'Let Asians fight Asians'

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

12/14/2012

Daily Tribune

A few days ago, Dec. 11 to be exact, the Philippine government through its Foreign Affairs Secretary issued words that portend great gloom for both the future of the Filipino people and the whole of Asia.
When asked in an interview with the Financial Times of London as to "whether the Philippines would support Japan dropping its pacifist constitution to become a fully fledged military force and act as a balance against a rising China," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez, quoting DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario, said, "I think we would welcome something like that."
Other reports of that interview also directly quoted Del Rosario as saying, "We are looking for balancing factors in the region and Japan could be a significant balancing factor."

Those statements came as the Philippines is preparing for talks with its US counterparts in the Third Bilateral Strategic Dialog, which subjects include the country's territorial dispute with China. Hernandez affirmed the Philippine government's view that Japan should "upgrade" its armed and naval forces "from a self-defense force (as defined by its official name, Japan Self-Defense Force or JSDF)" to one "with the capability (of operating) in the region" — which simply is "a euphemism for allowing Japan to go beyond defense."
Truth is, Japanese military forces have already been deployed to Iraq in 2004 (upon insistence of the US) in violation of Japan's Peace Constitution. Article 9 of that Charter explicitly states that Japan will never maintain land, sea, and air forces that can constitute any potential to use force "as a means of settling international disputes."

Japan Times published an article last June entitled, "LDP's dangerous proposals for amending antiwar article," by Craig Roberts, which says: "Article 9(1)(i) looks little changed from paragraph one of the current Article 9 … Yet the slight revision contains the basis for unraveling the binding power of the constraint, like a Trojan horse smuggling in the forces of destruction.… the clause 'threat or use of force,' which is drawn from Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, is no longer subject to the 'renunciation' (the eternal nature of which has also disappeared). Rather, the clause is now qualified by the feeble and passive phrase 'will not be used.' Not the mandatory prescriptive language of 'shall not,' or 'must not,' but merely 'will not' … That would be a radical change from the current provision, which is understood to operate as a legal prohibition."

On these little words hang the future of peace in Asia and the world, as the Asian Century — centered on China's growth — revs on. The US National Intelligence Council issued its Global Trends Report last week and finds: "China's economy to outgrow America's by 2030 as World faces 'tectonic shift'… 'China alone will probably have the largest economy, surpassing that of the United States a few years before 2030… (where) power will shift to networks and coalitions in a multi-polar world…'"
Yet, it also opines self-servingly, "A collapse or sudden retreat of US power probably would result in an extended period of global anarchy (as) no leading power would be likely to replace the United States as guarantor of the international order…" That's in spite of the fact that wherever the US went, chaos followed. Over the past decade alone, US invasions of several countries have caused mounting military and civilian casualties: 640,000 in Iraq (Lancet); 100,000 in Libya (IBTimes London); 20,000 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Asia, despite lingering territorial issues, the region was still able to enjoy a modicum of peace after the end of the US-instigated Korean and Vietnam wars. But now comes the US "pivot" toward Asia and, along with the Japanese government "nationalizing" the Diaoyu Islands by purchasing it with the BS Aquino III administration simultaneously acting as the Asean harmony spoiler by sticking to its rabid but isolated campaign of "internationalizing" its dispute with China.
And while we are today witnessing the Japanese rightwing, the US-backed LDP, proposing loopholes into the Japanese "Peace Constitution," we can rightfully ask: What for — a "kamikaze rearmament?" And cui bono (Who benefits)?

Certainly, it's none other than the US finance and military-industrial complex fomenting the new regional arms race, coupled with the neoconservative proponents of "The New American Century" hegemony, as well as the Japanese ruling distracting its people from the fifth recession in 15 years; all these, as BS Aquino III receives more commissions in the purchase of vintage warships and fighter jets, all as a prelude for "Asians to fight Asians."
As former US President Lyndon Johnson once said, "We are not about to send American boys nine or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."
Thus, the "new" Imperial Japan finds a good successor to its World War II puppet, Kalibapi (Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas) leader Benigno Aquino Sr., in the guise of the latter's grandson; this, as "Green Card holder" Del Rosario sets another stage for the Filipino people to be cannon fodder once again, in what historian Barbara Tuchman calls "The March of Folly."

