Disarmament Archives - Aberdeen Voice

History Behind Middle East Conflicts: Public Meeting Nov 3

Aberdeen City, Articles, Information No Responses »

Oct 272016

bullets With thanks to Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Izhar Khan a local hospital consultant, lecturer, and activist will be talking on the History behind the Middle East Conflicts. He gave this talk to great aclaim last year. The talk will be followed by a discussion.

The Public Meeting which is also supported by Aberdeen Student Left will take place at 7pm at the MacRobert Lecture Theatre in the MacRobert Building at the University of Aberdeen.

The MacRobert building is just off King Street before the roundabout at Seaton. There is parking and cycle racks and the building is wheelchair friendly.

There will be a further meeting on the Kurds in the Middle East on November 10th (venue to be announced) and subsequent meetings on Syria and the Yemen/

If you want to find out more about the Middle East please come along and share this article with your friends.

Hiroshima Memorial In Union Terrace Gardens 06.08.16

Aberdeen City, Featured No Responses »

Aug 042016

With thanks to Gwyneth Hinton, Joint Vice-Chair, Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

On Saturday August 6th, Aberdeen and District CND are holding a gathering to commemorate Hiroshima Day. It will take place in Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen at 2.00pm.
The rules of the garden do not allow us to have organised speakers but we shall have two minutes silence at 2.30 pm when, weather permitting we shall lie down.

We encourage you to come along with your family and remember the families who died on that day in 1945.

Bring flowers and candles so that we can make a peace symbol.

Come along with musical instruments to play appropriate music and a picnic so that you can sit awhile afterwards.

For further information please email gwyneth.hinton@googlemail.com

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Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Day – Thurs 6th Aug 2015

Aberdeen City, Environment, Featured No Responses »

Jul 302015

With Thanks to Jonathan Russell and Aberdeen CND.

Thursday 6th August sees the 70th anniversary of the first ever explosion of a nuclear weapon when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was followed on the 9th August by the detonation of a further nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) have organised an event to mark the occasion and remind people of the potential horror of the use of nuclear weapons.

200 peace lanterns will be released onto the river Dee to commemorate the 200,000 men, women and children who died following the nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many more died later from injuries or prematurely from the horrendous health effects that followed.

We are delighted to have Yu Aoki who lives and works in Aberdeen but who was born in Hiroshima as one of our speakers. Yu Aoki has said

“I grew up listening to the stories of my grandparents and other atomic bomb survivors about their experiences of the 6th August 1945. Many survivors have passed away by now and. I feel that people from the younger generation like myself have to pass on the stories to the next generation so that we learn from the history and never repeat it again as there still are a large number of survivors”

We will have songs from local singers Dave Davies and Kirsty Potts as well as poems by the recently deceased local poet and peace activist, Hilda Meers, which will be read by Tommy Campbell from Unite the Union.

We also have a wide variety of Speakers from Civic, Faith and Community Action Groups.

The memorial event which is open to all the public to attend will take place on Thursday 6th August at 8.30pm by the side of the River Dee at the Fisherman’s hut off Riverside Drive (between the Bridge of Dee and Duthie Park)

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND, stated

“For most of us nuclear weapons have been a part of the world we live in for all of our lives. We can as such often put into the back of our minds just how horrific these weapons would be if used.

“The Independence Referendum has highlighted the fact that the UK’s nuclear weapons are based in Scotland and the United Kingdom Government are intent on building a new generation of atomic weapons at a cost of £20 billion. As a result of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and the New Start treaty of December 2010 nearly 50% of these monstrous weapons have been destroyed.

“There are still, however, 19,500 nuclear weapons in the world – enough to destroy our world several times over. Building new atomic weapon systems such as the UK’s Trident replacement diminishes the likelihood of getting rid of the remaining weapons.”

For further information please contact:

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND
Tel: 01224- 586435;
mobile: 0758-245-6233
e-mail: jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk

Date: Thursday 6th August 2015, at 8.30pm
Venue: the Fisherman’s Hut on the River Dee
(by Riverside Drive )

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SNP MSP Wants Westminster To Rethink Trident

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 232015

Members of the SNP CND conference in Glasgow

With thanks to Gavin Mowat and Paul Robertson.

