[Jeju Update] Gangjeong Villagers Have the Talk Meeting with the New Seogwipo Mayor

* Image source: Same as the link below

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# See the related blogs on the issues of the coercive land expropriation and the position of the villagers
강압적 토지 수용 및 강정 주민들 입장 관련 이슈 블로그들
April 19, June 9, June 10, June 17, June 26, July 6 (1) and July 6(2)
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# See all the blogs on the Jeju naval Base Issue (151 on the date of July 9, 2010)
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* Below is the arbitrary translation of the part of the linked article.

According to the Jeju media such as the Seogwipo Daily Newspaper (Han Hyung-Jin, July 8, 2010), Koh Chang-Hoo, the new mayor of the City of Seogwipo where the Gangjeong village belongs to, visited the Gangjeong village on July 7, 2010.

Roughly 80 people including about 50 villagers, City hall personnel, and press filled the village community center.

While the villagers demanded him to settle the naval base issue, based on the views of the villagers, the new mayor explained the reason of his neutrality, saying that, “ If I stood only for one side, nobody would trust me therefore the issue cannot be solved.”

He said, “I have already met the navy personnel and will see the villagers in favor of [the naval base plan, as well.”

According to the mayor, Koh, meeting with the navy personnel after his inauguration, he officially requested to the navy to cancel the investigations on the indictments & accusations between the navy and the villagers. He also added that, “There would be the navy’s conversed measure in time.”

Following it, he told that, “ You should not think you would win 100% in this struggle. I hope that you would seek for the most reasonable and realistic measure in our [* Who is ‘our?] position.”

Related to it, mayor Koh expressing that, “Even though there remain some administrative procedures (related to the naval base construction), because the Kim Tae-Hwan's former Island government has so well cooperated with the navy, it is the situation that there is ‘no proper way for the repel,’ therefore unfortunately, the possibilities of the enforcement remains.”

However, saying that “There would never be the cases that the naval base construction is enforced,” he resolutely told that, “I have no plan to escape from the issue after only pretension. I will not give up my role despite the difficulties and hardships in the settlement of the issue.”

[국문 번역] Text & Video Fwd: Master of Space video on-line

* Text sent from Bruce Gagnon on July 8, 2010
2010 년 7월 8일 브루스 개그논 보냄

http://vimeo.com/13163912

The Nature of Things - Masters of Space
사물의 본성들-우주의 지배자

The link just above will take you to the new Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) show called The Nature of Things with David Suzuki (a Japanese Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist) - seen by more than 1 million viewers. He used lots of footage from the new documentary Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space. The new film features several leaders from the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

위의 링크는 백만 관람객 이상이 보는, 데이비드 수주키(재 캐나다 일본 학자, 과학 방송인, 그리고 환경 활동가인)와 함께 하는 '사물의 본성들'이란 새로운 캐나다 방송 기업(CBC) 쇼이다. 그는 새로운 다큐멘타리 '미국의 지배에 의한 평화와 우주의 무기화'에서 많은 장면들을 썼다. ' 새로운 영화는 우주의 무기와 핵을 반대하는 글로벌 넷워크'의 몇몇 지도자들을 선보인다.

Just over fifty years ago, the first satellite was spun into orbit. Space filled us with optimism and awe. But were we in fact just staking out a new war zone? Space weapons feature prominently in science fiction, but how close are we to seeing real weapons systems in space? Today, 1,000 active satellites are officially recorded as circling the earth. Most countries use satellite technology. And 45 nations own their own orbiting satellites. By shutting down a few satellites, the infrastructure of an entire country or continent can be paralyzed.

