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Sunday, August 31, 2014

Ghana Officials to Meet to Prepare Ebola Education Strategy

Ghana Officials to Meet to Prepare Ebola Education Strategy


http://www.voanews.com/content/ghana-education-health-officials-to-meet-over-ebola-strategy/2433985.html

Disease modelers project a rapidly rising toll from Ebola

Disease modelers project a rapidly rising toll from Ebola


http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2014/08/disease-modelers-project-rapidly-rising-toll-ebola

Ukraine and NATO: Caveat Emptor


By (about the author)
MEMORANDUM FOR: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: Ukraine and NATO
We the undersigned are long-time veterans of U.S. intelligence. We take the unusual step of writing this open letter to you to ensure that you have an opportunity to be briefed on our views prior to the NATO summit on September 4-5.
You need to know, for example, that accusations of a major Russian "invasion" of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the "intelligence" seems to be of the same dubious, politically "fixed" kind used 12 years ago to "justify" the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now. Twelve years ago, former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, mindful of the flimsiness of the evidence on Iraqi WMD, refused to join in the attack on Iraq. In our view, you should be appropriately suspicious of charges made by the U.S. State Department and NATO officials alleging a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Barack Obama tried yesterday to cool the rhetoric of his own senior diplomats and the corporate media, when he publicly described recent activity in the Ukraine, as "a continuation of what's been taking place for months now ... it's not really a shift."
Obama, however, has only tenuous control over the policymakers in his administration -- who, sadly, lack much sense of history, know little of war, and substitute anti-Russian invective for a policy. One year ago, hawkish State Department officials and their friends in the media very nearly got Mr. Obama to launch a major attack on Syria based, once again, on "intelligence" that was dubious, at best.

China approves its first Ebola drug - CCTV News - CCTV.com English

China approves its first Ebola drug - CCTV News - CCTV.com English

UN health agency names countries facing risk of Ebola virus spread

UN health agency names countries facing risk of Ebola virus spread

UN health agency names countries facing risk of Ebola virus spread


UN health agency names countries facing risk of Ebola virus spread


http://famagusta-gazette.com/un-health-agency-names-countries-facing-risk-of-ebola-virus-spread-p25125-69.htm

Latest Ebola News: 13 more dead, including 5 doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Latest Ebola News: 13 more dead, including 5 doctors in the Democratic Republic of Congo


http://www.thehealthsite.com/news/latest-ebola-news-13-more-dead-including-5-doctors-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/

Ebola virus: It's ripped through towns – now the deadliest ever outbreak of the virus is heading for Africa's cities


Ebola virus: It's ripped through towns – now the deadliest ever outbreak of the virus is heading for Africa's cities

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ebola-virus-its-ripped-through-towns--now-the-deadliest-ever-outbreak-of-the-virus-is-heading-for-africas-cities-9702252.html

 

It was already the worst Ebola outbreak in history. Now it’s moving into Africa’s cities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/it-was-already-the-worst-ebola-outbreak-in-history-now-its-moving-into-africas-cities/2014/08/30/31816ff2-2ed6-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html

Senegal Puts 20 People on Watch for Ebola After First Case

Senegal Puts 20 People on Watch for Ebola After First Case


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-31/senegal-puts-20-people-on-watch-for-ebola-virus-after-first-case.html

The Mother of All Blowbacks – LewRockwell.com

The Mother of All Blowbacks – LewRockwell.com

The Illusion of Chinese Weakness | The National Interest

The Illusion of Chinese Weakness | The National Interest

The Illusion of Chinese Weakness




The Illusion of Chinese Weakness http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-illusion-chinese-weakness-1116708/31/14

Clark Edward Barrett
Diplomacy, China

Just because China exercises restraint with regards to issues not in its direct national interest, does not necessarily make it a diplomatically weak nation.