North East MSP Christian Allard renewed calls to scrap Trident during a speech at the SNP Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) conference at the weekend. Mr Allard took the opportunity to urge SNP members to work more closely with local CND groups to get more SNP MPs elected so “we can get rid of Trident”.

His comments come as a Survation poll found that 59.9 per cent of Scots want nuclear weapons removed from the Scottish waters.

As a member of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Mr Allard has taken part in many events in the North East calling for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from Scottish waters and he urged new members to do the same.

The North East MSP spoke of how many SNP members signed up to the CND at the Music Hall in Aberdeen during First Minister Nicola sturgeon’s stadium tour.

Commenting, Christian Allard said:

“With membership now standing at more than 93,000 the SNP is the strongest vehicle for progressive change in UK politics.

“When Nicola came to the Music Hall in Aberdeen I saw many SNP members signing up to the CND – I hope these members become active in the Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, adding to the strong local voice against weapons of mass destruction.

“The General Election in May represents a fantastic opportunity for a large group of SNP MPs to force Westminster to rethink its policy on Trident.”

A House of Commons debate today [Tuesday 20] – called by the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party – offers an opportunity for MPs of all parties and from all parts of the UK to oppose spending £100bn on a new generation of nuclear weapons at a time of continued austerity.

Commenting on the news that Labour would ‘boycott’ the debate on Trident renewal at Westminster, Mr Allard said:

“Labour are clearly hiding from this debate because they find themselves in an untenable position.

“They simply cannot defend spending £100bn on weapons of mass destruction while backing £30bn of more austerity cuts.”

MP for Banff and Buchan, Dr Eilidh Whiteford added:

‘’It is absolutely indefensible and morally repugnant to waste £100bn on weapons of mass destruction whilst food bank use is rocketing, and more and more children are being pushed into poverty. I voted to oppose nuclear weapons in Parliament this week so that we can better spend these colossal sums of money on making a positive difference to our society.”

“It is a sad indictment of what the Scottish Labour party has become that they voted to support the renewal of Trident – only a week after they voted to push through more Tory cuts.”

“With a strong team of SNP MPs after the General Election, Scotland can hold the balance of power and can force Westminster to abandon this disastrous commitment – and ensure these immoral weapons are removed from Scotland for good.”

Note: The SNP CND conference was held on Saturday 17 January at the Boyd Orr Building at Glasgow University. For more on the Survation poll: http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2015/jan/majority-support-snps-anti-trident-call

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[Aberdeen Voice accepts and welcomes contributions from all sides/angles pertaining to any issue. Views and opinions expressed in any article are entirely those of the writer/contributor, and inclusion in our publication does not constitute support or endorsement of these by Aberdeen Voice as an organisation or any of its team members.]

Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Day – Wed 6th August 2014

Aberdeen City, Environment, Featured 2 Responses »

Jul 312014

With Thanks to Jonathan Russell and Aberdeen CND.

Wednesday 6th August sees the 69th anniversary of the first ever explosion of a nuclear weapon when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was followed on the 9th August by the detonation of a further nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki

Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) have organised an event to mark the occasion and remind people of the potential horror of the use of nuclear weapons.

We are delighted to have Yu Aoki who lives and works in Aberdeen but who was born in Hiroshima as one of our speakers. Yu Aoki has said:

“I grew up listening to the stories of my grandparents and other atomic bomb survivors about their experiences of the 6th August 1945. Most survivors have passed away by now and I feel that people from the younger generation like myself have to pass on the stories to the next generation so that we learn from the history and never repeat it again.”

We will have songs from local singers Dave Davies and Simon Gall as well as poems by the local poet and peace activist, Hilda Meers, which will be read by Tommy Campbell from Unite the Union.

