A Cynical Environmentalism: Protecting Nature to Prepare for War

Wednesday, 05 October 2016 00:00By Jon Letman, Truthout | Report

Painfully aware that the internet now delivers the carnage of war onto our screens in real time, the US military has made a concerted effort to redefine itself as a "helping" force, offering disaster relief and defending the weak and vulnerable. Increasingly, this includes protecting the environment.

By rebranding itself as a guardian of nature, the military improves its own public image and achieves a veneer of unassailability while bolstering its primary mission, which is, of course, the ability to wage war. In reality, war's brutal and merciless goal of domination and control is the furthest thing imaginable from nurturing or preservation.

Chatfield to command Joint Region Marianas

Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield has been assigned to the post of commander of Joint Regions Marianas, according to an announcement yesterday from the Department of Defense. Chatfield will replace Rear Adm. Babette "Bette" Bolivar as the U.S. Pacific Command representative, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau; commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas; and commander, Joint Region Marianas.

Chatfield is a native of Garden Grove, California, according to the Navy website.

She was appointed rear admiral in May 2015.

Naval rivalry with China, North Korean missile threats await next president

Building partnerships to counter China’s growing naval strength, Russia’s submarine force and North Korea’s missile threat are high on the agenda of challenges facing the next president in the Pacific Ocean — for decades considered “America’s lake.”

At the same time, the U.S. military will likely be called on to respond to natural disasters growing ever more powerful and frequent due to climate change. That could be an opportunity to earn goodwill but are also drain limited military resources.

These hazards in the Pacific won’t come as a surprise to the new commander in chief.

What's Behind the Pentagon's Asian Redeployment?

Last Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter reiterated the Pentagon's 'Asia Pivot' plans' – highlighting plans to deploy 60% of America's overseas naval and air military assets to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. Commenting on the Secretary's remarks, Russian analysts work through the hidden logic behind Washington's plans.

Addressing sailors and servicemen aboard the USS Carl Vinson at the US Naval Base in San Diego, Carter recalled that the US began to "quantitatively and geographically enhance the US military's force posture" in the Asia-Pacific region five years ago, in accordance with President Obama's Asia Pivot strategy. 

"That's why DoD sent tens of thousands of additional American personnel to the region," he noted. "That's why we committed to homeporting 60% of our naval and overseas air assets in the Asia-Pacific by 2020. That's why we began to modernize our footprint in Japan and the Republic of Korea. And that's why we began to realign our Marines from a highly centralized presence in Okinawa, Japan to additional locations in Australia, Hawaii, and Guam – the latter serving as a strategic hub." 

US Unveils New Maritime Security Initiatives at ASEAN Defense Meeting

Ash Carter reveals the Pentagon’s upcoming plans with Southeast Asian states.

By Prashanth Parameswaran

October 02, 2016

This weekend, the United States and ASEAN states held an informal defense ministers’ meeting in Hawaii.

As expected, U.S. officials stressed that the U.S.-ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Informal Meeting was a testament to ASEAN’s importance in the Obama administration’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific as well as the Pentagon’s ongoing force posture improvements. Substantively, the meeting addressed a range of security issues, from terrorism and the rise of the Islamic State to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Unsurprisingly, maritime security was also a central focus, in so small part due to ongoing tensions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. As I’ve written previously, the United States has already been unveiling a series of measures to address this during the Obama years, including the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative (MSI).

Though the United States already has been expanding and multilateralizing its exercises with individual Southeast Asian countries over the past few years, these region-wide developments are significant (See: “Interview: The Future of US Military Exercises in the Asia-Pacific”). 

Opinion: US ‘rebalance’ to Asia

Sunday, October 02, 2016

 By 

BONG O. WENCESLAO

CANDID THOUGHTS

THE new United States military strategy is officially called “rebalance” to Asia, although the term “pivot” is also used. It is in essence a shift in the focus of the world’s most powerful armed forces from Middle East to Asia. That is actually another way of saying that the US is now concerned not only with the economic might of China but also its growing military assertiveness in the Pacific.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met over the weekend with the defense ministers--including our very own Delfin Lorenzana--of the 10-member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The attention given to Asean is not surprising because, unlike in other parts of Asia, US influence in Southeast Asia is relatively weak with, until recently, the Philippines as the only bright spot.

Duterte, Philippine President, Raises Doubts About Military Alliance With U.S.

