Informed in the Bruce Gagnon's blog: Space4Peace(Organizing Notes)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Text fwd: Holbrooke Arranges Japan to pay Afghan police salaries
Fwd by Stop NATO
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/09/america/NA-US-Japan-Afghanistan.php
Holbrooke Arranges Japan to pay Afghan police salaries
The Associated Press
Monday, March 9, 2009
WASHINGTON: Japan will pay six months' salary for Afghanistan's 80,000 police officers, an effort to curb violence so aid workers can attend to urgent humanitarian needs, two senior Japanese envoys said Monday.
The $124 million for police salaries comes as Afghanistan prepares for crucial August elections.
The money will be handed over by the end of this month for distribution by a United Nations Development Program fund, Japan's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Motohide Yoshikawa, and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Sadako Ogata told reporters after meeting with the U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
The money, they said, is part of a $300 million Japanese package that will also pay for child vaccines and new clinics, teachers and schools. Japan has pledged $2 billion in aid for Afghanistan, of which nearly $1.5 billion has been handed out.
The envoys' visit coincides with the Obama administration's review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The administration has been reaching out to allies for help on ways to combat growing violence that has spread throughout Afghanistan over the last three years.
Last month, President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American military forces already there.
The envoys' trip to Washington was the result of a meeting last month between Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Obama.
Ogata said improved security is crucial for the work of the 50 to 70 Japanese officials and other foreigners trying to help Afghans.
The Japanese envoys also said Holbrooke accepted an invitation to attend an international donors conference for Pakistan to be held in Tokyo in mid April.
Copyright © 2009 the International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/09/america/NA-US-Japan-Afghanistan.php
Holbrooke Arranges Japan to pay Afghan police salaries
The Associated Press
Monday, March 9, 2009
WASHINGTON: Japan will pay six months' salary for Afghanistan's 80,000 police officers, an effort to curb violence so aid workers can attend to urgent humanitarian needs, two senior Japanese envoys said Monday.
The $124 million for police salaries comes as Afghanistan prepares for crucial August elections.
The money will be handed over by the end of this month for distribution by a United Nations Development Program fund, Japan's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Motohide Yoshikawa, and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Sadako Ogata told reporters after meeting with the U.S. representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
The money, they said, is part of a $300 million Japanese package that will also pay for child vaccines and new clinics, teachers and schools. Japan has pledged $2 billion in aid for Afghanistan, of which nearly $1.5 billion has been handed out.
The envoys' visit coincides with the Obama administration's review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The administration has been reaching out to allies for help on ways to combat growing violence that has spread throughout Afghanistan over the last three years.
Last month, President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American military forces already there.
The envoys' trip to Washington was the result of a meeting last month between Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Obama.
Ogata said improved security is crucial for the work of the 50 to 70 Japanese officials and other foreigners trying to help Afghans.
The Japanese envoys also said Holbrooke accepted an invitation to attend an international donors conference for Pakistan to be held in Tokyo in mid April.
Copyright © 2009 the International Herald Tribune
Text Fwd: SIS Spying On Philippines Solidarity Movement
Text fwd from CAFCA, No US Bases, Agatha Haun
SIS Spying On Philippines Solidarity Movement
This was written to be published in the next issue of Kapatiran
(Solidarity), the newsletter of the Philippines Solidarity Network of
Aotearoa. But that won't be for several months and has a tiny circulation.
So we are electronically distributing it now because of its current
newsworthiness (Maire Leadbeater was one of those prominently featured in
very recent media coverage of the release of Security Intelligence Service
files to several individuals and one organisation. Her file revealed that
the SIS had been spying on her for nearly 50 years, since she was 10! In the
case of her brother, Keith Locke, Green MP and former national coordinator
of the Philippines Solidarity Network, his file revealed that the SIS had
been spying on him for more than 50 years - since he was 11 - including for
seven years after he became an MP).
If you have any comments, questions or requests for permission to reprint
this article, please send them directly to Maire Leadbeater at
maire@clear.net.nz
Murray Horton
Editor, Kapatiran & Secretary
PSNA
Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa
Box 2450, Christchurch, New Zealand
cafca@chch.planet.org.nz
www.converge.org.nz/psna
THE SIS AND THE PHILIPPINES SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT IN AOTEAROA
- Maire Leadbeater
For me the most disturbing material in my recently declassified NZ Security
Intelligence Service (SIS) file is that relating to my involvement in the
Philippines Solidarity Movement in the latter half of the 1980s and the
early 1990s. The documents, taken with others such as those released to my
brother Keith Locke, Green MP, and former Philippines Solidarity Network
national coordinator, suggest a high level of SIS infiltration and
surveillance of the movement.
The New Zealand Philippines Solidarity Network was launched at a highly
successful Conference on Philippine Concerns in August 1984. A key driving
force behind the initiative was the late Father John Curnow, a visionary
leader in the Catholic Commission for Evangelisation, Justice and Peace, who
had visited the Philippines many times since 1971. From the start, the
network had roots in the union movement and support from the Labour Party
hierarchy, but many key activists were drawn from the ranks of the (since
disbanded) Workers Communist League (WCL).
Why Were We A Magnet For SIS Attention?
The 1988-89 Peace Brigade was perhaps the most ambitious project of the
Philippines Solidarity Network in that time, and arguably one of the most
effective. There were many other New Zealand delegations visiting the
Philippines and important tours of prominent Filipinos to this country which
also interested the spies, but the Brigade serves as a good case example to
help understand why we were the focus of such close attention.
Keith drew the short straw back then - he organised our 17 strong team and
journalist David Robie to accompany us, but then stayed back to handle the
media response in New Zealand. I made my first unforgettable visit to the
Philippines as the leader of the team. The Peace Brigade (or Peace Caravan
as it was dubbed in the Philippines) was designed to offer international
guests from 18 countries an "exposure" experience to learn more about the
struggle against foreign military bases and other linked campaigns for human
rights, labour rights and land reform. The programme culminated with the
Asia-Pacific Peoples Conference on Peace and Development and a two day peace
caravan to protest at two major US bases: Subic Naval Base and Clark Air
Force Base.
Earlier in 1988 Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials warned Keith of the
safety problems of organising visits to the Philippines and the Labour
government's Associate Foreign Affairs Minister, Fran Wilde, even suggested
that such visits could amount to "foreign intervention in domestic
affairs".[1] It is fair to assume that there was a two way flow of
information of information and intelligence between the two governments
concerning our activities.
To the casual observer we must have seemed an unlikely combination of
people: some of our group were peace activists of long standing but many in
the group were quite new to political activity and our ages ranged from 17
to 73. No matter, we were subjected to Red scare propaganda even before we
arrived. A letter from the Philippines Embassy's Consul-General, Apolinaria
Cancio, received by tour organiser, Keith Locke, just prior to our departure
advised that if we violated any of the terms of our visas we would be
arrested and deported. We were specifically warned not to take part in any
"teach-ins", not to contact any leaders of the banned Communist Party of the
Philippines, or to incite people to commit sedition. Unlike the delegations
from other countries, we were all searched at Manila Airport and some of our
newsletters and documents were seized.
Not long after our arrival in the country, the Manila newspapers carried
stories alleging that the Peace Brigade was interfering in the country's
affairs. The Chief of the Philippines Constabulary, General Montana, said we
would "be treated like common criminals and paedophiles" if we stepped out
of line. But, I think the threats merely served to ensure that we were
especially determined to participate to the full in the Brigade programme
and wear with pride the "Peacenik" name the Philippine media conferred on
us.
The international delegates were allocated to small teams each with its own
Filipino guide. Journalist David Robie was attached to our team. My group
went to militarised Mindanao. We spent the first few days in Cagayan de Oro,
where we took part in peace rallies and seminars, but left for Bukidnon
after military police came knocking on the door of our guest house. In
Bukidnon, we stayed in the simple dwellings of the families inadvertently in
the front line of a counter-insurgency war. One night we camped out with a
large group of displaced people - they had been forced off their land by
military operations and were trying to get the local authorities to take
some responsibility, but in the meantime their children were succumbing to
sickness and their food was running out.
Embarrassing Governments In Philippines & NZ
I had asked to visit Bukidnon, Mindanao, because it was the site of New
Zealand's major aid project to the Philippines at the time, the Bukidnon
Industrial Tree Plantation. The project had attracted criticism locally on
account of the failure of the project managers to consult effectively with
the local Lumad tribal people, the impact of the project on ancestral land
claims and the likelihood that the forestry infrastructure would be used by
the military to tighten their grip in the area. Our hosts arranged meetings
for us from the local Governor, barrio captains, tribal leaders and local
householders. Our visit stirred controversy in the Philippines and anger
back home, especially from then Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fran
Wilde, who later tried to discredit two Lumad tribal leaders while they were
making a speaking tour of New Zealand.
While in Bukidnon we also interviewed a number of people about a secret base
believed by NZ peace researcher Owen Wilkes* to be a "scorekeeper" base
designed to detect and record nuclear explosions. We were not able to visit
the heavily guarded base but later at the Manila Conference the claims about
this base caused a major media stir. *Roland Simbulan's obituary of Owen
Wilkes, focusing on Owen's significance to the Philippine anti-bases and
anti-nuclear movement, is in Kapatiran 25/26, December 2005, online at
http://www.converge.org.nz/psna/Kapatiran/KapNo25n26/Kap25n26Art/art113a.htm
Ed.
After the exposure we all took part in the Manila Conference, and then in a
two day caravan or convoy which ran the gauntlet of heavily armed military
barricades and checkpoints to protest at the giant US Subic Naval Base and
Clark Air Base. We never quite made it to Subic, but took part in an all
night vigil and concert outside Clark. It would be hard to understate the
strategic significance of the Clark and Subic, they were sited to ensure US
control over the choke points between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and
served respectively as headquarters for the US 13th Air Force and a key
port for the US 7th Fleet. The bases had served as springboards to
intervention in South East Asia (Vietnam, Korea and Thailand) and further
afield to Iran and Yemen. At the time their role was seen as essential to
preserving strategic superiority over the former Soviet Union in the region.
For me the brigade was a life changing event, perhaps because it was the
first time I experienced at first hand the power of a mass peoples' movement
of resistance. The comprehensive network of "cause oriented" groups such as
Gabriela and Nuclear Free and Independent Philippines, the workers, peasants
and student coalitions worked in unison to ensure the success of all our
activities. When I look back on it must have been some kind of miracle that
we achieved all that we did, making it through eight military checkpoints to
take up position outside the Clark base. As we prepared to depart we
international delegates took part in a media conference where we condemned
the military repression we had witnessed.
The US bases not only placed the Philippines as a future flashpoint for
nuclear conflict, but they also represented US intervention in the wider
sense. The US declared the Philippines independent in 1946, but the presence
of the bases was seen as a strong signal that colonial control had not
ended. Getting rid of the bases was seen as an essential part of regaining
Filipino sovereignty over an economy dominated by US transnationals.
