 55 years ago, the U.S. nuclear test, Castle Bravo, was conducted in the Marshall Islands, Bikini Atoll. At 15 megatons it was the largest nuclear explosion ever perpetrated by the United States, creating a crater 1.2 miles in diameter. The explosion of dry-fuel thermonuclear fuel exceeded the expectations of the scientists and has been labeled an exercise of “human fallibility.”

The test affected U.S. service personnel on ships, natives of Rongelap Island, 100 miles from the test, and Utrick Island, 300 miles distant; and fishermen on a Japanese vessel. Victims ensued among all these entities. Ten years later one death of an islander and 90% of the population experienced thyroid tumors. How many more have died since from nuclear radiation cancers? Compensation is still denied to Islanders. The environment cannot be compensated.

This March 1, 2009 citizen’s intervention of Trident Bangor Sub Base remembers all the victims of nuclear weapons testing: their uprooting, sufferings, and deaths. Our action also stands on the side of International Law and human morality that all nuclear weapons must be abolished.

The creative human energy and the natural resources used for Trident must be converted to creating a viable human and living species environment.

Stop the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military Training Fields! Stop the enforcement of the village people!

* Image source*
Photos by Lee, Ki-Tae/Work and World(Nodongkwa Segye, The Korean News Center of the Korean Confederation of the Trade Unions)

About 40 people from the Village People's Committee against the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military training Fields, the Pan-Korean Committee against the Expansion of the Mugeon-ri Military training Fields gathered in front of the Ministry of Defense of South Korea, Yongsan, South Korea, to protest the Defense Department's enforcement plan of the village people at 11am, on March 5, 2009.

* Related Korean article *
http://www.spark946.org/bugsboard/index.php?BBS=s_news&action=viewForm&uid=2131&page=1

Text fwd: Update on the signature campaign to stop Army growth and Pinon Canyon Expansion

* The site below forwarded by Bill Sulzman on Feb. 28, 2009 *

* Related blog*

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/02/text-video-fwd-sign-petition-to-stop.html


Yesterday we faxed 36 pages of signatures and comments on our petition to the NEPA coordinator who is overseeing the EIS at Fort Carson and to Congressman Barney Frank who is leading the campaign to cut Pentagon spending in the House or Representatives


Here are the 2 news notes from yesterday's Independent

Locals oppose Army growth

Though President Barack Obama has said he plans to start pulling the military out of Iraq, local activists want to see him go a step further by stepping back from plans to expand the military.

"We need a reversal of policy," says Bill Sulzman, arguing that the expansion is not needed and doesn't make sense given the country's current economic circumstances.

The "Grow the Army" plan started by George W. Bush's administration is supposed to add a newly formed brigade to Fort Carson in coming years, adding close to 4,000 troops to a base that already will be swelling with new troops from base realignments.

Sulzman now has close to 300 signatures on his online petition at thepetitionsite.com/1/do-not-grow-the-army ,as well as about 150 hard-copy signatures. A final environmental impact statement for the Grow the Army plan at Fort Carson was released Feb. 5; Sulzman has 30 days from that date to submit his petition for possible inclusion with the final report. — AL

Piñon manager removed

A strange hush has greeted news that Tom Warren, a civilian overseeing expansion of the Army's Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado, has been reassigned to other duties during an "administrative investigation."

"I don't know what to think," says Lon Robertson, a leader of opposition to the expansion proposal.

Warren, who has been involved with Piñon Canyon since it was established in 1983, has gotten mixed reviews from that area's residents. They've watched him limit environmental impact, but also have come to see him as the face of the Army's Piñon Canyon expansion goals. (The Army has scrapped its aim to grow the 238,000-acre training site by more than 400,000 acres, but still wants approximately 100,000 acres.)

Col. Eugene Smith, Fort Carson's garrison commander, says the investigation of Warren has nothing to do with the proposed expansion, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. — AL

Text fwd: New S. Korean Naval Unit To Deploy to Somalia

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3971516&c=ASI&s=TOP
New S. Korean Naval Unit To Deploy to Somalia
By JUNG SUNG-KI
Published: 3 Mar 14:57 EST (19:57 GMT)

SEOUL - South Korea's Navy will send an anti-piracy unit to the Somalia littorals within weeks, its first overseas combat deployment, service officials said March 3.