We also have a wide variety of Speakers from Civic, Faith and Community Action Groups. These include Christian Allard MSP, local Councillor Barney Crockett, Iman Ibrahim from the Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre, Clive Potter from the Quakers, Doug Haywood from the Radical Independence Campaign, Brian Carrol a representative from Aberdeen trade union Council and Jill Austin from Aberdeen Against Austerity

The memorial event which is open to all the public to attend will take place on Wednesday 6th August at 8.30pm by the side of the River Dee at the Fisherman’s hut off Riverside Drive (between the Bridge of Dee and Duthie Park – see map below)

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND, stated “For most of us nuclear weapons have been a part of the world we live in for all of our lives.

“We can as such often put into the back of our minds just how horrific these weapons would be if used. The Independence Referendum has highlighted the fact that the UK’s nuclear weapons are based in Scotland and the United Kingdom Government are intent on building a new generation of Atomic weapons at a cost of £20 billion.

“As a result of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and the New START treaty of December 2010 nearly 50% of these monstrous weapons have been destroyed. There are still however 19,500 Nuclear Weapons in the world – enough to destroy our world several times over. Building new atomic weapons makes the likelihood of getting rid of the remaining weapons less likely.”

For further information please contact Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District CND,
Tel 01224- 586435,
Mob 0758-245-6233
E-mail jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk

Date: Wednesday 6th August 2014, at 8.30pm
Venue: the Fisherman’s Hut on the River Dee
(by Riverside drive )

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A Nuclear Weapons Free Scotland Is A Safer Scotland

Aberdeen City, Environment 2 Responses »

Oct 182013

With thanks to Gavin Mowat Constituency Assistant to Christian Allard MSP

Commenting on an interview by American investigative journalist and author Eric Schlosser in which he warned that the Trident nuclear weapons system had inherited design faults and safety flaws, Christian Allard, MSP for the North East, said:

“Scotland is a peaceful, progressive country and one where nuclear weapons have no place.

“Mr Schlosser’s comments highlight the safety concerns around Trident, the nuclear weapons system in Scottish waters, and add weight to calls for the unpopular weapons of mass destruction not to be renewed.”

In an interview for Channel 4 Mr Schlosser said that the Trident missile system, which is the principal nuclear weapon that Great Britain has, has safety issues that were revealed in a report to Congress more than 20 years ago – I hope in Scotland they’re very careful when loading and unloading the missiles.

Mr Allard, French-born member of the Scottish Parliament has joined the international group of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), and he is also a member of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

The North East MSP said:

“I have always maintained that nuclear weapons and in particular Trident, are unsafe and that plans to spend £100 billion on their renewal would be folly. “

Jonathan Russell, Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament added:

“Nuclear weapons and Nuclear Power will always have the potential for accidents.

“Worryingly, on July 29th last year, there was a failure of both the primary and secondary sources of coolant for Nuclear reactors at the nuclear repair and refuelling facility at Devonport, Plymouth which could have led to a disaster on the scale of the one at Fukushima.”

Mr Allard added:

“The government and people of Scotland deserve the right to decide their own defence priorities, particularly as Westminster has already spent billions to renew the UK nuclear weapons system – despite the findings of Eric Schlosser.

“A Yes vote in 2014 is a vote for a nuclear weapons free Scotland, a safe Scotland.”

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Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Day – Tues 6th August 2013

Aberdeen City, Events, Featured, News 2 Responses »

Aug 012013

With Thanks to Jonathan Russell and Aberdeen CND.

Tuesday 6^th August sees the 68^th anniversary of the first ever explosion of a nuclear weapon when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was followed on the 9^th August by the explosion of a further nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament have organised an event to mark the occasion and remind people of the potential horror of the use of nuclear weapons.

The first speaker at the event will be Christian Allard North East Scotland Regional Member of the Scottish Parliament and member of the international body Parliamentarians for Nuclear non-proliferation and Disarmament. Other speakers include Fiona Napier Chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Chic Lidstone from the Work Place Chaplaincy Scotland, Gabrielle Anderson from the Quakers, Euan Benzie of the Radical Indepence Conference and Jill from Aberdeen Against Austerity,

Poems will be read by Tommy Campbell from Unite and Aberdeen Trades Council. Kirsty Potts will provide some rousing songs.