It Was All A Communist Plot, Apparently
The Cold War was still very much intact and in the Philippines, the dictator
Marcos had fallen but his successor, Cory Aquino, presided over a
military-backed government with only a thin veneer of democracy. Those
calling for genuine social change, land reform, labour rights and an end to
human rights abuses lived daily under threat of arbitrary arrest or worse,
and "Red-baiting" was an essential tool in the regime's armoury.
On the other hand the civil war between the Government backed by vigilante
squads and the Communist New Peoples' Army (NPA) was ongoing in the rural
areas of most provinces, and in some quarters the possibility of a
full-scale revolution, or another "Vietnam" was contemplated. The
Philippines was in the sights of extreme Rightwing groups such as the World
Anti-Communist League (WACL) and it was widely reported that the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) was supporting covert actions against the NPA. The
US was determined to retain its bases in the Philippines, beyond the lease
expiry date of September 1991, as an essential element of its ability to
project its power into the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
If you were around in the 1980s when New Zealand's nuclear free stand was
under vociferous attack, you would remember that there was a plethora of
Rightwing think tanks, foundations and anti-Communist organisations that
worked closely together. Their agenda was to sow fear of the dire
consequences of the "ANZUS* crisis" which could leave us open to "Soviet
political manipulation". Naturally these institutions, like the Hoover
Institute and Heritage Foundation focused on the Communist threat in the
Philippines, and so it was to be expected that this anti-Communist hysteria
would not spare New Zealand-Philippines links. In December 1988, not long
before our tour began, New Zealand's Ambassador in the Philippines had to
defend a simple aid project about sewing machines because the charity
funded, Samakana, had a connection to the women's organisation Gabriela,
declared by some to be Communist affiliated.[2]
*The 1951 Australia New Zealand United States (ANZUS) Treaty was the bedrock
of NZ's defence alliance with the US. NZ's membership did not survive the
1984-90 Labour government's nuclear free law, which remains in effect today,
despite several changes of NZ government since then. A side effect of NZ's
expulsion was that it ended the use of US military bases in the Philippines
for training purposes by the NZ military. The ANZUS Treaty continues, minus
NZ, between the US and Australia. It was evoked by John Howard, the then
Australian Prime Minister, immediately after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks on the US. Ed.
Red-baiting NZ Media Cooperated With SIS
There had also been some rather lurid headlines in the New Zealand Sunday
papers about New Zealanders spending time with the NPA during their
solidarity visits to the Philippines: "Guerrilla Thrill Trips: Kiwis pay to
join Filipino jungle fighters" [3]. When we returned from the Philippines,
journalist Bernard Moran, who was becoming a regular at Rightwing
conferences on the Communist threat, gained some new ammunition to use in
vitriolic articles in the former Catholic paper New Zealand Tablet. He had
previously written of a Communist conspiracy that was driving church aid
projects in the Philippines. The piece he wrote about our Auckland meeting
to report back on the Brigade was a distorted account that zeroed in on the
presence of "Trotskyites" and their subversive literature in the sacred
confines of the St Benedict's Church crypt.[4]
It is clear from the SIS documents that the late John Kennedy, the editor of
the Tablet, passed information to the SIS. One such report included
detailed information about the finances, and the political affiliations of
Philippine Solidarity Group (PSG) members in Auckland and Wellington.[5]
Bernard Moran also submitted an article in early 1987 to the Washington
based journal National Interest in which he wrote (not very accurately)
about me. Flatteringly he dubbed me a "pivotal person in the NZ peace
movement".[6] Fortunately, the "Red-baiting" articles were far outweighed by
key articles by David Robie who was then working freelance and had many
Philippines articles accepted by the mainstream media (nationally and
regionally). He continued to cover the Philippines political situation,
human rights issues and the bases debate over the next few years.
SIS Spies In Meetings In All Main Centres
Hardened activist that I am, I confess to being shocked to discover the
extent to which there were "sources" or SIS spies present at many of the
meetings of the Philippines Solidarity Groups in Christchurch, Wellington
and Auckland. Bear in mind the context that these were generally small,
relatively informal meetings held frequently in the homes of activists.
National meetings which were often held in a relaxed marae setting are also
reported on in detail. To give just one example of SIS penetration of a
Christchurch Philippines Solidarity Group meeting in a private home, Maire's
file included a three page detailed report on a meeting held in May 1990. It
says: "Source borrowed the correspondence folder and copied its contents".
This means that the spy was in a position of trust. Ed.
This of course raises the question about the extent to which our SIS was
passing on information to counterparts in the Philippines, and perhaps using
information gained from the Philippines to refine their surveillance of us.
There is no direct proof of this as communications from or to other
intelligence agencies have all been excluded from the released information.
Every broad social justice movement, such as the anti-nuclear movement or
the anti-apartheid movement, has participants from a range of Left parties.
Most of us are glad to harness everyone's energy for the common cause but
that is not how the SIS sees the situation!
The Left affiliations of those present at meetings and seminars were all
carefully recorded. Tellingly, John Curnow is recorded as warning at a
Christchurch Philippines Solidarity meeting that people should not make
jokes about supporting the New Peoples Army. "He, himself, had been
interviewed a couple of times by the SIS, who tried to tell him he was being
hoodwinked by the WCL". [7]
Tracking Visitors To Both Countries
The SIS also did its best to monitor all visits of New Zealanders to the
Philippines - listing all the full names and dates of birth of members of
the Peace Brigade after they had obtained their visas.[8] My return flight
times are also included in a much later handwritten note[9] with the
comment: "There is no trace of any travel during 1990". SIS Headquarters
also supplied a list of Filipino visitors to New Zealand since 1984. The
names on the list have been withheld but the rationale is interesting: "It
is as comprehensive as our records will allow. It was compiled because of
the frequency of such travel, the number of visitors with National
Democratic Front (NDF*) or New Peoples Army (NPA) traces, and, lastly
because of the growing links between anti-nuclear groups and indigenous
peoples of both countries". * The National Democratic Front is the political
coalition of underground groups waging the armed struggle, including both
the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army. Ed.
"2. We had hoped to carry out a similar study of New Zealanders travelling
to the Philippines but owing to the volume of travel and the difficulty of
keeping track of their movements, this has not proved to be feasible.
Instead we have concentrated on a few individuals who have established good
links with the Philippines and who appear to be regarded as valuable
contacts by the Filipinos themselves". [10] <>
Sometimes the sources were rebuffed: "We were unfortunately unable to have
source coverage of the PSNA hui on 27-28 September 86". So the SIS mounted
surveillance to record some of the comings and goings but only three
vehicles were seen to enter the venue and one female cyclist "aged about 35
with black hair". The only other thing to note was that one of the
participants came out on Sunday morning at 0900 hours "to purchase a
newspaper from the local dairy and walk around the block for about 15 mins".
This man was "sporting a full beard and has had his hair permed. He was
accompanied on his perambulations by a male aged about 25-30, dark hair,
pale complexion". [11] By the time of the 1990 Lumad tribal and Touching the
Bases tours (six Filipinos participated in the latter), it seems that SIS
interest was waning, as reporting is sparse.
The lessons? I don't think any of this covert activity had an adverse effect
on the powerful international anti-nuclear campaign for the US bases in the
Philippines to be closed. In 1991 the Philippines Senate voted against a
treaty allowing the United States forces to remain for a further ten years.
The Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption that year effectively ended the life of
the Clark Air Force Base and in March 1992 the last carrier group pulled out
of Subic Bay.
The Philippines solidarity movement in this country declined in strength for
a few years, until Murray Horton (who was also a Peace Brigade stalwart) and
the Christchurch group took over the national coordination task. Now, it is
good to see that the network is growing again and focusing on the new US
"integrated global presence and basing strategy"* as well as on the
appalling human rights and poverty situation. * For details see Peace
Researcher 37, November 2008, "Bases Of Empire: the Global Spread Of US
Military And Intelligence Bases", by Cora Fabros, online at
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr37-1721.html Ed.
Lessons For Future Security In Our Movements?
Of course we should not forget the possibility that any movement for social
change can be infiltrated whether by the SIS or possibly the Police (it was
revealed, in December 2008, that "activist" Rob Gilchrist had been a Police
spy and agent provocateur inside various activist groups for a decade,
operating in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Ed). But it would be
counterproductive to let this get in the way of free communication or make
us less welcoming to new members. The publicity around the release of SIS
files to many veteran activists has given a new opportunity for a campaign
against all spying on social justice and political activists of all stripes.
The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees to all
of us the right to "freedom of opinion and expression .and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers".
1 Dominion Post, 8/5/88
2 Dominion Sunday Times, 21/2/88
3 Sunday Star, 8/5/88
4 Metro, July 1989, "Bernard Moran and Communist Conspiracy"
5 SIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 27/5/86, Keith
Locke file
6 SIS District Office Northern District, Original on Bernard Andrew Moran
27/4/87, extracted/copied by (name withheld), on 28/5/87, Maire Leadbeater
file
7 NSIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 8/6/90, Maire
Leadbeater file
8 NZSIS 9/1/89, Maire Leadbeater file
9 NZSIS 7/12/90, Maire Leadbeater file
10 Headquarters (Counter-Subversion) to District Office Northern District &
District Office Southern District 10/8/88, Keith Locke file
11 NZSIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 9/10/86, Maire
SIS Spying On Philippines Solidarity Movement
This was written to be published in the next issue of Kapatiran
(Solidarity), the newsletter of the Philippines Solidarity Network of
Aotearoa. But that won't be for several months and has a tiny circulation.
So we are electronically distributing it now because of its current
newsworthiness (Maire Leadbeater was one of those prominently featured in
very recent media coverage of the release of Security Intelligence Service
files to several individuals and one organisation. Her file revealed that
the SIS had been spying on her for nearly 50 years, since she was 10! In the
case of her brother, Keith Locke, Green MP and former national coordinator
of the Philippines Solidarity Network, his file revealed that the SIS had
been spying on him for more than 50 years - since he was 11 - including for
seven years after he became an MP).
If you have any comments, questions or requests for permission to reprint
this article, please send them directly to Maire Leadbeater at
maire@clear.net.nz
Murray Horton
Editor, Kapatiran & Secretary
PSNA
Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa
Box 2450, Christchurch, New Zealand
cafca@chch.planet.org.nz
www.converge.org.nz/psna
THE SIS AND THE PHILIPPINES SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT IN AOTEAROA
- Maire Leadbeater
For me the most disturbing material in my recently declassified NZ Security
Intelligence Service (SIS) file is that relating to my involvement in the
Philippines Solidarity Movement in the latter half of the 1980s and the
early 1990s. The documents, taken with others such as those released to my
brother Keith Locke, Green MP, and former Philippines Solidarity Network
national coordinator, suggest a high level of SIS infiltration and
surveillance of the movement.
The New Zealand Philippines Solidarity Network was launched at a highly
successful Conference on Philippine Concerns in August 1984. A key driving
force behind the initiative was the late Father John Curnow, a visionary
leader in the Catholic Commission for Evangelisation, Justice and Peace, who
had visited the Philippines many times since 1971. From the start, the
network had roots in the union movement and support from the Labour Party
hierarchy, but many key activists were drawn from the ranks of the (since
disbanded) Workers Communist League (WCL).