The announcement followed the National Assembly's March 2 endorsement of a motion for deployment. It also followed days of rehearsal operations by the new unit, named Cheonghae, in the waters off the southern port city of Busan.

The Korean contingent includes a 4,500-ton KDX-II destroyer, a Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, rigid inflatable speedboats and 300 personnel, including 30 Underwater Demolition Team/SEAL forces. An explosive ordnance disposal team will also join the contingent.

During its planned six-month deployment, the unit will focus on escorting South Korean commercial ships through the Gulf of Aden, an effort to protect the nation's economic interests, said Cmdr. Yoo Young-shik, chief of the Navy's public affairs office.

If required, it will also monitor, inspect, stop and seize pirates' vessels as part of the Combined Task Force 151, a multinational naval task force with logistics facilities at Djibouti under the command of the Combined Forces Maritime Component Command based in Bahrain, Yoo said.

The task force is responsible for maritime security from the Red Sea down the east coast of Africa and into the Arabian Sea toward Pakistan and India.

Currently, the efforts to clamp down on piracy in the troubled waters include about 21 warships and five aircraft from Britain, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, India, Malaysia, and the United States.

South Korean officials express confidence in the Navy's counterpiracy operations, citing the service's close-range combat skills accrued from decades of training to thwart North Korean ships.

The KDX-II destroyer is equipped with an Mk. 45 127mm gun, Harpoon ship-to-surface missiles, RAM Mk 31 ship-to-air guided missiles, a 30mm Goalkeeper system for engaging sea-skimming anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. Built in 2003, the 150-meter-long, 17-meter-wide ship has a top speed of 29 knots.

South Korean cargo ships have also been hijacked in recent years. Somali pirates held eight crewmembers of two Dongwon Fisheries tuna ships for four months before releasing them in 2006 for a ransom of $800. Two Daechang Fishing boats were hijacked in May last year, and their 25 crewmembers were released six months later.

In September, pirates kidnapped a cargo vessel carrying eight South Korean and 13 Myanmar crewmembers, releasing them the following month after the ship's owner paid a ransom.

The Somali pirates reportedly run sophisticated operations using high-tech equipment such as satellite phones and GPS receivers. They are known to receive information from contacts at ports in the Gulf of Aden and use speedboats with very powerful outboard motors to approach their targets. Sometimes the speedboats are launched from much larger "mother ships" on the high seas.

Located along the route of a crude-oil pipeline connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and racked by civil war, Somalia's coastline has become infamous for piracy. Each year, about 20,000 ships sail throughout the Gulf of Aden headed for the Suez Canal, an important shipping route for international trade that links Europe to the Middle East and Asia.

The International Maritime Organization counted 111 attacks in 2008 in the Arablic Sea near Somalia, the most notorious location for such activity.

A March 3 ceremony in Busan marked the commissioning of the new unit, the service said in a news release.

"The inauguration of the Cheonghae unit this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of the Navy's founder, the late Adm. Sohn Won-il, will serve as a starting point for our Navy to make history and build a naval power to sustain us over the next 100 years," Adm. Jung Ok-keun, South Korea's chief of naval operations, said in a speech at the ceremony at Naval Operations Command.

* Related Korean articles *

By the Center for Peace and Disarmament, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD),

__The answer by the Ministry of Defense of the South Korea to the 2nd public inquiry letter by the Center for Peace and Disarmament, regarding the dispatch plan to Somalia, Feb. 19, 2009
http://blog.peoplepower21.org/Peace/30765


__PSI(Proliferation Security Initiative)
http://blog.peoplepower21.org/Peace/tag/PSI

Text Fwd:N. Korea to United States: Stop 'Provocations'

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3968598&c=ASI&s=LAN
N. Korea to United States: Stop 'Provocations'
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 28 Feb 11:00 EST (16:00 GMT)

SEOUL - North Korea on Feb. 28 warned U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to stop "provocations" in the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas or face a "resolute counteraction."

