tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296375552024-03-13T20:13:18.873-07:00Peace and Justice for Guam and the PacificWhile there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the island’s military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.Michael Lujan Bevacquahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13075510205190074738noreply@blogger.comBlogger3025125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-40118420914539298372017-08-11T06:22:00.001-07:002017-08-11T06:22:22.739-07:00North Korea is threatening to nuke Guam — here’s what the US military has there<div class="sl-layout-post">
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened North Korea with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-north-korea-fire-fury-threats-2017-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196d8d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">"fire and fury"</a> unlike the world had ever seen, and shortly thereafter, Pyongyang responded by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-trump-missile-threat-guam-fire-fury-2017-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196d8d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">saying</a> it might strike Guam.</div>
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More specifically, Pyongyang said that it was considering hitting Andersen Air Force Base with medium or long-range ICBMs to "to send a serious warning signal to the US," <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/north-korea-considering-guam-strike-trump/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196d8d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">according</a> to CNN. </div>
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Guam, which is a US territory in the Pacific Ocean, is home to Joint Region Marianas, a US military command that includes <a href="http://www.andersen.af.mil/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #196d8d; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Andersen Air Force Base</a>. </div>
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Here's what the US military has there.</div>
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Guam is situated about 2,200 miles from North Korea, and about 4,000 miles from Hawaii. It's about 36 miles long and 6-12 miles wide, and only has a population of about 162,000.</h3>
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<img alt="Guam is situated about 2,200 miles from North Korea, and about 4,000 miles from Hawaii. It's about 36 miles long and 6-12 miles wide, and only has a population of about 162,000." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5661aacec28144c0018b75ac-1200/guam-is-situated-about-2200-miles-from-north-korea-and-about-4000-miles-from-hawaii-its-about-36-miles-long-and-6-12-miles-wide-and-only-has-a-population-of-about-162000.jpg" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5661aacec28144c0018b75ac-1200/guam-is-situated-about-2200-miles-from-north-korea-and-about-4000-miles-from-hawaii-its-about-36-miles-long-and-6-12-miles-wide-and-only-has-a-population-of-about-162000.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
<span class="source-only" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 4px;"><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25em;">Google</span></span></div>
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<div class="slide-module clearfix vaop-breakpoint" data-slide="2" id="after-the-1898-spanish-american-war-spain-ceded-guam-to-the-us-as-an-unincorporated-territory-in-1941-japan-invaded-guam-which-it-held-until-us-marines-took-it-back-in-1944-2" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 226); margin-top: 30px; padding-top: 30px;">
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After the 1898 Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Guam to the US as an unincorporated territory. In 1941, Japan invaded Guam, which it held until US Marines took it back in 1944.</h3>
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<img alt="After the 1898 Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Guam to the US as an unincorporated territory. In 1941, Japan invaded Guam, which it held until US Marines took it back in 1944." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/598b25c44fc3c0bb188b54c4-1200/after-the-1898-spanish-american-war-spain-ceded-guam-to-the-us-as-an-unincorporated-territory-in-1941-japan-invaded-guam-which-it-held-until-us-marines-took-it-back-in-1944.jpg" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/598b25c44fc3c0bb188b54c4-1200/after-the-1898-spanish-american-war-spain-ceded-guam-to-the-us-as-an-unincorporated-territory-in-1941-japan-invaded-guam-which-it-held-until-us-marines-took-it-back-in-1944.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
<span class="caption-source" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 12px;"><span class="caption" style="font-family: headline-semi-bold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-right: 5px;">Before nearly 400 years of colonial rule, Guam was originally home to the indigenous Chamorros people for thousands of years, who still make up about 40% of the population.</span><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25em;">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></div>
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There are about 6,000 US troops currently in Guam, and the US military possesses about one-third of the island's land.</h3>
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<img alt="There are about 6,000 US troops currently in Guam, and the US military possesses about one-third of the island's land." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/598b29c34fc3c0c7188b54da-1200/there-are-about-6000-us-troops-currently-in-guam-and-the-us-military-possesses-about-one-third-of-the-islands-land.jpg" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/598b29c34fc3c0c7188b54da-1200/there-are-about-6000-us-troops-currently-in-guam-and-the-us-military-possesses-about-one-third-of-the-islands-land.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
<span class="source-only" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 4px;"><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25em;">Airman 1st Class Christopher Quail/US Air Force</span></span></div>
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The shot above is of airmen from the 644th Combat Communication Squadron after a training exercise in June. </div>
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This is Andersen Air Force Base, a strategic launching point for flights over the Korean Peninsula.</h3>
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A number of B-52 Stratofortress', B-1 Lancers and B-2 Spirits are currently stationed at Andersen in support of US Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence.</h3>
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<img alt="A number of B-52 Stratofortress', B-1 Lancers and B-2 Spirits are currently stationed at Andersen in support of US Pacific Command’s Continuous Bomber Presence." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/57b4c935ce38f2c0008b7542-1200/a-number-of-b-52-stratofortress-b-1-lancers-and-b-2-spirits-are-currently-stationed-at-andersen-in-support-of-us-pacific-commands-continuous-bomber-presence.jpg" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/57b4c935ce38f2c0008b7542-1200/a-number-of-b-52-stratofortress-b-1-lancers-and-b-2-spirits-are-currently-stationed-at-andersen-in-support-of-us-pacific-commands-continuous-bomber-presence.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
<span class="caption-source" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 12px;"><span class="caption" style="font-family: headline-semi-bold, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-right: 5px;">A B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit fly over Guam after launching from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, for an integrated bomber operation Aug.17, 2016.</span><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25em;"><a href="http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/917363/bomber-trio-participates-in-first-integrated-bomber-operation-in-pacific.aspx" style="color: #00709a; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none;">US Air Force photo/Senior Airman Joshua Smoot</a></span></span></div>
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This B-1B Lancer, attached to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, just arrived at Andersen Air Force Base from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on July 26.</h3>
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<img alt="This B-1B Lancer, attached to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, just arrived at Andersen Air Force Base from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota on July 26." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/598b306176084a30198b56ec-1200/this-b-1b-lancer-attached-to-the-37th-expeditionary-bomb-squadron-just-arrived-at-andersen-air-force-base-from-ellsworth-air-force-base-in-south-dakota-on-july-26.jpg" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/598b306176084a30198b56ec-1200/this-b-1b-lancer-attached-to-the-37th-expeditionary-bomb-squadron-just-arrived-at-andersen-air-force-base-from-ellsworth-air-force-base-in-south-dakota-on-july-26.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
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Joint Region Marianas, in addition to Andersen Air Force Base, also includes Naval Base Guam, which is pictured below.</h3>
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<img alt="Joint Region Marianas, in addition to Andersen Air Force Base, also includes Naval Base Guam, which is pictured below." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/598b2c124fc3c057008b70cb-1200/joint-region-marianas-in-addition-to-andersen-air-force-base-also-includes-naval-base-guam-which-is-pictured-below.jpg" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/598b2c124fc3c057008b70cb-1200/joint-region-marianas-in-addition-to-andersen-air-force-base-also-includes-naval-base-guam-which-is-pictured-below.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
<span class="source-only" style="display: block; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 4px;"><span class="source" style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25em;">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></div>
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The naval base is home to Submarine Squadron 15, which includes the USS Chicago, USS Topeka, USS Key West, and USS Oklahoma City (seen below).</h3>
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The USS Buffalo, USS Frank Cable and USS Houston is also stationed at the naval base, according to a US Navy spokeswoman. </div>
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Naval Special Warfare Unit 1, under which 4 SEAL teams are grouped, is also stationed at the naval base. Below is a sailor from the unit performing a free fall parachute in Guam.</h3>
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<img alt="Naval Special Warfare Unit 1, under which 4 SEAL teams are grouped, is also stationed at the naval base. Below is a sailor from the unit performing a free fall parachute in Guam." border="0" class="slide-image-large on-image" data-src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/598b3e874fc3c0104c8b5ba9-1200/naval-special-warfare-unit-1-under-which-4-seal-teams-are-grouped-is-also-stationed-at-the-naval-base-below-is-a-sailor-from-the-unit-performing-a-free-fall-parachute-in-guam.jpg" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/598b3e874fc3c0104c8b5ba9-1200/naval-special-warfare-unit-1-under-which-4-seal-teams-are-grouped-is-also-stationed-at-the-naval-base-below-is-a-sailor-from-the-unit-performing-a-free-fall-parachute-in-guam.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;" /></div>
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The base is also home to an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit and a<br />Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron. </div>
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There is also a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System stationed on the island that can shoot down incoming missiles. While the THAAD system has never been used in a real life scenario, it has been successfully tested multiple times.</h3>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-36367686232099039102017-08-11T06:21:00.001-07:002017-08-11T06:21:06.310-07:00Residents of Remote Guam Fear Attack After Threat From North Korea<div class="column small-12 medium-10 medium-offset-1 large-offset-2 text size-1x-large line-height-large _10M0Ygc4" data-reactid="220" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #202020; float: none; font-family: "PT Serif", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.075rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-left: 106px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; width: 529.984px;">
(HAGATNA, Guam) — Residents of the tiny Pacific island of Guam say they're afraid of being caught in the middle of escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea after Pyongyang announced it was examining plans for attacking the strategically important U.S. territory.</div>
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Though local officials downplayed any threat, people who live and work on the island, which serves as a launching pad for the U.S. military, said Wednesday they could no longer shrug off the idea of being a potential target.</div>
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"I'm a little worried, a little panicked. Is this really going to happen?" said Cecil Chugrad, a 37-year-old bus driver for a tour bus company in Guam. "If it's just me, I don't mind, but I have to worry about my son. I feel like moving (out of Guam) now."</div>
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Guam is used to the threats from North Korea but advances in the country's nuclear program paired with fiery rhetoric from President Donald Trump has raised the already high animosity and heightened worries that a miscalculation might spark conflict between the nuclear-armed nations.</div>
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Reports suggested North Korea mastered a technological hurdle needed to strike the U.S. with a nuclear missile. The advances were detailed in an official Japanese assessment and later a Washington Post story that cited U.S. intelligence officials and a confidential Defense Intelligence Agency report.</div>
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In response, Trump on Tuesday threatened the communist country "with fire and fury." On Wednesday, the North Korean army said in a statement that it was studying a plan to create an "enveloping fire" in areas around Guam with medium- to long-range ballistic missiles.</div>
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While it is extremely unlikely that Pyongyang would risk the assured annihilation of its revered leadership with a pre-emptive attack on U.S. citizens, some residents are concerned.</div>
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"If anything happens, we all got to be ready, be prepared, and pray to God that it doesn't happen," Daisy Mendiola, 56, said after finishing lunch with her family at a restaurant near Hagatna. "Everyone's afraid, because we're dealing with powers that's beyond us."</div>
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Other residents are worried about the political atmosphere and the government's ability to find a peaceful solution.</div>
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Todd Thompson, a lawyer who lives on Guam, said he laughed off past threats because he "figured cooler heads in Washington would prevail, and it was just an idle threat."</div>
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"But I have to say, I'm not laughing now," Thompson said. "My concern is that things have changed in Washington, and who knows what's going to happen?"</div>
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His brother Mitch Thompson, who also lives on Guam, added he believes "a lot of people have no confidence that the White House will do the right thing under the circumstances."</div>
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However, the brothers say they haven't seen anyone panicking or stocking up on supplies.</div>
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"I think people are just stunned and really don't know what to think," Todd Thompson said.</div>
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Guam is about 2,100 miles (3,380 kilometers) southeast of Pyongyang and 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) west of Honolulu in the Pacific Ocean. For years, North Korea has claimed Guam is within its missiles' striking distance, making furious statements each time when the U.S. flew powerful bombers from the island's air base to the Korean Peninsula.</div>
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In August last year, the North's Foreign Ministry warned that all U.S. military bases in the Pacific including Guam would "face ruin in the face of all-out and substantial attack" by the North's military. In the spring of 2013, state media cited leader Kim Jong Un as having ordered his military to prepare plans on launching strikes on U.S. military bases in Guam, Hawaii and South Korea as well as the American mainland.</div>
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Guam is armed with the U.S. Army's defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, which can intercept missiles.</div>
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Similar threats in 2013 led Guam's U.S. Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo to advocate for the THAAD system, she said in a statement Wednesday.</div>
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"North Korea's most recent threat to target Guam is dangerous and it further heightens tensions in our region," Bordallo said. "While we have heard threats like this in the past, I take them very seriously."</div>
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Guam's Homeland Security Adviser George Charfauros urged calm and said defenses are in place for such threats.</div>
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"An attack or threat to Guam is a threat or attack on the United States," said Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo, who said he spoke with White House officials Monday morning. "They have said that America will be defended."</div>
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A travel agent on Guam said they haven't had a surge of customers seeking to book flights off the island.</div>
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"It's not bad at all, no chaos," said Mariah Sablan, who works for Golden Dragon Travel Inc. "It's just like a regular business day."</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-37202526689325112882017-08-11T06:20:00.002-07:002017-08-11T06:20:19.407-07:00Tiny island of Guam is key U.S. military outpost now in North Korea's cross hairs<div class="speakable-p-1 p-text" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
A major U.S. military presence on the tiny western Pacific island of Guam has long existed in obscurity, but now it is suddenly in the cross hairs of a bellicose North Korean regime.</div>
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The U.S. territory in the western Pacific Ocean is home to 7,000 American military personnel, strategic bombers and Navy ships within striking range of Pacific hot spots, including the Korean Peninsula. </div>
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That prompted North Korea to warn Wednesday it was reviewing plans to strike Guam with a ballistic missile in the wake of President Trump's threat to respond to provocative actions by the North with "fire and fury."</div>
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Why Guam?</div>
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North Korea has threatened Guam in the past, said Michael Madden, an analyst at the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.</div>
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Perhaps North Korean leader Kim Jong Un views the island as a particular threat. When the U.S. military flew B-1 bombers over South Korea in a show of force last month after a North Korean ballistic missile test, the bombers took off from Guam. </div>
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Madden said the North Korean government is sensitive about the threat from U.S. bombers, stemming from some of the devastation wrought during the Korean War. The North may have also wanted to demonstrate the reach of its medium-range ballistic missiles, he said.</div>
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Here is what you need to know about the island that is the focus of North Korean threats. <span class="credit">Newslook</span></div>
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Guam is about 2,100 miles from North Korea.</div>
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The island of 162,000 people is only 210 square miles and is dominated by the U.S. military, which controls about one-third of its territory. The military first occupied Guam after the Spanish-American War in 1898. The U.S. military established a naval base and small Marine barracks there.</div>