The last speaker rounding of the event will be the well known Labour Party councillor Len Ironside

The memorial event which is open to all the public to attend will take place on Tuesday 6^th August at 8.30pm by the side of the River Dee at the Fishermans hut off Riverside Drive (between the Bridge of Dee and Duthie Park – see map below)

Jonathan Russell Chair of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament stated:

“For most of us nuclear weapons have been a part of the world we live in for all of our lives. We can as such often put into the back of our minds just how horrific these weapons would be if used. As part of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the New Start treaty of December 2010 nearly 50% of these monstrous weapons have been destroyed.

“There are still however 19,500 Nuclear Weapons in the world – enough to destroy our world several times over. Nuclear Power Stations, if hit directly or if they caught fire in a nuclear strike, would add to the conflagration.”

Date: Tuesday 6th August 2013, at 8.30pm
Venue: the Fisherman’s Hut on the River Dee
(by Riverside drive )

For further information please contact Jonathan Russell,
Tel 01224 586435
Mobile 07582-456-233
e-mail jhamiltonrussell@hotmail.co.uk

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Organising For A Nuclear Weapons Free Scotland

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Mar 072013

With thanks to Jonathan Russell.

The main item for our next meeting will be planning for the national weekend of action in Glasgow and at Faslane from 13th to 15th April (Saturday to Monday).

The action is a national mobilisation called by the Scrap Trident Coalition ( http://scraptrident.org/).

We are therefore inviting supporters and members of CND and other progressive organisations to assist with the organisation.

Following on from the organising meeting there will be a short meeting of Aberdeen and District CND.

7:30pm, Monday, 11th March

Seminar room,
Belmont Cinema,
AB10 1JS

Everybody welcome!

http://www.cnduk.org/
Contact: Jonathan on 07582-456-233

CND News And Annual Report

Articles No Responses »

Feb 182013

The past year has been a particularly active year for Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament who have broadened their activity on a number of fronts. Jonathan Russell writes.

We now have our own Facebook page which has been putting out related news items on most days with several articles often appearing on the same day.

The amount of information coming out about Trident and nuclear weapons in general has escalated over the past year particularly in relation to the Independence debate.

The information being sent out to those that have signed up to our yahoo groups e-mail list has also increased.

This particularly relates to information being sent out from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament but also reflects our own activity and information being sent in by individual members.

We have also run a series of articles in Aberdeen Voice, our local alternative on line newspaper, on the effects and Economics of Nuclear Weapons. Aberdeen Voice has also been particularly helpful in advertising our events. We have also had some publicity on STV and in the Evening Express and Press and Journal. The SNP and the Labour Party have both been helpful in circulating information as have the United Nations Association, Aberdeen Against Austerity and the Aberdeen branch of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Our public stall outside Marks and Spencer took place weekly during the warmer months and allowed us considerable interaction with the general public. We also had stalls at an Anti- Racist event at Aberdeen Trades Union Council and at One World week at St Mark’s. Last, but by no means least, we have managed to get letters published in the Press and Journal and Evening Express.

Public Meetings

We continued to have regular meetings on the second Monday of the month and these have included talks on a variety of subjects:

Dave Watt gave a talk on nuclear accidents which was published in Aberdeen Voice.
Mike Hennessy gave a talk on the nuclear tension between India and Pakistan.
Jonathan Russell gave two talks: one on the Arms Trade and the other on Korea and the wider Asia Pacific ,both of which were published by Aberdeen Voice.
The main public meeting of the year however was with Bruce Kent, Britain’s most famous peace activist.

The meeting was held at Aberdeen University and hosted by the student/youth United Nations Association.

We also arranged for STV to interview Bruce which was subsequently broadcast on their news program.

Bruce’s visit was part of a wider tour of the East of Scotland co-ordinated by ourselves which also included Inverness, Brechin and Dundee.

We had representation at the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish CND and three meetings organised by the local and youth branches of the United Nations Association; one with Des Browne, a former Defence Minister under the Labour Government and now Co-chair of the BASIC Trident Commission, and a meeting with Malcolm Savidge, the former MP for Aberdeen North and Vice-President of the United Nations Society and ONE WITH Alexandra Buskie UNAUK R2 programme officer Alexandra Buskie on ‘The responsibility to protect and the prevention of mass atrocities’. Jonathan and Mike have attended local UNA organising meetings and Mike is now represented on the committee.