단지 50년 전에 첫번째 위성이 궤도에 놓여졌다. 우주는 우리를 낙천주의와 경외로 채웠다. 그러나 우리는 단지 새로운 전쟁 구역에 대해서만 말하고 있는가? 우주 무기는 과학 소설에 두드러지게 나오나 우리는 얼마나 우주에서 진짜 무기를 보는데 가까이 있는가? 오는날 천개의 활동하는 위성들이 지구를 도는 것으로 공식적으로 기록되어 있다. 대부분의 나라들은 위성 기술을 사용한다. 그리고 45개 국가들이 그들 자신의 궤도 위성을 소유한다. 몇 개의 위성들을 폐쇄시킴으로써 한 나라 전체 또는 대륙의 하부 구조가 마비될 수 있다.

Now, the United States is the Master of Space. It dominates as the owner and user of space systems, both civilian and military. "Full spectrum dominance" - control and dominance of land, sea, air and, more recently, space, is still the goal of some within the U.S. Defense Department. But what are the realities behind these aims? Trying to track down what the Defense Department is spending on space weapons projects is a tricky business.

지금 미국은 우주의 지배자이다. 그것은 민간이건 군사이건 우주 시스템의 소유자이자 사용자로 지배한다. “전방위적 지배”-육지, 바다, 공기, 그리고 최근 우주는 미 국방부 내 몇 [업무의] 목표이다. 그러나 이 목표들 뒤의 현실은 무엇인가? 국방부가 우주 무기들 프로젝트들에 지출하는 것을 추적하는 일은 종잡을 수 없는 일이다.

When Hitler had the first V2 missile launched in 1944, the weapons race in space officially began. Masters of Space is the saga of the emerging competition between the major industrial nations to control space and the fine line between space-faring and space warfare.

히틀러가 1944년 첫번째 V2 미사일을 발사했을 때 우주에서의 무기 경쟁은 공식적으로 시작되었다. 우주의 지배자는 우주를 통제하기 위한 주요 산업 국가들의 떠오르는 경쟁의 서사이자 우주 운임과 우주 전쟁간 미세한 선이다.

With unprecedented access to present and former US military personnel, and insights from anti-weapons activists, as well as military analysts, Masters of Space explores space as a "new arena for war."

현재 및 전 미국 군대 인사들에 대한 전례없는 접근, 그리고 무기 반대 활동가들의 안목으로부터 우주의 지배자는 “전쟁을 위한 새로운 경기장”으로 우주를 탐험한다.

Masters of Space (and Pax Americana) is directed by Denis Delestrac for Lowik Media and Coptor Productions.

우주의 지배자 (그리고 미국의 지배에 의한 평화)는 로우윅 미디아와 콥터 프로덕션이 제작하고 데이스 델레스트락이 감독했다.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
globalnet@mindspring.com
www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/ (blog)

Text Fwd: China Urges South Korea To Refrain From War Games With U.S.

* Text sent from Rick Rozoff on July 9, 2010

Chosun Ilbo

July 8, 2010

Beijing Urges Seoul to Refrain from West Sea Drill

* Chosun Ilbo is one of the most conservative media in South Korea.
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-[T]he scale and the timing of the exercise could be adjusted if China makes some concessions. A senior presidential official hinted at a link between UNSC sanctions against the North and the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise....

-A flotilla of the Seventh U.S. Fleet, including the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered submarine and an Aegis destroyer, and the South Korean Navy's destroyers and submarines were to participate in the joint exercise.

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China has asked the South Korean government through a diplomatic channel to refrain from a join exercise with the U.S. in the West Sea [Yellow Sea] this month. The anti-submarine drill is planned as a response to North Korea's torpedo attack on the Navy corvette Cheonan.

A government official said the country will not consider canceling or changing the joint exercise plan. "A military exercise in our territorial waters is a matter of our own sovereignty," he said. A diplomatic source said Beijing asked Seoul to refrain from the exercise for fear that it "might destabilize the Korean Peninsula."

The state-controlled Chinese media have been slamming the planned exercise. The Global Times, a sister newspaper of the official People's Daily, in an unusually harshly worded front-page story on Wednesday said Seoul has "delusions" of putting pressure on Beijing through the exercise.