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The island was occupied by Japan during World War II for more than two years. After the war, the U.S. military established Andersen Air Force Base and would turn the island into a vital military outpost in the region.</div>
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Bombers, fighters and other aircraft fly out of Andersen. A naval facility hosts an array of submarines and surface ships.</div>
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The U.S. Marine Corps has plans to move about 5,000 troops to Guam in coming years, as part of an effort to reduce its presence on Okinawa, Japan.</div>
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Guam has increased in importance to the U.S. military as the Pentagon has attempted to rebalance its forces in Asia, after years of fighting wars in the Middle East. </div>
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Elected officials in Guam are reassuring constituents that the U.S. territory is safe following North Korea's threat against the island. Guam residents are expressing a mix of concern and fear. (Aug. 9)<span class="credit">AP</span></div>
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The governor of Guam, Eddie Baza Calvo, released a video in response to North Korea's threat, saying the island is not in danger and assuring residents that he was working with military commanders and other officials to prepare for any “eventuality.”</div>
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<span class="exclude-from-newsgate"><span style="font-weight: 700; margin-right: 3px;">More: </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/09/trump-mattis-warnings-north-korea-backed-aging-but-potent-nukes/552757001/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump, Mattis warnings to North Korea backed by aging but potent nukes</a></span></div>
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<span class="exclude-from-newsgate"><span style="font-weight: 700; margin-right: 3px;">Related: </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/09/tillerson-sees-no-imminent-threat-north-korea-attack-defends-trumps-blunt-talk/551577001/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration-line: none;">Tillerson sees no 'imminent threat' of North Korea attack; defends Trump's blunt talk</a></span></div>
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<span class="exclude-from-newsgate"><span style="font-weight: 700; margin-right: 3px;">Still more: </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/08/guam-island-paradise-turned-ballistic-target/550976001/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration-line: none;">Guam: Island paradise turned ballistic target</a> </span></div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-32613730518814491602017-08-10T22:27:00.002-07:002017-08-10T22:27:36.305-07:00GUAM FOR BEGINNERS<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Verdana, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 18px;">
The island of Guam is suddenly in the news because it is said to be within range of ballistic missiles from <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/north-korea-fight-to-go-nuclear/" style="color: #5c7999;">North Korea</a>. A U.S. territory located in the western Pacific, Guam is the largest of the Marianas Islands, roughly halfway between Japan and New Guinea. It is also approximately the same distance from Sydney, Australia, as it is from Hawaii: 3,300 miles. The island is 32 miles long and 4 to 9 miles wide and has a population of 162,000. Nearly 30% of the island’s territory is controlled by the U.S. military, which has some 6,000 military personal stationed there. The military and tourism are the prime economic drivers on the island.</div>
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The U.S. took bloodless possession of Guam during the Spanish American War in 1898. Unlike in the <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-ugly-origins-of-americas-involvement-in-the-philippines/" style="color: #5c7999;">Philippines</a>, there was no rebellion against U.S. control. The U.S. Navy administered the island until the Japanese invaded on December 7, 1941. After two and a half years of brutal occupation, the Japanese were repulsed by U.S. forces.</div>
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“Guam became a testing ground for America’s response to the new era of decolonization.”</div>
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But as Timothy P. Maga explains, that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3639379?mag=guam-for-beginners" style="color: #5c7999;">the end of Japanese colonialism didn’t mean autonomy</a>. The U.S. Navy regained control of the island and declared that home rule was out of the question.</div>
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“Guam became a testing ground for America’s response to the new era of decolonization,” writes Maga. The post-WWII period, remember, saw the European powers, particularly Britain and France, embroiled in serious challenges to their empires in Africa and Asia, resulting in a flurry of newly independent nations in the 1950s-1960s.</div>
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The usual story is that Guamanians got U.S. citizenship as a gift in return for their heroic resistance against the Japanese. Maga argues that it was actually politics that did it: the local citizenship movement had its roots almost from the beginning of U.S. control, but really took off after WWII. Guamanians peacefully campaigned for democracy both on the island and in Washington, D.C.</div>
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They demanded their rights against the military occupation. The naval government—which had been instrumental in getting the island back on its feet after the ravages of the war—was adamantly opposed to giving up control, but Guamanian appeals to President Truman and allies in the U.S. House and Senate were stronger. Truman’s 1948 election platform called for rewarding those who defended democracy and opposed totalitarianism—the implication was that Guam “should stand as an example for eastern European nations” under the Soviet thumb.</div>
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On July 21, 1950 the Organic Act of Guam became law, granting Guamanians full citizenship rights. The Navy’s colonial administration was ended. Today, Guamanians vote for President—their straw poll usually gets some media attention, and they send delegates to party conventions—but do not have Electoral Collage representation, and only a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.</div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-75566867566018238522017-08-10T22:21:00.007-07:002017-08-10T22:21:35.360-07:00Guamanians, Voiceless and Exploited US Citizens, Now In Bomb-Sights Of North Korea<div style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, "Palatino Linotype", Times, "Times New Roman", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 16.625px; margin-bottom: 15px !important; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">GUAM —</b><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Tensions rose yet again earlier this week between North Korea and the United States as President Donald Trump issued his strongest threat yet to the rogue nation on Tuesday,</span><a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/895004836701159424" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #743399;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial;"> </span></span><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">stating at a press conference</span></a> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the U.S. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” </span><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, North Korea’s “threats”, which Trump referenced, have consistently been responses to overt provocations by the Trump administration. </span><a class="Icon Icon--informationCircleWhite js-privacyNotice" href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; color: #2b7bb9; display: inline-block; font-family: Helvetica, Roboto, "Segoe UI", Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 18px; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: text-bottom; white-space: initial; width: 18px;" title="Twitter Ads info and privacy"><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; display: inline !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">Twitter Ads info and priv</span></a></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition, Trump’s statements came just days after National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster hinted that the Trump administration</span><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-05/mcmaster-us-preparing-preventive-war-north-korea" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was considering</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> a “preventative war” targeting North Korea.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">North Korea, ever defiant, responded with a new threat of its own. Just hours after Trump’s promise of “fire and fury,” North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency </span><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-08/north-korea-responds-trump-threat-says-it-seriously-considering-pre-emptive-strike-g" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> that the country’s military could carry out “pre-emptive operations once the U.S. shows signs of provocation,” and that it is “seriously considering a strategy to strike Guam with mid-to-long range missiles.”</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is busily</span><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-09/north-korea-releases-canadian-prisoner-tillerson-talks-down-imminent-threat" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">trying to mitigate</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> the antagonism between the two nations, media reports</span><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-09/nbcs-brian-williams-our-job-scare-people-death-over-north-korea" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">continue to hype</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> the possibility of a military confrontation between the United States and North Korea, a possibility that Trump himself </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/asia/trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">has warned</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> is remarkably close to becoming reality.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite the dangerous spark in tensions and his Secretary of State’s best efforts to prevent war, Trump </span><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-09/trump-boasts-americas-most-powerful-nuclear-arsenal-ever" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">has taken to boasting</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of the U.S.’ “most powerful” nuclear arsenal ever.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Pentagon followed Trump’s lead, warning North Korea to ”cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime.” </span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The rhetoric of both politicians and the media has, however, largely ignored the people of Guam. The Guamanians have – for over a century – been subjugated to the worst of U.S. militarism, resulting from their status as unwilling victims of U.S. colonial rule.</span></div>
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Guam’s history and plight as a U.S. colony</h2>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Chamorros, the native people of Guam, first saw their island colonized by the Spanish, who held control over the Pacific island for over three hundred years — until they ceded the territory to the United States after losing the Spanish-American war in 1898.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From 1898 until 1950, the island </span><a href="https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/06/14/18757386.php" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">was ruled</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> by a U.S. naval governor, who banned the native Chamorro language from being spoken or taught. In a series of decisions from 1901 to 1922, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not apply to territories like Guam. Since then, Guam has remained a U.S. territory. Consequently, while those living on Guam are considered U.S. citizens, they are essentially voiceless — lacking meaningful political representation at the national level but still subjected to all U.S. federal laws and regulations. </span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In response to their marginalized status, many Guamanians have sought greater representation within the United States while others </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/some-in-guam-push-for-independence-from-us-as-marines-prepare-for-buildup/2016/06/16/e6152bd2-324b-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">have sought</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> independence. However — as in the case of similar movements in other U.S. territories and commonwealths, such as Puerto Rico — local activism seeking greater autonomy or independence </span><a href="http://www.guampedia.com/commission-on-decolonization/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">has been routinely suppressed</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is highly unlikely that the U.S. will ever willingly give up its claim to Guam, regardless of what Guamanians themselves want. The island has long been seen by Washington as a strategic military asset for its empire. The U.S. military</span><a href="http://apjjf.org/-LisaLinda-Natividad/3356/article.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">dominates life on Guam</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> — currently occupying one-third of the island’s landmass as well as dominating the island’s economy.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Pentagon moved to expand its military presence on Guam in 2009 when</span> <a href="http://apjjf.org/-LisaLinda-Natividad/3356/article.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">it announced</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> plans to station as many as 8,600 marines on the island – a considerable force for an island of just 160,000 residents. The original plan was drafted without consulting a single Guamanian.</span> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Local protests</span><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> eventually <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article45241053.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">led the Pentagon to reduce</a> the marine force’s size to 4,800. Locals, however, worry that accommodating thousands more soldiers</span><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/24/full_interview_with_activists_resisting_us_military_bases_from_japan_guam_and_hawaii" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">will stress</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> the island’s already strained infrastructure, particularly its water and wastewater systems.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many of the island’s residents have repeatedly tried to resist the U.S.’ expansion of military bases on the island. However, as Guamanian activist, Melvin Won Pat-Borja,</span> <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/24/full_interview_with_activists_resisting_us_military_bases_from_japan_guam_and_hawaii" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">told </span><i style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Democracy Now</span></i></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> in 2010, “We basically are forced to accept whatever it is that the United States federal government and the military decide to do.”</span></div>
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Bombs and chemicals take their toll</h2>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Since Guam became a U.S. colony, the U.S. government and military have consistently shown little regard for the lives of Guamanians, cementing their treatment as second-class citizens. For instance, after Japan occupied the island during World War II, the U.S. employed a carpet-bombing campaign to reclaim it. As a result, despite the brutality of the Japanese occupation,</span><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/24/full_interview_with_activists_resisting_us_military_bases_from_japan_guam_and_hawaii" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">more Guamanians died</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> from the U.S.’ efforts than died during the entire two-year occupation.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition, Guam’s status as a military asset has left the people of Guam, as well as the thousands of U.S. soldiers who serve on local bases, exposed to a slew of toxic chemicals and radiation that have caused island residents to experience cancer rates well above the U.S. national average. </span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Though the U.S. government officially denies that Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant manufactured by Monsanto, was ever used on military sites in Guam, the accounts of former U.S. servicemen and Guam residents paint a different picture.</span><a href="https://www.postguam.com/news/local/vet-links-cancer-to-agent-orange-exposure-on-guam/article_fc54081e-2bd3-11e7-be58-332bcb4a2660.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Military veterans who served</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> in Guam, now suffering from cancer and numerous other diseases, believe that their conditions are directly linked to their time served on the island.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Several former service members</span><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/08/07/issues/poisons-in-the-pacific-guam-okinawa-and-agent-orange/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">have stated</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> that they were ordered by military command to spray Agent Orange in and around military facilities and defense properties in Guam. Others reported being asked to dump barrels of Agent Orange into the Pacific Ocean. The EPA</span><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/08/07/issues/poisons-in-the-pacific-guam-okinawa-and-agent-orange/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> later identified</a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> over 100 sites in Guam that were found to be heavily contaminated by Agent Orange. Some Guam residents</span><a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2012/08/07/issues/poisons-in-the-pacific-guam-okinawa-and-agent-orange/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">have claimed</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> that they are living “in a virtual omnipresent mist of the rainbow herbicides.” </span><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, the spraying of deadly chemicals is just a footnote in the U.S.’ toxic legacy on the island. Following World War II, between 1946 and 1958, a total of</span><a href="https://www.wagingpeace.org/the-nuclear-history-of-micronesia-and-the-pacific/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">66 atomic and hydrogen bombs</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> were “tested” (i.e., detonated) in the Marshall Islands. Six islands were vaporized and hundreds of people were irradiated, as the islands were populated at the time. Guam, which lies about 1,200 miles east of the Marshall Islands,</span><a href="https://www.postguam.com/news/local/advocate-hopes-for-guam-survivors-of-us-nuclear-bomb-tests/article_b104af06-177b-11e7-872d-1371429b545b.html" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was later shown</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">to have received significant amounts of radiation from the blast via jet streams active at the time of the testing. </span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Despite</span><a href="http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2015/04/27/senators-compensate-guam-nuke-victims-radiation-from-us-nuclear-bomb-tests-raised-cancer-rates-says-won-pat/26461133/" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">high cancer rates</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> in Guam and the testimony of former U.S. military officers attesting to the high level of radiation found on the islands while testing was ongoing, the U.S. government</span><a href="http://www.pireport.org/articles/2015/04/29/guam-lawmakers-claim-us-nuclear-tests-impacted-health" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #743399; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">has refused</span></a><span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> to consider compensating Guamanian cancer patients for the radiation’s role in causing their cancers.</span></div>
