Todays Top Storiesddd
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
- Japan Supporting U.S. Invasion of Iraq
It is time to stop pretending that Japan is on the sidelines in the coming war. Japan’s opportunistic Liberal Democratic Party (Ž©—R–¯“}?j leaders, fondly remembering the days of colonialism and the Pacific War that they still pretend was fought to liberate Asia from the Western Imperialists, are now JOINING the Americans in a new imperial war on Iraq. Under the pretense of making an “international contribution” the Japanese will, more than ever before, actually lend a helping hand in killing Iraqi civilians. This is not completely new as Japanese money financed the war of 12 years ago and has helped to maintain the sanctions regime that has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the intervening years.
Trying to sell an increasingly violent stance to the public, the Japanese government appeals to people’s sense of guilt, saying that it is “not enough” to send money. No, it is not enough. Now they have to directly participate in the killing, and call it internationalism at the same time. Lies, lies, lies. Shame!
Here is an article on the subject from the Agence France Press
TOKYO, Dec 23 (AFP) - Japan has unofficially offered its support for a US-led attack on Iraq to make up for its belated and largely unappreciated support for the Gulf War in 1991, a report said Monday. The government gave its unofficial pledge of support to US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage this month in Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported, citing unidentified sources close to the government.
The foreign ministry could not be reached for comment Monday, a public holiday.
The early offer reflects the fact that Japan’s belated support for US-led attacks on Iraq in January 1991 did not receive meaningful appreciation in the international community, the sources said.
The announcement shows Japan does not want to make the same “mistake” again, Kyodo reported the sources as saying.
Armitage was in Japan from December 8 to 10 and met Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and top cabinet ministers to drum up support for a possible war with Iraq and to thank Japan for its support in the military campaign in Afghanistan.
Japan sent a hi-tech Aegis destroyer to the Indian Ocean last week to protect Japanese vessels’ refueling of US military ships, a type of rear-guard support that the government says does not violate the nation’s peace constitution.
- Japanese Americans Express Solidarity with American Muslims
This statement was initiated by civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama - please distribute and get others to sign onto this statement.
We are concerned people of conscience in the Japanese American community who cannot stand silent as the U.S. government wages war, targets immigrants, especially Arabs and Muslims who are rounded-up and detained and erodes the freedoms we have fought for.
Monday, December 23, 2002
- An open letter to BBC News Online by Harel Barzilai
This is reprinted from the Znet Sustainers forum with the permission of the author.
Dear BBC:
I am writing with great concern about BBC’s bias, unprofessional, and indeed self-contradictory reporting on the Iraq weapons inspections—and your omissions of critical and central parts of the report by UN’s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei.
In particular, the excerpt chosen by BCC to represent a 10 minute video segment [http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/cta/events02/world/un/blix19dec.ram ] of Blix and Baradei was entitled: “Iraq has missed an opportunity says Blix”
However, watching the video reveals a very different picture than the one represented by the title. More alarmingly in terms of the practice of good professional reporting, the lead story “Iraq Accused of UN Violation” continues this distortion.
The story [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2592243.stm ] starts with no fewer than the first three paragraphs quoting US Secretary of State Powell, then followed by two more paragraphs still focusing on official statements by Washington.
- China, U.S. Australia, Google. Panama (etc.) Censor Internet
Welcome to the Global Internet Liberty Campaign Newsletter.
Welcome to GILC Alert, the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign. We are an international organization of groups working for cyber-liberties, who are determined to preserve civil liberties and human rights on the Internet. We hope you find this newsletter interesting, and we very much hope that you will avail yourselves of the action items in future issues. If you are a part of an organization that would be interested in joining GILC, please contact us at
Free expression
Free expression
[1] Chinese Net users face enhanced censorware, arrests
[2] Russian firm cleared in eBook copyright case
[3] Australian high court ruling endangers Net speech
[4] Teen Norwegian DVD programmer faces criminal charges
[5] ICANN shuns public elections in new bylaws
[6] Finnish bill may curb Net chatboard comments
[7] Net blockers deny access to important health info
[8] Vietnamese Net dissident gets 4 year jail sentence
[9] Australian gov’t ponders blocking of protest websites
[10] Google censors German & French search results
[11] Panama tries to block Internet ports
[12] Council of Europe adopts Net censorship protocol
Privacy
[13] US gov’t plans Total Informational Awareness spy system
[14] Regulators warn Verichip tracking implant maker
[15] US appeals court allows easier wiretapping rules
[16] Finland gov’t data retention stance draws fire
[17] Study: British workplace Net monitoring on the rise
[18] New rules unveiled for webbug trackers
[19] TiVo digital recorder makes mistakes, stereotypes users
[20] Court strikes down US gov’t virus spy attack
[21] US court allow blind police Net searches
[22] Swiss Big Brother Awards ceremony held
[23] New GILC member: AEL & EFFI
Reports follow:
- Bush Humor
Friday, December 20, 2002
- Israel/Occupied Territories: Conscientious objectors jailed while soldiers who commit grave violat
Amnesty International has today written to Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Minister of Defence, to express concern over the imprisonment of Israeli conscripts and reservists who refuse to perform military service or to serve in the Occupied Territories, as they believe that by doing so they would contribute to, or participate in, human rights violations.
