Putting sense in NoKor leader’s head

 

Detonation site and NoKor leader Kim Jong Un

In an absolute defiance of the UN and utter disregard for sobriety and moderation called by the more advanced and concerned nations in the world, like, the US, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China, North Korea went ahead and executed its third nuclear test.

Not one to be humiliated (https://quierosaber.wordpress.com/tag/nuclear-test/), the rogue nation’s young despot, Kim Jong Un, made sure this time that what they failed to succeed in outer space will not happen underground.

According to South Korea, seismic activity suggests the explosion measured some 6 to 7 kilotons—more than previous tests but less than the 20 kilotons detonated in Hiroshima.

Seismic tests by several countries suggested the test, which the NoKor called “safe and perfect,” occurred near the location where they conducted earlier test and according to the US Geological Survey it was just a kilometer underground.

It is said that the latest test involved a “miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously” in 2006 and 2009.

One can understand the insolence of Jong Un against its neighbors, South Korea and Japan, and to some extent the US, but to show the same arrogance against China, who has been always supportive of NoKor, except for this one, is simply insensible and contemptuous.

No doubt it is back-stabbing China, but the question now is: How is China going to take it?

Will China now untie the apron that has always been seen as being tied to China’s waistline?

“Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats,” US President Barack Obama said.

How many more provocations have to be executed, before the world has to walk the walk or walk the talk or whatever, for as long as sense is pounced in the head of this young, arrogant dictator?

How much longer can the US and its allies stomach the cockiness of NoKor’s leader, and to think that he is still in his late 20s and a leader of a starving nation?

In a brazen affront to the world’s greatest power, not long after the nuclear test, the country’s official news agency immediately released the following statements:

“The latest nuclear test was only the first action, with which we exercised as much self-restraint as possible.”

“If the US further complicates the situation with continued hostility, we will be left with no choice but to take even stronger second or third rounds of action.”

North Korea did not mince words in saying that the 3^rd nuclear test was directly targeted at the United States. It accuses Washington of inciting global condemnation of its nuclear program and of leading the sanctions charge in the UN Security Council.

The ministry statement said any measure like forced ship inspections or a sea blockade would be considered an “act or war” and trigger “merciless retaliations”.

Talking about provocative words after provocative deeds, coming from a desperate and attention seeking nation!

The return of Japan’s militarism

 

Militarism is defined as the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

And so, in the light of China’s aggressive maritime posturing in the East China Sea, where Beijing is having a stand-off with Tokyo over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, it is now highly probable that Japan will drop its pacifist constitution and revert back to militarism if only to stave off China’s malapropos incursion and claim of the islands.

With China’s economic and military power ascending, it has been arrogantly flexing its muscles upon its Asian neighbors and imposing its desires at will.

It will be noted that China is also locked in dispute with its poorer neighbors in the South China Sea, where this bullying nation is claiming sovereignty of the area, to include territorial waters of contesting countries.

China’s historical claim is contested by the Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have overlapping claims to some or all of those same areas.

The South China Sea is not only a major sea lane, but is also believed to contain enormous mineral and oil resources.

It is precisely for this reason that the Philippines welcomes the news about Japan’s return to militarism.

“We would welcome that very much,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told the Financial Times in an interview. “We are looking for balancing factors in the region and Japan could be a significant balancing factor.”

Del Rosario was simply echoing the government’s view that Japan should upgrade its military from a self defense force so that it has more freedom to operate in the region.

This encouraging news could never have come in such an opportune time when threats were issued that China’s patrol boats from Hainan province will intercept vessels entering what it considered its territorial waters.

Beijing even made matters worse when it started issuing passports that include a map of its “nine-dash” claim to almost the entire South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan and Indonesia. The Philippines, however, has refused to stamp the new passports in protest.

This is a big boost for the small claimant nations in the South China Sea as the news comes days before an election in Japan that could see the return as prime minister of Shinzo Abe, who is committed to revising Japan’s pacifist constitution and to beefing up its military.

There is no doubt that Japan’s return to militarism will affect the military balance in Asia.

Despite Japan’s pacifist constitution, imposed by the US after the war, its armed forces is still a force to reckon with.

China’s licentious behavior

China’s newest aircraft carrier

The way China has been recently acting towards its Asian neighbors only shows how power has corrupted this giant nation’s leadership.