Why Were We A Magnet For SIS Attention?
The 1988-89 Peace Brigade was perhaps the most ambitious project of the
Philippines Solidarity Network in that time, and arguably one of the most
effective. There were many other New Zealand delegations visiting the
Philippines and important tours of prominent Filipinos to this country which
also interested the spies, but the Brigade serves as a good case example to
help understand why we were the focus of such close attention.
Keith drew the short straw back then - he organised our 17 strong team and
journalist David Robie to accompany us, but then stayed back to handle the
media response in New Zealand. I made my first unforgettable visit to the
Philippines as the leader of the team. The Peace Brigade (or Peace Caravan
as it was dubbed in the Philippines) was designed to offer international
guests from 18 countries an "exposure" experience to learn more about the
struggle against foreign military bases and other linked campaigns for human
rights, labour rights and land reform. The programme culminated with the
Asia-Pacific Peoples Conference on Peace and Development and a two day peace
caravan to protest at two major US bases: Subic Naval Base and Clark Air
Force Base.
Earlier in 1988 Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials warned Keith of the
safety problems of organising visits to the Philippines and the Labour
government's Associate Foreign Affairs Minister, Fran Wilde, even suggested
that such visits could amount to "foreign intervention in domestic
affairs".[1] It is fair to assume that there was a two way flow of
information of information and intelligence between the two governments
concerning our activities.
To the casual observer we must have seemed an unlikely combination of
people: some of our group were peace activists of long standing but many in
the group were quite new to political activity and our ages ranged from 17
to 73. No matter, we were subjected to Red scare propaganda even before we
arrived. A letter from the Philippines Embassy's Consul-General, Apolinaria
Cancio, received by tour organiser, Keith Locke, just prior to our departure
advised that if we violated any of the terms of our visas we would be
arrested and deported. We were specifically warned not to take part in any
"teach-ins", not to contact any leaders of the banned Communist Party of the
Philippines, or to incite people to commit sedition. Unlike the delegations
from other countries, we were all searched at Manila Airport and some of our
newsletters and documents were seized.
Not long after our arrival in the country, the Manila newspapers carried
stories alleging that the Peace Brigade was interfering in the country's
affairs. The Chief of the Philippines Constabulary, General Montana, said we
would "be treated like common criminals and paedophiles" if we stepped out
of line. But, I think the threats merely served to ensure that we were
especially determined to participate to the full in the Brigade programme
and wear with pride the "Peacenik" name the Philippine media conferred on
us.
The international delegates were allocated to small teams each with its own
Filipino guide. Journalist David Robie was attached to our team. My group
went to militarised Mindanao. We spent the first few days in Cagayan de Oro,
where we took part in peace rallies and seminars, but left for Bukidnon
after military police came knocking on the door of our guest house. In
Bukidnon, we stayed in the simple dwellings of the families inadvertently in
the front line of a counter-insurgency war. One night we camped out with a
large group of displaced people - they had been forced off their land by
military operations and were trying to get the local authorities to take
some responsibility, but in the meantime their children were succumbing to
sickness and their food was running out.
Embarrassing Governments In Philippines & NZ
I had asked to visit Bukidnon, Mindanao, because it was the site of New
Zealand's major aid project to the Philippines at the time, the Bukidnon
Industrial Tree Plantation. The project had attracted criticism locally on
account of the failure of the project managers to consult effectively with
the local Lumad tribal people, the impact of the project on ancestral land
claims and the likelihood that the forestry infrastructure would be used by
the military to tighten their grip in the area. Our hosts arranged meetings
for us from the local Governor, barrio captains, tribal leaders and local
householders. Our visit stirred controversy in the Philippines and anger
back home, especially from then Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fran
Wilde, who later tried to discredit two Lumad tribal leaders while they were
making a speaking tour of New Zealand.
While in Bukidnon we also interviewed a number of people about a secret base
believed by NZ peace researcher Owen Wilkes* to be a "scorekeeper" base
designed to detect and record nuclear explosions. We were not able to visit
the heavily guarded base but later at the Manila Conference the claims about
this base caused a major media stir. *Roland Simbulan's obituary of Owen
Wilkes, focusing on Owen's significance to the Philippine anti-bases and
anti-nuclear movement, is in Kapatiran 25/26, December 2005, online at
http://www.converge.org.nz/psna/Kapatiran/KapNo25n26/Kap25n26Art/art113a.htm
Ed.
After the exposure we all took part in the Manila Conference, and then in a
two day caravan or convoy which ran the gauntlet of heavily armed military
barricades and checkpoints to protest at the giant US Subic Naval Base and
Clark Air Base. We never quite made it to Subic, but took part in an all
night vigil and concert outside Clark. It would be hard to understate the
strategic significance of the Clark and Subic, they were sited to ensure US
control over the choke points between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and
served respectively as headquarters for the US 13th Air Force and a key
port for the US 7th Fleet. The bases had served as springboards to
intervention in South East Asia (Vietnam, Korea and Thailand) and further
afield to Iran and Yemen. At the time their role was seen as essential to
preserving strategic superiority over the former Soviet Union in the region.
For me the brigade was a life changing event, perhaps because it was the
first time I experienced at first hand the power of a mass peoples' movement
of resistance. The comprehensive network of "cause oriented" groups such as
Gabriela and Nuclear Free and Independent Philippines, the workers, peasants
and student coalitions worked in unison to ensure the success of all our
activities. When I look back on it must have been some kind of miracle that
we achieved all that we did, making it through eight military checkpoints to
take up position outside the Clark base. As we prepared to depart we
international delegates took part in a media conference where we condemned
the military repression we had witnessed.
The US bases not only placed the Philippines as a future flashpoint for
nuclear conflict, but they also represented US intervention in the wider
sense. The US declared the Philippines independent in 1946, but the presence
of the bases was seen as a strong signal that colonial control had not
ended. Getting rid of the bases was seen as an essential part of regaining
Filipino sovereignty over an economy dominated by US transnationals.
It Was All A Communist Plot, Apparently
The Cold War was still very much intact and in the Philippines, the dictator
Marcos had fallen but his successor, Cory Aquino, presided over a
military-backed government with only a thin veneer of democracy. Those
calling for genuine social change, land reform, labour rights and an end to
human rights abuses lived daily under threat of arbitrary arrest or worse,
and "Red-baiting" was an essential tool in the regime's armoury.
On the other hand the civil war between the Government backed by vigilante
squads and the Communist New Peoples' Army (NPA) was ongoing in the rural
areas of most provinces, and in some quarters the possibility of a
full-scale revolution, or another "Vietnam" was contemplated. The
Philippines was in the sights of extreme Rightwing groups such as the World
Anti-Communist League (WACL) and it was widely reported that the US Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) was supporting covert actions against the NPA. The
US was determined to retain its bases in the Philippines, beyond the lease
expiry date of September 1991, as an essential element of its ability to
project its power into the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
If you were around in the 1980s when New Zealand's nuclear free stand was
under vociferous attack, you would remember that there was a plethora of
Rightwing think tanks, foundations and anti-Communist organisations that
worked closely together. Their agenda was to sow fear of the dire
consequences of the "ANZUS* crisis" which could leave us open to "Soviet
political manipulation". Naturally these institutions, like the Hoover
Institute and Heritage Foundation focused on the Communist threat in the
Philippines, and so it was to be expected that this anti-Communist hysteria
would not spare New Zealand-Philippines links. In December 1988, not long
before our tour began, New Zealand's Ambassador in the Philippines had to
defend a simple aid project about sewing machines because the charity
funded, Samakana, had a connection to the women's organisation Gabriela,
declared by some to be Communist affiliated.[2]
*The 1951 Australia New Zealand United States (ANZUS) Treaty was the bedrock
of NZ's defence alliance with the US. NZ's membership did not survive the
1984-90 Labour government's nuclear free law, which remains in effect today,
despite several changes of NZ government since then. A side effect of NZ's
expulsion was that it ended the use of US military bases in the Philippines
for training purposes by the NZ military. The ANZUS Treaty continues, minus
NZ, between the US and Australia. It was evoked by John Howard, the then
Australian Prime Minister, immediately after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks on the US. Ed.
Red-baiting NZ Media Cooperated With SIS
There had also been some rather lurid headlines in the New Zealand Sunday
papers about New Zealanders spending time with the NPA during their
solidarity visits to the Philippines: "Guerrilla Thrill Trips: Kiwis pay to
join Filipino jungle fighters" [3]. When we returned from the Philippines,
journalist Bernard Moran, who was becoming a regular at Rightwing
conferences on the Communist threat, gained some new ammunition to use in
vitriolic articles in the former Catholic paper New Zealand Tablet. He had
previously written of a Communist conspiracy that was driving church aid
projects in the Philippines. The piece he wrote about our Auckland meeting
to report back on the Brigade was a distorted account that zeroed in on the
presence of "Trotskyites" and their subversive literature in the sacred
confines of the St Benedict's Church crypt.[4]
It is clear from the SIS documents that the late John Kennedy, the editor of
the Tablet, passed information to the SIS. One such report included
detailed information about the finances, and the political affiliations of
Philippine Solidarity Group (PSG) members in Auckland and Wellington.[5]
Bernard Moran also submitted an article in early 1987 to the Washington
based journal National Interest in which he wrote (not very accurately)
about me. Flatteringly he dubbed me a "pivotal person in the NZ peace
movement".[6] Fortunately, the "Red-baiting" articles were far outweighed by
key articles by David Robie who was then working freelance and had many
Philippines articles accepted by the mainstream media (nationally and
regionally). He continued to cover the Philippines political situation,
human rights issues and the bases debate over the next few years.
SIS Spies In Meetings In All Main Centres
Hardened activist that I am, I confess to being shocked to discover the
extent to which there were "sources" or SIS spies present at many of the
meetings of the Philippines Solidarity Groups in Christchurch, Wellington
and Auckland. Bear in mind the context that these were generally small,
relatively informal meetings held frequently in the homes of activists.
National meetings which were often held in a relaxed marae setting are also
reported on in detail. To give just one example of SIS penetration of a
Christchurch Philippines Solidarity Group meeting in a private home, Maire's
file included a three page detailed report on a meeting held in May 1990. It
says: "Source borrowed the correspondence folder and copied its contents".
This means that the spy was in a position of trust. Ed.
This of course raises the question about the extent to which our SIS was
passing on information to counterparts in the Philippines, and perhaps using
information gained from the Philippines to refine their surveillance of us.
There is no direct proof of this as communications from or to other
intelligence agencies have all been excluded from the released information.
Every broad social justice movement, such as the anti-nuclear movement or
the anti-apartheid movement, has participants from a range of Left parties.
Most of us are glad to harness everyone's energy for the common cause but
that is not how the SIS sees the situation!