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<span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If North Korea does respond to “U.S. provocation” by attacking Guam, it will be just another manifestation – though an especially dire one – of the U.S. government’s proven disregard for the safety, well-being, and self-determination of Guamanians.</span></div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-12840609028409198782017-08-10T22:16:00.002-07:002017-08-10T22:16:35.956-07:00Why North Korea Is Threatening Guam<section id="article-section-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Lyon Text", Georgia, Times, serif; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 630px; padding-right: 330px; width: 630px;">North Korea said Wednesday it was considering using intermediate-range ballistic missiles near Guam, the U.S. territory that is home to strategic military installations, dramatically raising tensions with the United States.<br />
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The country’s military said it was “carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12,” according to a statement <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'0',r'536286'" href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/08/09/0200000000AEN20170809001051315.html" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">carried</a> by the the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).<br />
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The news agency reported that Kim Jong Un was reviewing the plan. Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported that a separate North Korean statement vowed an all-out war if the U.S. launched a “preventive war” against the North.<br />
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The threat came hours after President Trump <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'1',r'536286'" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/north-korea-nuclear/536235/" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">vowed</a> to respond with “fire and fury” if North Korea threatens the United States, comments that were made in apparent response to a Defense Intelligence Agency <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'2',r'536286'" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-now-making-missile-ready-nuclear-weapons-us-analysts-say/2017/08/08/e14b882a-7b6b-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_usnkorea-1212p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.21fb8a63d043" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">assessment</a> that North Korea might already possess a miniaturized nuclear warhead that it could place inside an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. The escalating tensions came days after the UN Security Council unanimously <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'3',r'536286'" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/north-korea-sanctions/536082/" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">voted</a> to impose the toughest-ever sanctions on the North for testing two ICBMs last month. It was not immediately clear whether the threat to strike near Guam was in response to Trump’s statement or the UN action.<br />
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<section id="article-section-2" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Lyon Text", Georgia, Times, serif; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 630px; padding-right: 330px; width: 630px;">Guam is home to the sprawling Andersen Air Force Base and the Naval Base Guam. The Pacific island, which Ashton Carter, President Obama’s defense secretary, <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'4',r'536286'" href="http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=117177" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">called </a>“an important strategic hub for the U.S. military in the Western Pacific,” is on the Pentagon’s plans for expansion—even if the move <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'5',r'536286'" href="http://thediplomat.com/2016/08/guam-where-the-us-military-is-revered-and-reviled/" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">might not be popular</a> with many of the 160,000 people who live on Guam.<br />
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Guam is home to 6,000 U.S. troops, a number that is expected to double over the next decade. The Pacific island’s location is also pivotal for the U.S. It’s midway between the restive Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea, where China has territorial disputes with many of its neighbors, some of which are U.S. allies. North Korea’s threat to strike Guam not only hits at the heart of U.S. interests in the region, but also strikes at the core of the insecurity felt by those Guam residents who want the U.S. to leave.<br />
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Guam’s relationship with the U.S. is complicated. It’s a U.S. territory, or as Admiral Robert Willard, the former head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told lawmakers in 2010, it’s “the farthest west U.S. territory that we own.” Still, Guam’s residents are U.S. citizens—just like those people who live in the 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, even if they cannot vote in presidential elections on the island.<br />
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The island’s link to the U.S. was cemented after the Spanish-American War of 1898, when it was transferred to the control of the U.S. Navy. It remained a possession of the U.S. until December 1941 when the Japanese invaded and occupied it two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese <a data-omni-click="r'article',r'link',r'6',r'536286'" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/us/decades-after-abuses-by-the-japanese-guam-hopes-the-us-will-make-amends.html?_r=0" style="color: #458cd5; text-decoration-line: none;">occupation</a>was brutal—about 1,000 people were killed—and lasted nearly three years. In 1944, the U.S. recaptured the island in a bloody battle against the Japanese.<br />
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The island has been a U.S. territory since then. Threats against it—this time by North Korea—could force the U.S. to revisit that bloody history.</section>isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-5501676467586743882017-08-09T05:33:00.003-07:002017-08-09T05:33:25.975-07:00North Korea, Trump trade threats as tensions rise over nuclear program<div class="small-16 columns" id="byline" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0.9375em; position: relative; width: 815.375px;">
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By <a href="https://www.stripes.com/reporters/2.2246?author=Kim_Gamel" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #023259; line-height: inherit; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">KIM GAMEL</a> | STARS AND STRIPES<span class="published_date" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119) !important; display: block; font-size: 0.875rem !important; outline: none;">Published: August 8, 2017</span></div>
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea and President Donald Trump issued dueling threats, with the communist state saying Wednesday that it’s “examining” a plan to strike Guam and Trump warning such threats “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”</div>
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The heated rhetoric underscored a dangerous turn in the long-running standoff with Pyongyang after it test-fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month.</div>
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North Korea’s rapid progress toward its stated goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland has emerged as one of the new administration’s top security challenges.</div>
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Reports also emerged this week that U.S. intelligence analysts believe the North has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, which would mark a major advance.</div>
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That appeared to be the catalyst for Trump’s stern ultimatum, which was much stronger in tone than the usual cautious diplomatic language used by U.S. presidents in dealing with Pyongyang. Many observers noted it seemed to echo the bellicose language typically used by the North.</div>
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“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump said in televised remarks at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”</div>
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“He has been very threatening beyond a normal state. And as I said they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">Dangerous bluster</span></div>
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Analysts said neither side was likely looking for conflict despite the tough talk, but they noted the risk of miscalculation.</div>
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“Both Pyongyang and Trump are engaged in dangerous verbal threats and verbal escalation because they could stumble into unintended conflict because of misinterpretation and miscalculation during this action-reaction cycle,” said Duyeon Kim, a visiting senior fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum, a think tank in Seoul.</div>
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She urged the sides to engage in direct talks on de-escalating the situation, saying “nuclear negotiations can wait.”</div>
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North Korea’s army singled out the U.S. territory, which is home to Andersen Air Force Base and a fleet of supersonic bombers, in a statement on its state-run news agency.</div>
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North Korea said its strategic force is “carefully examining the operational plan for making an enveloping fire at areas around Guam with medium-to-long range strategic ballistic missiles … in order to contain the major U.S. military bases on Guam.”</div>
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The army statement also referred to recent remarks by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster suggesting that a “preventive war” could be on the table.</div>
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“Will only the U.S. have the option called preventive war as claimed by it?” the Korean Central News Agency said. “It is a daydream for the U.S. to think that its mainland is an invulnerable heavenly kingdom.”</div>
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It added the U.S. should “clearly face up to the fact that the [North’s] ballistic rockets are now on constant standby, facing the Pacific Ocean.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">Guam reassurances</span></div>
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Guam’s governor reassured residents that there was no imminent threat to the island and defenses are in place to protect it.</div>
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“My Homeland Security Advisor who is in communications with Homeland Security and Department of Defense notes that there is no change in threat level resulting from North Korea events,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgdXG-LPUBw" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #023259; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo said in a statement Wednesday</a>.</div>
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He added that 200,000 Americans live in Guam and the nearby Northern Mariana Islands.</div>
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The North Korean army said the move is in response to a recent U.S. ICBM test.</div>
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The Air Force also sent a pair of Guam-based supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula Tuesday in a show of force. The B-1B Lancers flew from Guam to Japanese air space where they were joined by Japanese fighter jets, U.S. Pacific Command said.</div>
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They then flew to the divided peninsula, where they were joined by South Korean fighter jets and made a pass over the Pilsung military training range before returning to Andersen Air Force Base.</div>
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The 10-hour mission was the second such deployment this month. The Lancers conducted a similar flyover last week after North Korea conducted its second ICBM test. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.125rem; font-weight: 700;">No good options</span></div>
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North Korea has alarmed the international community with dozens of missile tests over the past several months. It also has conducted five underground nuclear tests, including two last year.</div>
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U.S. intelligence analysts recently determined the North has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead, according to the Washington Post. The newspaper cited unnamed intelligence officials as saying the Defense Intelligence Agency determined that in an analysis completed last month.</div>
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The newspaper also reported another intelligence assessment now estimates the North has as many as 60 nuclear bombs in its arsenal. Other assessments range from a dozen to 30 weapons.</div>
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Japan’s Defense Ministry also said Tuesday in an annual report that “it is possible that North Korea has achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warheads.”</div>
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Experts say North Korean scientists still have much work to do, including mastering key re-entry technology. But the consensus is that it’s a matter of when, not if, the country will succeed.</div>
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The Trump administration has insisted that military action is an option but only as a last resort after diplomatic efforts have been exhausted.</div>
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Over the weekend, the 15-nation U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-drafted resolution tightening economic sanctions to punish the North for violating a ban on using ballistic-missile technology. It barred exports of coal, seafood and other products worth more than $1 billion, about a third of the North’s total exports last year.</div>
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Robert Kelly, an associate professor of international relations at South Korea’s Pusan National University, said he believes the remarks from North Korea and Trump were just bluster but could prove dangerous if misunderstood.</div>
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He noted North Korea knows it couldn’t attack Guam or any other country without a fierce backlash that would mean the end of the regime.</div>
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“It’s just two bullies in the schoolyard,” he said. “If you want to get the North Koreans back to the table … then we can’t go threatening like this. That’s just like an open challenge.”</div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.</em></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; outline: none;"><a href="mailto:gamel.kim@stripes.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #023259; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">gamel.kim@stripes.com</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" />Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/kimgamel" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #023259; line-height: inherit; outline: none;">@kimgamel</a></em><br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;" /> </div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-35104454209314785942017-08-09T05:32:00.003-07:002017-08-09T05:32:38.280-07:00Del. Madeleine Bordallo says Jim Mattis assured her military would keep Guam safe<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292b2c; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, system-ui, system-ui, "Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1rem; max-width: 700px;">
The U.S. representative from Guam, Madeleine Bordallo said Tuesday evening that top figures in the Pentagon have "recently" assured her that the U.S. military will keep Guam safe, even as North Korea escalates its aggressive military provocations.</div>
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During an appearance on CNN, Bordallo, a Democrat and nonvoting delegate in Congress, said that both Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, "always" tell her not to worry about the security of the small U.S. territory in the western Pacific Ocean.</div>
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"We're going to take good care of Guam," she said they told her.</div>
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Still, Bordallo told host Anderson Cooper that both she and the people of Guam are "concerned" about the North Korean threat.</div>
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Earlier in the day, Bordallo put out a statement about the North Korea threat, saying, "I am confident in the ability of U.S. defenses to protect our island and allies in the region. Her statement came after a report about a U.S. intelligence assessment which found that North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the country has been testing in recent months.</div>
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Bordallo's statement was also released around the time it was reported that North Korean state media broadcast North Korea's military <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/north-korea-threatens-missile-strike-on-guam/article/2630967" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #c93626; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">singling out Guam</a> as a potential target as retaliation for U.S. provocations.</div>
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The U.S. has a THAAD defense system in Guam that is meant to help guard against a missile attack. Guam, which is home to a number of U.S. military bases, is located about 2131 miles to the southeast of North Korea. Specifically, the Korean People's Army threatened to use medium- to long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 against Guam, <a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2017/08/09/0401000000AEN20170809001053315.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #c93626; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.</a></div>
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Guam's governor, Eddie Calvo, echoed Bordallo saying on Wednesday that Guam is defensively ready for "any eventuality."</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">"Guam is American soil ... We are not just a military installation," Calvo said, </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-usa-guam-governor-idUSKBN1AP0AW?il=0" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #c93626; cursor: pointer; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">according to Reuters.</a></div>
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Bordallo, in her statement, called on President Trump to show "steady leadership" and cooperate with the international community to "de-escalate the growing tensions in the region and prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear program further."</div>
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Trump on Tuesday grabbed headlines when he escalated his rhetoric on the issue, <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-threatens-fire-and-fury-against-north-korea/article/2630936" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #c93626; cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" target="_blank">threatening "fire and fury"</a> against the hermit nation if it doesn't stop its nuclear weapons program.</div>
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Bordallo pushed for a peaceful resolution and said the United Nations Security Council's vote last week to slap more sanctions on North Korea shows that Pyongyang's provocations will not go unanswered.</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-82819416631023408772017-08-09T05:32:00.000-07:002017-08-09T05:32:03.701-07:00Flights from Guam base 'provoked' North Korean threats<div data-reactid="49" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 16px;">
Known as the 'Tip of the Spear', Guam, just a speck in the Pacific Ocean, is vital to the US military's presence in the region and is home to thousands of American service members and key bases.</div>
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It’s little wonder that the airbase, which allows the US to project its vast military presence across the Asia-Pacific, <a data-tracking-initialized="true" href="http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/08/09/05/44/trump-warns-north-korea-of-fire-and-fury" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2175ff; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.2s;">“gets on the nerves” </a>of Kim Jong-un, whose regime today threatened to attack the atoll.<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent;">North Korea's statement came shortly after Donald Trump threatened to visit upon the rogue state "fire and fury like the world has never seen" early this morning. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"> Security and defence officials on Guam say there is no imminent threat to people there or in the Northern Mariana Islands after North Korea said it was examining its operational plans for attack, reports AP.</span></div>
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Guam's Department of Homeland Security and Office of Civil Defense says it is monitoring North Korea with U.S. military and government officials.
