10 December 2009
U.S. environmentalists urge Obama to halt construction of Marine Base in Okinawa Japan
Not all of Americans are bad. There are Americans who oppose planned construction of U.S. Marine base in Henoko bay, Okinawa, Japan.
They also oppose Japan's whaling and dolphin hunting. I oppose whaling but not dolphin hunting.
Please read the following news from Mr. Mark J. Palmer, Earth Island.
Kind of good news if it works.
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Copyright 2009 Inside Washington Publishers
All Rights Reserved
Defense Environment Alert
December 8, 2009
SECTION: Vol. 17 No. 25
LENGTH: 523 words
HEADLINE: Environmental Coalition Pressures Obama to Revoke Okinawa Airstrip Plan
BODY:
A major coalition of environmental groups is pressuring the Obama administration to revoke a plan to build a U.S. military airstrip over an ecologically sensitive area in Okinawa that is home to several endangered species, sensing recent political developments may open the door to changes in a U.S.-Japanese agreement to build the facility.
Led by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a multitude of environmental groups representing over 10 million Americans, sent a letter to President Obama Dec. 3 calling on him to retract plans to expand a Marine Corps base in northeast Okinawa because it threatens to destroy habitat for coral reef ecosystems and critically endangered species like the Okinawa dugong, a sacred Japanese icon similar to a manatee. A 2006 bilateral agreement between the United States and Japan would relocate a contentious air station from an urban center in Okinawa to Camp Schwab, located in the northern part of the island.
The new facility is known as the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF).
But high-level talks between the United States and Japan that begun last month signaled the two governments are revisiting the FRF plan, with the new Japanese government, installed in September, having run an election campaign that in part opposed the FRF's siting on Okinawa. Environmentalists saw the changes as a possible opportunity to get the military project moved or scuttled (Defense Environment Alert, Nov. 24).
The new Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, "is a very promising development on this issue" and environmentalists hope "that between the two governments, that they will realize that the current plan would cause unacceptable environmental impacts and change course," says one environmentalist central to the coalition's effort.
"The base plan would devastate dugong habitat in Henoko bay and nearby Oura Bay, and would be extremely harmful to turtles, fish, coral, and other marine life," the coalition of environmental groups say in their letter to Obama.
"The recently elected Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the Democratic Party of Japan have expressed the desire to renegotiate the 2006 agreement and cancel plans to relocate the base. You have the ability and duty to alter the course of this devastating plan, but time is of the essence.
"We urge you to direct the U.S. secretaries of defense and state to cancel this project immediately." The letter is available on InsideEPA.com.
In addition to CBD, other groups signing the letter include Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, Greenpeace and the Endangered Species Coalition, which represents more than 400 organizations.
Environmentalists have long litigated against the Marine Corps' plan to create the FRF on Okinawa, citing concerns the facility would harm the habitat of the dugong. The proposed FRF would extend a 1.5-mile long airstrip over the sea, onto offshore seagrass beds that form the dugong's habitat. The FRF plan is part of a larger U.S. restructuring agreement with Japan that includes moving thousands of Marines and their dependents from Okinawa to be based on Guam (see related story).
21:51 Posted in Ecology, Japan News, Politics, US-Japan relationship | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: okinawa, military
07 December 2009
Is it Obama's strategy to end the war sooner?
US President Barak Obama announced the surge of troops in Afghanistan. It is expected 30 billion more money would be spent for the surge.
It is impossible. The war is failing just like Iraq. Everyone in the U.S. knows. The economy is in very bad shape.
Unemployment rate is over 10%. The public won't support that. No way the budget plan would pass.
That was why he proposed this surge plan. He is very smart man who graduated from very difficult university.
He knows the public answer would be "No. We Can't." What will happen is the budget plan is rejected.
More and more people would be aware of the cost of the war in Afghanistan considering what needs to be done to improve their daily lives.
Once the budget plan is rejected, Obama would announce immediate withdraw of the troops in Afghanistan.
Then the Congress and the public opinion would agree with the immediate pullout plan without hesitation after the shocking and unrealistic surge plan.
At this point, without any shocking hard way measure, Obama cannot persuade the Congress and the public to pull out the troops immediately. There are still people who believe Obama is too liberal. He wants to pretend he is not.
I hope this trickey plan would succeed.
00:11 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: war, military
04 November 2009
Yakuza came to US to get a transplant surgery
One boss of Yakuza, Japanese organized crime mafia came to U.S. to get a transplant liver surgery at UCLA medical center.
According to the CBS 60 Minutes Report, FBI permitted him to enter the U.S. in exchange of information he has and UCLA is thought to have received huge money from him.
Sounds scary!
As this report says Yakuzas are openly walking on the street in Japan. That is a difference from American mobs.
They are from oppressed class of Japanese society like Korean immigrants.
You can't trust the police when it comes to combatting Yakuza. Yakuza bribes them and even politicians.
I hope this brave journalist in the report would survive. His life being threatened because he wrote an article about Yakuza refusing to accept money for not writing the article.
19:38 Posted in Japan News, Politics, US-Japan relationship | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: yakuza, crime
25 October 2009
Trip to Okinawa
The main purpose was to meet people in Okinawa who confronts most unwanted unwelcome environmentally destructive and dangerous facilities in Okinawa. I joined them. If you want to know the detail, please read this article.
The below is the video clip I made for the summary of my Anti-US base tour.
However, I really enjoyed sightseeing and leisure in Okinawa, too. Swimming in emerald green sea, attending a concert on the beach, eating delicous food, forest trecking and seeing magnificient views of the island. This is the most beautiful island in the world only if the US fucking bases are gotten rid of. See the below video clip. That's fun part of Okinawa trip.
Since the Cold War is over, their presence is useless. Potential threat, China? No. China is world's largest owner of U.S. treasury bonds. They can't confront China because they owe Chinese a lot. All they do in Okinawa or other base towns in Japan is spread pollution disease, killing endangered mammals, commiting crimes such as rape and murder.
What are they doing? Go back where they belong, where they are welcome. Not in Okinawa, Not elsewhere in Japan.
19:49 Posted in Ecology, Japan News, Leisure, Politics, Travel, US-Japan relationship, USA issues | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: military, okinawa