The warning came as the communist state has been ratcheting up tensions, preparing to launch what it claims is a satellite, declaring an all-out confrontation with the South and arguing over the inter-Korean sea border.

"If the U.S. forces keep behaving arrogantly in the area under the control of the North and the South, the KPA [Korean People's Army] will take a resolute counteraction," the North's military said in a statement.

It did not elaborate on what the counteraction would involve.

The statement, carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), was sent Feb. 28 to the South's military, KCNA said.

According to the statement, U.S. soldiers were stalking in groups in the demilitarized zone, a four-kilometer (2.5-mile)-wide buffer zone dividing the Korean peninsula, at will.

It said 62 U.S. military personnel and 58 vehicles entered the zone and got as close as 100 meters to the military demarcation line (MDL), the zone's central division, on as many as 66 occasions up to Feb. 20.

On Jan. 5 and Jan. 21, U.S. troops came as close as 30 meters to the MDL and took photographs of a North Korean guard post and monitored the movement of North Korean vehicles, it said.

South Korea's defense ministry brushed aside the warning, saying U.S. soldiers were engaged in "legitimate" monitoring acts in the South's side of the buffer zone.

The ministry said it might send a reply to the North's notice following consultations with authorities concerned.

Fears of a border clash have grown since the North in late January cancelled all peace accords with Seoul, including one recognizing the sea border as an interim frontier.

The North's military announced last week it is "fully ready" for war with the South.

Pyongyang said Feb. 24 it is preparing to launch a satellite, a move the United States and its allies believe is a pretext for a long-range missile test.

The North is angry at conservative South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak, whose government has scrapped his predecessors' policy of reconciliation and exchange with Pyongyang.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in the South to help defend it against the communist North. The Korean war of 1950-53 ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Text Fwd:[India] BrahMos II Missile Faces New Test: DRDO Sources

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3971694&c=ASI&s=TOP

BrahMos II Missile Faces New Test: DRDO Sources
By vivek raghuvanshi
Published: 3 Mar 12:32 EST (17:32 GMT)

NEW DELHI - India's homegrown BrahMos II, which scientists here claim is the fastest cruise missiles in the world at 5.26 Mach, is likely to be tested this week, said sources in the government's Defence Research and Development Organisation, (DRDO), which is developing the missile.

In a January test, BrahMos II deviated from its flight path, but scientists have developed a new seeker head for the missile, the sources said, and the upcoming test would check its parameters.
Related Topics

BrahMos, a joint venture between India and Russia, is developing the hypersonic BrahMos II, which is expected to be commissioned by 2013, the DRDO sources said. It will be used mainly by the Army against land targets.

Indian land and naval forces use the supersonic BrahMos I, inducted in 2007, at speeds of 2.5 Mach. The air version, still under development, will be mounted on the Russian-built Su-30 MKI Multirole aircraft.

The Indian Army's BrahMos I, with a range of more than 280 kilometers, can carry a nuclear warhead, is mounted on Tatra trucks and can be launched from a flatbed railway wagon.

Pakistan is developing a 500-kilometer-range cruise missile, the Babur, but it is not known when the missile will be inducted.


http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3965175&c=ASI&s=TOP
India to Construct Own Aircraft Carrier: Navy
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 26 Feb 11:19 EST (16:19 GMT)

Fwd: Children's Paintings for Peace

The paintings were informed by Muriel Bossier. Muriel is a Korean in blood, from the Belgium. She currently volunteers for the works for the World March event of the Korea. On her Feb. 21 email, she said the paintings were done by the children of the “Maeulsok Jakeun Haackyo(meaning ‘a small school in a village’) in Suyu2-dong, Seoul.

Children wrote in the paintings they wanted peace. Several paintings show their designs of the flags of the Korea, once unified some day.