The Left affiliations of those present at meetings and seminars were all
carefully recorded. Tellingly, John Curnow is recorded as warning at a
Christchurch Philippines Solidarity meeting that people should not make
jokes about supporting the New Peoples Army. "He, himself, had been
interviewed a couple of times by the SIS, who tried to tell him he was being
hoodwinked by the WCL". [7]
Tracking Visitors To Both Countries
The SIS also did its best to monitor all visits of New Zealanders to the
Philippines - listing all the full names and dates of birth of members of
the Peace Brigade after they had obtained their visas.[8] My return flight
times are also included in a much later handwritten note[9] with the
comment: "There is no trace of any travel during 1990". SIS Headquarters
also supplied a list of Filipino visitors to New Zealand since 1984. The
names on the list have been withheld but the rationale is interesting: "It
is as comprehensive as our records will allow. It was compiled because of
the frequency of such travel, the number of visitors with National
Democratic Front (NDF*) or New Peoples Army (NPA) traces, and, lastly
because of the growing links between anti-nuclear groups and indigenous
peoples of both countries". * The National Democratic Front is the political
coalition of underground groups waging the armed struggle, including both
the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army. Ed.
"2. We had hoped to carry out a similar study of New Zealanders travelling
to the Philippines but owing to the volume of travel and the difficulty of
keeping track of their movements, this has not proved to be feasible.
Instead we have concentrated on a few individuals who have established good
links with the Philippines and who appear to be regarded as valuable
contacts by the Filipinos themselves". [10] <>
Sometimes the sources were rebuffed: "We were unfortunately unable to have
source coverage of the PSNA hui on 27-28 September 86". So the SIS mounted
surveillance to record some of the comings and goings but only three
vehicles were seen to enter the venue and one female cyclist "aged about 35
with black hair". The only other thing to note was that one of the
participants came out on Sunday morning at 0900 hours "to purchase a
newspaper from the local dairy and walk around the block for about 15 mins".
This man was "sporting a full beard and has had his hair permed. He was
accompanied on his perambulations by a male aged about 25-30, dark hair,
pale complexion". [11] By the time of the 1990 Lumad tribal and Touching the
Bases tours (six Filipinos participated in the latter), it seems that SIS
interest was waning, as reporting is sparse.
The lessons? I don't think any of this covert activity had an adverse effect
on the powerful international anti-nuclear campaign for the US bases in the
Philippines to be closed. In 1991 the Philippines Senate voted against a
treaty allowing the United States forces to remain for a further ten years.
The Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption that year effectively ended the life of
the Clark Air Force Base and in March 1992 the last carrier group pulled out
of Subic Bay.
The Philippines solidarity movement in this country declined in strength for
a few years, until Murray Horton (who was also a Peace Brigade stalwart) and
the Christchurch group took over the national coordination task. Now, it is
good to see that the network is growing again and focusing on the new US
"integrated global presence and basing strategy"* as well as on the
appalling human rights and poverty situation. * For details see Peace
Researcher 37, November 2008, "Bases Of Empire: the Global Spread Of US
Military And Intelligence Bases", by Cora Fabros, online at
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr37-1721.html Ed.
Lessons For Future Security In Our Movements?
Of course we should not forget the possibility that any movement for social
change can be infiltrated whether by the SIS or possibly the Police (it was
revealed, in December 2008, that "activist" Rob Gilchrist had been a Police
spy and agent provocateur inside various activist groups for a decade,
operating in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Ed). But it would be
counterproductive to let this get in the way of free communication or make
us less welcoming to new members. The publicity around the release of SIS
files to many veteran activists has given a new opportunity for a campaign
against all spying on social justice and political activists of all stripes.
The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees to all
of us the right to "freedom of opinion and expression .and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers".
1 Dominion Post, 8/5/88
2 Dominion Sunday Times, 21/2/88
3 Sunday Star, 8/5/88
4 Metro, July 1989, "Bernard Moran and Communist Conspiracy"
5 SIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 27/5/86, Keith
Locke file
6 SIS District Office Northern District, Original on Bernard Andrew Moran
27/4/87, extracted/copied by (name withheld), on 28/5/87, Maire Leadbeater
file
7 NSIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 8/6/90, Maire
Leadbeater file
8 NZSIS 9/1/89, Maire Leadbeater file
9 NZSIS 7/12/90, Maire Leadbeater file
10 Headquarters (Counter-Subversion) to District Office Northern District &
District Office Southern District 10/8/88, Keith Locke file
11 NZSIS District Office Southern District to Headquarters, 9/10/86, Maire
Text Fwd: A letter to Clinton from Okinawa
Fwd from: Teruo Onishi "大西 照雄" bingo@y5.dion.ne.jp, No Bases, Agatha Haun
Text Fwd: A letter to Clinton from Okinawa
'From the Sea Dugongs in OKINAWA
（Okinawa is a strategic colony of the Japanese government and the U.S. government!）
Okinawa journalists representing 13 political scientist who Statement
Nakasone, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Clinton, "U.S. Marines
in Okinawa to Guam relocation agreement" represents a political scientist to
conclude Okinawa, said that 13 journalists are Si release was sent to
Clinton.
Teruo Onishi's contact address
Home page: http://www.geocities.jp/teruo024/
E mail: bingo@y5.dion.ne.jp
FAX : 81(Japan)-980-53-5081
Home: 3-8-20 Okita, Nago-City, JAPAN905-0019'
February 14, 2009
Dear Madame Secretary,
The people of Okinawa have never welcomed the continuous presence of United States
military bases since the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. We have been deprived of
opportunities to express our own will regarding the bases. In his famous Fourteen
Points speech, President Woodrow Wilson stated that “a free, open-minded, and
absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of
the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the
populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the
government whose title is to be determined.” Yet even today the people of Okinawa do
not fully own the right of self-determination which President Wilson saw as an essential
condition for world peace. The very origins of the military base issue in Okinawa lie in
the lack of this right of self-determination.
No matter how many times or how strongly the President and Congress would express
their gratitude to Okinawa people for the hardships of letting US military bases operate
in Okinawa, their words have never reached the Okinawa people’s hearts. Please
imagine what we have experienced and try to understand why we would not accept your
words of gratitude. For example, most of the US military bases were built on land that
was forcefully taken away. SOFA is another cause of anger because SOFA severely
limits Japanese judicial authority over crimes committed by US soldiers, even serious
crimes like rape. And consider astonishingly beautiful coral reefs that would be
destroyed to construct your new base in Henoko. The US government has refused to
take any responsibility by claiming that the new base construction is solely under
Japanese jurisdiction.
Another example: USMC Futenma does not meet the US operational safety standards
for Navy and Marines airfield. Local residents are exposed to high risk flights and noise
pollution, experiencing constant fear, while aircrafts fly over residential areas late at
night and early in the morning. Okinawa, a small island, has lived under such great
stress for over sixty years. The presence of US military bases has distorted not only the
politics and economy of Okinawa, but also its society itself and people’s minds and pride.
Do you think we would accept your gratitude in exchange for accepting these ongoing
hardships?
We do not need to remind you that Okinawa is not your territory. Your fifty thousand
military members act freely as if this is their land, but, of course, it is not. Please
remember that we, the Okinawa people, own “the inherent dignity” and “the equal and
inalienable rights of all the members of the human family,” which is stated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, just like your family and friends do.
These equal and inalienable rights are not respected in Okinawa. The governments of
the United States and Japan legitimized the US military occupation of Okinawa with
the San Francisco Treaty in 1952, and the reversion of administrative rights in 1972
created a structure of economic and financial dependency in exchange for the presence
of US military bases on Okinawa. The governments have changed their strategy for
maintaining the base presence from using force to using money.
This is a very cruel treatment. The people of Okinawa have increased dependency on
such money. The money has created a system which has corrupted our minds. It has
taken away alternatives. The acceptance of US bases is seen as the only way to live.
Furthermore, US military bases in Japan are highly concentrated in Okinawa and this
condition clearly shows discrimination. This is an absurd situation, isn’t it? It is as if the
Japanese government has made Okinawa a drug addict and the US government takes
full advantage of the addiction, in order to maintain its military presence. Violations of
human rights and the destruction of coral reefs, a treasure of human kind, are taking
place in Okinawa, despite the fact that it is a part of Japan which is a highly
industrialized democracy.
“The world order” based on the American values and the “security of Japan” depend on
the structure that deprives the Okinawa people of the “inherent dignity”. Those who are
concerned with world peace should pay attention to this structure. Okinawa’s situation
is one of the cracks of the world community that should be mended. Maybe Okinawa’s
problems are small ones among the entire challenges that mankind is facing today. But
it is a big issue for the people involved. When you have military bases on a foreign soil
that does not accept and support them, you constantly need to be worried about the long
term stability of the bases, and the potential crisis continues. This is a burden not only
for Okinawa but for the US as well.
In 2005 and 2006, the governments of the United States and Japan reached agreements
regarding the reorganization of US military bases in Japan. They agreed on the
construction of new bases and it seems that they are trying to make the US military
presence in Okinawa permanent. This plan would add a further burden on the people of
Okinawa who have suffered long enough. In other words, something that other parts of
Japan refused to accept would be dumped on Okinawa again. Most of us are opposed to
the executive agreement that you would sign during your stay in Japan.
Here we state our tenets:
1. We demand that the governments of the United States and Japan cancel the
construction of the new airfield in Nago City and helicopter landing pads in Higashi
Village.
2. We demand that both governments materialize the immediate and unconditional
return of USMC Futenma. We consider the “Package” policy that integrates
Futenma’s return with the construction of new bases in Okinawa and Guam a mere
cover for the forceful execution of their own will by stronger parties on Okinawa.
3. We demand that both governments further reduce US military bases on Okinawa,
including the prompt return of bases south of USAF Kadena, whose return plan was
already announced.
Please look into Okinawa’s situation from the standpoints of democracy, human rights,
and environmental concerns during your visit to Japan. We hope that you will take new
initiatives in U.S. policy toward Okinawa during the Obama administration.
President Obama states he would learn from Japan’s experience of “the lost decade of
the 1990s” in his efforts to revive the US economy. The Okinawa people wish for you and
President Obama to bring about the end of “the lost sixty-four years” forced on us by the
US military bases.
Seigen Miyasato
Chairperson
Okinawa Foreign Policy Study Group
Text Fwd: A letter to Clinton from Okinawa
'From the Sea Dugongs in OKINAWA
（Okinawa is a strategic colony of the Japanese government and the U.S. government!）
Okinawa journalists representing 13 political scientist who Statement
Nakasone, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Clinton, "U.S. Marines
in Okinawa to Guam relocation agreement" represents a political scientist to
conclude Okinawa, said that 13 journalists are Si release was sent to
Clinton.
Teruo Onishi's contact address
Home page: http://www.geocities.jp/teruo024/
E mail: bingo@y5.dion.ne.jp
FAX : 81(Japan)-980-53-5081
Home: 3-8-20 Okita, Nago-City, JAPAN905-0019'
February 14, 2009
Dear Madame Secretary,
The people of Okinawa have never welcomed the continuous presence of United States
military bases since the end of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. We have been deprived of
opportunities to express our own will regarding the bases. In his famous Fourteen
Points speech, President Woodrow Wilson stated that “a free, open-minded, and
absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of
the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the
populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the
government whose title is to be determined.” Yet even today the people of Okinawa do
not fully own the right of self-determination which President Wilson saw as an essential
condition for world peace. The very origins of the military base issue in Okinawa lie in
the lack of this right of self-determination.
