Via Fortress Australia, comes some great footage of the Australian Army in action in Afghanistan:
The Australian Defence Force may have a very limited role in Iraq due to the political consequences of casualties there because of the unpopularity of the war, but in Afghanistan as this video shows the Aussie "diggers" are definitely in the fight there. The relevant military contribution from such a small nation as Australia is putting many of our so called NATO allies to shame in Afghanistan.
The appeasement of North Korea continues:
The United States on Friday announced it would spend up to $25 million to pay for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for North Korea — part of an agreement the communist regime made with the U.S. and other nations pushing it to dismantle its nuclear program.
Under a February agreement, the U.S. and other participants in the six-party negotiations with Pyongyang agreed to provide North Korea with 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil, or the monetary equivalent in other aid and assistance.
In return, North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor, which it did in July, and then declare and ultimately dismantle all its nuclear programs. [Deb Reichmann, AP]
If you look at the original February 13th Agreement, which the North Koreans have violated over and over again, this is what it says in regard to the oil:
Under the deal, the North will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, to be confirmed by international inspectors.
For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid.
North Korea has shut down the Yongbyon reactor and let in the IAEA inspectors which meant they are owed 50,000 tons of oil according to the agreement which the South Koreans have already sent to North Korea along with extra oil from China:
South Korea provided 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil in July. Earlier this month, China said it had delivered a shipment of oil to North Korea amid a series of efforts to keep talks on disabling North Korean nuclear programs on track.
So why is the US sending them even more oil than what they owed since they have not fully implemented their side of the agreement by not coming clean on all their nuclear programs, not to mention being involved in proliferation with Syria? The answer is actually quite simple. The Six Party Charade is being used to keep the continuing Myth of Progress on the Korean peninsula alive. This is just another example of US appeasement of North Korea by meeting demands not in the agreement in order to keep the appearance of diplomacy being used to resolve the nuclear issue.
This apearance of successful diplomacy is needed in order to set conditions for the eventual confrontation with Iran over their nuclear program. Basically the current US nuclear policy is to appease the lesser of two evils to confront the greater one. Only the future will tell if the sell out of a sound Korea policy will be worth the trade off when the confrontation with Iran occurs.
This past week has been a historic period for the fight for democracy and freedom in Burma. Here is a good video report that highlights the events that led to the uprising against the ruling military junta:
In what started out as massive peaceful protests for the restoration of democracy in Burma that drew up to 100,000 people, has now turned violent as the expected crackdown by the Burmese military has descended on the Buddhist monks and civilians leading the protests.
The shootings by the Burmese military has left scores of civilians dead including the Japanese journalist pictured below:
Video footage of the shooting has been smuggled out of Burma and it appears the Japanese journalist was intentionally shot by the military. The Japanese government is sending an envoy to investigate the killing and Japanese sanctions for the killing are not being ruled out:
"Mr [Mitoji] Yabunaka of the foreign ministry will go to Myanmar tomorrow and push for the government to find out the facts," he said.
No decision has been made on sanctions, Mr Fukuda added, saying that the results of the envoy’s investigations would be taken into account in deciding the best course of action. [Guardian]
Al Jazeera has also been able to smuggle out of Burma footage of the monks fighting back against the military with slingshots and demands from the people for the restoration of democracy:
News and footage of the crackdown is becoming increasingly hard to get as the Burmese military has cut off the nation’s internet thus making webpages based from Burma such as Burma News inaccessible.
Criticism is growing against the Burmese military crackdown, the international body ASEAN has issued a some what strong statement against the violence:
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ chief urged Burma’s authorities on Sunday to avoid any “strong action” against growing anti-government protests, in hopes of avoiding violence.
About 20,000 Buddhist monks and citizens were demonstrating against Burma’s military junta in the country’s largest city, Rangoon, with many shouting support for detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said.“I hope the relevant authorities in [Burma] will not take any strong action and turn the protests into a big confrontation,” Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told The Associated Press by telephone from Poland. [AP]
The international body that you would expect would do nothing has met expectations:
The United Nations Security Council has issued a statement of concern about the violent response to demonstrations in Rangoon yesterday, according to press reports.
“Members of the council have expressed their concern vis-à-vis the situation, and have urged restraint, especially from the government of Myanmar,” the statement said. [DVB]
"Concern"? How about outrage at the killing of civilians? This is just another example of the complete irrelevance of the UN in solving international problems. The UN Security Council is being blocked from taking any strong action against the killings in Burma due to the obstruction of China which seeks to keep its hegemony over Burma by ensuring the military junta survives this fight for democracy in the country. Despite this obstruction, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon could still show moral courage by strongly condemning the killings yet he does not.