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Trump’s blast followed reports that North Korea, which has lately made appreciable progress with its ICBM program, may have finally succeeded in miniaturising a nuclear warhead, and could have a stockpile of dozens of nuclear devices.</div>
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Tension in the region, which has been ratcheting up to near-unbearable levels in recent months, was further inflamed on Monday when the US flew two B1B bombers from the Andersen airbase on Guam over the Korean peninsula. </div>
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Located 5300kms west of Hawaii, Guam enables the US to project its vast military assets into the Asia-Pacific region.</div>
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The island measures just 58kms in length and 20kms across but is big enough for the US Army anti-missile system, the Andersen Air Force Base and a major naval port at Apra Harbor.</div>
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Other US military assets at Guam include Los Angeles class submarines and the specialist Naval Special Warfare Unit One, part of the renowned SEALs.</div>
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In 2014, the Pentagon announced a long term plan to relocate 8000 marines from bases in Japan to Guam as well as Northern Australia and Hawaii.</div>
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In 2013, in response to threats from North Korea, the US Army began deploying the terminal high-altitude area defence battery, or THAAD to Guam.</div>
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THAAD is a land-based element that can shoot down a ballistic missile inside and just outside the atmosphere and would be the frontline weapon in meeting any North Korean strike. In another statement citing a different military spokesman, North Korea also accused the US of devising a "preventive war" and said any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the US mainland".</div>
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The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its continued missile tests.</div>
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With AAP</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-41462204252355879212017-08-09T05:29:00.001-07:002017-08-09T05:29:41.061-07:00North Korean Army Threatens To Hit U.S. Island Of Guam<span style="background-color: white; color: #1f2124; font-family: Merriweather-Light, Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">The North Korean army said in a statement that its Strategic Force -- a nuclear and missile warfare unit -- was "carefully examining" a plan to fire a ballistic rocket at Guam, a Pacific territory administered by the United States. The statement was read out by an unidentified anchorwoman on North Korean state television on August 9. Later, an unidentified anchorman on the same channel warned the United States that "an all-out war" might strike "the U.S. mainland." (KRT via Reuters)</span>isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-76785646953400357082017-08-09T05:28:00.003-07:002017-08-09T05:28:42.963-07:00Why North Korea threatened Guam, the tiny U.S. territory with big military power<div class="moat-trackable pb-f-theme-normal pb-f-dehydrate-false full pb-feature pb-layout-item pb-f-article-article-body" data-chain-name="no-name" data-feature-id="article/article-body" data-feature-name="no-name" data-pb-fingerprint="0f42pbXsipG" id="fXm1UG1lKWrlrq" moat-id="article/article-body|world" style="border-bottom: none; border-right: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; font-family: FranklinITCProLight, HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue Light", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; width: 553.453px;">
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North Korea is reviewing plans to strike U.S. military targets in Guam with its medium-range ballistic missiles to create “enveloping fire,” according to the state media<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </strong><a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/08/09/0200000000AEN20170809001051315.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;">Korean Central News Agency</a>.</div>
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KCNA: "The nuclear war hysteria of the U.S. authorities including Trump has reached an extremely reckless and rash phase for an actual war."</div>
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The message came hours after President Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that it will be “met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” if it does not stop threatening the United States. The threats <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/07/what-the-new-u-n-sanctions-on-north-korea-mean/?utm_term=.85dc81d0f809" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;">also follow a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council to impose strict new sanctions</a> on North Korea.</div>
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That Kim Jong Un is eyeing Guam, the sovereign U.S. territory island with a strategic airfield and naval station, is no surprise to the 160,000 Guamanians there. </div>
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“Every time there is some saber rattling in the part of the world, Guam is always part of the occasion,” said Robert F. Underwood, the president of the University of Guam and the island’s former delegate to the House of Representatives. </div>
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“When you’re from Guam and live on Guam, it’s disconcerting, but not unusual,” he told The Washington Post.</div>
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S. Dakota <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Airmen?src=hash" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="PrettyLink-prefix">#</span><span class="PrettyLink-value">Airmen</span></a> arrive on Guam; conduct <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bilateral?src=hash" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="PrettyLink-prefix">#</span><span class="PrettyLink-value">bilateral</span></a> missions w/Japan & ROK--U.S. ready to <a class="PrettyLink hashtag customisable" data-query-source="hashtag_click" data-scribe="element:hashtag" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fighttonight?src=hash" rel="tag" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="PrettyLink-prefix">#</span><span class="PrettyLink-value">fighttonight</span></a> <a class="link customisable" data-expanded-url="http://bit.ly/2unh8YI" data-scribe="element:url" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/DhOTTdNT19" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="http://bit.ly/2unh8YI"><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">http://</span>bit.ly/2unh8YI<span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;"> </span></a></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Long a strategic linchpin</strong></h3>
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At about 4,000 miles west of Hawaii,<b style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </b>and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/key-facts-about-guam-the-center-of-us-north-korea-tension/2017/08/09/566e4e60-7ccc-11e7-b2b1-aeba62854dfa_story.html?utm_term=.7481aadaa43c" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;">2,200 miles southeast of North Korea</a>, Guam is on the edge of U.S. power in the Pacific. Its combined Navy and Air Force installation, Joint Region Marianas, is the home port for nuclear submarines, a contingent of Special Operations Forces and the launching point of flights for strategic bombers conducting rotational flights over Japanese territories and in the Korean Peninsula.</div>
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Guam has been a strategic linchpin after Spain relinquished control to the U.S. Navy following the Spanish-American War in 1898. Japanese forces sped to the island following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and captured it, subjecting its people to violence that some historians estimate to have killed 10 percent of its population.</div>
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The island just celebrated its 73rd Liberation Day, commemorating the start of the U.S.-led effort to liberate Guam on July 10, 1944, Underwood said. </div>
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Now the island paradise relies on tourism and military activity to buoy its economy, which is marked by high unemployment. There have been recent efforts to grant Guam more control over its government, <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/gacol3290.doc.htm" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;">including support from the United Nations</a>. Guamanians have a delegate to the House of Representatives and cannot vote for president, but they do vote for party delegates in primaries.</div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="fb480bb05f" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit;"></a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="pb-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #6e6e6e; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin-top: 4px;">A child plays on a beach in Guam's capital, Hagatna, in July. (AFP)</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">A building military presence </strong></h3>
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A pair of B-1B Lancer bombers arrived in Guam from South Dakota this week to fly with South Korean and Japanese counterparts. That mission follows an operation over the Korean Peninsula in late July, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-displays-military-firepower-after-pyongyangs-latest-icbm-test/2017/07/30/35840ffa-7542-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.b1f7421e4a50" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); box-sizing: border-box; color: #1955a5; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 18px; text-decoration-line: none; zoom: 1;">in which the warplanes were scrambled from Guam as a response</a> to North Korea’s second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts said could have reached as far as New York. </div>
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Guam’s growing strategic importance is due to its sovereign status, Underwood said. The United States must get clearance from ally nations like South Korea and Japan to build up its military hardware in the event of defense escalations, which can be a lengthy process. But Guam has been used to project power immediately, Underwood said.</div>
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The island is also home to a terminal high-altitude area defense missile defense battery, which targets ballistic missiles. The presence of THAAD systems in South Korea has drawn consternation from Pyongyang and Beijing, which view the defensive system as an escalating presence.</div>
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It was unclear Tuesday whether the Pentagon had elevated the readiness posture of its Guam-based fleet of ships and planes following the threat from North Korea.</div>
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“We always maintain a high state of readiness and have the capabilities to counter any threat, to include those from North Korea,” Johnny Michael, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, said in a statement provided to The Post.</div>
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The numerous installations on Guam host about 6,000 troops and growing as the United States seeks to rebalance its forces in the Pacific amid a growing reach of China's military and North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear program. In 2014, then-Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said 60 percent of the Navy and 60 percent of combat air forces would be located in the region. </div>
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“Guam has always been a central part of our plans. Certainly a central part of the Navy’s plans but now a central part of the entire Department of Defense’s plans,” he said.</div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Outsized contributions to the U.S. </strong></h3>
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That leaves an island of U.S. citizens watching the news closely as posturing escalates on either side of the Pacific.</div>
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“Most of the time the overheated rhetoric comes from North Korea. This time it’s coming from the U.S. side,” Underwood said.</div>
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Guamanians share two common sentiments about their role in foreign policy, Underwood said. Media reports focus on the importance of military installations, making locals feel like they are bit players on a large stage, he said. Others would rather shed the crosshairs.</div>
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“People say ‘I hate being a target. We’re the tip of the spear. Why can’t we be another part of the spear?’ ” Underwood said.</div>
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But Guam also has a proud tradition of supplying U.S. troops from its island, with a disproportionate number of recruits coming from there and American Samoa, Underwood said. </div>
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Eighteen Guamanian troops were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, pointing to an outsized sacrifice for a territory with a population smaller than Eugene, Ore.</div>
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“We have more skin and more land in the game,” Underwood said. </div>
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Alex Horton is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post and a former Army infantryman.</div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-66441486096803770442017-08-07T03:29:00.001-07:002017-08-07T03:29:24.156-07:00Guam high school students to learn more about decolonization<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
HAGATNA, Guam — Education leaders in Guam have their sights set doing a better job teaching high school juniors and seniors about the concept of decolonization and what it would mean for the U.S. territory.</div>
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Officials met on Thursday to determine what decolonization topics should be integrated into the Department of Education’s curriculum, the Guam Pacific Daily News reported (<a href="http://bit.ly/2wv1XZS" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(254, 210, 50); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">http://bit.ly/2wv1XZS</a> ). The program will be geared toward older high school students so they can be better informed to decide on a plebiscite vote for Guam’s political status.</div>
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Guam currently is under the control of the U.S. Congress. The plebiscite could help Guam residents decide how they want to govern themselves.</div>
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Some of the suggested topics within the program are the territory’s perspective of its history of decolonization, understanding the United Nations charter, differences between U.S. laws and U.N. laws, and the U.S.’s role as a colonizer of Guam.</div>
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Amanda Blas, executive director of the Commission on Decolonization, said she will take these suggestions to the Department of Education’s deputy superintendent for review.</div>
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A subcommittee of the commission is spearheading the program. The subcommittee sees the third and fourth quarters of the upcoming school year as the earliest opportunity to implement the curriculum. It plans to recommend a two-year education campaign to the commission.</div>
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A date for the plebiscite vote has not been scheduled. Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson had filed a notice to appeal a ruling on a federal lawsuit challenging the voting process, which is limited to native inhabitants as defined by law.</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-89929856863936747252017-08-07T03:28:00.003-07:002017-08-07T03:28:41.304-07:00Reinventing Eqbal Ahmad’s Thoughts on Middle East<div class="cartouche" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Mainstream, VOL LV No 33 New Delhi August 5, 2017</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Reinventing Eqbal Ahmad’s Thoughts on Middle East</span></h1>
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by Ahmad Zaboor</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Introduction</strong></div>
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Following the death of Eqbal Ahmad in 1999, Palestine lost a sincere friend. His insightful analysis, revolutionary writings, ideas “woke up the Americans’ conscience” as the <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</i> put it. But his ideas still remain unexplored. He was neither a Palestinian nor an Arab, but his humanism propelled him to be the champion of the rights of the Palestinian people which at times earned him academic isolation. His biographer, Stewart Schaar, captures Ahmad as the ‘quint-essential oppositional intellectual, one who crosses boundaries, speaks truth to power, remained loyal to his cultural roots and Islamic traditions’. Eqbal along with Edward Said represented an alliance for the promotion of peace, social justice and liberation of Palestine. Below are some of his insightful thoughts on different aspects of the Palestine-Israel dispute that assumes significances in the present context.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Critique of Zionism and Arab Leadership</strong></div>
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While for the world decolonisation was set in motion, a settler colonial state, called Israel, was formalised in 1948 with the Arabs flushed out, and none able to checkmate. It sought to eliminate the native population. The settlement expansion policy has been described by Edward Said as ‘discipline of detail’ which Arabs failed to comprehend. Zionism, wrote Eqbal Ahmad, was an extreme form of settler colonialism with violent dynamics. Loss of Palestine has been the outcome of the post-colonial condition. It was in the midst of most of the independent Middle-east countries that Palestine was occupied by the Zionists. The reaction of the Arab elite has been indifference, incomprehension, and incompetence. The dispossession of Palestinians has not just been an outcome of the power of imperialism, but also a function of the collaborator elite class devoid of any foresight. Zionist leaders worked within and without to create the structural framework of the new state and successfully linked its interests with those of Britain while they simultaneously crafted its institutions to exercise freedom from it.</div>
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On the contrary, Arabs utterly failed in both ways. The Arab leadership conceded the role of mid-wife to Britain without an iota of intros-pection. Refusal by America and Canada to let in the Jews during the Holocaust provided requisite legitimacy to make the Zionist state. The Arabs failed to comprehend the ‘intricacies of the expansion plan of settlements which became, step by step, Judaisation of the territories occupied. This outrageous phenomenon of physical expropriation of Palestinians was carried out ‘discreetly and circumspectly’.</div>
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Eqbal Ahmad with conviction asserts that the running theme of Zionism has been a rejection of the ‘Palestinian reality’. All this was achieved through systematic termination of leaders followed by decimation of cultural institutions which enfeebled the resistance, leaving the people demoralised. To make the occupied lands habitable, it induced immigration of Russian Jewry through covert and overt institutions. During the Cold War, the USSR caved in as Israel was regarded the only morally hospitable place for Russian Jews. Immigration proved beneficial for Israel as well as America which were bound by a hand-in-glove relation-ship. While Israel’s strategic arma-ment industry ballooned, conversely Israel became a conduit for ‘evading Congressional problems’ in America which was providing aid to counter-revolu-tionary movements.</div>
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Israel has finely interwoven its legitimacy with the American institutions of power, particularly the media, Department of Defence and the CIA. Israel and the US are now tied in multiple layers of relationship. The control over the media of Israel is not a question of Jewish control, but a much more complex system of the exercise of power and hegemony.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rich Resource Base but Powerlessness</strong></div>
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Although the Middle East has a rich resource endowment base and a strategic location, those have not translated into economic power and political clout for the Arab world. They own billions of dollars and the dollar owes much of its strength to this fact, but have no control over capital. Arab countries are littered with machines but are bereft of technology; the elite consume copiously without contributing to the production. The Arab elite is too dependent to initiate peace, too dependent to protect the state sovereignty, too corrupt to reclaim national pride and honour.</div>
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There have been more protests in the EU, USA, and Israel against the invasion of Lebanon than in any of Middle-East countries. Israel willingly takes the Jews in from the rest of the world, while denying a home to the nearby people and original inhabitants. It would be tempted to occupy more and more territories and subjugate more people.</div>