No matter how many times or how strongly the President and Congress would express
their gratitude to Okinawa people for the hardships of letting US military bases operate
in Okinawa, their words have never reached the Okinawa people’s hearts. Please
imagine what we have experienced and try to understand why we would not accept your
words of gratitude. For example, most of the US military bases were built on land that
was forcefully taken away. SOFA is another cause of anger because SOFA severely
limits Japanese judicial authority over crimes committed by US soldiers, even serious
crimes like rape. And consider astonishingly beautiful coral reefs that would be
destroyed to construct your new base in Henoko. The US government has refused to
take any responsibility by claiming that the new base construction is solely under
Japanese jurisdiction.
Another example: USMC Futenma does not meet the US operational safety standards
for Navy and Marines airfield. Local residents are exposed to high risk flights and noise
pollution, experiencing constant fear, while aircrafts fly over residential areas late at
night and early in the morning. Okinawa, a small island, has lived under such great
stress for over sixty years. The presence of US military bases has distorted not only the
politics and economy of Okinawa, but also its society itself and people’s minds and pride.
Do you think we would accept your gratitude in exchange for accepting these ongoing
hardships?
We do not need to remind you that Okinawa is not your territory. Your fifty thousand
military members act freely as if this is their land, but, of course, it is not. Please
remember that we, the Okinawa people, own “the inherent dignity” and “the equal and
inalienable rights of all the members of the human family,” which is stated in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, just like your family and friends do.
These equal and inalienable rights are not respected in Okinawa. The governments of
the United States and Japan legitimized the US military occupation of Okinawa with
the San Francisco Treaty in 1952, and the reversion of administrative rights in 1972
created a structure of economic and financial dependency in exchange for the presence
of US military bases on Okinawa. The governments have changed their strategy for
maintaining the base presence from using force to using money.
This is a very cruel treatment. The people of Okinawa have increased dependency on
such money. The money has created a system which has corrupted our minds. It has
taken away alternatives. The acceptance of US bases is seen as the only way to live.
Furthermore, US military bases in Japan are highly concentrated in Okinawa and this
condition clearly shows discrimination. This is an absurd situation, isn’t it? It is as if the
Japanese government has made Okinawa a drug addict and the US government takes
full advantage of the addiction, in order to maintain its military presence. Violations of
human rights and the destruction of coral reefs, a treasure of human kind, are taking
place in Okinawa, despite the fact that it is a part of Japan which is a highly
industrialized democracy.
“The world order” based on the American values and the “security of Japan” depend on
the structure that deprives the Okinawa people of the “inherent dignity”. Those who are
concerned with world peace should pay attention to this structure. Okinawa’s situation
is one of the cracks of the world community that should be mended. Maybe Okinawa’s
problems are small ones among the entire challenges that mankind is facing today. But
it is a big issue for the people involved. When you have military bases on a foreign soil
that does not accept and support them, you constantly need to be worried about the long
term stability of the bases, and the potential crisis continues. This is a burden not only
for Okinawa but for the US as well.
In 2005 and 2006, the governments of the United States and Japan reached agreements
regarding the reorganization of US military bases in Japan. They agreed on the
construction of new bases and it seems that they are trying to make the US military
presence in Okinawa permanent. This plan would add a further burden on the people of
Okinawa who have suffered long enough. In other words, something that other parts of
Japan refused to accept would be dumped on Okinawa again. Most of us are opposed to
the executive agreement that you would sign during your stay in Japan.
Here we state our tenets:
1. We demand that the governments of the United States and Japan cancel the
construction of the new airfield in Nago City and helicopter landing pads in Higashi
Village.
2. We demand that both governments materialize the immediate and unconditional
return of USMC Futenma. We consider the “Package” policy that integrates
Futenma’s return with the construction of new bases in Okinawa and Guam a mere
cover for the forceful execution of their own will by stronger parties on Okinawa.
3. We demand that both governments further reduce US military bases on Okinawa,
including the prompt return of bases south of USAF Kadena, whose return plan was
already announced.
Please look into Okinawa’s situation from the standpoints of democracy, human rights,
and environmental concerns during your visit to Japan. We hope that you will take new
initiatives in U.S. policy toward Okinawa during the Obama administration.
President Obama states he would learn from Japan’s experience of “the lost decade of
the 1990s” in his efforts to revive the US economy. The Okinawa people wish for you and
President Obama to bring about the end of “the lost sixty-four years” forced on us by the
US military bases.
Seigen Miyasato
Chairperson
Okinawa Foreign Policy Study Group
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Stop the Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle War Exercise!
Stop the Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle War Exercise:
Stop the War Exercise of the Preemptive Strike against the North Korea!
*Image Source*
1, 2: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea(SPARK)
3, 4, 5: No Base Stories of Korea
10am, March 9, 2009, in front of the TANGO(Theater, Air, Navy, Ground Operation), KORCOM(Combined Force Command of the USFK-SK military), Sungnam, Gyeongkki Province
* Related Korean articles*
http://www.spark946.org/bugsboard/index.php??dummy=1236585671&BBS=s_news&action=viewForm&uid=2135&page=1
http://spark946.org/bugsboard/index.php?BBS=s_conews&action=viewForm&uid=6316&page=1
http://spark946.org/bugsboard/index.php?BBS=s_conews&action=viewForm&uid=6315&page=1
* Related blogs*
http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/03/photos-fwthe-preparation-of-key-resolve.html
http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2009/03/stop-key-resolve-war-exercise.html
http://koreareport2.blogspot.com/search/label/Inter-Korea%20relations
Text fwd: N. Korea Tells Its Military to Prepare for Combat
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3979917&c=ASI&s=TOP
N. Korea Tells Its Military to Prepare for Combat
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 8 Mar 16:36 EDT (20:36 GMT)
SEOUL - North Korea has ordered its military to be combat ready, state media said early March 9, ahead of joint U.S.-South Korean maneuvers that Pyongyang has repeatedly characterised as a prelude to war.
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Korean People's Army (KPA) described the exercises starting March 9 as "unprecedented in the number of the aggressor forces involved and in their duration."
"The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all the servicepersons to be fully combat ready," the statement added. "This is a just measure for self-defense for protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the nation."
"A war will break out if the U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the South Korean puppet military hurl the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack," it added.
The communist North has repeatedly accused Seoul and Washington of using the annual exercises, which this year last until March 20, as a pretext to launch an attack on it - a claim denied by the United States and the South.
The joint exercise will this year involve a U.S. aircraft carrier, 26,000 U.S. troops and more than 30,000 South Korean soldiers.
The exercises come at a time of high tensions with the South and growing pressure for the North to end its nuclear weapons program and drop plans to test its longest-range missile.
North Korea has said it is preparing to fire a rocket for what it has said will be a satellite launch, although Seoul and Washington say the real purpose is to test a missile that could theoretically reach Alaska.
In a separate statement, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said it would retaliate "with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means" if there was an attempt to intercept its satellite."
The North has warned that the "slightest" military conflict during the exercises could rapidly escalate and fears of a border clash have grown since Pyongyang on Jan. 30 scrapped peace accords with Seoul and warned of war.
The United States has responded to the communist state's comments by urging Pyongyang to tone down its rhetoric.
North Korean generals last week met with the U.S.-led UN Command on easing tensions ahead of the joint exercises, in the first such talks in almost seven years, but reportedly used the opportunity to criticize the latest exercises.
The North is angry at South Korea's conservative leader Lee Myung-Bak, who scrapped his predecessors' policy of offering virtually unconditional aid to Pyongyang.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in an armistice.
A U.S.-led UN force fought for the South in the 1950-53 Korean war. The United States still stations 28,500 troops to back up Seoul's 680,000-strong military against the North's 1.1 million-member armed forces.
The exercises come as the new U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said March 6 that a threat by Pyongyang against South Korean commercial airliners near its airspace was "a provocation."
The communist regime late March 5 announced it could not guarantee security for Seoul's flights near its territory because the U.S.-South Korean military exercises could trigger a war.
"This is, we believe, very undesirable," Bosworth told reporters after meeting Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone in Tokyo. "It's a provocation and it's unacceptable."
Bosworth is currently on a tour of China, Japan and South Korea, in an effort to dissuade the North from a launch and to try to persuade it to resume stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
N. Korea Tells Its Military to Prepare for Combat
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 8 Mar 16:36 EDT (20:36 GMT)
SEOUL - North Korea has ordered its military to be combat ready, state media said early March 9, ahead of joint U.S.-South Korean maneuvers that Pyongyang has repeatedly characterised as a prelude to war.
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the Korean People's Army (KPA) described the exercises starting March 9 as "unprecedented in the number of the aggressor forces involved and in their duration."
"The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all the servicepersons to be fully combat ready," the statement added. "This is a just measure for self-defense for protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the nation."
"A war will break out if the U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the South Korean puppet military hurl the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack," it added.
The communist North has repeatedly accused Seoul and Washington of using the annual exercises, which this year last until March 20, as a pretext to launch an attack on it - a claim denied by the United States and the South.
The joint exercise will this year involve a U.S. aircraft carrier, 26,000 U.S. troops and more than 30,000 South Korean soldiers.
The exercises come at a time of high tensions with the South and growing pressure for the North to end its nuclear weapons program and drop plans to test its longest-range missile.
North Korea has said it is preparing to fire a rocket for what it has said will be a satellite launch, although Seoul and Washington say the real purpose is to test a missile that could theoretically reach Alaska.
In a separate statement, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army said it would retaliate "with prompt counter strikes by the most powerful military means" if there was an attempt to intercept its satellite."
The North has warned that the "slightest" military conflict during the exercises could rapidly escalate and fears of a border clash have grown since Pyongyang on Jan. 30 scrapped peace accords with Seoul and warned of war.
The United States has responded to the communist state's comments by urging Pyongyang to tone down its rhetoric.
North Korean generals last week met with the U.S.-led UN Command on easing tensions ahead of the joint exercises, in the first such talks in almost seven years, but reportedly used the opportunity to criticize the latest exercises.
The North is angry at South Korea's conservative leader Lee Myung-Bak, who scrapped his predecessors' policy of offering virtually unconditional aid to Pyongyang.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended only in an armistice.
A U.S.-led UN force fought for the South in the 1950-53 Korean war. The United States still stations 28,500 troops to back up Seoul's 680,000-strong military against the North's 1.1 million-member armed forces.
The exercises come as the new U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said March 6 that a threat by Pyongyang against South Korean commercial airliners near its airspace was "a provocation."
The communist regime late March 5 announced it could not guarantee security for Seoul's flights near its territory because the U.S.-South Korean military exercises could trigger a war.
"This is, we believe, very undesirable," Bosworth told reporters after meeting Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone in Tokyo. "It's a provocation and it's unacceptable."