However, of all people Jim Carrey has launched a Youtube campaign to pressure Ban Ki-moon to take action against the Burmese military:
I hope Jim Carrey’s efforts work but I doubt it will have any effect on the weak and corrupt UN. It tells you something when Jim Carrey is able to do more for the people of Burma than the United Nations.
Some late breaking news is that a coup has been launched by the nation’s second ranking general and negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi are currently being held:
Military sources in Rangoon are claiming that the regime’s number two, General Maung Aye, has staged a coup against Than Shwe, and that his troops are now guarding Aung San Suu Kyi’s home. A meeting between him and Suu Kyi is expected. Maung Aye is army commander-in-chief and a renowned pragmatist.
Our diplomatic sources are also telling us that Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a police academy compound outside Rangoon, where she is expected to meet Maung Aye. As yet, though, we have no independent confirmation of this development.
Other reports of troops marching from central Burma to Rangoon are being reported along with fighter jets being scrambled. We may be seeing the beginning of an internal civil war among the Burmese military. One thing is for sure, more blood is going to flow before it is all said and done.
I for one hope that this news of a coup is true, that the fight for democracy in Burma is successful, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is restored to power reflecting the will of the people of Burma.
For more coverage of Burma’s Fight for Freedom read the following sites below:
One Free Korea
Global Voices
Democratic Voice of Burma
Zin Media
Mizzima News
Ko Htike
It appears the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s efforts to remove Blackwater from Iraq has picked up allies in the US Congress:
Blackwater USA triggered a major battle in the Iraq war in 2004 by sending an unprepared team of guards into an insurgent stronghold, a move that led to their horrific deaths and a violent response by U.S. forces, says a congressional investigation released Thursday.
The private security company, one of the largest working in Iraq and under scrutiny for how it operates, also is faulted for initially insisting its guards were properly prepared and equipped. It is also accused of impeding the inquiry by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. [Richard Lardner & Mike Baker, AP]
So why is the US Congress holding hearings on something that happened over three years ago? If this is so important how come these hearings were not held long ago? It just so happens that many in the US Congress are just as eager as the Iraqi Interior Ministry to have Blackwater removed from Iraq. If Blackwater is removed from Iraq that would mean US troops would have to take over the security duties which could impact President Bush’s promise to withdraw up to a brigade worth of troops by December.
This is why bringing up something that happened in 2004 is of political significance now. The problems with what happened with the Blackwater security team in 2004 is well known and it doesn’t take a Congressional investigation to determine that four guys driving in a truck through Fallujah in 2004 was not a good idea. Now other incidents involving Blackwater are also being investigated:
The United States has not made conclusive findings about the five incidents, including the Sept. 16 deaths of at least 11 Iraqis, and a State Department official said Friday that investigators are not aware of any others.
The five, plus another incident that apparently did not kill anyone, were previously identified by Iraqi authorities. For now, those incidents are at the core of the review ordered by Rice last week, a State Department official said. [Anne Gearan & Matthew Lee, AP]
I am all for holding security contractors accountable but what is going on now is completely for political reasons. Reports of unaccountable security contractors have been coming out of Iraq for years, but now Congress wants to do something about it? To be fair the State Department and the Pentagon should have done something long ago about the legal status of security contractors to prevent the Iraqi Interior Ministry and opportune US politicians from jumping on this issue for political reasons long ago.
This is the only thing I have seen yet that may be a positive outcome of the inter-Korean summit:
During the Oct. 2 to 4 inter-Korean summit, President Roh Moo-hyun will propose the complete withdrawal of armed forces from inside the demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas for more than a half century, a high-ranking administration official told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday.
“President Roh will propose to Kim Jong-il, the North Korean National Defense Commission chairman, to completely pull out 100 South Korean GPs [guard posts] and 280 North Korean GPs from the DMZ,” the source said, referring to the military posts located inside the 4 kilometer-wide strip of land along the 243-kilometer long border. “Removing the GPs means the withdrawal of soldiers and arms located inside the zone.” [Joong Ang Ilbo HT: DPRK Studies]
What is interesting about this is that the guard points and heavey weapons aren’t supposed to be there to begin with:
The 1953 Korean War armistice established the demilitarized zone, and only light infantry is supposed to patrol inside the DMZ. Building guard posts and deploying heavy weaponry is in violation of the truce, but the North Korean military constructed guard posts inside the zone a few years after the war and brought in heavy weapons, including machine guns. The South countered by doing the same.