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The idea of Palestine remains, according to Eqbal Ahmad, a strong counterpoise to the idea of exclusionary and sectarian statehood of Israel of which the Palestinians are the victims. Despite the sufferings of Palestine over the decades, they have abjured the sectarian alternative of Muslims versus Jews. Therefore it is commending to find Muslims and Christians still fighting for a shared liberation.</div>
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Eqbal Ahmad found the monarchical rule and compromising elite the causes of recurrent defeats and recolonisation of the Middle East. Therefore, he believed radical democratisation as the only antidote. Israel has been in a denial mode from the outset about the conflict using various stratagems. The failure to acknowledge the interest of Palestinian existence lies at the heart of the conflict. Arabs are in a situation of powerlessness despite being strategically situated and in opulence. They can’t assert themselves as they are ‘prisoners of dependency’.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eqbal Ahmad’s Critique of PLO</strong></div>
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Israel had defeated its Arab neighbouring states, yet hope began to rekindle after the Palestine Liberation Organisation repelled an Israeli attack in the Kerameh refugee camp in Jordan. Eqbal Ahmad was ill at ease with what the PLO came to represent—the armed struggle which, he believed, was against the genius of the Palestinian conditions. For him, armed struggle was more about the organisation and less about arms, it was more concerned with out-administering the adversary but not out-fighting an enemy. The corner-stone of his strategy was to out-legitimise the enemy. The main task was to pinpoint the inherent contradictions of the enemy not only to yourself but also to the world and more importantly to Israel. Eqbal himself found the seismic foundational contradiction with Israel: it has been the manifestation and epitome of the suffering of mankind.</div>
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The mode of struggle, for Ahmad, has been, to a great extent, informed by the nature of the enemy. The colossal deaths in Algeria, fighting against French colonialism, was an eye-opener to him. He was aware of the asymmetrical power-positions between the Palestinians and the Israeli state. His support for the Algerian guerilla warfare in Algeria was total as France didn’t expel the Algerian people from there, while the situation was quite reverse in Palestine. There-fore it was easy to seek the moral isolation of Israel rather than the French Government in Algeria. By focussing on armed struggle the PLO was suppressing this condition by enabling the Jews to paint themselves as victims of Arab violence. The Zionist regime, aware of the fact that the moral underpinning of the Palestinian cause had to be undermined, portrayed themselves as the underdogs, striving for survival, and Arabs as the non-human two-legged beasts.</div>
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According to Edward Said, attainment of the hegemony of the Zionist discourse which demeans the Palestinian Arab reality has been an aspect of the Orientalist discourse. However, the function of moral isolation will work only when the regime is buttressed by moral values. This strategy would yield dividends. Isreal’s structural and institutional framework of democratic institutions is exclusive in nature. Israel, from the very outset, has sought to engage itself in the killing, massacre, exodus of the Palestinian people from their lands. Israel has continued to shroud itself in the image of victimhood not only of historical Christian but also of contemporary Arab violence.</div>
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But Eqbal had the brilliant knack of turning things upside down. He had conveyed this idea to the top brass of the PLO, but it failed to work out then. Fit the boats in Cyprus, Lebanon with people in ships holding placards with the message: “we are not going to destroy you, we want to go home”. Therefore the image of victims of exodus would backfire on Israel itself. Given the violent underbelly that Zionism represents, he was pragmatic enough to concede that Israel would kill some of the people on boats, but the ultimate fallout of this process, believed Eqbal, would be the splitting of the Israeli society and would continue to remain so until it makes peace. The PLO, by focussing excessively on armed struggle, has missed the long train of non-violent alternatives available to Palestinians. The foremost among them has been the utter failure to reach out to the American civil society. He favoured the organisation of ‘militant non-militaristic creative non-violent political strategy’ in occupied Palestine. He trenchantly posited that the Palestinians should have no problem in announcing the recognition of the state of Israel. But it should be eloquent and unambiguous. Israel of which period, whether it is Israel of the pre-partition plan, Israel of 1948, or else Biblical Israel. Because Israel is the only state in the whole community of nations which has no well-defined boundaries and continues to be in a fluid situation. The need of the hour should be to develop the viable alternative peace proposals that the die-hard Zionists may not accept, but the world may find them decent. Then the blame will shift to Israel.</div>
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This was the strategy he suggested to Yasser Arafat, but to his dismay, Arafat failed to execute it. For Eqbal Ahmad,Yasser Arafat and the people around him were in effect collaborating with Israel.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Israel Wins and Arabs Lose</strong></div>
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Why is it that the Arabs always lose and Israel always emerges a winner? The reason is that the latter has the ‘discipline of detail’, as Edward Siad put it. The Zionist regime had an agenda of transforming Palestine into a Jewish state—with the clear objective of establishing its sovereignty over the land for which it followed a complex and an elaborate strategy. Acknowledging that monarchical rule and a compromising elite had been the cause of recurrent defeats and recolonisation of the Middle East, Eqbal Ahmad believed that ‘radical democratisation’ is the only antidote.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">References</strong></div>
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1. <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad,</i> eds., Carolee Bengelsdorf et al., Oxford University Press, 2006.</div>
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2. Eqbal Ahmad, <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Confronting Empire: Interviews with David Barsamian,</i> South End Press, 2000.</div>
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3. <i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Question of Palestine,</i> Edward Said, RHUS Publication, 1992.</div>
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<i style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The author is a Lecturer in Political Science, He can be contacted at e-mail ahmadzaboor[at]gmail.com</i></div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-4908644010091862017-08-07T03:27:00.007-07:002017-08-07T03:27:51.204-07:00UN imposes tough new sanctions on North Korea<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions Saturday to punish North Korea for its escalating nuclear and missile programs including a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion — a huge bite in its total exports, valued at $3 billion last year.</div>
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U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution "the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime" and "the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation."</div>
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But she warned that it is not enough and "we should not fool ourselves into thinking we have solved the problem — not even close."</div>
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"The threat of an outlaw nuclearized North Korean dictatorship remains ... (and) is rapidly growing more dangerous," Haley told council members after the vote.</div>
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The U.S.-drafted resolution, negotiated with North Korea's neighbor and ally China, is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Pyongyang to return to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs — a point stressed by all 15 council members in speeches after the vote.</div>
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The Security Council has already imposed six rounds of sanctions that have failed to halt North Korea's drive to improve its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities.</div>
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The resolution's adoption follows North Korea's first successful tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States on July 3 and July 27.</div>
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It condemns the launches "in the strongest terms" and reiterates previous calls for North Korea to suspend all ballistic missile launches and abandon its nuclear weapons and nuclear program "in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."</div>
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The centerpiece is a ban on North Korea exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood products — and a ban on all countries importing these products, estimated to be worth over $1 billion in hard currency.</div>
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According to a Security Council diplomat, coal has been North Korea's largest export, earning $1.2 billion last year which was then restricted by the Security Council in November to a maximum $400 million. This year, Pyongyang was estimated to earn $251 million from iron and iron ore exports, $113 million from lead and lead ore exports, and $295 million from fish and seafood exports, the diplomat said.</div>
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The resolution also bans countries from giving any additional permits to North Korean laborers — another source of money for Kim Jong Un's regime. And it prohibits all new joint ventures with North Korean companies and bans new foreign investment in existing ones. </div>
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It adds nine North Koreans, mainly officials or representatives of companies and banks, to the U.N. sanctions blacklist, banning their travel and freezing their assets. It also imposes an asset freeze on two companies and two banks.</div>
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The council diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity, called the newly sanctioned Foreign Trade Bank "a very critical clearing house for foreign exchange."</div>
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The Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, which was also added to the blacklist, is described in the resolution as engaged in exporting workers for construction, including of monuments, in Africa and Southeast Asia.</div>
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The resolution asks the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against North Korea to ban the import of many more so-called dual-use items, which have commercial purposes but can also be used in conventional, biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.</div>
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It also gives the committee a green light to designate specific vessels that are breaking sanctions from entering ports all over the world and to work with Interpol to enforce travel bans on North Koreans on the sanctions blacklist.</div>
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The resolution expresses regret at North Korea's "massive diversion of its scarce resources toward its development of nuclear weapons and a number of expensive ballistic missile programs" — a point stressed by Haley.</div>
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It notes U.N. findings that well over half the population lacks sufficient food and medical care, while a quarter suffers from chronic malnutrition.</div>
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"These sanctions will cut deep, and in doing so will give the North Korean leadership a taste of the deprivations they have chosen to inflict on the North Korean people," Haley said. "Revenues aren't going toward feeding its people. Instead, the North Korean regime is literally starving its people and enslaving them in mines and factories in order to fund these illegal missile programs."</div>
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Though the economic sanctions have teeth, Washington didn't get everything it wanted.</div>
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In early July, Haley told the Security Council that if it was united, the international community could cut off major sources of hard currency to North Korea, restrict oil to its military and weapons programs, increase air and maritime restrictions and hold senior officials accountable.</div>
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Neither oil nor new air restrictions are included in the resolution.</div>
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Its adoption follows U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's comments Wednesday reassuring North Korea that Washington is not seeking regime change or an accelerated reunification of the Korean Peninsula — comments welcomed by China's foreign minister.</div>
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China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the Chinese government hopes the United States will translate these commitments "into concrete policies" toward North Korea.</div>
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Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow hopes Tillerson's assurances "would be clear that the United States is not seeking to dismantle the existing ... situation (in North Korea) or to force to reunite the country or militarily intervene in the country."</div>
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Tillerson also said the United States wants to talk eventually with North Korea but thinks discussions would not be productive if Pyongyang comes with the intention of maintaining its nuclear weapons.</div>
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North Korea has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear arsenal, which it sees as a guarantee of its security.</div>
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The resolution reiterates language from previous ones supporting a return to six-party talks with the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula; expressing the Security Council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution to the situation"; and stressing the importance of maintaining peace and stability in northeast Asia.</div>
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Liu said "China has been making tireless efforts to promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to uphold peace and stability" and will keep working to convince other governments to support its suspension-for-suspension proposal.</div>
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Under the proposal and a roadmap supported by Russia, North Korea would suspend nuclear and missile tests in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea suspending their joint military exercises. It also includes security measures for both North Korea and South Korea leading to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.</div>
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But Haley told the Security Council that U.S.-South Korean military exercises have been carried out regularly and openly for nearly 40 years and "they will continue."</div>
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Russia's Nebenzia stressed that sanctions "need to be a tool for engaging the country in constructive talks" and must not be used for "economic asphyxiation" of the country or "to deliberately worsen the economic situation."</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-3778422827968024252017-08-07T03:27:00.003-07:002017-08-07T03:27:11.068-07:00Search called off for 3 US Marines who crashed off Australia<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
SYDNEY -- U.S. military officials called off a search and rescue operation on Sunday for three U.S. Marines who were missing after their Osprey aircraft crashed into the sea off the east coast of Australia while trying to land.</div>
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The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps suspended the rescue operation and launched a recovery effort instead, the Marine base Camp Butler in Japan said in a statement, essentially confirming the military does not expect to find the missing Marines alive.</div>
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The Marines' next of kin had been notified, and Australia's defense force was assisting the Americans with the recovery effort, the statement said.</div>
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The MV-22 Osprey had launched from the USS Bonhomme Richard and was conducting regularly scheduled operations on Saturday when it crashed into the water, Camp Butler said. The ship's small boats and aircraft immediately responded in the search and rescue efforts, and 23 of 26 personnel aboard the aircraft were rescued. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 1.125rem;">"Recovery and salvage operations can take several months to complete, but can be extended based on several environmental factors," Camp Butler's statement said. "The circumstances of the mishap are currently under investigation, and there is no additional information available at this time."</span></div>
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The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but flies like an airplane. They have been involved in a series of high-profile crashes in recent years.</div>
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The aircraft was in Australia for a joint military training exercise held by the U.S. and Australia last month in Shoalwater Bay in Queensland state. The Talisman Sabre exercise, a biennial event between the two nations, involved more than 30,000 troops and 200 aircraft.</div>
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Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said Saturday's incident occurred off the coast of Shoalwater Bay. </div>
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"I can confirm no Australian Defence Force personnel were on board the aircraft," Payne said in a statement.</div>
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Payne said she had spoken with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis "to offer Australia's support in any way that can be of assistance."</div>
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A White House official said President Donald Trump had been briefed by chief of staff John Kelly on the mishap of an aircraft off the east coast of Australia.</div>
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In 2015, a U.S. Osprey crashed during a training exercise in Hawaii, killing two Marines. Last December, a U.S. military Osprey crash-landed off Japan's southern island of Okinawa. Its five crew members were rescued safely. And in January, three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the "hard landing" of an Osprey in Yemen.</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-56564095425729701492017-08-07T03:26:00.003-07:002017-08-07T03:26:25.699-07:00Consultant: Guam can be ‘launching point’ to fight ISIS<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The world’s attention on North Korea ratcheting up threats against the United States, and ISIS gaining entry in the Philippines present Guam with an opportunity, said Ginger Cruz, who co-owns a consulting firm that focuses on the Middle East and a former official in the Bush II and Obama administrations.</div>
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“Guam can absolutely leverage its ability as a U.S. territory to become a stronger launching point for the efforts against ISIS in the Philippines and in North Korea,” Cruz said. Ginger Cruz is from Guam, a 1982 graduate of the Academy of Our Lady of Guam and once a familiar face on Guam’s KUAM news in the 1990s before she left for Washington, D.C. She worked her way up to some of the highest circles in the federal government, including the U.S. Defense Department, before starting her consulting firm and being based in Lebanon for the past five years.</div>
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Two things have happened that have really put Guam back on the map: North Korea and the rise of ISIS in the Philippines, she said during a visit to Guam late last month.</div>
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“You mention Guam and all of a sudden, they say, ‘Guam? So tell me about Guam’ and it starts to come back up,” Cruz said.</div>
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“The beginning of ISIS in the Philippines ... it’s really upsetting to see something which has had some terrible impact in (the Middle East) – we’re starting to hear in this part of the world,” Cruz said. “I mean, the Philippines is one flight away from Guam.”</div>
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The world is paying attention to the Asia-Pacific region, she said, which can be negative or positive, depending on who’s doing the selling.</div>