* Related sites*

World March for Peace and Nonviolence


World March news
(informed by Anna Polo, Europe for Peace)
http://videoforum.theworldmarch.org/index.php?action=videos;sa=view;down=219

Korean internet Café for World March
(lead by Rev. Park, Sung-Yong, Nonviolence Peaceforce Corea)
http://cafe.daum.net/worldmarch

Japanese internet sites for the World March(by Makiko Sato)
http://www.anatakara.com/petition/world-march.html
http://www.anatakara.com/petition/world-march-root.html
http://www.anatakara.com/petition/world-march-calender.html


* Muriel's another forward*
http://www.dailymotion.com/user/Moizzze/video/x8gpga_extrait-de-zeitgeist-addendum-sur-l_news
Extrait de Zeitgeist addendum sur la banque mondiale / FMI

Text Fwd: N. Korea Puts Launch In Innocuous Terms: Analysts Say Space Plan Is Still Bad News for U.S.

* Site informed by * http://www.spark946.org/bugsboard/index.php?BBS=eng_3&action=viewForm&uid=26&page=1*

*Image caption from the original source *

‘South Korea protesters shout a slogan during a rally against the United States and South Korean government's policy on North Korea in front of the Defense Military in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. North Korea says it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to a launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be an illicit test of a long-range missile.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)’

‘South Korea protesters stage a rally against the United States and South Korean government's policy on North Korea in front of the Defense Military in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. North Korea says it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to a launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be an illicit test of a long-range missile. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)’

‘South Korea children play beside South Korea's Hawk missiles at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. North Korea says it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to a launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be an illicit test of a long-range missile. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)’

‘Models of mock North Korea's Scud-B missile, center, and other South Korean missiles are displayed at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. North Korea says it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to a launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be an illicit test of a long-range missile. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)’

‘Models of mock North Korea's Scud-B missile, front, and other South Korean missiles are displayed at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. North Korea says it is in full-fledged preparations to shoot a satellite into orbit, its clearest reference yet to a launch that neighbors and the U.S. suspect will be an illicit test of a long-range missile. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) (Ahn Young-joon - AP)’

‘South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan arrives in Beijing to discuss the North's missile plan. Officials in the South say launch preparations could be completed within days. (By Andy Wong -- Associated Press)’



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/24/AR2009022400324.html

N. Korea Puts Launch In Innocuous Terms: Analysts Say Space Plan Is Still Bad
News for U.S.

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 25, 2009; A11

TOKYO, Feb. 24 -- By announcing that it is preparing to launch a "communications satellite," North Korea on Tuesday dressed up its planned test of a long-range ballistic missile -- which may be able to reach Alaska -- as a benign research project.

"Outer space is an asset common to mankind, and its use for peaceful purposes has become a global trend," said a spokesman for the North Korean Committee of Space Technology.

North Korea's announcement comes amid warnings from the United States not to test the missile. A U.N. resolution, passed after North Korea exploded a nuclear device in 2006, bans the country from any ballistic missile activity.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week that a missile test would "be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward." During a tour of East Asia, she urged the government of Kim Jong Il to stop its "provocative actions."

North Korea appears to be setting up radar and other monitoring equipment around a missile launch site on its northeast coast, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday. It said, however, that a missile has not yet been placed on the launchpad. The satellite would presumably be attached as the payload atop the missile.

South Korea's Defense Ministry says preparations for the launch could be completed within days, although other analysts in Seoul say North Korea has historically waited for much warmer weather before test launches.

Eleven years ago, North Korea surprised the world by firing a long-range, three-stage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. Afterward, amid an international outcry, the North said it had merely exercised its right to "space development."

It claimed then that it had succeeded in launching a research satellite. The U.S. government later concluded that the missile had failed to put a satellite into orbit.

That launch and another round of North Korean missile tests in 2006 alarmed Japan, which has since invested heavily in American-made ballistic-missile defense systems. North Korea has 200 Nodong medium-range missiles that could hit anywhere in Japan, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry.

If North Korea launched another missile in the direction of Japan, it would enter airspace that is protected by Aegis antiballistic missiles, which are deployed on Japanese and U.S. Navy destroyers in the Sea of Japan and designed to intercept incoming missiles in mid-flight. As a secondary layer of defense, Tokyo is also protected by a Patriot missile system.

These systems raise the possibility that a North Korean missile -- even one advertised in advance as a peaceful space probe -- could be destroyed in flight.