The rise of China is perhaps the defining event of our epoch. Although predictions of the future are notoriously unreliable, such a monumental shift in the global order, which is currently being witnessed from one characterized by expansive Western domination, should not be underestimated and could well prove to be comparable in magnitude with the sack of Rome. Rigorous, logical and evidential analysis of China's development and influence on world affairs is therefore of paramount importance.
On June 25 2014, The National Interest published an article by the respected political scientist Professor David Shambaugh arguing that despite the impressive list of Chinese achievements and rapid advancements, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is far from approaching any state of parity with the United States in terms of great-power status. Although there is merit in criticizing the plethora of hyperbolic commentaries regarding China's rise, the analysis contains many erroneous factual statements, inconsistencies and logical fallacies.
Professor Shambaugh details Chinese capabilities which make it a viable contender as the world's foremost power. These include, verbatim: the world’s largest population, a large continental land mass, the world’s second-largest economy, the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves, the world’s second-largest military budget, the world's largest standing armed forces, a manned space program, an aircraft carrier, the world’s largest national expressway network and the world’s best high-speed rail system. China is the world’s leading trading nation, the world’s largest consumer of energy, the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, the world’s second-largest recipient and third-largest originator of foreign direct investment and the world’s largest producer of many goods.
Read full article

The Pope's Verdict on Japan's Comfort Women

The Pope's Verdict on Japan's Comfort Women

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-popes-verdict-japans-comfort-women-1116808/31/14
Mindy Kotler
History, Human Rights, Japan, South Korea

"The Pope returned the Comfort Women discussion to where it belongs—which is to comfort the victims."

Before his final mass in South Korea on August 18, Pope Francis met with seven elderly ladies who had been Comfort Women. As teenagers during World War II they were trafficked by Imperial Japan to be sex slaves. Military records on the operation of a comfort station show that the girls had to service not only soldiers and sailors, but also Japanese government and corporate officials.
The Pope bent down and clasped the frail hands of each woman. One offered him a butterfly pin, a symbol of their lost innocence, which the Pontiff immediately fastened to his vestments and wore throughout the service. Prior to the mass, he was handed a letter from the Dutch former Comfort Woman, Jan Ruff O’Herne, who at 92 could not travel from her home in Australia to meet him. She wanted him to know that before she was chosen by Japanese Army officers in her concentration camp on Java and raped in a Semarang military brothel, her dream was to become a nun.
The women received more than the Pope’s blessing. They received affirmation that their history was believed and their suffering real. Francis has championed the elimination of human trafficking and preached on the evils of sexual slavery. By a simple gesture, he included their experience with all victims caught up in sexual violence. He understands that rape is a weapon of subjugation and humiliation. Unlike Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the Pontiff does not rationalize the Comfort Women experience with “the 20th century was a century where many human rights were violated.”
Equally important, Pope Francis has helped internationalize and humanize the issue. The Abe administration has framed the Comfort Women issue entirely as a history problem with South Korea. The truth is that women throughout the Indo-Pacific region were the victims of the Imperial Army and Navy. The stories the women tell from the Andaman Islands to New Guinea, by Dutch gentry to Taiwanese aboriginals are shockingly similar.
Read full article

Private equity's giant collusion case is over, as Carlyle folds

Private equity's giant collusion case is over, as Carlyle folds


http://fortune.com/2014/08/29/private-equitys-giant-collusion-case-is-over-as-carlyle-folds/

"Elizabeth Warren Breaks Silence on Israel/Gaza, Sounds Like Netanyahu"



"Elizabeth Warren Breaks Silence on Israel/Gaza, Sounds Like Netanyahu" -- "That, ladies and gentlemen," The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald writes, "is your inspiring left-wing icon of the Democratic Party."
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/elizabeth_warren_breaks_silence_on_israel_gaza_sounds_like_20140829

"Social Networks Diminish Personal Well-Being, Researchers Say"



"Social Networks Diminish Personal Well-Being, Researchers Say" -- Two researchers set out to determine "whether the use of online networks reduces subjective well-being and if so, how," the MIT Technology Review reports.
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/social_networks_diminish_personal_wellness_researchers_say_20140830

The IDF’s real face

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.613212

The IDF’s real face

In civilian life, anyone suspected of manslaughter or murder is immediately arrested, with an investigation coming later. In the IDF the opposite is true.

By  Aug. 30, 2014

Israel appropriates 4,000 dunams of West Bank land

HAARETZ

Israel appropriates 4,000 dunams of West Bank land

Construction of a major settlement at the location, known as 'Gevaot', has been mooted by Israel since 2000. Last year, the government invited bids for the building of 1,000 housing units at the site.

By | Aug. 31, 2014 

Newly declassified documents reveal how U.S. agreed to Israel's nuclear program

Newly declassified documents reveal how U.S. agreed to Israel's nuclear program

Documents reveal contacts between Washington and Jerusalem in late 1960s, when some Americans believed the nuclear option would not deter Arab leaders but would trigger an atom bomb race.