MANILA — Military and diplomatic officials in the Philippines were facing a quandary on Thursday after President Rodrigo Duterte distanced the country further from the United States, its biggest defense ally, by saying he would end joint military exercises like one scheduled for next week and would pursue closer ties to China and Russia.

Speaking to Filipinos in Vietnam late Wednesday, Mr. Duterte said that although he was preserving the 65-year military partnership between Manila and Washington, he was eager to strengthen relations with powers closer to home.

He said that Russia, where Philippine diplomats recently held embassy-level talks on procuring military hardware, had invited him to visit.

“So, I am serving notice now to the Americans and those who are allies,” he said. “This will be the last military exercise. Jointly, Philippines-U.S., the last one.”

Defense Secretary: US Will Sharpen 'Military Edge' in Asia

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday the U.S. will "sharpen our military edge" in Asia and the Pacific in order to remain a dominant power in a region feeling the effects of China's rising military might.

Carter made the pledge in a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in port in San Diego.

The Pentagon chief described what he called the next phase of a U.S. pivot to Asia — a rebalancing of American security commitments after years of heavy focus on the Middle East.

Okinawa cops laughed as they tied up anti-U.S. military protesters

OKINAWA (TR) – Citizens protesting the presence of U.S. military at a helipad construction site here on Thursday were tied up by police officers who allegedly laughed as they intimidated the participants.

A group of some 20 citizens said police started tying them up when they were holding a protest on a 10-meter high slope of a logging site near a helipad construction yard on U.S. military training grounds in Takae, Higashi, the Okinawa Times reports (September 29). During the incident, some officers reportedly laughed as they threatened “to strangle” the participants.

“To handle it this way is a first,” angered protesters told the newspaper. “This is unforgivable.”

Essay: "AMEXIT: Will the U.S. Maintain its Presence in Asia?"

Junjiro Isomura • Fall 2016 

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2016/09/28/amexit-will-u-s-maintain-presence-asia/

In the seven decades since the end of World War II, the United States has structured and nurtured alliances in Asia that include ANZUS (with Australia and New Zealand), the Philippines Treaty, and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) with Australia, France, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom. U.S.-Japan and U.S.-South Korean (ROK) relations have been cornerstones of the U.S. role in Asia. These American-led alliances are critically important for the continuing security and stability of the Asia-Pacific Area, including Southeast and Southwest Asia. American leadership has provided enormous benefit to the U.S. as well, including large scale and stable markets.

Yet, despite the importance of the American presence in the Pacific, and despite the Obama administration’s announced “Pivot to Asia” designed to focus attention on this crucial region, countries are asking, “Will the U.S. maintain its presence in Asia? Will there be AMEXIT from the region?”

Torres, Aldan to join military in Pagan tour

SAIPAN – Gov. Ralph Torres and Northern Island Mayor Jerome Aldan will accompany military officials and Assistant Interior Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia’aina to Pagan on Friday.

The military is proposing to conduct bombing exercises on the remote volcanic island.

“We will show them the homestead program on Pagan and what is being proposed there,” Torres said. “The military will also do an assessment of the island.”

He said the tour is part of the third round of the ongoing 902 talks with the federal government.

US Harrier jet crashes off Okinawa

September 22, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

A U.S. Marines AV-8 Harrier jet went down in the ocean off Okinawa after taking off from U.S. Kadena Air Base on the afternoon of September 22. According to the U.S. military, the pilot was safe and the Nakagusuku branch of the Japan Coast Guard dispatched rescue officers. Around 2:58 p.m., HH-60 helicopters were confirmed to have taken off from Kadena Air Base.

The Harrier jet belonging to U.S. base which had flown to Kadena base from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, crashed in the ocean off Okinawa.

China’s massive Pacific air force drill just the start of even bigger shows of might against US, experts predict

The PLA Air Force’s unpre­cedented drills in the Western Pacific on Sunday are just the beginning, military observers say as they ­predict more large-scale exercises in the region in future.

The long-range drills and ­patrols – involving more than 40 aircraft from various teams – were to display China’s ability to counter US interference in the South China Sea, the analysts said. 

Air force spokesman Shen Jinke said H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighters and air tankers conducted reconnaissance and early warning drills, simulated attacks on sea targets and carried out in-flight ­refuelling.