Members of the group also attended the Scotland for Peace conference at the Scottish Parliament with speakers from Finland, Ireland, England and Scotland.

Events

We continued with our two regular events; the Hiroshima Memorial Day and our Poetry and song night.

Hiroshima Memorial Day

Hiroshima Memorial Day takes place on August 6th, the anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. At the memorial we have a number of speakers, some poetry and songs then a one minute’s silence. Then in a particularly atmospheric gesture, we float 200 candles onto the River Dee, each of which represents 1,000 of the 200,000 people killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Speakers included Barney Crockett, Leader of Aberdeen City Council, Kevin Stewart SNP, MSP for Aberdeen Central and Tommy Campbell of the Unite union.

We also had speakers from the Green Party, the United Nations Association, the Quakers and the Aberdeen branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Hilda Meer’s poetry was read and Kirsty Potts sang some rousing songs prior to the candles being sent down the river. We have run the event since 2009 and each year the attendance has increased.

Thanks go to all those that helped with the candles and all those who attended this very positive event.

Poetry and song night

This annual event took place at the Quaker meeting house on International Peace Day. Songs were sung by Kirsty Potts, Dave Davies, Dennis Shepherd and friends and Simon Gall. Poems were read by members of the group with special thanks going to Hilda Meers both for her poetry reading and for the poems from her recently published poetry book ‘Pathways’ published by Braswick.

New Year Party

We had a very successful New Year 2013 party at Jonathan’s.

Campaigning

A number of member and supports have sent letters to the Ministry of Defence and we encourage others to do so.

We encourage people to sign our petition and to sign up to the ‘No Nuclear Weapons here’ map which is available to sign up to online at naenuclear.org

Looking ahead….

2013 is likely to be an exciting and eventful year:

We have taken the lead in organising a public debate on NATO scheduled for Friday, 22nd February and hosted by Aberdeen University Politics and International Relations Society. The speakers will be John Finnie, one of the two MSPs who resigned from the SNP following their Conference decision to reverse their previous policy of keeping out of NATO. Alex Johnston MSP will speak in favour of NATO on behalf of the Conservatives.
Alan MacKinnon of Scottish CND will be one of the speakers at a conference organised by the Politics and International relations society at the University of Aberdeen entitled the ‘Global War Over Resources’ on 6th March.
Dr Nick Gotts will be speaking on the nuclear question in relation to Iran at our meeting on Monday, 11th March.

One of the most significant events of the year will be the weekend of action scheduled from Saturday 13th April to Monday 15th April organised by the Scrap Trident Coalition. This will involve the following:

National Stop Trident Demonstration on Saturday 13th April
Workshops on Trident and non-violent direct action on Sunday 14th April
A blockade of Faslane Nuclear weapons base from 7am on Monday 15th April

We will be holding our annual Hiroshima Memorial Day on Tuesday, 6th August.
We will also hold an event on International Peace Day on September 21st in which we hope to involve a variety of organisations and people
Last, and by no means least, we will hold regular stalls outside Marks and Spencer on Saturday afternoons during the summer months.

I would like to thank everyone in whatever way who has participated in the work of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament over the past year. Particular thanks go to Christian Allard for setting up and operating our amazing Facebook page, to Sally Dickson for doing all the minutes and inspiring us to have stalls and to the forever present and diligent Mike Martin.

Jonathan Russell – Chair Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Conflict Zone Korea 3: The Wider Situation

History, Information No Responses »

Nov 162012

Aberdeen Voice presents the last of three articles by Jonathan Russell of Aberdeen and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) investigating the nuclear and military build-up and tensions in Korea and the wider Asia Pacific area.

Possibly the single most important and worrying decision of Obama’s first presidential term was to move 60% of US naval assets plus other military personnel to the Asia Pacific area by 2020.
Obviously linked to shifts in military resources from Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan, this development is the principal reason bilateral relations between the US and China are at their lowest point since Obama came to power.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jan/05/obama-plans-military-shakeup-video

That said, the possibilities following the re-election of Obama are certainly preferable to what may have unfolded under Romney. The latter’s insistence on naming China as a currency manipulator might well have increased tensions between the two countries.