Bosworth is currently on a tour of China, Japan and South Korea, in an effort to dissuade the North from a launch and to try to persuade it to resume stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
Text Fwd: Officials: India Missile Intercept Test Succeeds
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3977723&c=ASI&s=TOP
Officials: India Missile Intercept Test Succeeds
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 6 Mar 10:16 EST (15:16 GMT)
BHUBANESWAR, India - India staged a missile intercept test March 6 as part of a plan to build a defense system against incoming ballistic missiles by 2010, officials said.
Military engineers said the test was a success, as a "hostile" missile was destroyed in mid-air over the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern Orissa state.
The test was the third successful trial since 2007 of an air defense system capable of detecting, intercepting and destroying medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, officials said in the Orissa capital of Bhubaneswar.
The shield will be capable of high-speed interceptions of missiles launched 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) away, they added.
On March 4, India also test-fired a supersonic cruise missile it has jointly developed with Russia since 2001. The latest test near rival Pakistan's borders involved a modified BrahMos with a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles).
The Indian army has already acquired the missile, which carries conventional warheads but can be fired from mobile launchers.
India, which has also built an array of nuclear-capable missiles, hopes to test-fire an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) before the end of next year. The Agni-V will have an ICBM range in excess of 5,000 kilometers.
The shorter range Agni-I and Agni-II ballistic missiles are being introduced into India's arsenal, although they are not fully operational.
An Agni-III, with a 1.5-ton payload capacity and a range of 3,500 kilometers - enabling it to strike targets deep inside China - has been tested successfully three times.
India has fought three wars with Pakistan and one with China since independence from British rule in 1947.
Officials: India Missile Intercept Test Succeeds
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 6 Mar 10:16 EST (15:16 GMT)
BHUBANESWAR, India - India staged a missile intercept test March 6 as part of a plan to build a defense system against incoming ballistic missiles by 2010, officials said.
Military engineers said the test was a success, as a "hostile" missile was destroyed in mid-air over the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern Orissa state.
The test was the third successful trial since 2007 of an air defense system capable of detecting, intercepting and destroying medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, officials said in the Orissa capital of Bhubaneswar.
The shield will be capable of high-speed interceptions of missiles launched 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) away, they added.
On March 4, India also test-fired a supersonic cruise missile it has jointly developed with Russia since 2001. The latest test near rival Pakistan's borders involved a modified BrahMos with a range of 290 kilometers (180 miles).
The Indian army has already acquired the missile, which carries conventional warheads but can be fired from mobile launchers.
India, which has also built an array of nuclear-capable missiles, hopes to test-fire an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) before the end of next year. The Agni-V will have an ICBM range in excess of 5,000 kilometers.
The shorter range Agni-I and Agni-II ballistic missiles are being introduced into India's arsenal, although they are not fully operational.
An Agni-III, with a 1.5-ton payload capacity and a range of 3,500 kilometers - enabling it to strike targets deep inside China - has been tested successfully three times.
India has fought three wars with Pakistan and one with China since independence from British rule in 1947.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Text fwd: Canadian, US Defense Chiefs Plot Expanded South Asia War
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/37728
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53361
U.S. Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
March 6, 2009
U.S., Canadian Defense Leaders Meet in Washington, Discuss Afghanistan
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
-“We’ve had very good interaction,” MacKay said. “[Canada] has
experience in Pakistan as well, in addition to what we're doing in Afghanistan.
I think Canadians recognize, as do others, that this review helps put in context
the regional challenges - that this obviously goes beyond any one country.”
-“We're watching, of course, very closely what's developing inside
Pakistan,” MacKay said.
WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration continues its comprehensive review of
the Afghanistan strategy, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Canadian Defense
Minister Peter MacKay met here yesterday to discuss the allies’ commitments in
the NATO effort.
Gates said the United States welcomes its partners’ ideas in putting the final
plan to work.
“The review is a work in progress … we are still eagerly soliciting ideas
from our allies and friends....” Gates told reporters at news conference from
the steps of the Pentagon....
Gates and MacKay spoke with reporters following their first bilateral meeting
here under the new administration.
The defense leaders discussed the way forward in Afghanistan from a Canadian
perspective, and what Canada might add to the Afghanistan review, MacKay said.
The American ally has expertise from its experiences in the southwest Asia
region.
“We’ve had very good interaction,” MacKay said. “[Canada] has experience
in Pakistan as well, in addition to what we're doing in Afghanistan. I think
Canadians recognize, as do others, that this review helps put in context the
regional challenges - that this obviously goes beyond any one country.”
The work NATO has done to build capacity in Afghanistan’s government and
military shouldn’t be overshadowed by similar needs in Pakistan, MacKay said.
Pakistan is a country that “you absolutely have to include on the way forward
and on the plans that will eventually lead to improved status for both
countries,” he added.
“We're watching, of course, very closely what's developing inside Pakistan,”
MacKay said. “And I expect that this review, upon completion, will be very
important - not a restart, but a continuation of the ongoing strategy.”
Despite recent reports that Canada’s mission in Afghanistan would end in
February 2011, MacKay said that’s not exactly true. Canada’s parliament
motioned to end combat operations, but the NATO mission in Afghanistan will need
additional assistance, such as civilian-operated provincial reconstruction teams
to build government and economic capacity, he said.
“We will absolutely be in Afghanistan performing important tasks,” he
said....
MacKay also expressed his gratitude for the condolences Gates offered for the
three Canadian soldiers killed by a roadside bomb March 4 in Afghanistan. A
total of 111 Canadian soldiers have been killed there since 2002.
....
Canadian forces have been operating in Afghanistan since January 2002, but their
presence didn’t mature until spring 2006 when their task force grew to more
than 2,500 troops and assumed greater responsibilities in southern Afghanistan.
Canadian commanders share a six-month rotation cycle with Great Britain and the
Netherlands for command responsibilities in Kandahar province.
===========================
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==============================
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53361
U.S. Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
March 6, 2009
U.S., Canadian Defense Leaders Meet in Washington, Discuss Afghanistan
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
-“We’ve had very good interaction,” MacKay said. “[Canada] has
experience in Pakistan as well, in addition to what we're doing in Afghanistan.
I think Canadians recognize, as do others, that this review helps put in context
the regional challenges - that this obviously goes beyond any one country.”
-“We're watching, of course, very closely what's developing inside
Pakistan,” MacKay said.
WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration continues its comprehensive review of
the Afghanistan strategy, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Canadian Defense
Minister Peter MacKay met here yesterday to discuss the allies’ commitments in
the NATO effort.
Gates said the United States welcomes its partners’ ideas in putting the final
plan to work.
“The review is a work in progress … we are still eagerly soliciting ideas
from our allies and friends....” Gates told reporters at news conference from
the steps of the Pentagon....
Gates and MacKay spoke with reporters following their first bilateral meeting
here under the new administration.
The defense leaders discussed the way forward in Afghanistan from a Canadian
perspective, and what Canada might add to the Afghanistan review, MacKay said.
The American ally has expertise from its experiences in the southwest Asia
region.
“We’ve had very good interaction,” MacKay said. “[Canada] has experience
in Pakistan as well, in addition to what we're doing in Afghanistan. I think
Canadians recognize, as do others, that this review helps put in context the
regional challenges - that this obviously goes beyond any one country.”
The work NATO has done to build capacity in Afghanistan’s government and
military shouldn’t be overshadowed by similar needs in Pakistan, MacKay said.
Pakistan is a country that “you absolutely have to include on the way forward
and on the plans that will eventually lead to improved status for both
countries,” he added.
“We're watching, of course, very closely what's developing inside Pakistan,”
MacKay said. “And I expect that this review, upon completion, will be very
important - not a restart, but a continuation of the ongoing strategy.”
Despite recent reports that Canada’s mission in Afghanistan would end in
February 2011, MacKay said that’s not exactly true. Canada’s parliament
motioned to end combat operations, but the NATO mission in Afghanistan will need
additional assistance, such as civilian-operated provincial reconstruction teams
to build government and economic capacity, he said.
“We will absolutely be in Afghanistan performing important tasks,” he
said....
MacKay also expressed his gratitude for the condolences Gates offered for the
three Canadian soldiers killed by a roadside bomb March 4 in Afghanistan. A
total of 111 Canadian soldiers have been killed there since 2002.
....
Canadian forces have been operating in Afghanistan since January 2002, but their
presence didn’t mature until spring 2006 when their task force grew to more
than 2,500 troops and assumed greater responsibilities in southern Afghanistan.
Canadian commanders share a six-month rotation cycle with Great Britain and the
Netherlands for command responsibilities in Kandahar province.
===========================
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
To subscribe, send an e-mail to:
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==============================
Text fwd: Kadena Airmen deploy to Thailand for Exercise Cope Tiger
* Image Source*'Capt. Paul Lankes discusses the day's flying schedule with Royal Thai air force Wing Commander Arnon Charusombat March 11 at Korat Royal Thai air force base, Thailand. Wing Commander Charusombat and Captain Lankes both work in the live fly cell for Cope Tiger 2009. Cope Tiger is an annual, multilateral large force aerial exercise conducted in Thailand including U.S., Thai and Singaporean military forces. Captain Lankes is deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Erika Yepsen)'
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/37750
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123138592
Air Force Link
American Forces News Service
March 6, 2009
Kadena Airmen deploy to Thailand for Exercise Cope Tiger
-"This exercise is a great opportunity to hone our air combat skills while
practicing against different adversaries than we normally train against here."
-"This will facilitate any responses to regional events or contingencies in the
future."
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan - About 170 Kadena Air Base Airmen are deploying with 12
F-15 Eagles to Thailand to participate in Exercise Cope Tiger 2009 from March 9
through 20.
The F-15s from the 44th Fighter Squadron here will fly alongside their Thai air
force counterparts as well as the Singaporean air force and other U.S. Air
Force, Navy and Marine Corps air assets.
"This exercise is a great opportunity to hone our air combat skills while
practicing against different adversaries than we normally train against here,"
said Lt. Col. Peter Oertel, the 18th Operations Group deputy commander.
Cope Tiger is a multilateral combined/joint field training exercise that
enhances combined readiness and interoperability between allied forces,
reinforces U.S. commitment to the Pacific region, and demonstrates U.S.
capability to project combined and joint forces strategically in a multilateral
environment.
The event provides an unparalleled opportunity to improve our tactics between
our allied partners and cultivate interoperability and coalition procedures in
the employment of airpower between the three countries, the colonel said.
More than 2,300 people will participate in the exercise, including approximately
1,200 U.S. servicemembers and 1,100 servicemembers from Thailand and Singapore
forces. The exercise will take place at both Korat and Udon Thani Royal Thai air
force bases and includes 156 aircraft and air defense units, 55 of which are
from the United States.
"We also hope to build personal and international relationships with our allied
personnel," Colonel Oertel said. "This will facilitate any responses to regional
events or contingencies in the future."
===========================
Stop NATO
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==============================
Text fwd: US Continues Military Encirclement Of Russia
Forwarded from Bruce Gagnon
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/37752
Recent Words Aside, US Continues Military Encirclement Of Russia
By Rick Rozoff
Stop NATO, March 7, 2009
American Vice-President Joseph Biden at the Munich Security Conference in early February pledged to "press the reset button" with Russia.