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.613221

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Hillary Clinton's Foreign Policy Failures

 

Hillary Clinton's Foreign Policy Failures

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/hillary_clintons_foreign_policy_failures.html

The War for Nothing by Uri Avnery


The War for Nothing
by http://original.antiwar.com/avnery/2014/08/29/the-war-for-nothing/

What Going To War In Syria Would Really Mean For The U.S. -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic



What Going To War In Syria Would Really Mean For The U.S. -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-us-military-intervention-in-syria.html

Destabilizing Russia, A Nuclear Power: Is the U.S. Trying to Implement “Regime Change” in Russia?

Destabilizing Russia, A Nuclear Power: Is the U.S. Trying to Implement “Regime Change” in Russia?


http://www.globalresearch.ca/destabilizing-russia-a-nuclear-power-is-the-u-s-trying-to-implement-regime-change-in-russia/5398452

The U.S. Jewish Community, Amoral Familism and the Crisis of Palestine

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-koppman/eyeless-in-gaza-the-us-je_2_b_5727198.html

The U.S. Jewish Community, Amoral Familism and the Crisis of Palestine


We're all thankful for a truce in Gaza as long as it lasts. Five hundred children have been killed in the last few weeks. A similar number of Palestinians have been killed in this round as Israelis killed by Arab terrorism in the history of the State of Israel.
A traditional Jewish response to this would be: "He who destroys a human life is as if he had destroyed the whole world." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-koppman/eyeless-in-gaza-the-us-je_2_b_5727198.html

Will Ukraine Bid To Join NATO Unleash 21st Century Cold War?

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/08/29/will-ukraine-bid-join-nato-unleash-21st-century-cold-war

Published on
Friday, August 29, 2014

Will Ukraine Bid To Join NATO Unleash 21st Century Cold War?

Experts warn that if US and Europe continue to expand NATO's reach without recognizing destructive consequences, crisis in eastern Ukraine risks serious escalation

Zombie Apocalypse, Biological Warfare or Marketing Hype? Inside Ebola


Zombie Apocalypse, Biological Warfare or Marketing Hype?

Inside Ebola




http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/29/inside-ebola/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=inside-ebola

AIPAC Is in Decline—But So Are Hopes for a Two-State Solution By John B. Judis

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119268/aipac-decline-so-are-hopes-two-state-solution
August 29, 2014

AIPAC Is in Decline—But So Are Hopes for a Two-State Solution

By
Connie Bruck has written an excellent portrait of the Israel lobby, AIPAC, in The New Yorker. I say that as someone who knows something about the organization and has written about it myself. She brings a wealth of detail to aspects of AIPAC’s activity that prior accounts of the organization had cited, but could not quite nail down. I am thinking of the two things in particular.
First, she shows that while AIPAC has given lip-service to a “two-state solution” to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, it has worked against American and Israeli attempts to promote it. AIPAC formally endorsed the Oslo agreement in 1993, but then sought to undermine it. She quotes former AIPAC analyst Keith Weissman, “AIPAC couldn’t act like they were rejecting what the government of Israel did, but the outcry in the organization about Oslo was so great that they found ways to sabotage it.” Similarly, AIPAC helped thwart President Obama’s attempt during his first term to promote an agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Recentlyand I am citing myself here tooAIPAC has appeared at best indifferent toward Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempt to revive the peace process.
Second, Bruck shows in some detail how the organization wields influence on Capitol Hill by funding House and Senate members who toe its line and seeking to defeat those who don’t. As far back as 1948, Americans who wanted Washington to back Israel recognized that they couldn’t rely on Jewish votes to make their case: There weren’t enough. What counted was the ability to raise money for politicians. AIPAC, as Bruck shows, has perfected that approach in the last 35 years. It doesn’t give money itself, but it gets its high-rolling members and friendly political action committees to do so. The politicians know where the money is coming from. And the strategy has worked. Bruck quotes former congressman Bruce Baird: “When key votes are cast, the question on the House floor, troublingly, is often not ‘What is the right thing to do for the United States of America?’ but ‘How is AIPAC going to score this?’ ”

Blowback from Further U.S. Intervention in Iraq By Ivan Eland

Blowback from Further U.S. Intervention in Iraq

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=5057

What James Foley's Murder Says about the U.S.