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“It’s a great time for Guam to make more of an impression and tell people: ‘Hey, we’re here. We’re part of the United States and we’re a critical part of the military strategy in the region,’” she said.</div>
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Cruz is a managing partner and CEO of Mantid International. She received a bachelor’s from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in international public policy from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.</div>
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Cruz previously served eight years with the U.S. Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction and led a team of 150 auditors, inspectors, investigators, and staff responsible for overseeing $60 billion in U.S. and Iraqi funds spent on reconstruction and stabilization.</div>
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Guam could offer a solution to the U.S. military’s needs because the Philippines doesn’t want the United States to re-establish military bases in the Philippines in response to ISIS, Cruz said.</div>
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And the Japan government, particularly Okinawa, does not want an expanded U.S. military presence in the country, Cruz said. </div>
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“I think that (Guam resurgence) is going to come back now because especially with this administration in Washington, they’re not really keen on spending money to build an American base in the Philippines; they’re not gonna go back to (former U.S. Navy base in the Philippines in Subic Bay) or they’re not gonna expand in Okinawa.”</div>
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In Guam, Cruz said, local officials would be faced with the task of balancing a military expansion with keeping the island from being “overrun.”</div>
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She said Guam can benefit from increased military presence, in part by making sure the island gains economically, such as through increased job opportunities to local residents and through the military picking up the tab for improvements to power, water and other island infrastructure.</div>
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“If it’s done strategically, the financial impact – as long as Guam looks at ways to maximize (the) financial impact – (can) really get an injection for the infrastructure,” she said.</div>
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Guam can get its roads expanded and improved, and get electricity and water redone, she said.</div>
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With the right approach, she said, “it’s a golden moment,” and Guam can take advantage of “the refocus of the geopolitical eye on the island and on the region, (and) leverage that to build more opportunities.”</div>
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Based on her experience in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, and coming back to Washington to brief the likes of Bush administration National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice and certain members of Congress or their key staffers, Cruz said she sees Guam as a potential bigger hub for military operations.</div>
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Cruz said she reached her career achievements through hard work, part luck, networking with the right people and instinct. She said she seizes an opportunity when she sees it.</div>
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She also said she learned a lot of her people skills from Guam – where everyone is treated the same and people are on friendly terms, regardless of their wealth or political standing.</div>
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The high-level officials in her sphere, she said, are still people and they recognize when talent is sincere, when people do their homework and come to work and meetings prepared.</div>
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So how does she feel to be back in Guam for the first time in 17 years?</div>
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Coming home meant being welcomed by friends and family and even the nuns at her high school who still remember her.</div>
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“A couple of things that struck me. Guam is a little bit caught in time,” she said. “There’s like a slightly new thing here and there, but in general, it was still almost exactly the way I remember it, but nicer in a way.”</div>
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“It was kind of a time capsule to come back.”</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-32648465907865733652017-08-07T03:24:00.001-07:002017-08-07T03:24:47.730-07:00Prutehi Litekyan rally set for today<div class="xmsonormal" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The group Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian calls on the community to join them in Tamuning across from the ITC building at 4:30 p.m today.</div>
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The group will hold a wave in order to call attention to the impending construction of the live-fire training range at Northwest Field. According to the group, the wave is “an urgent call to our community to save our endangered species from extinction, our water resource from contamination, and our ancient burials from desecration.”</div>
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Litekyan, an area of Yigo also known as Ritidian, is the sight of an ancient CHamoru latte village complex. The area also holds Guam’s only adult Hayun Lagu tree, a plant species found only on Guam and Rota.</div>
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The proposed live-fire training facility will be located near the proposed base for the Marines in Dededo's Finegayan area, according to the military's previously released plans.</div>
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The proposed live-fire training range complex for the Marine base will require a safety zone that would restrict public access to a portion of the Guam National Wildlife Refuge. The area is both a wildlife refuge and a popular destination for its white, sandy beaches.</div>
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During times the firing range would be in use, fishermen and traditional healers will be barred from entering Litekyan.</div>
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Prutehi Litekyan intends to use the wave to call for a halt of the live-fire training range; the amendment of the 2011 programmatic agreement to remove Litekyan from the listed area of potential impact for militarization efforts; the adoption of a policy that clearly protects cultural and historical sites; and the disclosure of information held by GovGuam in regards to State Historic Preservation Office undertakings in conjunction with the Department of Defense.</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-48173469733410303262017-08-07T03:23:00.001-07:002017-08-07T03:23:20.164-07:00Commission stumped on decolonization curriculum<div class="speakable-p-1 p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
The Commission on Decolonization still is unsure how to proceed with the implementation of decolonization education in Guam’s schools.</div>
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Commissioners produced a lengthy debate Tuesday on whether or not the commission should be in charge of managing the curriculum, which would mandate teaching students topics ranging from colonial history to Guam’s political status.</div>
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The debate started when a request for a curriculum writer was brought up. Commission members Lisa Natividad and Michael Bevacqua, who are in the subcommittee addressing decolonization education, said the commission should set the scope and framework for a curriculum writer to integrate the information.</div>
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While some members agreed that the commission should take the lead, Statehood Task Force representatives and former senators Eloy Hara and Eddie Duenas said the management of the curriculum should fall under the Guam Department of Education.</div>
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“This is DOE’s function, let’s give them the ideas and information. Let them put it into the curriculum,” Hara said. </div>
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Natividad said DOE already has outlined a long-term guide on decolonization topics to teach students from kindergarten to 12th grade, but the education department does not have the resources to lead the curriculum.</div>
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From the discussion she had with DOE Deputy Superintendent Joe Sanchez, Natividad said, the department seemed to lean toward the idea that the commission is better suited to augment the curriculum.</div>
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According to Natividad, Sanchez said the augmentation wouldn’t need to go through a lengthy review by the Guam Education Board as it’s not a curriculum overhaul. Additionally, DOE would be using much of the resources it already has to revamp the curriculum to include decolonization information, Natividad said.</div>
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Vice Speaker Therese Terlaje asked to table the motion for a curriculum writer until the education subcommittee can draft a plan to pave the way for such a position. The subcommittee is scheduled to reconvene Thursday to address the issue.</div>
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The curriculum in part is meant to equip future generations with the knowledge necessary to decide on Guam’s political future. The island’s political status choices are free association, independence and statehood. It is unclear when a plebiscite vote on political status will occur.</div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-58436892015978639162017-08-07T03:21:00.002-07:002017-08-07T03:21:50.158-07:00Feds Offer An Additional $3 Million To Help Ease Impact Of Micronesian Migration<div class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 23px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that it will provide more money to places like Hawaii that have growing Micronesian populations, on top of the $30 million already allotted annually.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">But the additional $3 million in what’s known as “compact impact” aid is a fraction of the funding the state and other islands say they need to provide educational, health care and social service support to the recent arrivals.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Acting Interior Assistant Secretary Nikolao Pula made available $3 million in discretionary impact funding for the current federal fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hawaii received $1.27 million, Guam $1.49 million, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands $231,000 and American Samoa $2,000.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“The governors of the affected jurisdictions have reported that the federal government is not providing sufficient funds to cover the costs they bear for the impact of migrants from the freely associated states on social services,” Pula said in a press release. “Both Guam and Hawaii have <a href="http://the%20funds%20are%20in%20addition%20to%20annual%20payments%20to%20help%20hawaii%2C%20guam%20and%20other%20islands%20offset%20rising%20costs./" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">each <span class="s2" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reported</span> costs</a> exceeding $100 million a year.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">As Civil Beat reported in its series, <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/projects/the-micronesians/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">The Micronesians</a>, the 2014 costs for Hawaii alone <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2015/10/an-untold-story-of-american-immigration/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">were $163 million</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Political leaders in Hawaii and Guam, which each have Micronesian populations exceeding 15,000, have pushed for more federal support. But legislation in to that effect in Congress has not advanced.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The <a href="http://uscompact.org/about/cofa.php" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none;">Compact of Free Association</a> allows citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau to live and work indefinitely in the United States as legal nonimmigrants.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Interior Department currently provides $30 million annually in “compact impact” support, the lion’s share going to Hawaii and Guam. The recent totals are $14.7 million for Guam, $12.6 million for Hawaii, $2.2 million for the CNMI and $21,447 for American Samoa. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In its press release, the Interior Department cited 2013 data from the U.S. Bureau of Census that concluded there are 17,170 migrants from the COFA nations in Hawaii, 14,700 in Guam, 2,660 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and 25 in American Samoa.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The COFA nations are also known as the freely associated states, and Micronesians who chose to emigrate are sometimes called FAS migrants.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The total number of FAS migrants in the U.S. and its territories is unknown, but estimates range as high as 75,000. That’s roughly equivalent to one-third of the combined populations of the three COFA nations.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The primary reasons for emigrating are to pursue education, employment and health care. Global warming is also cited as a reason for leaving, especially from the low-lying islands.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The COFA nations receive about $200 million dollars a year directly from the U.S., but the payments are set to expire in 2023 unless the treaty is renewed.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The U.S. retains full military control of the lands and waters of the vast region — some 2 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">It also operates a military base and missile testing site on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.</span></div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-71122599988127777162017-08-07T03:19:00.003-07:002017-08-07T03:19:52.336-07:00The erasure of Indigenous thought in foreign policyI s<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Libre Baskerville", Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px;">pent some of the best days of my childhood on the West Beach of the Anishinaabe community Gchi’mnissing, an Island First Nation in southern Georgian Bay, Ontario.</span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The thrill of jumping into the back of a pick-up truck and bouncing over bumpy dirt roads, dodging the outstretched birch and maple branches to get to what I remember as a magical spot is something that I roll over in my mind on days I think about the Island. There was another beach, arguably more beautiful, but it was primarily for the cottagers who spent their summers on our reserve.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Then when I was a teenager my Dad bought a little boat, white with a red stripe and a tiny cabin for sleeping. He named it “Bad Apples” and my family would load it up with groceries, sometimes a pig to roast, and we'd spend our summer weekends camped on the shores of one of the reserve’s uninhabited outer Islands, a place called Beckwith.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Beckwith was popular with non-Native yachtsmen and women, too. On long weekends my friends and I would try to count all </span><span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">of </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">their shining boats from high on a sand dune: 90, 100, 120. Then we’d race through the narrow woodland channel, past the Island’s sole outhouse, back to the other side of Beckwith where there were fewer boats, mostly aluminum and disintegrating fiberglass. The water was more shallow here, the sand thicker with moisture and pocked by grass. But it was ours, the Indian side.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This type of arrangement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians might be conceptualized as politics, indeed effective diplomatic practice in an imperfect world. But for the scholars and practitioners in the field of foreign policy it is invisible. Likewise with the more provocative type of Indigenous diplomacy: the countless blockades to protect the land and water, land and treaty claims, the Idle No More movement, and so on. In the discipline of International Relations (IR), too, Indigenous philosophy and politics has been excused, marginalized and categorized as </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">domestic, </i><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">at best</span><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</i></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Indeed, the centuries of colonization that have subjugated Indigenous political communities are the foundation on which contemporary thinking about ‘the global’ has revolved. In this sense, foreign policy and IR are implicated in both spawning and sustaining settler colonialism in Canada. As a result, there is a need to chart the links between these processes and consider the shape and content of long-neglected Indigenous philosophies of the international</span><span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">F</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">or as long as settler colonialism defines the limits of </span><span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">what is</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> possible for foreign policy, the relationship (or, the politics) between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous will continue to be characterized by conflict.</span></div>
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Foreign policy, but in whose national interest?</h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">For those studying and working in foreign policy, there are certainly debates over what constitutes the definition of the field. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In Canada, there are debates about what counts as foreign policy (defence, security, trade, peacekeeping) and also how to approach those subjects (from liberal frameworks, realist, even some critical lenses). In his </span><a href="http://www.mqup.ca/politics-of-canadian-foreign-policy--fourth-edition--the-products-9781553394433.php" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #bf1e2e; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s;">textbook</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> on foreign policy Kim Nossal notes that the field is inherently divisive, emerging </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">from “the interplay of conflicting interests, divergent objectives, contending perceptions, and different prescriptions about the most appropriate course of action.”</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Yet despite these divisive debates, there is near universal acceptance of two core assumptions: the legitimacy of the Canadian state itself as the primary actor in foreign policy and the concept of the national interest, which the field of foreign policy strives to serve. This is no surprise, really, considering these assumptions are underwritten and supported by every domestic institution — from Canada’s constitution</span><span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">al</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> sources, to the cultural organizations that currently promulgate the fantasy of Canada as 150 years of glowing hearts, or decisions of the Supreme Court that reflect on the “assertion of Crown sovereignty” without ever explaining how that sovereignty was obtained.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">But for critical Indigenous scholars, these assumptions are myths that form not a legitimate state in the community of nations, but rather a violent settler colony.</span></div>
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Between 1921 and 1923, after many years of resistance to the young countries<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</span> Canada and the United States were steadily encroaching into Haudenosaunee territory and governance. Cayuga Chief Deskaheh, also known as Levi General, travelled to London, England, to appeal to King George on the matter. (He wasn’t the first or last to appeal to a King or Queen; Anishinaabe leader Shingwaukonse actively attempted to<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</span> post-War of 1812, and Chief Theresa Spence did so in 2013, among many others). But when King George refused him, Deskaheh turned to the Geneva-based League of Nations, seeking a seat for the Haudenosaunee. With his efforts undermined by English officials there too, he returned home but was stopped at the U.S.-Canada border and turned away by Canadian border guards. He spent his final days in Rochester, New York.</div>
