Yaw and Mog

Former US diplomats protest at the nomination of John Bolton: They described Mr Bolton, a known critic of the UN, as “the wrong man” for the job. They urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to block his appointment. Chief among the objections was Mr Bolton’s stated view that the UN “is valuable only when it directly serves the United States”.

War Planes for Pakistan: President Bush has taken the gamble of using weapons sales as rewards for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s cooperation on matters that appear to be more important to the administration than stability on the Asian subcontinent. Bush may also be acting to keep the plane’s producer, Lockheed-Martin, from closing down its production line.

Schiavo nearing death in Florida after legal battle: Lobbied by evangelical Christians who have felt emboldened since Bush’s re-election last November, the Republican-controlled Congress raced through a special law to push the case into federal courts, and the president interrupted a vacation to sign it into law.

Congress’ effort was assailed by critics as meddling in a family affair that had already been decided by state courts. Opinion polls showed most Americans disapproved of the congressional move and felt Schiavo should be allowed to die.

Greg Palast’s BBC Report on the Secret Plan: The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq’s oil long before the 9/11 attack, BBC’s Newsnight has revealed. Insiders told Newsnight that planning began ‘within weeks’ of Bush’s first taking office in 2001. Drafted just before the invasion in 2003, which called for the sell-off of all of Iraq’s oil fields, the new plan was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq’s oil to destroy the Opec cartel through massive increases in production above Opec quotas.

Iraq Action ‘Crime of Aggression’
The Campaign Against Opposition to American Domination (Barry McNamara)

  How we feel about the world depends completely on how our mind thinks. If our mind believes that the world is dirty and ugly, then we will focus on the part that is dirty and ugly. If our mind believes that the world is wonderful, then we will see the wonder.

A gentle breeze, a blossoming flower, messages signalling the arrival of spring… If our mind is pure, any place it contacts will be as pure.

source no. 5, p 45

Petition Roll Call: Please support a petition to stop the American government from further destroying the environment.

• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 19 million acres comprise one of the last places on earth where an intact expanse of arctic and sub arctic lands remains protected.

• Drilling in the Arctic Refuge can’t make even a small dent in meeting America’s energy needs. U.S. Geological Survey scientists estimate that there is very likely only enough oil to supply America’s needs for six months. And oil companies admit that, even that, won’t be available for at least 10 years.

• An irreplaceable natural treasure, the Arctic Refuge is home to caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, wolves, golden eagles, snow geese and more. Millions of other birds use the Arctic Refuge to nest and as a critical staging area on their migratory journeys.

• Of course, the Arctic Refuge supports more than wildlife. For a thousand generations, the Gwich’in people of Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada have depended on it and lived in harmony with it. To them, the Arctic Coastal Plain is sacred ground.
(more…)

Vain and Hasty judgments seem to be in the making at the office of Prime Minister Koizumi. The Japanese Head of State wants to launch a pre-emptive war against North Korea because it is developing a missile programme and nuclear bomb capabilities.

I think this is a case of: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

True, Bush administration officials have stated that they want to solve through diplomacy the crisis created by North Korea’s resumption of its nuclear weapons program. But those same officials have stressed that all options, including the use of military force, remain on the table. When South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun came to the United States in May, he sought an assurance that the controversial doctrine of preemptive war embedded in the administration’s national security strategy would not apply to North Korea.. U.S. officials rebuffed his request. — Are We Headed for War with North Korea?

Two countries pointing a gun at each other. One asks the other to put his weapon down. He says, no. Do the Americans think that North Korea can be so naive as to put his weapon down first when he extends an olive branch to the Americans?

Koizumi jumps in with: North Korea is a threat and they are targeting us (vanity knows no bounds). But for North Korea, it is Japan that is the threat because it is an ally of the United States and North Korea’s defense policy is aimed at the United States.

American propaganda machinery will try to ensure that Japan sees otherwise because their economy depends so much on the “barter trade” they have with Japan (see series of posts on: Deficit Politics), ie the gangland-type arrangement of dollars in exchange for protection.

So why does Koizumi want to jeopardise the lives of the Japanese people for by coming into the fray with a gun also pointed at them? Does not Japan remember the War it initiated in Asia? Forced “Co-prosperity” by attacking sovereign nations? Does not Japan remember that they provoked the United States to joining the War by bombing Pearl Harbour? No more nuclear bombs, you say, but do you not remember that you had brought this on yourself?

North Korea’s military stance, in my assessment, is not for provocation purposes but for defence. They have a form of government that the Western world does not abide with, and a difference in ideologies is not a rational reason for going to war.

Japan, War and North Korea

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Tokyo remembers 1945 bombing raid

    The body of an Italian secret service agent shot by US forces in Iraq moments after rescuing a hostage has returned to Italian soil.

51-year-old Nicola Calipari died as he shielded journalist Giuliana Sgrena from gunshots fired towards their car.

He had led the efforts to negotiate the release of the correspondent, held captive in Iraq for over a month.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Body of Italy agent returns home

Italian journalist doesn’t rule out that U.S. troops shot at her deliberately

Outrage as US soldiers kill hostage rescue hero

Then…

History of Chile: Allende, in an attempt to turn Chile into a socialist state, nationalised many private companies and instituted programs of land reform. In September 1973, with covert American support, the armed forces staged a coup that resulted in Allende’s death and in the execution, detention, or expulsion from Chile of thousands of people.

and Now…

Land Reform in Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is pushing full speed ahead with land reform, an issue that has been one of the most divisive and perennially debated topics in Latin America.

Relations between Washington and Venezuela – which exports the bulk of its oil to the US – have been badly strained since Chavez last month accused Washington of plotting to have him assassinated.

Chavez: US Wants Me Assassinated

… and Still Now.

The United States in the Philippines: …a new global security framework gives the United States guarantees not only for the entrenchment and expansion of its various military installations but also for armed intervention whenever and wherever threats to U.S. vital interests occur.

Former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali held the US administration accountable for the rising wave of terrorism, saying Washington’s unilateral approach has fuelled civil wars across the world.

US Behind Global Terrorism

The Campaign Against Opposition to American Domination (Barry McNamara)

If for our own happiness we hurt others who are also pursuing happiness, we will not be able to gain serenity in the future. If we pursue our own happiness and do not hurt others who are also pursuing happiness, in the future, we will definitely receive the happiness that we have been seeking.

People should not step on the bodies of others to accomplish their own goals. In pursuit of happiness, people should not walk on top of the pain of others. In pursuit of abundance, people should not build their gains on the loss of others.

Sayings of Buddha interpreted by Tsai Chih Chung (AsiaPac Books, 1998)