"The U.S. and South Korea are using the UN as an excuse to pressure China over its stance on the sinking," the daily quoted a Chinese academic as saying. In an editorial Tuesday, the same paper said the drill is a clear challenge to China's security. "Considering the growing economic, diplomatic, political and cultural ties the U.S. has with China, the price the U.S. has to pay for its irresponsible decision will be higher than it can envision now. If the U.S. does not pay for this 'adventure' now, it will pay in the future," it added.

'A Chinese Navy ship fires a missile during a live fire exercise in the East China Sea early this month. /Xinhua-Yonhap'

A South Korean government official said, "Just as China staged a live fire exercise in the East China Sea on June 30, the two allies Korea and the U.S. are staging a drill in our territorial waters. It's a matter of sovereignty that nobody can interfere with. We can't cancel the plan just because China is protesting."

But some officials say the plan may be slightly adjusted depending on what position China takes when the UNSC makes a decision over the Cheonan sinking. China is against any attempts at the UNSC to put the blame on North Korea or describe the sinking as an "attack" in any official statement. If the UNSC fails to come up with a chairman's statement strongly condemning the North, South Korea and the U.S. will consider taking separate action against the North, including financial sanctions. But the scale and the timing of the exercise could be adjusted if China makes some concessions.

A senior presidential official hinted at a link between UNSC sanctions against the North and the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, although he said that the joint exercise is not to be traded for such sanctions. "We're trying not to irritate China through the exercise," he said.

The drill was originally scheduled for late June and early July. After an inquiry found in late May that the Cheonan had been attacked by the North, the two countries intended to stage a show of force against the North.

A flotilla of the Seventh U.S. Fleet, including the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered submarine and an Aegis destroyer, and the South Korean Navy's destroyers and submarines were to participate in the joint exercise. But the plan was delayed due to Chinese protests and the UNSC's failure to come up with a strong response to the sinking.

'The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Michigan is docked at Busan Naval Operations Base late last month. /Courtesy of the website of the U.S. Navy'

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Stop NATO
Blog site:

Text Fwd: U.S. Missiles Deployed Near China Send Message

* Image source: same as the link: The U.S.S. Ohio, a guided-missile submarine, moors at a harbor in Pusan, South Korea, on Feb. 21, 2008 (Choi Jae-Ho / AFP / Getty Images)

* Text sent from Rick Rozoff on July 8, 2010

Times Magazine
July 8, 2010
U.S. Missiles Deployed Near China Send a Message
By Mark Thompson
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-The 14 Trident-carrying subs are useful in the unlikely event of a nuclear Armageddon, and Russia remains their prime target. But the Tomahawk-outfitted quartet carries a weapon that the U.S. military has used repeatedly against targets in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and Sudan.
That's why alarm bells would have sounded in Beijing June 28 when the Tomahawk-laden 560-foot USS Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. More alarms likely were sounded when the USS Michigan arrived in Pusan, South Korea, the same day....The Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 additional Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood....The move forms part of a policy by the U.S. government to shift firepower from the Atlantic to the Pacific theater, which Washington sees as the military focus of the 21st Century.
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Washington: If China's satellites and spies were working properly, there was a flood of unsettling intelligence flowing into the Beijing headquarters of the Chinese Navy last week. A new class of U.S. super weapon had suddenly surfaced nearby. It was an Ohio-class submarine, which for decades carried only nuclear missiles targeted against the Soviet Union, and then Russia. But this one was different: for nearly three years, the U.S. Navy has been dispatching modified "boomers" to who knows where (they do travel underwater, after all). Four of the 18 ballistic-missile subs no longer carry nuclear-tipped Trident missiles. Instead, they now hold up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, capable of hitting anything within 1,000 miles with non-nuclear warheads.

Their capability makes watching these particular submarines especially interesting. The 14 Trident-carrying subs are useful in the unlikely event of a nuclear Armageddon, and Russia remains their prime target. But the Tomahawk-outfitted quartet carries a weapon that the U.S. military has used repeatedly against targets in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq and Sudan.
(See pictures of the U.S. military in the Pacific.)