One key issue is that, while the US has huge debts and could face economic meltdown, its military might continues to dominate the world. We now face a scenario where, on one hand, US allies in Asia Pacific have huge military budgets while, on the other, China is now the second biggest global military spender. This is a situation as unsustainable as it is absurd.

Current US debt is more than $16 trillion — the country is facing bankruptcy
Conflict over this continues between the Democratic Presidency/Senate and the Republican Congress.
Popular belief is that most of this debt is held by China. In fact, the biggest debt (one third) relates to surpluses in social security, unemployment benefit, disability, federal employer’s pensions and hospital insurance.
Though the US owes similar figures to Japan ($1.1 trillion) and China ($1.16 trillion), the US media often lumps these together and quotes the Chinese debt as $3 trillion, giving US citizens a false perception that China is somehow largely responsible for their fiscal difficulties.
Meanwhile, annual world military spending of $1,735 billion continues to explode, the US spending $711 billion this year alone.
China is now the second highest global spender on the military ($143 billion), almost double that of third-placed Russia on $71.9 billion.
In Asia Pacific, Japan ($59.3 billion) is the world’s 6th highest spender; South Korea ($ 30.8 billion) comes in at number 12, followed by Australia on $26.7 billion.

One US think tank suggests that as US debt equals its military spending, the way to reduce the deficit is to withdraw from its international military role.

While huge sums are spent on the military, international aid has fallen rapidly to $114 billion, much of this awarded to recession-hit western countries or used to boost western sales in the third world. Unfortunately, much aid is wasted funding large-scale corruption and high consultancy bills.

US defence department study The US force posture strategy in the Asia Pacific was presented to Congress in July. Co-author Michael J Green explained:

“An underlying weakness in the strategy is that it focuses on the US military in Asia in isolation from diplomacy, trade policy and other non-military elements of government that are just as important in maintaining influence in the region. The defence establishment meanwhile continues to see US/China issues in binary terms as it did during the cold war against the Soviets.”

Concerns across Asia about the US military shift in the region were further fuelled by the US launching an air-sea battle exercise focused on fighting emerging powers. Green warned against overestimating China’s military despite its rapid growth, pointing to China’s huge vulnerability due to its dependence on sea lines.

China is now questioning the sincerity of the US role in stabilising Asia. Given their strong security ties to the US, China regards Japan, South Korea and the Philippines as US proxies and is consequently investing considerably more of its resources into military spending, at the same time reaching out to the US through diplomatic channels.

Following a meeting between a US deputation including Hilary Clinton and China (as reported on September 12) Councillor Doi Binggu stated:

“Major powers like China and the US should focus their Asia Pacific policies and interactions on regional peace, development and cooperation. China and the US cannot tread an old path of conflict and confrontation.”

The Chinese do not have a history of invasion outside what they see as China. The US has considerable form in such matters. The emerging country also faces internal conflicts which, added to the massive task of sustaining its own population and dealing with rising inequality and an ageing population, leaves it with little energy to take on the US militarily. Despite this, China’s military continues to grow, largely in response to US military policy.

A recent power struggle has taken place in China. An open letter from a group of leftists asked parliament not to expel disgraced leader Bo Xilia, protesting such a move would be politically motivated. Particularly popular with the poor, Bo Xilia’s demands for social reform were seen as a threat to the current leadership.

Meanwhile, both countries are meant to be making cuts in their military budgets, the US to the tune of $400 billion

In my last report, I spoke of the Juju island situation in South Korea, where the US wants to build a naval base against strong local opposition.

Japan has a similar conflict on Okinawa, an island annexed in the 19th century that looks across to both China and the Korean peninsula.

The island houses two-thirds of the US army in Japan (currently 26,000 troops), and is the centre of opposition to having Osprey aircraft based in the area.

Ospreys, which take off and land like helicopters but fly like fixed wing aircraft, could be used to attack the Chinese mainland and North Korea. It is reported 80-90% of the local population opposes basing them in Okinawa and a protest involving some 100,000 took place recently. A number of older protestors maintain a constant vigil outside the US base.