US, Japan Finalize New Military Cooperation Amid Tensions With China

02:00 27.09.2016(updated 08:14 27.09.2016) Get short URL

61493415 Washington and Tokyo have signed a bilateral agreement to increase military logistics cooperation as tensions with China continue to escalate. Because of its pacifist constitution, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have been limited in assisting US military missions. Food, oil, and transportation services could be provided, but giving US forces more direct provisions, like ammunition, was not allowed. 

Tokyo made major changes to its constitution in March, however, allowing Japanese troops to operate overseas in an offensive posture for the first time since World War II.  On Monday, Washington and Tokyo signed an amended Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ASCA) that takes full advantage of Japan’s more aggressive stance. 

Japan boosts ‘logistics’ cooperation with US military amid tensions with China & N. Korea

Japan has amended its Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) with the United States to enable the provision of military supplies list under the country’s new security legislation enacted earlier this year.

After decades of maintaining a defensive military posture, in March Tokyo passed a set of two laws enabling Japan to practice collective self-defense, and allowing for significant expansion of the nature the country’s military forces operations in overseas missions.

But changes to the laws in spring and the revised ACSA deal now expand Tokyo’s potential cooperation with Washington by broadening the types of operations and support, allowing, for instance, the provision of munitions if Japan’s security will be threatened by failing to do so.

‘Unlivable’: Okinawa Residents Sue Tokyo Over US Military Helipads

03:30 27.09.2016(updated 09:25 27.09.2016)  

4484120 Residents from two villages in Okinawa, Japan, are filing a lawsuit against the government to halt the construction of US military helipads, citing noise, crime and pollution. 

The pads, built at a distant training area, will be used to move and consolidate America’s position in Okinawa, and cede control of earlier-held areas back to Japan. According to reports, 31 of the 33 plaintiffs hail from the Takae group of Higashi village, with others coming from the Kunigami and Aha villages. 

The Japanese Defense Ministry says that Aha and Kunigami are both close to helipads constructed in 2014 and given to the US military a year later.  

Using Okinawa as a Place Where It Can 'Bully People and Expand Profits' 

Yukine Ashimine, a 45-year-old Takae resident, told Stripes.com, "If and when all of [helicopter landing zones] are completed, this entire community of 150 residents will become unlivable." 

China military planes fly over Okinawa strait

8:01 pm, September 26, 2016

Jiji PressTOKYO (Jiji Press) — Eight Chinese military planes flew over the Miyako Strait between the islands of Okinawa and Miyakojima Sunday, the Defense Ministry said.

Four H-6 bombers, one Tu-154 surveillance plane, one Y-8 surveillance plane and two planes believed to be fighters flew over the strait to the Pacific Ocean.

The flights prompted the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets. No violation of Japanese airspace by the Chinese planes occurred, ministry officials said.

NGOs call for Japan to respect Okinawans’ freedom of expression at UN Human Rights Council

September 21, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On September 19 at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) made a statement delivered by its representative Taisuke Komatsu at the UN Human Rights Council. In the statement the IMADR called on the government of Japan to fully respect Okinawans’ freedom of expression in their protests against construction of US military facilities such as those being built in Henoko, Nago, and Higashi Village, Takae.

The statement delivered by the IMADR was a joint statement with international human rights NGOs Human Rights Now and Franciscans International. It pointed out that, “The large presence of the foreign [U.S.] military has caused a countless numbers of human rights violations, including sexual violence against women and girls.” The NGOs also criticized that despite Okinawans’ opposition, the government of Japan has been advancing the plans to construct new U.S. military facilities in Henoko and Takae.

Japan intercepts Chinese warplanes over disputed islands

Japan was forced to scramble a number of fighter jets to counter eight Chinese military aircraft as they approached Japanese airspace on Sunday, Tokyo has said.

The Chinese planes reportedly flew along the Miyako Straits between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyakojima islands. They were partaking in a military drill including some 40 aircraft nearby.

Although the Chinese planes did not cross into Japanese airspace, they flew over a group of islands in the East China Sea that are disputed by Tokyo and Beijing.

Activists make case for Guam independence

27 Sep 2016

 

Mar-Vic Cagurangan -    

“Guam is where America’s war begins,” said Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, co-chair of the Guam Independence Task Force. “Guam is a seen as a place to attack because there are a lot military weapons here. We are caught in the middle.”

The United States and North Korea have been exchanging threats and counter-threats in mutual attempts at cowing each other.