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m., and over at www.gnntv-asia.com on "The Economy: A True Picture" with Ibon E.D. Sonny Africa and KME economist Hiro Vaswani as guests; tune in to 1098 AM radio Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and visit http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)

PSY wars (Gangnam style)

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

12/10/2012

Daily Tribune

This was the New York Times report I picked up from another article, "The PSY Scandal: Singing About Killing People v Constantly Doing It," by Glenn Greenwald on the Information Clearing House: "In 2004, PSY rapped on a South Korean metal band's song, 'Dear American,' at a protest concert, The Washington Post reported. 'Kill those f—ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives,' he said. 'Kill those f—ing Yankees who ordered them to torture. Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers. Kill them all slowly and painfully…' Two years earlier, after a pair of Korean schoolgirls were mowed down by a US-operated armored vehicle, PSY again expressed vitriol toward America. Onstage, he smashed a plastic model of a US tank into pieces as the crowd cheered, The Korea Herald reported."

The first time I saw the artist known as PSY was on a CNN TV interview. I took no interest at all. When the news channel showed his "Gangnam Style" music video with his white tuxedo and silly hand gestures with legs flapped in and out, I wondered why CNN would put such an inane figure on at all.
I still don't get how this "Gangnam Style" got the fancy of the world, but now I know that it first went "viral" on the Internet. This apparently also got the curiosity of the Washington presidential party planner who included PSY in the White House Christmas party program.
But just two weeks before the party, someone dug up a decade-old YouTube video showing the rabidly anti-American rap that PSY performed then. The short New York Times article said, "PSY apologized… adding that the song in question is from nearly a decade ago, and was 'part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls.'"

Protests briefly ensued in various US venues, including the Internet, demanding PSY be pulled out of the Christmas program. Despite this, PSY is still on for Obama's party. One Web site said, "Look, even if you're still outraged about PSY going, just hold in your anger for a few days and come Christmas we'll all get a GIF of President Obama doing the 'Gangnam Style' dance. That alone would be worth it."
The US and some of its people may get a kick out of PSY's "Gangnam Style" but I wonder why PSY would still perform for a US president who represents quite literally a deadly "Gangsta" over the whole world — especially The Third World — ripping out brains and innards of babies, women, and children; bombing with drones in wild abandon, on villages in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen and once in Mindanao; and arming Syrian rebels and al-Qaeda.

Glenn Greenwald enumerated a long list of US criminal campaigns all over the world to highlight the irony of the PSY performance before the US President. He begins with a report from The Guardian: "The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent'… In comments which legal experts and campaigners described as 'deeply troubling,' Army Lt. Col. Marion Carrington told the Marine Corp Times that children, as well as 'military-age males,' had been identified as a potential threat because some were being used by the Taliban to assist in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces…"
Indeed, the US is laying the ground for legally justifying its unmanned airborne attacks against the children of the Third World.
The statistics of drone victims (culled from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism) are deadly and growing:
Pakistan — Total reported killed: 2,593-3,387 / Civilians reported killed: 472-885 / Children reported killed: 176 / Total reported injured: 1,255-1,408;
Yemen — Total reported killed (all): 362-1,062 / Total civilians killed (all): 60-173 / Children killed (all): 24-35;
Somalia — Total reported killed: 58-170 / Civilians reported killed: 11-57 / Children reported killed: 1-3.
There are many other Web sites that cite higher civilian death proportions and are equally credible given the highly difficult nature of the information, but even these stats we have already show unacceptable levels of civilian deaths. Still, whatever the level of civilian deaths (even with confirmed "militants"), the use of drones is still legally untenable and even many US legal luminaries question whether it can stand in any court of law. Question is: Would gangsters care?

When PSY capitulated and apologized just to perform before the US president, he pretty much revealed his vacuous nature. But in my mind, the sensible lyrics from his song "Dear American" still reverberate: "Try those f—ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives… Try those f — ing Yankees who ordered them to torture." Try them, indeed. Hopefully, PSY can still regain his sanity after all this media frenzy dies down.

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m., and over at www.gnntv-asia.com on "A China-Philippines Update" with Chito Sta. Romana and Wilson Lee Flores as guests; tune in to 1098 AM radio Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and visit http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)