Every nation in the world is at awe at how, in a very short time, it has become the second largest global economic power and how its economy has developed China into a military power that many says will surpass the U.S. in a few years time.

Thus, the increasing defense spending for the modernization of China’s People’s Liberation Army, which includes all branches of the military, saw it unveiled its newest wave of technology and hardware this year with its first two stealth fighters being test-flown, its first refurbished aircraft carrier, launched, and a new attacked helicopter, displayed.

No doubt these events have raised concern in the region especially that China has been actively pursuing and asserting its sovereignty over islands or waters also claimed by other nations such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and others in the South and East China Seas.

It is because of this new found might that China seems to be treating its Asian neighbor’s right  defiantly and in a manner appropriately described as licentious.

Not only that.

The controversial ‘nine-dash-line’ territory claimed by China

To further show to the world China’s arrogance, its leaders have allowed their country’s new passports to contain maps of territories they claim as theirs, like, the controversial “nine-dash line” that runs almost to the Philippine and Malaysian coasts, the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands in the East China sea, which is being contested with Japan, and, even, the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, which is being disputed with India.

The new passport is another contentious issue brewing up and, in fact, have provoked angry reactions from around the region, with Vietnam, Taiwan, India and Japan all expressing their objections amid an ongoing row over Beijing’s territorial claims.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that immigration personnel would stamp “a separate visa application form” instead of the Chinese passport.

The same action has already been undertaken by Vietnam first.

Note the ‘nine-dash-line’ on the new Chinese passport

Stamping the Chinese passport could be “misconstrued” as legitimizing China’s claim over vast parts of the South China Sea, which are also claimed in part by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

It remains to be seen what action India and Japan will take.

If the military muscle flexing, the economic thrust and the historical territorial claims are not evil practices of lording it over everybody, then I don’t know how else to describe what China is doing.

Japan’s aging population problem

Japan’s rapidly aging population

A study has been made on Japan’s population and showed that in twenty years time, seniors will outnumber children under 15 by a ratio of nearly 4:1.

They find the situation alarming especially on the context that adult diapers are starting to outsell already baby nappies.

Japan’s overall population is said to have fallen by a record quarter-million to 127.8 million in 2011, and by 2060, the population is expected to fall by an additional one-third to as few as 87 million. And 40 per cent of those remaining will be over 65 years old.

What is making the situation also disconcerting is that the demographic crisis is triggering an increasing social problems and ‘kodokushi’, or “lonely deaths”, which is a Japanese phenomenon that came about in the 1980s, is back in the up-swing.

It is said that four million Japanese elderly live by themselves, while family members who choose to care for an elderly relative often experience isolation and a burden themselves.

Because of this daunting reality, the Japanese government is making sure that the remaining, but dwindling able-bodied workers can continue paying for the increasing number of pensioners.

Japan hopes to raise consumption tax by five per cent and the retirement age to 70 years to ease pressure on the social security and pension system.

The question now is: Would there be adequate number of Japanese willing to work as caregivers or would the country rather opt for migrant caregivers to come in?

As we all know, Japan is not known for allowing cheap foreign laborers to work in the country, unlike the United States or Europe.

A robot caring an elderly to walk

And so, a keen observation by Canadian scientist, Takashi Gomi, president of Canada-based Applied AI Systems, Inc., who was born in Japan, seems to be the path Japan will follow.

“I don’t think this will change easily (meaning the hiring of caregivers from other countries) in the next 20 to 30 years, so robots are about the only solution,” said Gomi, whose company has developed a prototype of an “intelligent” wheelchair that can move around on its own and sense obstacles to avoid them.

Right now, most robots are used in factories. But many Japanese researchers have begun developing mechanical helpers for use in homes, offices, hospitals and nursing facilities.

Japan may face a shortage of young workers, but has an abundance of robots.

Although the market for “rehabilitation robots” – those aimed at assisting the elderly or physically disabled – is still in its infancy, they are gradually coming into use.

Russia anxious of Chinese immigration in its Far East

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev

The dispute over territorial claims that China is involved in the South China Sea region with some of the South East Asian nations, specifically, Vietnam and the Philippines, and the contested sovereignty issue over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands between China, again, and Japan in the East China Sea, seems to be disturbing the Russian government.