Despite Australia’s economic reliance on China, it has also increased its military alliance with the US with a doubling of US troops, primarily in the Darwin area. Meanwhile, both countries are meant to be making cuts in their military budgets, the US to the tune of $400 billion. Policies and budgets are clearly not fitting.

There have been reports of conflicts between China and Japan following the landing on the disputed Diayutai/Senkaku islands of 14 activists from Beijing. The islands, Chinese prior to WWII but now Japanese, are being used as a US military base. This initial incursion was followed by 150 Japanese activists landing on Diayutai/Senkaku, leading to nationalist demonstrations in both China and Japan.

These demonstrations have arguably helped both governments: in Japan, by deflecting concern from the Okinawa situation and boosting the popularity of a right wing government; in China, by distracting public concern about Bo Xilia and bolstering a government still to the right politically despite increasing concerns about corruption and inequality.

Japan and the US are presently undertaking joint military operations with 10,000 US and 37,400 Japanese troops. This again creates tension and will certainly lead to increased military spending by China. The Chinese are monitoring the situation but accuse Japan of manufacturing tensions. This may also be related to Obama’s successful presidential campaign in showing he can be tough on foreign policy, particularly on China.

On a positive note, Japan and North Korea met in August, their first meeting in four years and the first ever between their respective leaders.

Elections will take place in South Korea on December 19. For the Saenuri party Park Guen-hye is standing, the daughter of previous president Park Chung-hye.

Initially, her only rival was former human rights lawyer Moon-Jae-in of the liberal left Democratic United Party, but a new contender is Ahn Cheol-so, founder of the country’s biggest antivirus software company. One factor that may yet play a part in the region’s future is the historic hatred that exists between North Korea and the Saenuri party to this day.

Park Geun-hye initially led the polls and remains the leading contender, though Ahn Cheol-so has considerable support, particularly among young people.

In a further development, Moe-Jae-in and Ahn Cheol–so formed an electoral pact to beat Park Guen-hye but as we go to press have yet to decide who will lead (they hold similar positions on increasing welfare, and on North Korea favour dialogue and economic co-operation). In response, Park Geun-hye has said she wants to meet the North’s Kim Jong-un in a bid to improve relations.

Another development in South Korea is that two nuclear reactors have been closed temporarily.

The South Korean economy has ridden the recession in similar fashion to Brazil by moving to Green technology.

It is difficult to judge what control China has over North Korea. Information leaked to Wikileaks suggests there is often tension between the two and at the UN, China has condemned the latter’s nuclear weapon trials. China remains North Korea’s main ally, however.

Short-term internal needs must be replaced by a longer term vision for Asia Pacific

North Korea has been badly affected by floods this year, leading to increased aid from China. Agricultural reforms similar to those in Cuba have taken place and following shortages of artificial fertiliser and pesticides, they are increasingly moving towards organic farming.

The state has supported training and research in this area and has developed organic fertilisers suitable to its cold climate. Farmers are now allowed to keep 30% of produce to sell in markets; the rest goes to the state.

Following its own agricultural crises linked to the long-term damaging effects of industrial farming, South Korea has been developing organic farming since 1993.

There are problems politically and culturally in both North and South Korea. A united Korea should be the long term aim, with a government hopefully informed by the mistakes of the past and foreign influence kept to a minimum.

Military posturing on all sides serves only to worsen the situation. Short-term internal needs must be replaced by a longer term vision for Asia Pacific. Diplomacy should take centre stage and agreements must be reached by all sides to reduce their military, reducing tension and leading to better relations all round. Reducing military spending will then allow countries to foster alternative use of resources and improve the lot of ordinary people.

On a broader front, the people of the world need to start protesting NOW against the crazy military machine that controls, kills and robs us of our humanity. We need real statesmen like South Korea’s former president Kim Dae-Jung and current world leaders could do worse than follow this great man’s example.

https://aberdeenvoice.com/2012/10/conflict-zone-korea-historical-background/
https://aberdeenvoice.com/2012/11/conflict-zone-korea-2-recent-developments/

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