So basically President Roh and company want to reward Kim Jong-il by having him withdraw troops and heavy weapons from the DMZ that are in vioation of the armistice agreement to begin with.
I have no faith in a South Korean administration that claims there is no human rights violations in North Korea thus I am feeling quite cynical about this latest announcement. This is probably a ploy by Cheongwadae to get the ROK military agree to give up the current Northern Limit Line in the West Sea. President Roh and his cronies will do this by having North Korea agree to withdraw the guard points and heavy weapons during the upcoming summit in return for giving up territory along the NLL. Of course South Korea implements there side of the agreement first and pulls out all the patrol boats from the West Sea area and then the North Koreans move all their patrol boats in.
Once North Korea has consolidated their control of the West Sea territory they then will find some kind of excuse for not upholding their side of the bargain. Thus North Korea keeps the guard posts and heavy weapons in place and keeps the West Sea territory. For the South Korean government to get the West Sea territory back they would have to attack the North Korean patrol boats which we all know is not going to happen. Thus North Korea gains the West Sea territory without giving anything up in return.
Like I said I can’t help but feel cynical about the Roh government cutting deals with the North Koreans.
McClatchy has a pretty good article out about the plight of North Korean refugees entering South Korea and the discrimination they face. The article includes some good quotes from Dr. Andrei Lankov and author Kang Cheol-hwan::
“South Korean authorities do everything possible to minimize the arrival of refugees,” said Andrei Lankov , a North Korea expert at Seoul‘s Kookmin University .
In principle, Seoul says it will accept any North Korean who wants to resettle. But Lankov said the reality was that immigration officials tried to push the door closed for common people, such as farmers.
“The government wants the story to filter back to North Korea that life is hard here,” added Kang Cheol -hwan, a journalist in Seoul and the author of “Aquariums of Pyongyang ,” an account of his youth in a labor camp in North Korea. [Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers]
Make sure to read the whole thing, especially if you are not familiar with the North Korean refugee issue and the discrimination they face once they arrive in South Korea. If you think being a foreigner and living in South Korea is tough, just imagine what it must be like for the North Korean defectors.
Finally, here is a quote from Dr. Lankov that he has expressed before but it seems to continue to fall on deaf ears:
Lankov, the scholar, said defectors who learned the mechanics of capitalism and democracy might prove indispensable one day in erecting a post-Kim Jong Il government in North Korea .
“I believe the (refugee) policy is myopic,” Lankov said. “If the North Korean system collapses, who will form the post- North Korea elite? . . . When change happens, they will be vital for reconstruction.”
The US government has the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 can be used as the tool to train a post-North Korea elite. However, since its inception only six people have been admitted to the United States. These defectors can be trained to be the future teachers, doctors, water treatment specialists, government administrators, etc. that North Korea would need if the regime collapses. Instead they are languishing in South Korea as second class citizens being laughed at.
I hope everyone in Korea had a happy Chuseok, but I’m willing to bet the people in the above picture are hating life. Still you have to admire how Koreans despite the crazy traffic conditions will still load up the family and drive through this madness in order to visit their parents.
Who can name where this picture was taken? A bonus point if you can name who the statue depicts.
Here are this year’s current Korea Finder Leader’s Board:
Mark – 11
Sonagi – 5
Chickenhead – 3
James – 2
Mike – 2
Peekstr – 1
HumKor – 1
Farty – 1
Maui – 1
kcbill06 – 1
CPT Kim – 1
Tim – 1
Surabol – 1
Brendon Carr – 1
Dr. Yu – 1
Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by people purchasing books from Amazon.com on my website. If you like this website than please support it by buying your books, DVDs, and other products from Amazon.com from the search box on my sidebar. Thanks.
UPDATE: I did some further research and MAJ Townley was actually featured in the Stars & Stripes before:
You really graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College?
Yes. Don’t worry, that’s not how I got my commission. I auditioned as I was transferring from the Navy in the summer of 1990. It wasn’t until the summer of 1991 that I received the call that I made it to the final selection board and eventually found I had been accepted to attend.Do they have a degree program?
My diploma reads “Bachelor of Fun Arts.”What did you major in?
Circus Clowning — Clownology and Clown Antics. I was taught to be a kid in a grown-up body and to speak to a man in the very top row of Madison Square Garden by only using my body.Did the teachers dress like clowns?
Indeed they did! My instructors were the senior clowns from Ringling Brothers and other famous clowns like Master Clown Lou Jacobs and David Larible, the only clown to ever be the star of RBBB Circus. The director of Clown College was also a clown.