What James Foley's Murder Says about the U.S.
Given that the Islamic State subjected American citizen James Foley to physical abuse, waterboarding, and extra-judicial execution, U.S. officials and American interventionists, including those in the mainstream media, are describing the Islamic State as savage and barbaric. But wait a minute! When the U.S. government was doing those same things, weren’t U.S. officials and American interventionists saying that such actions weren’t any big deal? http://fff.org/2014/08/29/what-james-foleys-murder-says-about-the-u-s/

Evidence Grows That Online Social Networks Have Insidious Negative Effects

Evidence Grows That Online Social Networks Have Insidious Negative Effects

A study of 50,000 people in Italy concludes that online social networks have a significant negative impact on individual welfare.


http://www.technologyreview.com/view/530401/evidence-grows-that-online-social-networks-have-insidious-negative-effects/

Why Can't People Find A Job? One Big Reason Is Obamacare

Why Can't People Find A Job? One Big Reason Is Obamacare


http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoodman/2014/08/25/why-people-cant-find-a-job/

40% of U.S. on Welfare; Obamacare Expands Welfare by 23 Million; More on Welfare Than Full-Time-Employed

40% of U.S. on Welfare; Obamacare Expands Welfare by 23 Million; More on Welfare Than Full-Time-Employed
Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/40-of-country-on-welfare-obamacare.html#cXJOb2YGoxFwFGTO.99


http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/40-of-country-on-welfare-obamacare.html

How the Russian Invasion Could Spark War in Europe



How the Russian Invasion Could Spark War in Europe
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/how-the-russian-invasion-could-spark-war-in-europe/

This week Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine became overt for all the world to
see. Since February, Moscow waged a semi-covert campaign that I term Special
War, with the initial aim of taking Crimea. This succeeded almost bloodlessly
thanks to confusion in Kyiv.

Over the past six months, inspired by Crimean success, Russian strategy has
focused on [...]

Putin Reminds the World he has Nuclear Weapons
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/putin-reminds-the-world-he-has-nuclear-weapons/

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia's armed forces, backed by its
nuclear arsenal, were ready to meet any aggression, declaring at a pro-Kremlin
youth camp that foreign states should understand: "It's best not to mess with
us."

Putin told the assembly, on the banks of a lake near Moscow, the Russian
takeover of Crimea in March was [...]
* Ukraine: Why Obama Won't Call it an Invasion
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/ukraine-why-obama-wont-call-it-an-invasion/

* How the Russian Invasion Could Spark War in Europe
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/how-the-russian-invasion-could-spark-war-in-europe/

* Putin Reminds the World he has Nuclear Weapons
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/putin-reminds-the-world-he-has-nuclear-weapons/

VIDEO: Review of #ISIS Social Media Messaging Reveals Intent to Sneak Across U.S.-Mexico Border


VIDEO: Review of #ISIS Social Media Messaging Reveals Intent to Sneak Across U.S.-Mexico Border


http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/video-review-of-isis-social-media.html

Saudi king warns West will be jihadists next target


Saudi king warns West will be jihadists next target


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-30/269056-saudi-king-warns-of-terrorism-threat-to-us-europe.ashx#axzz3BrUmKnPe

Saudi King Warns ISIS Jihadists Will Target The West


http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-king-warns-isis-jihadists-will-target-the-west-2014-8

Now Is Not the Time to Back Out of Arms-Control Deals with Russia

Now Is Not the Time to Back Out of Arms-Control Deals with Russia

08/30/14
Dirk Jameson, J. Robert Barnes, John Castellaw
Nuclear Weapons, Arms Control, United States, Russia

Why a measured response to Russia's Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty violation serves U.S. interests better than ditching the INF altogether. 

The Obama administration has determined that Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which bans ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The Obama administration has reportedly been aware of the Russian INF Treaty violation—testing of its R-500 cruise missile—since at least 2011.
This has prompted arms-control skeptics to question whether being a signatory to the agreement is in the security interests of the United States; others have called for abrogating the treaty outright. While Russia’s actions are serious and merit a firm U.S. response, it is important to distinguish between testing a banned cruise missile and moving to deploy it. Until that happens, the United States should focus its diplomatic energy on bringing Russia back into compliance with the treaty. The Obama administration has thus far responded proportionately by making this violation public in its annual report to Congress on arms control compliance and by expressing its serious concerns to the Russian government. The United States should also immediately exercise its right to call for a special meeting of the INF Treaty’s Special Verification Commission, which last met in 2003.
While perhaps emotionally satisfying given Putin’s pattern of irresponsible behavior, responding at this time to Russia’s violation by abrogating the INF Treaty and deploying U.S. intermediate-range missiles would not be in the national interest, for a number of reasons.
Pulling out of the INF Treaty at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the United States would make cooperation on international-security issues a casualty of the current geopolitical tensions over Ukraine and other issues. Up until now, despite these growing tensions, Russia and the United States have managed to continue cooperating on nuclear-security issues, including implementing the New START treaty, negotiating with Iran over the future of its nuclear program, and destroying Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's declared chemical-weapons stockpile. Continued cooperation with Russia on these issues clearly is in the national-security interests of the United States.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/now-not-the-time-back-out-arms-control-deals-russia-11155