Since then prominent Washington officials have repeated their intention to reset, reboot and so forth relations with Russia but have, starting with Biden at Munich, not relented in any substantive manner on any of the behaviors and projects that have antagonized Moscow.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently and American President Obama is to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev n London early next month.
Russia has permitted the US and its NATO allies transit rights for non-military goods to assist the West's expanding war in South Asia, though in the process is abetting the extension of the NATO military nexus from the Baltic to the Black to the Caspian Seas and hence tightening the noose around its own neck.
How are the US and NATO demonstrating their supposed resolve to mend ties with Russia, not in words but in deeds?
Starting at Russia's northwestern most border and proceeding counter-clockwise, in the following manner:
In nine days NATO will commence a ten-day military exercise, Cold Response 2009, consisting of 7,000 troops from thirteen nations in northern Norway, off the coast of the Norwegian Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea and the Russian coast.
It will be a full spectrum exercise with land, naval and air forces simulating an 'emergency' military intervention.
The Barents Observer reports:
"This year, about 700 of the participants are special forces.
The [imaginary] conflict increased in 2008 when Northland attacked and occupied Midland. After a cease-fire Northland withdraws its forces and a power vacuum which NATO has to fill, occurred."
Moving slightly southwest, NATO has just completed the four-day Baltic Host 2009 exercise in Estonia, which Russia's Novosti described as involving "a series of scenarios simulating the arrival and deployment of NATO troops in a member country."
Participating in the war games were forces from the United States, Britain, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in "the first exercise of this type in the Baltic region, which could become a regular event in the future to improve interoperability between NATO troops."
Continuing southward, nine days ago Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and insisted that American Patriot missiles would be deployed in his country.
The new US Patriot PAC-3 missile covers seven times the area of the original model and has double the range, enabling such missiles in Poland to hit Russian territory in the Kaliningrad region.
Two weeks ago US Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed a pact with his Polish opposite number Defense Minister Bogdan Klich "to bolster Poland's special forces and enhance how it operates within the NATO military command structure" as the US armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.
This was two days after Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski said, as quoted by Interfax-Ukraine, "that there is much more of a discussion right now within the alliance [NATO], to a large extent because many partners realize that the enemy unfortunately can be much closer to our borders" and "We have to take this into account when we plan the future of the alliance."
At the same time NATO announced that it was going to establish a permanent military force in Eastern Europe which would draw troops from the NATO Response Force (NRF).
Further pursuing the path south and east along the Russian border, the Chief Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Ihor Tenyukh, announced that the annual US-led Sea Breeze NATO military exercises in Crimea would "be of a larger scale regarding the strength and number of military personnel" than any of its predecessors.
His claim was made within weeks of the signing of the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership.
At the Krakow, Poland meeting of NATO defense chiefs on February 20 the Alliance's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer pledged that "NATO remains ready to assist Ukraine in undertaking comprehensive reforms in its defence and security structures. We are determined to continue to develop this strategic partnership."
Down the Black Sea coast, NATO's annual Cooperative Longbow/ Cooperative Lancer month-long Caucasus military exercises are to be held in Georgia starting on May 3 and as the Georgian Times reported "Georgia’s participation in NATO trainings is seen as the first serious step NATO has taken after the August conflict and the subsequent creation of the NATO-Georgian Commission in September."
900 troops from 23 nations will participate in the exercises.
Two weeks ago US defense chief Gates reiterated that the Pentagon has a "continuing security relationship with Georgia both bilaterally and through NATO-Georgia Commission" and according to Civil Georgia "We're involved in training. We are involved in military reform in Georgia."
On the western end of the Black Sea directly across from Georgia - and Russia - the US has begun the two-week Thracian Spring 2009 joint air and infantry exercises with the Bulgarian armed forces, starting at the US's newly acquired Bezmer airbase.
Two weeks ago the US European Command spoke of its expanding military presence in Bulgaria and its Black Sea neighbor Romania: "It is larger in scale than it has been in previous years and we think that is an important consideration. If our current plans hold, we'll cycle a number of U.S. companies through both Romania and Bulgaria under battalion-level leadership to partner with the Bulgarians and the Romanians for the training that will occur roughly from July through October. So a larger presence and for a longer period of time...."
Southeast of Georgia and on Russia's southern flank, US Central Command chief David Petraeus announced that Azerbaijan would be used as a transit route for NATO arms headed to the Afghan war theater. The US has also ordered more Azerbaijani troops deployed there to serve under NATO command and the US Missile Defense Agency is considering expanding its global missile shield program to include what is now a Russian surveillance base in Garbala, Azerbaijan.
Indeed, in late February former US National Security Adviser and arch-Russophobe Zbigniew Brzezinski stated, "We should work so that Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan do not become victims of the US-Russia dialogue....We should do everything to defend these countries."
Proceeding steadily toward the east, the Pentagon and NATO have recently secured transit rights for the Afghan war with Kazakhstan, which borders both Russia and China.
A year ago the US Defense Department signed a military treaty with Kazakhstan, and as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Mitchell Shivers vowed, "As a member of NATO, the U.S. is committed to helping Kazakhstan in improving its inter-operability with equipment and training to U.S. and NATO standards."
In 2006 the Pentagon held a military exercise in Mongolia, Khaan Quest 2006, which also borders Russia and China.
At the far opposite end of Russia from where this survey began, the Barents Sea, the US has begun ICEX-2009 by deploying nuclear submarines for simulated warfare exercises off the coast of Alaska and into the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The last such exercise, in 2007, included US and British nuclear submarines maneuvering under the polar ice cap.
Several days earlier the chief of the Russian general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, warned that "Russia will respond to any attempts to militarize the Arctic," as Reuters reported.
A news dispatch of two days ago mentioned a recent poll that demonstrated half of all Russian adults fear military aggression from foreign nations. Small wonder, notwithstanding ingenuous blandishments from the likes of Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates.
===========================
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==============================
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
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http://www.space4peace.org
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http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/37752
Recent Words Aside, US Continues Military Encirclement Of Russia
By Rick Rozoff
Stop NATO, March 7, 2009
American Vice-President Joseph Biden at the Munich Security Conference in early February pledged to "press the reset button" with Russia.
Since then prominent Washington officials have repeated their intention to reset, reboot and so forth relations with Russia but have, starting with Biden at Munich, not relented in any substantive manner on any of the behaviors and projects that have antagonized Moscow.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently and American President Obama is to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev n London early next month.
Russia has permitted the US and its NATO allies transit rights for non-military goods to assist the West's expanding war in South Asia, though in the process is abetting the extension of the NATO military nexus from the Baltic to the Black to the Caspian Seas and hence tightening the noose around its own neck.
How are the US and NATO demonstrating their supposed resolve to mend ties with Russia, not in words but in deeds?
Starting at Russia's northwestern most border and proceeding counter-clockwise, in the following manner:
In nine days NATO will commence a ten-day military exercise, Cold Response 2009, consisting of 7,000 troops from thirteen nations in northern Norway, off the coast of the Norwegian Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea and the Russian coast.
It will be a full spectrum exercise with land, naval and air forces simulating an 'emergency' military intervention.
The Barents Observer reports:
"This year, about 700 of the participants are special forces.
The [imaginary] conflict increased in 2008 when Northland attacked and occupied Midland. After a cease-fire Northland withdraws its forces and a power vacuum which NATO has to fill, occurred."
Moving slightly southwest, NATO has just completed the four-day Baltic Host 2009 exercise in Estonia, which Russia's Novosti described as involving "a series of scenarios simulating the arrival and deployment of NATO troops in a member country."
Participating in the war games were forces from the United States, Britain, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in "the first exercise of this type in the Baltic region, which could become a regular event in the future to improve interoperability between NATO troops."
Continuing southward, nine days ago Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and insisted that American Patriot missiles would be deployed in his country.
The new US Patriot PAC-3 missile covers seven times the area of the original model and has double the range, enabling such missiles in Poland to hit Russian territory in the Kaliningrad region.
Two weeks ago US Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed a pact with his Polish opposite number Defense Minister Bogdan Klich "to bolster Poland's special forces and enhance how it operates within the NATO military command structure" as the US armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.
This was two days after Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski said, as quoted by Interfax-Ukraine, "that there is much more of a discussion right now within the alliance [NATO], to a large extent because many partners realize that the enemy unfortunately can be much closer to our borders" and "We have to take this into account when we plan the future of the alliance."
At the same time NATO announced that it was going to establish a permanent military force in Eastern Europe which would draw troops from the NATO Response Force (NRF).
Further pursuing the path south and east along the Russian border, the Chief Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Ihor Tenyukh, announced that the annual US-led Sea Breeze NATO military exercises in Crimea would "be of a larger scale regarding the strength and number of military personnel" than any of its predecessors.
His claim was made within weeks of the signing of the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership.
At the Krakow, Poland meeting of NATO defense chiefs on February 20 the Alliance's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer pledged that "NATO remains ready to assist Ukraine in undertaking comprehensive reforms in its defence and security structures. We are determined to continue to develop this strategic partnership."
Down the Black Sea coast, NATO's annual Cooperative Longbow/ Cooperative Lancer month-long Caucasus military exercises are to be held in Georgia starting on May 3 and as the Georgian Times reported "Georgia’s participation in NATO trainings is seen as the first serious step NATO has taken after the August conflict and the subsequent creation of the NATO-Georgian Commission in September."
900 troops from 23 nations will participate in the exercises.
Two weeks ago US defense chief Gates reiterated that the Pentagon has a "continuing security relationship with Georgia both bilaterally and through NATO-Georgia Commission" and according to Civil Georgia "We're involved in training. We are involved in military reform in Georgia."
On the western end of the Black Sea directly across from Georgia - and Russia - the US has begun the two-week Thracian Spring 2009 joint air and infantry exercises with the Bulgarian armed forces, starting at the US's newly acquired Bezmer airbase.
Two weeks ago the US European Command spoke of its expanding military presence in Bulgaria and its Black Sea neighbor Romania: "It is larger in scale than it has been in previous years and we think that is an important consideration. If our current plans hold, we'll cycle a number of U.S. companies through both Romania and Bulgaria under battalion-level leadership to partner with the Bulgarians and the Romanians for the training that will occur roughly from July through October. So a larger presence and for a longer period of time...."
Southeast of Georgia and on Russia's southern flank, US Central Command chief David Petraeus announced that Azerbaijan would be used as a transit route for NATO arms headed to the Afghan war theater. The US has also ordered more Azerbaijani troops deployed there to serve under NATO command and the US Missile Defense Agency is considering expanding its global missile shield program to include what is now a Russian surveillance base in Garbala, Azerbaijan.
Indeed, in late February former US National Security Adviser and arch-Russophobe Zbigniew Brzezinski stated, "We should work so that Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan do not become victims of the US-Russia dialogue....We should do everything to defend these countries."