Analysts say knocking down a North Korean missile could precipitate a much greater regional crisis.

"Kim Jong Il will absolutely lose face if his missile is destroyed," said Satoshi Morimoto, a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo and a former director of security policy at Japan's Foreign Ministry. "We are afraid that the North Koreans may overreact and that there may be another launch, perhaps on South Korea."

Daniel A. Pinkston, an expert on North Korean missiles who works for the International Crisis Group, said Kim's government has much to gain and little to lose from launching a satellite as the payload atop its long-range missile, especially if it gets shot down by an American-made weapon.

"I see this as a no-brainer for the North Koreans," Pinkston said. "All the indications are that they are likely to go forward with this. I don't think people see how serious the implications are. They are all bad for the United States."

He said that if the missile was shot down, it would give North Korea an excuse to back out of long-running negotiations with the United States, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia over dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

"The North could say, 'Why should we denuclearize? This just shows hostile intent,' " Pinkston said. "The best thing is no launch or the thing blows up on the launchpad. All the other scenarios are bad."

North Korea's planned missile launch comes at a time of deteriorating relations between North and South Korea.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak last year ended a decade of policies designed to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Lee's predecessors had given Kim's government large amounts of food, fertilizer and trade concessions, all without conditions and without asking questions about nuclear weapons, missile proliferation or human rights abuses.

Chronically hungry North Korea has received virtually no food or fertilizer since Lee came to power last year. In response, North Korea has called Lee a "fascist," canceled all military and political agreements with the South and made frequent references to the possibility of war.

Analysts in Seoul speculate that North Korea is making a public show of launching a missile to attract attention from the Obama administration.

Officials in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, have said they would like to establish diplomatic and trade relations with Washington.

Over the years, North Korea has provoked the United States with missile launches and a nuclear test. It has then shifted gears and negotiated for food, fuel and diplomatic concessions.

VIDEO Fwd: News from the Czech Republic: Happening Freeze proti radaru

* Informed by Ing. Jan Tamáš, Ph.D. hnutí Nenásilí www.nenasili.cz


Freeze proti radaru, Praha 28.2.2009

http://www.nenasili.cz/cs/3165_video-happening-freeze-proti-radaru

Na znamení nesouhlasu s umístěním americké vojenské základny v ČR se v sobotu odpoledne lidé v Praze zastavili a "zamrzli".

Symbolický happening Freeze - "zamrznutí" na místě - se uskutečnil v sobotu odpoledne 28. února 2009 v Praze na Andělu a zúčastnily se ho desítky lidí, kteří tak vyjádřili lidé svůj nesouhlas s radarem a zvyšujícím se zbrojením.

* Related*

Europe for Peace website


Video: Freeze against star wars in the Czech Republic

"Seventy percent of the people are against the building of a US radar base as part of the Missile Defense project, known in Europe as the Space Shield.

In May 2008, two young humanists in Prague went on hunger strike to protest against the undemocratic decisions taken by the Czech Government, unleashing a wave of support and solidarity across the world. Since then, a chain hunger strike has continued: every day a public personality makes a day of fast. Scientists, academics, actors and actresses, directors, sportsmen and women, members of parliament from different political sides including the Vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament have taken part.
A broad coalition of Mayors against the radar has been formed and 13 of the 14 regional Presidents are supporting the protest and almost half of the MPs are against the building of the military base."


Video: The Invisibles against US missile defense!

“On Saturday, December 7th, 2008, demonstration in Czech Republic against US missile defense. The NMD project of the United States – their national missile defense system, has divided Europe. The reaction of Russia and China has created a “cold war” atmosphere. International tensions are increasing, and the crazy arms race (both conventional and nuclear) has restarted. Above all, the bases are being installed to militarize and control space.”

Text Fw: South Koreans await help after U.S. helicopter damages their homes

* Image Source/ caption*

1. Pyeongtaek Peace Center
2, 3, 4 Courtesy of the Images by Kang, Sang-Won

_Image caption from the article below:

‘Kim Jong-chan's says his gate, fences and greenhouse were broken down Wednesday by gusts from a U.S. Army helicopter outside Camp Humphreys, South Korea.’