America Can't End Syria's Civil War

America Can't End Syria's Civil War

08/30/14
Dick Krickus
Security, Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Military Strategy, United States, Syria, Middle East

President Obama should emphasize that there is no military option that will end the turmoil associated with the civil war within Islam.

“The time has come to join Syria in a joint effort to destroy the Islamic State.” What previously was deemed unthinkable is now being widely discussed by members of the American foreign-policy community. The reason for this dramatic reversal has its roots in a number of factors: concern that IS is enjoying military success in Iraq and Syria; remorse in Washington that our enormously expensive effort to create a viable Iraqi military force has failed; the prospect that IS look-alikes are gaining traction in Libya; and anguish and anger over the beheading of American photojournalist James Foley by IS fanatics.
Much the same thinking has surfaced across the Atlantic. The UK’s former Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, has said: “We should not be squeamish about how we [destroy IS].” They are fanatical killers that not only control much of Iraq and Syria and imperil the Caliphate’s neighbors, they have promised to strike Europe and the United States using citizens from both countries to do so. The British Army’s former head Richard Dannatt noted military advantages tethered to this “unthinkable” relationship; aircraft traversing Syria’s airspace would no longer need worry about Assad’s air-defense assets.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-cant-end-syrias-civil-war-11166

Rapidly Mutating Ebola Renders Diagnostic Tests Inaccurate – AKA: You May Have a New Strain of Ebola and Test Negative


Rapidly Mutating Ebola Renders Diagnostic Tests Inaccurate – AKA: You May Have a New Strain of Ebola and Test Negative


Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/rapidly-mutating-ebola-renders-diagnostic-tests-inaccurate-aka-you-may-have-a-new-strain-of-ebola-and-test-negative/#mKkGtTQ1AQwFqSyL.99

http://investmentwatchblog.com/rapidly-mutating-ebola-renders-diagnostic-tests-inaccurate-aka-you-may-have-a-new-strain-of-ebola-and-test-negative/

Obamacare

Obamacare
Daily update August 30, 2014


NEWS


Town Hall
Obamacare is Affecting Everyone
In all cases the reason is the same: Obamacare. Why can't people find a job? Three Federal Reserve Banks – in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta ...
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Will ObamaCare mean the end of employer-provided insurance?
Analysts predict that as ObamaCare takes hold, it will mean the end of employer-provided insurance, with former Obama adviser Zeke Emanuel ...
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The Hill
ObamaCare contract muddles Dem message on tax dodgers
The Obama administration is employing an ObamaCare contractor that that was once based in the tax haven of Bermuda even as it assails ...
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'Christians are just healthier': One family's cost-sharing alternative to Obamacare
OMAHA, Neb. – Every year, Gary Duff signs an updated version of these 40-page terms, which detail one way Americans can avoid buying private ...
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Insurance Executive Complains: Attacking Obamacare 'Bailout' Is 'Unfair'
Regardless, Obamacare is poised to force taxpayers to help cover health insurers' losses — and it's harder to imagine a clearer example of a bailout, ...
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Daily Caller
Fixer For Oregon Obamacare Fiasco Balloons To Six Times The Cost
The price tag for fixing Oregon's failed Obamacare exchange has grown to $600,000 so far, up from an initial $100,000 contract, The Oregonian ...
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Obamacare's Glitchy Website Hinders Thousands Asked to Verify Citizenship
Three hundred thousand people who enrolled in Obamacare have been asked to submit proof of citizenship or risk losing their insurance. Many who ...
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Health centers in Somersworth, Raymond using Obamacare funds to streamline service
On Tuesday, Sylvia M. Burwell, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that two health centers — Goodwin Community Health in ...
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Arizona Republic
Into the Mind: The Obamacare coverage conundrum
Into the Mind: The Obamacare coverage conundrum. Into the Mind: Narrow health networks are putting the pinch on children's hospitals, other ...
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Obamacare's political turning point
We've come to a fascinating point in the Obamacare political battle where Republican candidates aren't sure they still want to attack Democrats over ...
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Friday, August 29, 2014