Proceeding steadily toward the east, the Pentagon and NATO have recently secured transit rights for the Afghan war with Kazakhstan, which borders both Russia and China.
A year ago the US Defense Department signed a military treaty with Kazakhstan, and as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Mitchell Shivers vowed, "As a member of NATO, the U.S. is committed to helping Kazakhstan in improving its inter-operability with equipment and training to U.S. and NATO standards."
In 2006 the Pentagon held a military exercise in Mongolia, Khaan Quest 2006, which also borders Russia and China.
At the far opposite end of Russia from where this survey began, the Barents Sea, the US has begun ICEX-2009 by deploying nuclear submarines for simulated warfare exercises off the coast of Alaska and into the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The last such exercise, in 2007, included US and British nuclear submarines maneuvering under the polar ice cap.
Several days earlier the chief of the Russian general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, warned that "Russia will respond to any attempts to militarize the Arctic," as Reuters reported.
A news dispatch of two days ago mentioned a recent poll that demonstrated half of all Russian adults fear military aggression from foreign nations. Small wonder, notwithstanding ingenuous blandishments from the likes of Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates.
===========================
Stop NATO
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==============================
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)
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![[URGENT PLEA: In Update] EMERGENCY in GANGJEONG Since AUG. 24, 2011](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvpaNf6EePZVucu97_JphYsFS5IgumnSiA4YAmen1PZcim6vMmW7XjZ7J6nLh-Cu36mwBN5n1evrA3ey0vYMpwlAGsgnSFggv6a1w4Qx9BvvqOB0hy0BIcBkL2Exfs3zIxBsBuDGa1kzg/s227/jejusit.jpg)
![[Solidarity from Japan for the Jeju] 253 individuals and 16 groups/organizations](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivji7100kBkr0hzvqYfh4IBBilkZ6XgDIg89jOxS6kTssxsVKC6Wm-fZbKOEsiy3zcO-9gW6GHspD5R_2C9WsGx5S1Z5VPj_OVRF7H6dxdaT0S-2H1eqsDsYvIwOV26VscxTHnKmP5iZmh/s227/jeju_12_10j.jpg)
![[Translation] Korean organizations' statement: Immediately cancel the joint ROK-US drill Nov 26](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKDMo-qyEjm5asUtHlREyJY_5Ou-2tyB8SH6aUxiViRbbKR-8W_rirFiGp5DYSoD_KaeNOPMWR0af0ZPUIbJKmR89ImDvADHsGAIqsJVBvJNBEIl5wLd3G_zhPDW3Z2SxsHXadOsXe8st/s227/1.jpg)
![HOT! [Hankyoreh Hani TV] Beneath the Surface: the investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80rL3Qv9GnfHSqbYMfivdqX5gZN-1O_VQj3A_Gk3yjWdybHwJCsprA3l6cEQB0cYCP2oNeaLo2ohLGIy0Uqqkv_fRkBevGJ2f-qkKD5eP1ZGsKeQ-r-jHUUb79WvucIN7hpEtXza4xXCL/s227/HaniTV+Cheonan.gif)
![[Translation]Statement against illegal inspection and unjust lay-off by the Kunsan USAFK!(Nov_2010)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JlQ-lreusCIJo5Yv2e3ZrRwrSMUE7UQxlrDVjmBehl0Pa24QZIAbZ5vUpgnnExbkKL9PdCwxVYSHWJkr_XK0FM4EhU3CMFhqfborVNu_p4v3bEFpNm3ia-aEHnvMMuEBI27aB7_BETuJ/s227/gunsan+protest.gif)
![[Translation] Korean organizations' statement against dispatching special force to the UAE on Nov.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7TNhTDLLwZkKP0Z78JsCZKp6je-QSFll3_ThmLES_y_nPLXEzeakrsZXoNxhN5blopEhy6xGV2tneJrniPdTR-JvOQMmSLr_HhlucxFvbusxk4oKvvMO2laBOHSIkB9OOeOxrQlqCA0O/s227/antiwarpeace.jpg)
![[Translation] Stop, Joining MD!: South Korean activists' statement and writing on Oct. 25, 2010](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGIHVei8j7LCJPJB5HIrspd942q436daNTquP-pFd45Cl70Ml_1JFiFDHgKu6FcoqNgFVKIFqjeuSPau2k_BwGHhx0cqFFL2-4ybZSTlmua0_AsERBtKYQa7jZk7uNj41LX6rj2vksHbo/s227/StopMD.jpg)
![[In Update] People First, NO G-20 (Nov. 6 to 12, Korea)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZl8VTqeL7o2ndliGIE-sZFCikbTgfB9KCc3AtZvDaYijBBEhdfultMEOpyrCaD5gzpH8mqfWjU20KXMbSUl-5KM7yQeHU6z3BWV8tiOy4UKaCudz9VKWoi5x58xdC_gQpJTjkR5u7O9xf/s227/left21_G20.jpg)
![[International Petition] Stop US helipad plan in Okinawa to save great nature](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgYmdb0N8ViPvTFC_5i-Psbt4eX_LnAUEOtZkUngv_pGvRyWag1r6W60NicLLyTgWq-sPT1hBxLY5SadEIVv5McfZQ5uIhe-W0VoflQNqojsYZjFW6AH-gB1jsmSDGnGuKIFk2UkvNbFG/s227/yanbaru_w.jpg)
![[Global Network] against the first launch of Quasi-Zenith Satellite, Japan, on Sept. 11, 2010](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2sYpfodDDMIA7qXwuda0DmKapxXFB479fDnn8RKy7QNZqz0VEvWucNd-DleZ37hWNXC-Z8QtaqtM37VuPwac5SgclJ9_khBBSWOedvm19MRXIP1j1kcWrK6EW5IFjQdEEY2h7E6xuyNvC/s227/Qzss-45-0_09.jpg)
![[In update] Some collections on the Koreans’ protests against the sanction & war on Iran](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gnM5QlRx-4c/TJMvke6t8zI/AAAAAAAAFO4/tamQ8LUnOOA/S227/No+Sanction+on+Iran.jpg)
![[Three International Petitions] to End the Korean war and peace treaty(or peace resolution)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlohLVYtpCg7iMsZhNYY4hBbhTi2dIheHMHWLDph9X2y78cjgZV1LeSfUJeu80elhJm70Q9E059q72lK-spSPvsRG4bPuCDIytltJB9IH3mWt9OG98HqhnTsPakwhvNeoCFUgF1xoxQ2EZ/s227/border.jpg)
![[Collection of Documents] No Base Learning and Solidarity Program_Korea(June 14 to 20, 2010)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix_HzjToh3nNGHBc-_5gasq-ykcaZ6GInLixILmZVyRJ5xoeHCxWOyYd9fSM7bmnuFsjSrYOGEPnQOwB1Dcyo-sN4Pw0cFPhUtKig_qlVnGL1Wi82ClvPqbEPWYhJiqdNF0DyzLIBETMB9/s227/No-Base-banner.jpg)
![Site Fwd:[John Hines] A U.S. Debate coach’s research trip on the Issues of Korea](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yRra0zNhKHN74Auqhd3Nx9tZ7BWCGflRJHGH4CfzBT_yjhZ8Nl9b3OZuLpYWJ2exsjmR0oVl-Qq_cf832p2VdmOZhUi-lCFzCNeDSyVtweX1lWZPC-RlHmDMLtilHwHjNFTenBiM4Fk4/s227/Jeju-Peace-Tour.jpg)
![[News Update] Struggle Against the Jeju Naval Base since Jan. 18, 2010](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfSTRC5QKBBSFIq_m7QIqXdlbL4-gF5GJYn9Q-pN__k7sV7uxGDcLY5L8xmU7QuWuUhBT_GhG-URBPO80RT3AfWfDrWJr06h1hFuZC6ZBVKe4U6PS1Cd7Kr6olO8TYQtk13Drox7IS6ea/s226/scrum1.jpg)
![[Urgent] Please spread the Letter!: There was no Explosion! There was no Torpedo! (May 26, 2010)](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSd2yWZ3xGwnJQXB73z5FgXCqSosAoB9_33-GLYprOmLqjmvgSAQp1BYI7e4slK1FDxHRi9KK4um-OpDaj8QOkXwAScVAgvvq6-ehbDA-hbkr96wT9oHNNmWnBPv8GU4hoZp9X8F9AZBX4/s227/grounded.jpg)
![Text Fwd: [Stephen Gowans]The sinking of the Cheonan: Another Gulf of Tonkin incident](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_L6hB3RZ1MovTXHe0A8yn_RfgMALGR0kM6poBuGp809xwvHtB_-PGWtS_WpyPWatyd9lB2pPqL2gOLc4dTCEdJ9sMvxJWEdapl-mMLm7WHAsV-jVpgqarVh8XBtdz_0c-Vohdh3HtJahD/s227/lee-myung-bak.jpg)
![[Japan Focus]Politics in Command: The "International" Investigation into the Sinking of the Cheonan](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmTo8v-uCJnabRhMdnBAkC9J3s5bb2JsDKiT5leJHwbK8IDJHxfJmqQ_C0Is_bPC6UGMf05CA0exF2y4r2x9RhFUHT0kjsKviaME_MZXKnq775UyYAdb7w2SAzE75XvBfHp1al2q6i3cf/s227/wen_jiabao_and_lee_myungbak.png)
![[Japan Focus] Who Sank the SK Warship Cheonan? A New Stage in the US-Korean War and US-China](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKSS5ULT5QBaMGYpXXqBMX9jtwLwMLuK469b6Ku72GTJYKUObzTANaPjZqvvpPzYMJgPF53sjhvhK3DVa88ipYlggsJageykXlkxY6s8TW05xcU-_vfhf-pACUoaWuFbT-fsU1qEhm_yIi/s227/buoy_map.gif)
![[Updated on 12/13/10] [Translation Project] Overseas Proofs on the Damages by the Military Bases](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikADE6JovUNspQyZUWVMTLAQg7yQNqXpVUbqZPk8f4uc_1723_xm1Cco6WAmstQXVPnaJAcb1mZA8Ny_3xONT_f5uh8MNLPnUhtqdGgy3HCtC1Vbbz4Q0ZY1Cssu-4cJEVNdrvznbS5UzO/s227/missile.jpg)
![[International Petition] Close the Bases in Okinawa](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpQiHklwFbWVlFK7GDFXnBSOOSFEj3Il-We-N3uTDldKiidL2NGZs7X_LtTnatzTo_r8CexRkFe8NhfxYqmgp1knEEslROTfNjI5_mSb57cdbhPkftvanveYBaevAD9xuKDGoIxiTwoSb/s227/2.jpg)
![[In Update]Blog Collection: No Korean Troops in Afghanistan](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjEmCRXSNAG7_QBxKWbdksmxoWR4nyAovQTTdR1G2AuXh0jxtqNkI9OmYgYWRoLAJShvtBvE840QXuBWSVh3u3zMYqkNAFX6OWy3m5Nur4HM7uNK-pKT1ycyApJp-VLyhIFRRcoisYAh0E/s226/No-Troops-to--Afghanistan.jpg)