Read the whole thing, but he sounds like a really good guy that is doing great things over in Wonju.
_____________________________________________
Some people think field grade officers are nothing but a bunch of clowns, which isn’t always the case. However, sometimes it is true, literally:
MAJ Bruce Townley enlisted in the Navy in 1986 as a radioman, specializing in Naval Communication. His Navy commands include: USS New Jersey, Communication advisor on the Admiral’s staff aboard the USS Enterprise, Naval Embarked Advisory Team, and the Reserve Force for the USS Missouri.
MAJ Townley is a 1995 ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri where he received a Bachelors of Science in Public Administration. He also holds a Masters degree in Human Resource Management from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a Bachelor of Fun Arts from Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.
His Army assignments include: Executive Officer, D 369th Signal Battalion, Commander, E 369th Signal Battalion, PL and BMO, 67th Signal Battalion, S6, 212th FA Brigade, Deputy G6, III CA, Commander, B 1-79th FA.
His military schooling includes: Radioman “A” School, International Morse Code Operator School, Naval Embarked Advisory Team School, Signal Officer Basic, Signal Captains Career Course, and CAS3.
His decorations include: Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal, Navy active duty Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal with bronze star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and the Sea Service with Bronze star. [HT: Marcus]
Major Townley is the garrison coordinator for Camp Long and Camp Eagle which I mentioned in a prior posting had a recent successful crackdown on blackmarketing. With his success in stopping blackmarketing on Camp Long maybe USFK needs to bring in more clowns to help run things. I have heard people say USFK is a three ring circus and who would have thought it is true.
If this disenfranchisement happened to any minority section of the US population does anyone doubt there would be outrage?:
Overseas military voters had less than half of their votes counted in last year’s congressional elections, according to data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Monday.
“One thing is clear: At every level of government, we need to do a better job,” said Donetta Davidson, chair of the commission. “We must make sure all eligible voters are getting their opportunities.”
The figures, released at the commission’s annual conference on ways to improve and troubleshoot the absentee voting process, showed that only about 992,000 of the nearly 6 million eligible overseas citizens requested ballots for the 2006 general election.
That included about 119,000 military personnel stationed outside the United States. Of those, only about 57,000 — less than 48 percent — had their votes successfully cast or counted.
EAC officials said that’s roughly the same percentage that were counted for expatriates and domestic military filing absentee ballots. The major failures were on the ballot delivery side, with about 72 percent of those who failed to vote never receiving any of their requested election materials. [Stars & Stripes]
This is nothing new. I blogged over two years ago about how Washington State was aledgedly intentionally disenfranchising military voters:
Washington state election officers and military officials say they have found no evidence of problems with overseas military absentee ballots, despite allegations that many may not have been delivered or counted.
“We’re seeing allegations made that large numbers of military voters did not get ballots, but we think that’s partisan rhetoric over a close election,” said Pam Floyd, assistant elections director for the state. “And we believe all military ballots signed by Washington voters and received were counted.”
But state Republicans believe that hundreds of overseas servicemembers never received their ballots, and that may have stolen the election from their gubernatorial candidate, Dino Rossi.
“We’re getting tons of calls and e-mails from troops overseas who didn’t receive their ballots, or who got them weeks after the election,” said Mary Lane, spokeswoman for Rossi. “We’re looking at a lot of disenfranchised military voters.”
Lane provided Stars and Stripes with complaints from 14 family members who have loved ones in the military, most deployed overseas, who did not receive absentee ballots. The Rossi campaign said it has heard from 260 voters who claim not to have received ballots, though not all of them are military.
Department of Justice officials would not comment on news reports that the federal government is investigating whether state elections officials broke the law by sending out the ballots too late. Republicans have filed suit to mandate a new election because of the military issues and other supposed voting irregularities.
In November, Rossi was named the winner of the general election by 261 votes and won a machine recount by 42, but a second, manual recount last month showed Democrat Christine Gregoire with a 129-vote margin of victory.
I was one of the people who complained because I am registered to vote in Washington State and never received an absentee ballot in 2004. Rossi lost the election by 129 votes after a dubious recount and Washington State possibly intentionally did not send out military absentee ballots because they know the military votes overwhelmingly Republican.
Here we go again two years later where we find the same problem in the 2006 Congressional elections. Once could be an accident, but twice is a trend of disenfranchisement. There was a number of close Congressional elections and it would be an interesting statistic to see by state the number of disenfranchised military voters. So remember this the next time you hear someone say that they are a disenfranchised voter. What sector of the US population besides the military has less than 48% of their votes count?
I’m sure the ACLU will be all over this any day now.