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Before his death he made one last plea to ordinary Canadians and Americans for justice: “Do you believe — really believe — that all peoples are entitled to equal protection of international law now that you are so strong? Do you believe — really believe — that treaty pledges should be kept? Think these questions over and answer them to yourselves…We have little territory left — just enough to live and die on [because] the governments of Washington and Ottawa have a silent partnership of policy. It is aimed to break up every tribe of red men so as to dominate every acre of their territory.” (His plea is documented in Rick Monture’s <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/we-share-our-matters" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #bf1e2e; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">We Share Our Matters</i></a><i style="box-sizing: border-box;">.)</i></div>
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The last two sentences of this quote are an apt description of modern settler colonialism<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</span> nearly 100 years before scholars identified the process. For anthropologist Patrick Wolfe, there is a distinction between colonialism, which eventually ends when the invaders leave, and settler colonialism, where they don’t. While in the former formulation the Indigenous population is often transformed to labour for colonial extraction, in the latter, the settler colony attempts to liquidate all remnants of the previous (Indigenous) societies to legitimize its permanent presence. Deskaheh was speaking in the North American context, Wolfe in the Australian, but the phenomenon can be seen elsewhere, from Aotearoa/New Zealand to Palestine/Israel.</div>
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Common strategies in this liquidation are as follows: physical extermination<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">;</span> oppressive Indian legislation designed to contain; the creation of reserves/reservations/settlements, residential or boarding schools<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">;</span> discrimination aimed specifically at wome<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">n;</span> and eventually legal absorption into state apparatuses and assimilation. While the genocidal nature of settler colonialism may not appear as physical violence today (though we do still have plenty of that), the underlying motivation to expunge threats to settler sovereignty endures.</div>
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But where the specific harms of the field of foreign policy come into greater focus are in crafting a common sense around what counts as a legitimate politics of the international. Consider the core concepts of the field, or at least the discipline of IR that foregrounds foreign policy. I think its fair to say most traditional perspectives view the international system as an anarchic environment where self-interested and (mostly) rational states compete against each other for power. Or, in contrast, they may cooperate. For foundational IR scholar Hedley Bull, this simple formulation is “the supreme normative principal of the political organization of mankind.”</div>
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"Canadian foreign policy is a foreign policy that normalizes and affirms settler colonialism."</div>
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I don’t need to elaborate on these concepts for this audience. But, what about political communities that do not resemble a state, that eschew coercive notions of exclusive sovereignty, that are bound by obligations and responsibilities to the land and thus do not recognize an anarchic world, political communities that do not start and end with men? The discipline of IR<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">, </span>as well as practice of foreign policy<span class="msoIns" style="box-sizing: border-box;">,</span> effectively casts Indigenous peoples as primitive (or at least inferior), sanctions the theft of their lands, and then forecloses the possibility of resurgent political communities.</div>
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At a fundamental level the perpetuation of this conceptual galaxy denies opportunities for Indigenous expressions of liberation — whether the case is the Six Nations of the Grand River, whose demands for a seat at the League of Nations in 1922 were rejected, or the current Canadian government demands that the articulation of international Indigenous rights not challenge territorial integrity or state sovereignty (this is true generally but seen clearly with the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples). Such a denial is also expressed in the the unequivocal support of the state of Israel at the expense of Palestinian existence, or the collaboration with a Guatemalan government that suppresses Indigenous communities and murders activists like Berta Cáceres.</div>
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I am talking about more than denying liberation. By continuing to enforce the view of humanity as a set of political states, with Europe at the centre of the planet – as Chickasaw lawyer James Youngblood Henderson once pointed out in his deconstruction of the familiar Mercator world map – foreign policy actively contributes to the erasure of Indigenous political difference conceptually as well as Indigenous bodies physically. (Not to mention non-Indigenous but racialized political communities and bodies, too.) Thus, Canadian foreign policy is a foreign policy that normalizes and affirms settler colonialism. This is the primary national interest. And so, foreign policy is itself a manifestation of settler colonialism.</div>
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A brief history of Indigenous diplomacy</h2>
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Much of the sophisticated political arrangements cultivated among Indigenous peoples in North America have been destroyed by violence but also legal fictions. Some of the first transatlantic international laws — papal bulls like the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery — defined Indigenous peoples as inhuman, freeing up their lands for legal theft by the Spanish and Portuguese, then French and English. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 and subsequent treaties were drafted to privilege colonial interpretations of “nation-to-nation” relationships. The aforementioned institutions — the constitution and courts in Canada — have held these fictions up through time.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Yet somehow Indigenous notions of international politics endure. Perhaps this is not surprising given the diplomatic cannon is some 10,000 years old. For many years, up to the first 250 years of settler presence in North America, and even today, Dene, Nēhiyawewin, Mi’kmaq, Salish and many others exchanged gifts, smoked the pipe, made treaties, broke treaties and made new ones again; on their terms. Records of these efforts have been kept — and continue to be — in </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">pictographs, birchbark scrolls, petroglyphs, masks, totem poles, beadwork, wampum belts and many volumes of text.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">But that 1763 date is instructive in understanding the contrast between the two general approaches to international politics addressed here. When the English defeated the French after the Seven Years War the former were surprised that the Indigenous allies to the French did not also surrender. As Anishinaabe leader Minavavana famously said, “Englishman, although you have conquered the French you have not yet conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods, and mountains were left us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance; and we will part with none of them.”</span></div>
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And so the English attempted to placate Indigenous resistance with a Royal Proclamation, a system to effectively buy land from Indigenous peoples west of the then-existing Thirteen Colonies. It also shrewdly positioned the Crown as the arbiter of these future land transactions and, as such, the de facto sovereign (in fact the Supreme Court cites this moment as the assertion of Crown sovereignty). A year later, at Niagara, the English gathered approximately 2,000 Indigenous leaders to solemnize the proclamation and earn Indigenous endorsement. After the presentation, the Indigenous leaders espoused <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">their</i> understanding of the agreement, which according to Indigenous law scholar John Borrows was about respect for the self-determination of Indigenous nations, a military alliance, free and open trade (as well as free movement), consent before any English expansion, the ongoing provision of gifts, and finally, mutual peace, friendship and respect. They further demonstrated their understanding by invoking the Two Row Wampum Treaty, one of the earliest diplomatic accords between Indigenous peoples and settlers, created 150 years prior.</div>
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In the early 1600s the first waves of settlers were arriving in Kanien'kehá:ka territory, the eastern portion of Haudenosaunee lands. Reflecting the pragmatism of Indigenous diplomacy, the Mohawk entered into an agreement with these newcomers that they hoped would shape the long-term relationship. Onondaga faithkeeper and philosopher Oren Lyons described the beaded belt known today as the Two Row Wampum in the Nordic International Law Journal in 1986: “The row of purple wampum on the right represents the Ongwahoway or Indian people, it is their canoe. In the canoe along with the people is our government, our religion or way of life. The row of purple wampum on the left is our White brethren, their ship, their government, and their religions for they have many. The field of white represents peace and the river of life. We will go down this river in peace and friendship as long as the grass is green, the water flows, and the sun rises in the east…You will note the two rows do not come together, they are equal in size, denoting the equality of all life, and one end is not finished, denoting the ongoing relationship into the future."</div>
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The key element of the Indigenous reading of the Royal Proclamation then, encapsulated in the Two Row Wampum, is mutual autonomy and non-interference. This in turn rests on the acceptance of distinct political communities highlighted by Lyons’ reference to “ways of life,” which based on Indigenous political organization undoubtedly meant non-state political communities.</div>
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"Obligations to the land may be the most incomprehensible to the field of foreign policy."</div>
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Another Indigenous treaty, nearly as well known as the Two Row, is the Dish with One Spoon. This was an agreement between the aforementioned Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabeg. Graphically, it is a belt of white beads with a purple lozenge in the centre representing a bowl or dish. The treaty effectively recognized that a number of distinct nations live in the dish and have obligations to ensure it never runs empty. That does not mean we surrender authority or jurisdiction to a central government or institution, but that we recognize responsibilities to each other and importantly to the land. It is also important to note there are no sharp objects on the wampum — or, if you will, at the table — with which we might stab each other, just a spoon that we share (as Darlene Johnson described <a href="https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/inquiries/ipperwash/transcripts/pdf/P1_Tab_1.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #bf1e2e; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s;">here</a> in 2004). In other words, the Dish With One Spoon encouraged distinct political communities to share the same territory in peace. A terrain mapped not by exclusive sovereignty but mutual obligations.</div>
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In the inventory of paradigmatic contrasts described here, those obligations to the land may be the most incomprehensible to the field of foreign policy. Making sure the bowl never runs empty is a reference to the rights of the land. In much of Anishinaabeg philosophy, non-human communities are afforded supreme status. We live at their discretion. This is illustrated in our creation story in which the birds and muskrat decide if we live or die, to the promise we made to the eagle to live by the laws of creation, or our first treaty with the deer and moose to always ensure their homes and communities flourish in exchange for their flesh, bones, skin and teachings. There is diplomacy here but it is limited by an acknowledgement of a rules-based world, i.e., not anarchic. The resulting articulation of political communities limits human exploitation of the land and environment and encourages living in balance.</div>
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Consider the next blockade you read about in the news. While the media will struggle to explain, the Mushkego or Wet’suwet’en or Innu will very likely be acting on their political/legal/spiritual obligations to the land. The blockade is diplomacy. </div>
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An inter-national politics of the future past</h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Of course, this is not a fulsome accounting of Indigenous diplomacies or their shift and contortions through time in response to settler colonialism. The above is the briefest of surveys to demonstrate the radically divergent approach to the international. That being said, some words to conclude on the contemporary expression of Indigenous politics amid a settler colonial foreign policy and settler colonialism generally are important.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">On the former, I’ll be brief. While there are some counter-hegemonic writers in the field who may engage with these ideas, the likelihood of changing the trajectory, core assumptions or underlying concepts towards a more just, anti-colonial, matriarchal politics is unlikely. Settler colonialism relies on the myths perpetuated by foreign policy experts (among other settler experts of all kinds) to sustain itself and legitimize occupation. So can Indigenous people contribute to foreign policy in Canada and beyond? No, not unless it comes at the expense of further sabotaging the re-building of Indigenous futures. Or, settler colonialism ceases to be, in which cases the field of foreign policy as we know it would also disappear.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Meanwhile Indigenous struggles for freedom <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">within</i> the borders of Canada, an act of international politics itself, go on. Blockades to defend the land, articulating Indigenous interpretations of confederation-era treaties, the attempted centering of Indigenous women and two-spirit perspectives, all seek to undermine and challenge domination. Sometimes we win and that golf course or real estate development stalls. Audra Simpson </span><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/mohawk-interruptus" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #bf1e2e; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s;">refers</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> to these successes — when “Indigenous political orders prevail” — as “nested sovereignty” and they reveal that settler colonialism, the project of Canada itself, is not as complete or settled as traditional thinkers in the field of foreign policy would have us believe. </span></div>
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"Reconciliation appears as an opportunity for the state to recuperate its image without meaningful change."</div>
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Still, Canada itself is a project still <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">committed</i> to suffocating Indigenous political difference without a discernible end in sight. The notion of reconciliation increasingly appears as an opportunity for the state to recuperate its image without meaningful change. And decolonization, as I understand it, requires the institutions that maintain settler colonialism to be dismantled — a project not yet begun.</div>
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Now, we live in what Nēhiyaw activist Erica Violet Lee <a href="http://gutsmagazine.ca/wastelands/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #bf1e2e; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s;">calls</a> the wastelands. A place where “we grow our medicines from the cracks in concrete sidewalks or in between railroad tracks. We have to dig our laws out from underneath gravel logging roads and tend to our worlds in contaminated fields…For those of us in the wastelands—for those of us who are the wastelands—caring for each other in this way is refusing a definition of worthiness that will never include us. To provide care in the wastelands is about gathering enough love to turn devastation into mourning and then, maybe, turn that mourning into hope.”</div>
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Indigenous people endure in a settler colony striving to eliminate, re-building what remains after two centuries of that assault. Indigenous philosophies exist in a hostile intellectual environment that refuses to recognize their existence. These are the terms on which international politics is practiced for many Indigenous peoples in Canada, and for that matter, around the globe. So as we re-imagine new/old alternatives for our collective relationship within and beyond the borders of settler states through time, and until we can breathe life into them, I think the Indian side of the Island is just fine.</div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-4138248537565407932017-08-07T03:19:00.001-07:002017-08-07T03:19:09.151-07:00US Returns Tiny Portion of Controversial Okinawa Base<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 17px; padding: 0px;">
Japan said Monday the United States had returned a sliver of land at a controversial US air base on the southern island of Okinawa which has sparked a lengthy and fierce dispute.</div>
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Tokyo said the return of the land, which accounts for less than one percent of the 481-hectare (1,188-acre) Futenma base, would improve conditions for locals.</div>
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But many Okinawa residents want the <a href="http://www.military.com/marine-corps" style="color: #00529b; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Marine</a> air base moved off their island altogether.</div>
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They reject the Japanese and US government project to minimise noise and potential safety problems by moving the base from a crowded city to a sparsely populated district in Okinawa's north.</div>
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Both Tokyo and Washington have consistently rejected the idea of moving the base out of Okinawa altogether.</div>
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The US gave back the plot under a 2015 agreement to speed up the return of land on the island.</div>
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"Thanks to the return of the land, a city road will be fully open and the living environment for locals will be largely improved," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the government's top spokesman, told reporters.</div>
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"We'll try to visibly reduce Okinawa's burden," he said.</div>
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In February the government resumed work on building the replacement base after it was stalled by a series of administrative and legal moves, sparking angry protests and scuffles with police.</div>
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Okinawan Governor Takeshi Onaga had tried to block efforts to reclaim land for the new offshore facility and he and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe filed rival lawsuits to try to settle the issue.</div>
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But in December the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the central government, giving the green light to move ahead on construction.</div>
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Onaga, however, filed a fresh lawsuit last week against the central government to try and halt construction.</div>
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The governor had no immediate comment on the land return.</div>
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Okinawa, which accounts for less than one percent of Japan's total land area, hosts about 28,000 US troops -- more than half of about 47,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.</div>
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Islanders have complained for decades that the rest of the country ignores their burden, which also includes hosting some 70 percent of land allotted for US bases in Japan.</div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-3774999728305092292017-08-07T03:18:00.001-07:002017-08-07T03:18:35.797-07:00Augmented decolonization education could be implemented this school year<div class="speakable-p-1 p-text" style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">
Juniors and seniors in Guam’s public high schools may start learning more about decolonization as soon as next spring.</div>
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A subcommittee of the Commission on Decolonization might recommend an education campaign geared toward older high school students so they can be better informed to decide on a plebiscite vote for Guam’s political status.</div>
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Amanda Blas, executive director of the commission, held a work session Thursday with commissioners and Guam Department of Education officials to determine what decolonization topics should be integrated into DOE’s curriculum.</div>
