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still more okinawa, women, waste of money 21 july 2000
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tokyo progressive
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Jan 14, 2001 00:41 PST
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Date: Jul 21 2000 23:26:55 EDT
From: "Chocopaul News" <pa-@arenson.org>
Subject: Okinawa Summit-Women, Capitalist hegemony, destabilization
Okinawa Summit Creates Opportunity for Rethinking U.S. Policies in Asia
Three new releases from Foreign Policy In Focus
With the Cold War over and peace negotiations (as well as rumblings of
unification) happening in Korea, the U.S. should rethink it's policies
in East Asia. According to two recent Foreign Policy in Focus briefing
papers, scaling down U.S. military presence in Okinawa would be an
excellent place to start. Also, FPIF Codirector, Tom Barry, contributes
original analysis on the G8's future role in global governance.
***********************************************************
Okinawa and the U.S. Military in Northeast Asia
By Tim Shorrock
http://www.foreignpolicyinfocus.org/briefs/vol5/v5n22okinawa.htm
The military logic of keeping tens of thousands of U.S. Marines, Army,
Air Force, and Navy personnel on mainland Japan and South Korea is
quickly disappearing. Even if there were a missile threat in this
region,
the Third Marine Division in Okinawa would be helpless to prevent it.
In
addition to the marines' cloudy mission in the region, a string of
sexual
violence against civilian women, some as young as 12 years old, has
caused public outrage and will be cause for some of the international
protests being staged during the summit which begins July 21st.
It is clear from recent events in Asia that U.S. military strategy
further destabilizes as it seeks to shape the world in its interests,
suppressing expressions of instability by employing nuclear deterrence,
selective armed intervention, economic sanctions, and diplomatic
pressures.
**********************************************************
Women and the U.S. Military in East Asia
By Gwyn Kirk, Rachel Cornwell, Margo Okazawa-Rey
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol4/v4n09wom.html
Despite reconciliation talks between North and South Korea, the
U.S. has declared that it will maintain 100,000 troops in East
Asia for the next 20 years even if the Koreas are reunited. Joint
Vision 2020, a Pentagon planning document, concluded that Asia will
replace Europe as the key focus of U.S. military strategy in the
early 21st century and pointed to China as a potential adversary.
Instead of seeing U.S. troops sent home and military bases closed
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, East Asians have seen signs
that the U.S. military is digging in deeper and that the cold war
in the region continues, despite the lack of credible threats to
the United States.
The popular resentment--and especially the anger of many Asian
women--at the U.S. military presence in East Asia was highlighted
in a series of meetings and protests that occurred around the G8
Summit in Okinawa.
Contributing to the focus of the U.S. military's impact on women
was another incident in Okinawa of sexual harassment a couple of
weeks before the July 2000 Summit--this case involving a drunken
Marine accused of molesting a 14-year-old schoolgirl while she
slept in her home.
**********************************************************
G8/G7 and Global Governance
By Tom Barry
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol5/v5n23g8g7.html
Due to its booming economy, its lead in information technology, and its
lack of military competitors, the U.S. once again exercises hegemonic
power in the capitalist world--which now encompasses virtually the
entire
planet. As such, the U.S. must assume a large part of the blame for the
dismal state of global governance, and a large part of the
responsibility
to set international affairs on a more forward-looking path. A new
approach to U.S. participation in the G8/G7 would be a good place to
start. In its deliberative capacity, the G8/G7 could play a key role in
highlighting the need for substantial reforms in the decisionmaking
institutions of global governance and in forging an international
consensus on the policies needed to address global climate change and
other pressing transnational issues.
For more information on Foreign Policy In Focus visit our website:
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/
-------------------
Interhemispheric Resource Center/Institute for Policy Studies
Foreign Policy Program
Box 4506
Albuquerque, NM 87196
505-842-8288
505-246-1601 (fax)
irc-@swcp.com
733 15th St. ste. 1020
Washington, DC 20005
202-234-9382, ext 240
ips-@igc.org
Date: Jul 21 2000 23:29:12 EDT
From: "Chocopaul News" <pa-@arenson.org>
Subject: Okinawa Summit: Cost to stage would cancel Gambia's debt twice
The summit of wasteful expenditure
From Shyam Bhatia
Deccan Herald, India
REPRINTED UNDER FAIR USE PRINCIPLES
NO PROFIT IS DERIVED FROM THIS ACTION
LONDON, July 21
The G8 summit meeting this week end in Okinawa, which brings together
the
leaders of the US, France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Italy, Japan and
Russia, deserves to enter the Guiness Book of World Records for its
shameless flaunting of opulence and greed.
One small measure of the lavish hospitality on offer are the welcome
packs
for journalists, which contain digital cameras, tape recorders,
high-tech
tooth brushes and bottles of whisky.
But the 500 million pounds spent by the Japanese government on staging
the
summit could instead have been used to write off the combined annual
debt
repayments of Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Niger and Mozambique.
The same amount of money could have been used to write off forever the
total debt of Sao Tome and Principe. Alternatively, the money would have
taken care of 90 per cent of the total debt of countries such as
Burundi,
Chad or Togo, or twice the total debt of Gambia.
Three hundred million pounds would pay for every child in the world to
attend school for a month with enough change left over to vaccinate 200
million children against hepatitis B.
One tenth of the money, 50 million pounds, would vaccinate children in
the
developing world against pneumonia and meningitis which claim 400,000
victims every year. The remaining 450 million pounds would pay for a
quarter of the cost of providing prevention methods and basic healthcare
to
prevent AIDS in Africa.
Oxfam says the cost of the summit would pay for providing clean water
for
5.2 million people in rural Africa, or it could meet the cost of
purchasing
sterilising tablets to purify 3.4 billion litres of water. It could also
pay for the running of 10,000 rural hospitals in
developing countries.
Some other projects the summit could pay for include vaccinating 500
million cattle in South Asia against disease, planting one billion acres
of
maize meal in sub- Saharan Africa, clothing 6,000 street children in
Ethiopia, funding 33,000 midwifery kits to save the lives
of mothers and children in India, and providing 10,000 emergency
shelters
for people still affected by the hurricane in Madagascar or waiting for
their homes to be rebuilt in Kosovo.
It all sounds so simple and possible: all for the cost of a single
weekend
summit in distant Okinawa.
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