‘Pyeongtaek resident Kim Si-nam says his house was left uninhabitable after a U.S. Army helicopter kicked up strong wind gusts, blowing off part of his roof. Kim lives next to Camp Humphreys.’

‘Sgt. 1st Class Krishna M. Gamble, right, spokeswoman for the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade at Camp Humphreys, talks to Songhwa-ri villagers Wednesday after a U.S. Army helicopter reportedly damaged about a dozen homes in the village.’



* The article below was thankfully informed by Kang Sang Won, the Director of the Pyeongtaek Peace Center.


http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61013

South Koreans await help after U.S. helicopter damages their homes
By Franklin Fisher and Hwang Hae-rym, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, February 28, 2009

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Residents whose homes took a thrashing from air gusts thrown down by a big helicopter outside the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys appealed Thursday for quick help from the U.S. military in getting them into shelter and repairing their homes.

"If they are our real ‘neighbor’ as they claim, they should take immediate measures," said Lee Soon-gyu, head of Songhwa-ri, a village of about 60 households and 300 people just outside the perimeter of Camp Humphreys, which is in Pyeongtaek. Many of the residents are aging rice farmers.

An Army spokesman said Thursday the U.S. military is taking serious steps to help those residents affected.

The blast of air from the helicopter’s beating rotors cut through the village like a buzz saw Wednesday, ripping at roofs, fences, walls, doors, windows, pottery and other objects of domestic life, according to residents.

The incident occurred around 12:15 p.m. as the CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter was leaving Camp Humphreys with a piece of excavation equipment slung underneath.

"We have no place to go right now," said village resident Kim Si-nam, 63, who stayed at a hotel Wednesday night because the roof tiles were ripped from his home.

Kim and his wife were scrambling Thursday to find a place to spend the night, he said.

"But I don’t know where to go. I feel so dreary, bewildered and scared," Kim said. "My wife said she wants to move out of this town, and I want to."

Said Kim of the U.S. military: "I am just hoping they can fix my home or arrange the accommodation for us."

Lee said it was as if the village had been hit "with a bomb" in wartime.

"Our town looks so devastated," he said.

Lee said that although the U.S. military has said it is working closely with local officials to help the residents, it’s up to the Americans to take the lead in getting the displaced into temporary shelter and fix the damage quickly.

Kim Jong-chan, 74, said the helicopter was carrying a "vehicle" of some type and appeared to be tilting to one side as if struggling with its load.

The roaring of the Chinook’s engines along with the dust kicked up by the wall of rushing air left him "a bit frightened," Kim Jong-chan said.

"I could hardly open my eyes later," he said.

His greenhouse was blown down, as were the gate and some fencing at his house, he said.

"Whenever the U.S. helicopters are taking off, the windows, doors of my house, are rattling hard," he said. "I cannot watch TV. Now I am really an old man. I take these annoyances for granted. But this was the biggest I’ve ever experienced."

Kang Sang-won, head of the civic group Pyeongtaek Peace Center, said his organization has frequently urged the U.S. military to change its air routes and has expressed concerns about the altitudes at which the helicopters fly.

But the U.S. military has dismissed the group’s concerns, Kang said.

Army Maj. Vincent Mitchell, spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division, said he had no immediate information on Kang’s allegations, but that the U.S. military’s flying practices adhere to rules agreed upon between the United States and South Korea.

"We work closely with the Republic of Korea on the way we operate in this country, and so we do everything we can to be good neighbors," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the Chinook was assigned to the division’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade and at the time of the incident was hauling a piece of equipment used in excavation work.

He said he couldn’t readily discuss further details.

"All the details, everything, will come out in the investigation that is under way," Mitchell said.

Responding to residents’ concerns about getting help with shelter and home repairs, Mitchell said the Army was "cooperating fully" with Pyeongtaek city officials.

"And we are going to do everything to ensure that any damage we may have caused is rectified, and the people affected by this are put back into their homes [and that] their homes are restored to their former condition," he said.

"I can’t get into specifics, but I do know that we are undertaking actions to ensure that those persons that have been affected are helped," Mitchell said.