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The subcommittee agreed to expedite a plan for the two-year education campaign that they can recommend to the commission for approval. The subcommittee sees the third and fourth quarters of the upcoming school year as the earliest opportunity to implement the curriculum.</div>
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Information about Guam’s political status primarily will be taught in the Guam history classes, according to Blas. She asked each of the commission’s task forces to recommend information from their respective political status that will aid in the curriculum.</div>
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The recommendation stems from the commission’s efforts to educate the community on the decolonization process and the three political status options Guam could choose: free association, independence or statehood.</div>
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Some of the suggestions that came out of the work session include:</div>
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<li>Guam’s perspective of its history of decolonization and path of self-determination;</li>
<li>understanding the United Nations charter;</li>
<li>Guam’s relation with other non-self-governing territories;</li>
<li>differences between U.S. laws and U.N. laws; and</li>
<li>the U.S.’s role as a colonizer of Guam.</li>
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Blas said she will take these suggestions to the Department of Education’s deputy superintendent for further advisement.</div>
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A date for the plebiscite has not been scheduled. Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson had filed a notice to appeal a ruling on a federal lawsuit challenging the voting process, which is limited to native inhabitants as defined by law.</div>
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<em>Note: The story was corrected to state Blas will discuss topic suggestions with DOE's deputy superintendent.</em></div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-90990750329058931722017-08-07T03:17:00.003-07:002017-08-07T03:17:59.290-07:00US military wrangles over release of American casualty info<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px !important;">
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's announcement of two U.S. service members killed in an attack in southern Afghanistan is highlighting a disagreement over how the military should handle information about American casualties.</div>
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Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the deaths after U.S. military officials in Afghanistan acknowledged coalition "casualties" without clarifying if that meant U.S. or NATO coalition forces had died or were wounded.</div>
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Distancing himself from other U.S. military commanders in all of the other combat regions of the world — including Iraq and Syria — the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has ordered that no information about U.S. deaths be released until days after the incident so that families can be notified first. Army Gen. John Nicholson's decision has met opposition within the Pentagon, where senior officials for weeks have said they were working to resolve the issue.</div>
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Nicholson's change upends Pentagon practice since the days of the Vietnam War, giving the public less information and transparency into an Afghanistan conflict that has raged for 16 years and resulted in thousands of American deaths and injuries. Previous U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have put out preliminary information about troops deaths regularly since the war's start in 2001. Such initial information only reveals the number of U.S. forces killed and not any personal identification details until families are notified.</div>
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Nicholson made the change about two months ago in what officials said was an effort to protect families of the fallen. Officials at the time said Nicholson felt the small number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan could make it easier for people to figure out what unit might be involved in any incident. There are at least 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with hundreds more likely there on temporary or other duty.</div>
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"Our primary concern is to ensure that we do everything we can to provide for the families of our fallen and wounded warriors," said Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, spokesman for the military operation in Afghanistan. "We are also committed to informing the public about our operations, including information about casualties, in a timely manner consistent with operational security and our obligation to care for the families of our servicemembers."</div>
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Other U.S. commanders haven't followed Nicholson's lead. They've continued to follow the well-worn routine practice of quickly putting out basic information in warzones across Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Africa, where there are often far fewer U.S. forces than in Afghanistan.</div>
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Even after the Pentagon's announcement of the two deaths, U.S. officials in Afghanistan said they still weren't authorized to confirm any Americans killed or wounded.</div>
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For decades, the Pentagon and the military services quickly have released basic information on service members' deaths. The practice held for those killed in war or in military aircraft, ship or other accidents. In June, the military promptly reported seven sailors killed after a U.S. Navy ship collided with a Philippine freighter. It followed the same practice last month when a U.S. military transport plane crashed, killing 15 Marines and a Navy sailor.</div>
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Separately Wednesday, the U.S. military's Operation Inherent Resolve, which oversees the fight in Iraq and Syria, issued a statement saying one American service member had died in a non-combat incident in Kuwait that day.</div>
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Providing such basic information, officials long ago concluded, doesn't violate family privacy.</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-90341373051130246492017-08-07T03:09:00.000-07:002017-08-07T03:09:03.628-07:00Proposed Navy training includes use of active sonar earlier thumbed down by court<div class="font_8" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #030303; font-family: helvetica-w01-light, helvetica-w02-light, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The Department of Navy has announced plans to update its training and testing programs at the Mariana Islands Range Complex to include the use of explosives and active sonar — a practice rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court in a ruling last year.</div>
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“The type and level of activities included in the proposed action account for fluctuations in training and testing to be able to meet evolving or emergent requirements,” the Navy said in its Aug. 1 announcement of its plan to prepare a supplement to the 2015 final environmental impact statement for the Mariana Islands Training and Testing.</div>
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<span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.7.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The</span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.7.1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-content="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USN-2014-0010-0006" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.7.1.0" data-type="external" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USN-2014-0010-0006" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.7.1.0.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #0957a2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> supplemental EIS</span></a></span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.7.2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, according to the Navy, “will propose changes to the tempo and types of training and testing activities, accounting for the introduction of new technologies, the evolving nature of international events, advances in war fighting doctrine and procedures, and changes in the organization of vessels, aircraft, weapon systems, and military personnel.”</span></div>
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The proposed action is in line with the military’s goal to maintain a combat-ready force “capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom,” the Navy said.</div>
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The training area covers the existing Mariana Islands Range Complex, areas on the high seas to the north and west of the Mariana Islands Range Complex, a transit corridor between the Mariana Islands Range Complex and the Hawaii Range Complex starting at the International Date Line, as well as Apra Harbor and select Navy pierside and harbor locations.</div>
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“Activities include the use of active sound navigation and ranging (sonar) and explosives while employing marine species protective mitigation measures,” the Navy said.</div>
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The sonar system generates slow-rolling sound waves topping out at around 235 decibels and was first developed by the Navy to detect enemy submarines.</div>
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Environmentalists have been protesting the use of sonar, which they say harms the marine life.</div>
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<span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.i.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In a </span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.i.1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.i.1.0" data-type="document" href="http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/f66d15_67983af13e0e4897960eec9463896fb1.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.i.1.0.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #0957a2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ruling </span></a></span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.i.2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">issued on March 17, 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court held that the Navy’s peacetime use of sonar is not in compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The appellate court’s decision was based on the lawsuit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council against officials of the Navy, the Department of Commerce and the National Marine and Fisheries Service.</span></div>
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<span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.k.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In the Aug. 1 </span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.k.1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-content="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USN-2014-0010-0006" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.k.1.0" data-type="external" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USN-2014-0010-0006" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.k.1.0.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #213f95; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">announcement</span></a></span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.k.2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, the Navy said it would assess the potential environmental impacts associated with ongoing and proposed military readiness activities conducted within the study area. Resources to be evaluated include marine mammals, sea turtles, essential fish habitat, and threatened and endangered species.</span></div>
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“As part of this process the (Navy) will seek the issuance of regulatory permits and authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act to support training and testing requirements within the Study Area, beyond 2020, thereby ensuring critical Department of Defense requirements are met,” the Navy said. “While simulators provide early skill repetition at the basic operator level and enhance teamwork, there is no substitute for live training and testing in a realistic environment.”.</div>
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Public comment period on the Navy’s proposed changes to the 2015 final EIS began on Aug. 1 and ends on Sept. 15.</div>
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The supplemental EIS is being prepared to support ongoing and future activities conducted at sea and on Farallon de Medinilla beyond 2020, according to the Navy.</div>
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<span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In March, the Federal Aviation Authority </span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-content="http://www.pacificislandtimes.com/single-post/2017/04/24/Expanded-bombing-range-Will-Farallon-de-Medinilla-be-a-testing-site-for-Navy%E2%80%99s-futuristic-weapons" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.1.0" data-type="external" href="http://www.pacificislandtimes.com/single-post/2017/04/24/Expanded-bombing-range-Will-Farallon-de-Medinilla-be-a-testing-site-for-Navy%E2%80%99s-futuristic-weapons" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.1.0.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #0957a2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">approved</span></a></span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a data-content="http://www.pacificislandtimes.com/single-post/2017/04/24/Expanded-bombing-range-Will-Farallon-de-Medinilla-be-a-testing-site-for-Navy%E2%80%99s-futuristic-weapons" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.2.0" data-type="external" href="http://www.pacificislandtimes.com/single-post/2017/04/24/Expanded-bombing-range-Will-Farallon-de-Medinilla-be-a-testing-site-for-Navy%E2%80%99s-futuristic-weapons" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.2.0.0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #0957a2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></a></span><span data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.$centeredContent.$inlineContent.$SITE_PAGES.$cjds_DESKTOP.$inlineContent.$ppPrt7-8uz.$inlineContent.0.$child.$0.$inlineContent.$1.$5.$0.$richTextContainer.r.3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the expansion of the military training range on Farallon de Medinilla to upgrade the island’s capability to support the use of advanced weapons systems. The expansion took effect on July 22, allowing the Navy to use wider airspace for its training exercises on the tiny island located 45 nautical miles north of Saipan.</span></div>
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“This action expands the restricted airspace at Farallon De Medinilla Island by designating a new area, R-7201A, that surrounds the existing R-7201. R-7201A encompasses that airspace between a 3 nautical mile radius and a 12-NM radius of lat. 16°01′04″ N., long. 146°03′31″ E,” according to FAA’s new rule announcement posted on the Federal Register last month.</div>
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The new restricted airspace, according to FAA, “provides the required airspace to conduct military training scenarios using air-to-ground ordnance delivery, naval gunfire, lasers and special operations training. This change will accommodate Department of the Navy training involving the use of advanced weapons systems which the current R-7201A airspace does not sufficiently and safely provide.”</div>
isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29637555.post-78321856875634431062017-08-03T17:38:00.000-07:002017-08-03T17:38:38.283-07:00Feds Offer An Additional $3 Million To Help Ease Impact Of Micronesian Migration<span style="font-family: , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 23px;">Hawaii will receive an additional $1.27 million on top of an annual payment of $12.6 million, but the costs of serving the immigrants is far higher.</span><br />
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<cite class="-nosocial" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; margin-right: 0.6em;"><span class="prefix" style="box-sizing: border-box;">By</span> <span class="authors" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/author/cblair/" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;"><span itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chad Blair</span></a></span></span></cite><span class="delim" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0.3em 0px -0.4em;">/</span> <time datetime="2017-08-01 13:34:15" itemprop="datePublished" style="box-sizing: border-box;" title="2017-08-01T13:34:15+00:00">August 1, 2017</time></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Tuesday that it will provide more money to places like Hawaii that have growing Micronesian populations, on top of the $30 million already allotted annually.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">But the additional $3 million in what’s known as “compact impact” aid is a fraction of the funding the state and other islands say they need to provide educational, health care and social service support to the recent arrivals.</span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Acting Interior Assistant Secretary Nikolao Pula made available $3 million in discretionary impact funding for the current federal fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hawaii received $1.27 million, Guam $1.49 million, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands $231,000 and American Samoa $2,000.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“The governors of the affected jurisdictions have reported that the federal government is not providing sufficient funds to cover the costs they bear for the impact of migrants from the freely associated states on social services,” Pula said in a press release. “Both Guam and Hawaii have <a href="http://the%20funds%20are%20in%20addition%20to%20annual%20payments%20to%20help%20hawaii%2C%20guam%20and%20other%20islands%20offset%20rising%20costs./" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none; text-decoration: underline;">each <span class="s2" style="box-sizing: border-box;">reported</span> costs</a> exceeding $100 million a year.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">As Civil Beat reported in its series, <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/projects/the-micronesians/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none; text-decoration: underline;">The Micronesians</a>, the 2014 costs for Hawaii alone <a href="http://www.civilbeat.org/2015/10/an-untold-story-of-american-immigration/" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none; text-decoration: underline;">were $163 million</a>.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Political leaders in Hawaii and Guam, which each have Micronesian populations exceeding 15,000, have pushed for more federal support. But legislation in to that effect in Congress has not advanced.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The <a href="http://uscompact.org/about/cofa.php" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #013167; outline: none; text-decoration: underline;">Compact of Free Association</a> allows citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau to live and work indefinitely in the United States as legal nonimmigrants.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #1a1a1a;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The Interior Department currently provides $30 million annually in “compact impact” support, the lion’s share going to Hawaii and Guam. The recent totals are $14.7 million for Guam, $12.6 million for Hawaii, $2.2 million for the CNMI and $21,447 for American Samoa. </span></span><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In its press release, the Interior Department cited 2013 data from the U.S. Bureau of Census that concluded there are 17,170 migrants from the COFA nations in Hawaii, 14,700 in Guam, 2,660 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and 25 in American Samoa.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The COFA nations are also known as the freely associated states, and Micronesians who chose to emigrate are sometimes called FAS migrants.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The total number of FAS migrants in the U.S. and its territories is unknown, but estimates range as high as 75,000. That’s roughly equivalent to one-third of the combined populations of the three COFA nations.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The primary reasons for emigrating are to pursue education, employment and health care. Global warming is also cited as a reason for leaving, especially from the low-lying islands.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The COFA nations receive about $200 million dollars a year directly from the U.S., but the payments are set to expire in 2023 unless the treaty is renewed.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The U.S. retains full military control of the lands and waters of the vast region — some 2 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="box-sizing: border-box;">It also operates a military base and missile testing site on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.</span></div>
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isahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07711646764001836486noreply@blogger.com0