That's why alarm bells would have sounded in Beijing June 28 when the Tomahawk-laden 560-foot USS Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. More alarms likely were sounded when the USS Michigan arrived in Pusan, South Korea, the same day. And the klaxons would have maxed out as the USS Florida surfaced the same day at the joint U.S.-British naval base at Diego Garcia, a flyspeck of an island in the Indian Ocean. The Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 additional Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood. "There's been a decision to bolster our forces in the Pacific," says Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "There is no doubt that China will stand up and take notice."

U.S. officials deny any message is being directed at Beijing, saying the Tomahawk triple-play was a coincidence. But they did make sure news of the new deployments appeared in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post — on July 4, no less. The Chinese took notice quietly. "At present, common aspirations of countries in the Asian and Pacific regions are seeking for peace, stability and regional security," Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Wednesday. "We hope the relevant U.S. military activities will serve for the regional peace, stability and security, and not the contrary."
(See pictures of the most expensive military planes.)

Last month, the Navy had announced that all four of the Tomahawk Tridents were operationally deployed away from their home ports for the first time. Each vessel packs "the firepower of multiple surface ships," says Capt. Tracy Howard, commander, Submarine Squadron 16 in Kings Bay, Ga., and can "respond to diverse threats on short notice."

The move forms part of a policy by the U.S. government to shift firepower from the Atlantic to the Pacific theater, which Washington sees as the military focus of the 21st Century. Reduced tensions since the end of the Cold War has seen the U.S. scale back its deployment of nuclear weapons, allowing the Navy to reduce its Trident fleet from 18 to 14. (Why 14 subs, as well as bombers and land-based missiles carrying nuclear weapons, are still required to deal with the Russian threat is a topic for another day.)
(See "Obama Shelves U.S. Missile Shield: The Winners and Losers.")

Sure, the Navy could have retired the four additional subs and saved the Pentagon some money, but that's not how bureaucracies operate. Instead, it spent about $4 billion replacing the Tridents with Tomahawks and making room for 60 special-ops troops to live aboard each sub and operate stealthily around the globe. "We're there for weeks, we have the situational awareness of being there, of being part of the environment," Navy Rear Adm. Mark Kenny explained after the first Tomahawk Trident set sail in 2008. "We can detect, classify and locate targets and, if need be, hit them from the same platform."
(Comment on this story.)

The submarines aren't the only new potential issue of concern for the Chinese. Two major military exercises involving the U.S. and its allies in the region are now underway. More than three dozen naval ships and subs began participating in the "Rim of the Pacific" war games off Hawaii on Wednesday. Some 20,000 personnel from 14 nations are involved in the biennial exercise which includes missile exercises and the sinking of three abandoned vessels playing the role of enemy ships. Nations joining the U.S. in what is billed as the world's largest-ever naval war game are Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Peru, Singapore and Thailand. Closer to China, CARAT 2010 — for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training — just got underway off Singapore. The operation involves 17,000 personnel and 73 ships from the U.S., Singapore, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
(See "Hu's Visit: Finding a Way Forward on U.S.-China Relations.")

China is absent from both exercises, and that's no oversight. Many nations in the eastern Pacific, including Australia, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam, have been encouraging the U.S. to push back against what they see as China's increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea. And the U.S. military remains concerned over China's growing missile force — now more than 1,000 — near the Taiwan Strait. The Tomahawks' arrival "is part of a larger effort to bolster our capabilities in the region," Glaser says. "It sends a signal that nobody should rule out our determination to be the balancer in the region that many countries there want us to be." No doubt Beijing got the signal.

See pictures of President Obama visiting Asia.

See "Why Is China Slowing Its Military Spending?"

