I don’t see a good place to post this. When one appears, I shall repost it.

I know I am more left-wing than 90% of you, but that does not mean facts are not facts. This is Fidel Castro’s latest Reflection. The subject is the new military build-up in Columbia. It fits right into the problems facing Okinawa. Just substitute the name Columbia…

This link is for Granma - the official Cuban paper. If that bothers you, it will also be on Prensa Latina, and probably the Mexican paper Journada. I don’t see the US Media re-posting it.

The annexation of Colombia to the United States:

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/noviembre/lun9/Reflections-6nov.html

Folktruther, Don’t get all excited about the anti-military sentiment in Hawaii. Yes, it exists in varying amounts on all the Islands. No, it cannot trump the money and propaganda machine. Jobs, jobs, jobs, and terrorism trump all rational thought here as well as on the Mainland.

I don’t see much hope for change either. Most of the news seems to be either depressing, or very depressing.

I came across this article this afternoon. It is long, but it is also very accurate [as well as ‘very depressing’]. Check it out, I don’t know how it escaped the censors on Google News. It is very seldom something like this shows up on anything approaching the mainstream media.

The title says it all: Will the militarization of the world by the Pentagon and NATO ever stop?

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/68136

Xntrk, thanks for the rundown on Hawii that mainlandeers, or at least this one, doesn’t see in the media.  I’m not for building more bases in Hawii of course, but getting them away from the China coast, and the threat of thermonuclear war.  The US could defend its homeland with a tenth of its militry budget, or less, since it has weak neighbors.

I didn’t know that there was strong feeling in Hawii to get rid of military bases.  Glad to hear it.

Thanks Folktruther! That is just what Hawaii needs, more military bases!

Apparently most people in the US are unaware that there is an active effort to move the army and navy both, out of our State. Just because the US usurped the legitimate Hawaiian Government 106 years ago does not mean that there is no resistance. There was a take over of the Royal Palace just last year by an active group of Hawaiian Government advocates. The World Court has found the US invaded a Sovereign Nation and has upheld the Hawaiian Government’s [not the State Government] claims to both independence and indemnification?

Even Haoles like me are not enamored with the huge Military presence. A Navy ship went aground on a coral reef last year, and because of poor salvage efforts, managed to stay on the reef grinding it to sand for 3 days before it was re-floated. They canned the skipper, but restoring the reef will take decades.

DU weapons were fired on both Oahu and the Big Island, even tho they are supposedly banned from use in the US. First the Army denied it, and now they say it’s not really a big deal. The real problem is that no one even knows how much of the stuff is blowing around our environment.

FYI, it was also used on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. The residents of Puerto Rico are as happy about that as we are.

The US has a long and dark history of running slipshod over any Amer-Indians, Pacific Islanders, or foreigners who get in its way. If you think we need more Military Bases, lets put them on the Mainland. Perhaps San Francisco or Santa Barbara could use more of a military presence. I understand there is land available pretty cheap these days!

I hope the Okinawans are successful. Maybe they can give some tips to people objecting to the US Military build-up in Columbia [seven bases, and Diplomatic Immunity for any criminal acts by ‘Americans’].

It’s a great world. Too bad we seem determined to trash it!

I lived on Okinawa and followed this issue for decades. The media and American political leaders haven’t a clue about this problem as they are duped by their Imperial Generals. Both America and Japan will benefit if a few bases are promptly closed. All sane Americans will agree, once they read the facts in this short article.
http://www.g2mil.com/Japan-bases.htm

“Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader.  He is threatening to split with the United States.
He blames America for the global economic crisis
and says that the U.S. is responsible for the destruction of human dignity.  He campaigned on’
protecting traditional Japanese economic activities
and reducing U.S. led globalization.
During the run-up to the election, Hatoyama’s finance
minister told the BBC he was worried about the future
value of the dollar, and that if his party were elected, it would refuse to purchase any more U.S.
treasuries unless they were denominated in Japanese
yen.
Japan is the world’s second-largest economy.  It is
also America’s second most important creditor.
Washington owes Japan over $724 billion.  The only
nation America owes more money to is China($800
billion). The U.S. also imports $140 billion worth
of goods from Japan each year.
If Japan were to follow through with its threat to
only lend in yen, the dollar would probably fall hard.  That would mean more expensive consumer goods,
higher unemployment and currency inflation in America.  If other nations like China were to follow
suit, we would witness a currency crisis, Zimbabwe
style.
The new government in Japan has also pledged to diversify its foreign currency reserves away from the
dollar.  Thus, at some point, it will need to dramatically reduce how much money it lends to America.  America is planning to borrow record amounts over the next coupleof years, so something
isn’t adding up here.  Where will the money come
from?
“The financial crisis has suggested to many that the
era of U.S. unilateralism may come to an end,”
Hatoyama wrote in an August 26th New York Times
article titled “A New Path for Japan.”  It also
raised doubts about the permanence of the dollar as
the key global currency.
But Hatoyama isn’t just charting a separate economic
course for Japan.  His campaign also promised a more
independent foreign policy from Washington—and
closer relations with Japan’s Asian neighbors.
Clearly, Japan is rapidly losing interest in being
allied with America.  More so than at any time since
WWII, it is identifying far more with its Asian
neighbors. Practically, America sits 5,500 miles
across the Pacific Ocean.  The Chinese could fly to
Tokyo for breakfast, Taiwan for lunch, and back home
for kung pan dinner before America’s fastest jets
could make it much past Hawaii.  America’s star is
descending.  Asia’s is rising.
He continued with some hard but undeniable words,
“I also feel that as a result of the failure of the
Iraq war and the financial crisis, the era of U.S.
led globalism is coming to an end. Thus, Japan must
spare no effort to build the permanent security
frameworks essintial to creating a new anti-dollar
regional Asian currency shared by China, Japan, South
Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
Hatoyama not only believes America’s economy and
power are fading fast, he’s publishing it in the
New York Times.  He see Japan’s future as being
with Asia.

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Patrick Henry is quite right.  This is a very progressive development for the American people, although another defeat for American power.  The new party in Japan can liquidate the US bases on its soil, pushing the US bases back from the China coast to at least Guam.  Hopfully to Hawii eventually.

this would put pressure on Taiwan to semi-merge with China as Hong Kong did, taking this dispute off the agenda as a threat of nuclear war.

Cleanup and closure of numerous U.S. overseas bases has been long overdue.

We have more pressing issues in the U.S. which that money can be used for besides pissing off our allies.