Therapy for Sudan strain of Ebola may help contain some outbreaks


EPIDEMICS
Therapy for Sudan strain of Ebola may help contain some outbreakshttp://www.terradaily.com/reports/Potential_therapy_for_the_Sudan_strain_of_Ebola_could_help_contain_some_future_outbreaks_999.html

No NATO Action Against Russia or Islamic State


No NATO Action Against Russia or Islamic State

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/29/no_nato_action_against_russia_or_islamic_state

Is the ISIS Laptop of Doom an Operational Threat?

The Complex

Is the ISIS Laptop of Doom an Operational Threat?


http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/29/is_the_isis_laptop_of_doom_an_operational_threat_0

Henry Kissinger on the Assembly of a New World Order


Henry Kissinger on the Assembly of a New World Order

The concept that has underpinned the modern geopolitical era is in crisis


http://online.wsj.com/articles/henry-kissinger-on-the-assembly-of-a-new-world-order-1409328075?tesla=y

Time for Abe to clarify his views about World War II war criminals

Asahi Shimbun Editorial

Time for Abe to clarify his views about World War II, war criminals
   
August 29, 2014

In April, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a written message of mourning to an annual Buddhist memorial service to honor Japanese World War II soldiers who were executed after the war as Class-A, Class-B and Class-C war criminals. The message was offered in the name of Abe as the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
"I offer my deepest condolences on the death of these martyrs in the Showa Era (1926-1989) who staked their souls to become the foundation of their nation for the sake of its peace and prosperity today," Abe said in the message.
The Abe administration has played down the significance of the act, saying it was a message sent as a private individual. But that is a totally unacceptable excuse.
The message was sent to the Buddhist service held in front of "Showa junnansha homushi tsuitohi" (a monument to the memory of the Showa victims of the execution [by the Allied powers]), located at the Okunoin ofKoyasan Shingon Buddhism in Wakayama Prefecture.
The monument describes the military tribunal conducted by the Allies to punish Japan's war criminals as a "harsh and retaliatory trial unparalleled in world history." It was set up 20 years ago to restore the honor of war criminals and mourn their deaths.
Those whose names are inscribed on the monument include Hideki Tojo (1884-1948), the army general and the prime minister during the war, and 13 additional Class-A war criminals.
It has been found that Abe also sent a similar message to the annual memorial service held last year and in 2004 as the LDP president and the LDP secretary-general, respectively.
In a news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Abe sent the message not as the prime minister, but as a private citizen.
But Suga acknowledged the fact that the Class-A war criminals were found guilty of crimes against peace at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He also said Japan accepted the rulings handed down by the Tokyo tribunal when it signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with the Allied powers in 1951.
It is shameful that 69 years after the end of hostilities, Japan still needs to announce afresh its official positions on these clear historical facts to audiences both at home and abroad.
Japan regained its sovereignty and returned to the fold of the international community by accepting the rulings delivered by the tribunal. At the same time, Japan internally started its postwar history by placing the responsibility for the war on the Class-A war criminals, who led the nation into the war.
Abe sent a sympathetic message to a service that is based on the views about the war that regard the tribunal convened by the Allied powers as an act of "retaliation" and see all the executed war criminals as "Showa victims." He should not complain if what he did is considered to be an attempt to ignore Japan's promises to the international community concerning the war.
We, as Japanese, cannot accept the view that the executed war leaders were "victims."
Abe should be aware of how seriously his act has damaged the things this nation has achieved through steady efforts in the postwar era.
We are eager to hear him answer in his own words the questions raised by his act.
What did he mean when he said the war leaders who were responsible for the huge loss of human life in the war and for the immense devastation this nation suffered became the "foundation of their nation?"
Who does he think should have taken the blame for the war and in what way?
He should stop obscuring issues by using words such as "eirei" (the spirits of the war dead) and "mitama" (departed souls). He should start speaking about his views concerning the war in a dignified and above-board manner from the bottom of his heart, without using the excuse of acting as a "private individual."
Abe has the responsibility to do so.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 29