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Stop NATO
Blog site:

Text Fwd: Italian film questions U.S. troop presence [in Vicenza and Okinawa]

* Text sent from J. D. on July 7, 2010
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Below is the Youtube Video of Standing Army film documentary (Video URL)



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Italian film questions U.S. troop presence

BY SHINYA MINAMISHIMA
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2010/07/07

ROME--Two young Italian filmmakers have posed an intriguing question in a documentary that focuses on a U.S. Army base in their country and touches on the situation in Okinawa Prefecture.

They sought to find out why U.S. troops continue to be deployed worldwide more than six decades after the end of World War II. The documentary "Standing Army" was completed recently by filmmaker Enrico Parenti, 31, and Thomas Fazi, a 28-year-old researcher and translator. The two were first drawn to the topic of the U.S. armed forces through a January 2007 decision by the Italian government to authorize the expansion of a U.S. Army installation in the city of Vicenza, in northern Italy. The base is the home to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and a staging area for troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some 2,750 U.S. soldiers are assigned to the base. Under the expansion plan, an additional 2,000 troops stationed in Germany were to be transferred to Vicenza by 2012. That would make it the largest U.S. military base in Europe.

The filmmakers set out by interviewing local residents opposed to the expansion. Although an opponent to the plan was elected mayor of Vicenza in April 2008, a plebiscite he initiated against the base issue was crushed by a decision by the Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court. According to an unofficial survey of 25,000 residents by the city government, 95 percent opposed the base expansion. Coupled with the fact that 25 countries around the world, aside from Iraq and Afghanistan, now host units with 100 or more U.S. military personnel, with a total 120,000 servicemen and women scattered worldwide, the base expansion prompted the two to seek answers.

Their theme had a special meaning, particularly as Italians remain ambivalent about the continued U.S. presence after Italian fascist forces were defeated by U.S. and British troops in World War II. Many Italians sided with the Allies as part of the partisan movement. Parenti's mother is a U.S. citizen and his maternal grandfather and uncle fought in the Korean War, while Fazi's mother is British, making the issue especially poignant. Through their work with anti-base activists, Parenti and Fazi learned about a similar situation that has been facing an island halfway around the world.

The two traveled to Okinawa Prefecture to see for themselves the situation surrounding the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the city of Ginowan. There, they watched military aircraft taking off and landing, noting that classes at a nearby school were constantly interrupted because of the roar of the engines. Including news footage of the 2004 helicopter crash at the campus of Okinawa International University near the Futenma airfield, the two sought to better understand the situation facing Okinawan residents.

The film, which has been shown at several events in Europe, was released on DVD in June.

Parenti and Fazi say they are hoping to find people willing to help show the movie and distribute the DVD in Japan.

Those interested can contact the two in English or Italian at (info@standingarmy.it).

Text Fwd: Why We Return to Fort Benning, Georgia

* Text sent from Father Roy Bourgeois on July 7, 2010
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* Below is the video of Fr. Roy Bourgeois on Nov. 20, 2008 (URL)

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This November 19-21, we return to Fort Benning because we must.

The martyrs demand it.

Twenty-six years ago, the graduates of the School of Assassins killed my good friend Maura and the other three Church women in El Salvador. It has been 20 years since 14-year-old Celina, her mother Elba and the six Jesuits were killed by SOA grads. It's been five years since it was revealed that instructors at the school worked with the paramilitaries in Colombia. One year has passed since SOA graduates overthrew democracy in Honduras.

The school is still open and the violence continues.

There has been no accountability. The martyrs made the ultimate sacrifice for their resistance. We will not forget the goals they fought for. We must return to Fort Benning to remember them and to recommit ourselves to those same goals. We must return to Fort Benning until this school is closed once and for all. Justice will prevail!

See you at the gates,


Father Roy Bourgeois, M.M.


P.S. Please click here to forward the November 2010 call to action to your family and friends. Mobilize your community to take a stand for justice at the gates of Fort Benning. Following the November Vigil, we will carry our resistance to Washington, DC in April 2011. Please click here to make a donation to support the work of SOA Watch.