Whether it is aggressive incursion, as what the Chinese are doing in the territories partially claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines as their own following the international law of the sea, but claimed in whole by China for historical reasons, or Chinese immigration, which is feared by Russia to be happening in its Far East region, the end result is the same – that of having aliens entering another country’s territory or domain to stay.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev raised alarm recently over immigration to the remote Far East from giant neighbors such as China, saying the region risked falling into foreign hands.

“The objective of defending our Far Eastern territory from an excessive expansion of citizen from neighboring countries remains. The Far East really is far away. Not too many people live there, unfortunately,” Medvedev said.

Russian Far East

This was simply an echo to what he also said during his visit to the Far East, stating that, ‘if we don’t step up the level of activity of our work [in the Russian Far East], then in the final analysis we can lose everything.’

Medvedev’s fears stem from the fact that when the Soviet Union collapsed and the border between Russia and China opened up, more Chinese started moving in into the Russian territory, realizing the opportunities and resources it had.

On the other hand, many Russians turned their backs from the vast richness of the easternmost part of Siberia known as the Russian Far East and started leaving in droves to the warmer climate and better economy of European Russia.

Needless to say, that while the Russian population dwindled, the Chinese immigrants soared up and because of them, business has flourished in the cold region.

It is said that the region contains nearly all of Russia’s diamonds, 70 percent of its gold and substantial deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, timber, silver, platinum, tin, lead and zinc, as well as rich fishing grounds and vast expanses of unpopulated land.

This is what Russia fears most, that such a wealth of resources will be taken over by China, now a powerful military and economic giant of a nation, if nothing is done fast.

After all, the Chinese are no longer the same ‘yellow peril’ the Russians described them in the 1900s, when they drove about 3000 of them living in Blagoveshchensk into the Amur river to die in retaliation for a Chinese bandit attack on a Russian outpost.

China’s despotic incursions in other country’s territory

Not being done yet bullying the Philippines and other sovereign countries in the region over territorial dispute in the South China Seas, China has shifted its sights and now is causing an uproar in Japan by telling its government to respect Beijing’s “indisputable sovereignty” over islands claimed by both countries in the East China Sea.

The islands referred to here are islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

Like the contested Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal in the South China Seas, the Senkaku or Diaoyu also lies in rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain valuable mineral reserves.

Tokyo recognizes a private Japanese family as owner of the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, which the government intended to purchase, but claimed otherwise by China, thus, the intrusion into Japanese territorial waters by Chinese patrol vessels.

It has been reported that the owner of the islands is demanding that either the Japanese government or the Tokyo government, which is also vying to buy the islets, construct a naval base to secure Japan’s sovereignty over them.

It will be remembered that the Senkakus were controlled by the US after World War II, but were returned to Japan together with Okinawa. Chinese claims over the islands emerged in the late 1960s, about the time that a UN survey revealed the existence of a big hydrocarbon deposit beneath them.

Again, as in the Spratly and Scarborough dispute, the Chinese government issued a statement, saying, that “the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islets have always been China’s territory since ancient times.”

Unlike the small and poor nation claimants in the South China Seas that is being bullied with impunity by China, the latter has to think twice its actions towards Japan since it has been confirmed by the State Department that the Senkakus, which lies between Okinawa and Taiwan, “fall within the scope of Article 5 of the 1960 US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security”.

But, the most important question now is: What can you do to a UN member who refuses to recognize international agreements such as the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which were crafted to settle disputes?

It is even useless to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which normally could settle questions of boundaries and questions of sovereignty, because China has said, time and again, that it would not agree to the jurisdiction of ICJ.

If China, in this regard, is dishonoring the UN charter and its preamble, how could an organization of lesser eminence, the 10 members of Southeast Asian regional body ASEAN, be able to stop China from making despotic incursions on other country’s territory?

It is for a reason, therefore, that Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario sounded desperate when he denounced Chinese “duplicity” and “intimidation” in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“If Philippine sovereignty and jurisdiction can be denigrated by a powerful country through pressure, duplicity, intimidation and the threat of the use of force, the international community should be concerned about the behavior,” Del Rosario said recently in the annual ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

Fukushima tuna finds way to US waters

 

Pacific bluefin tuna believed contaminated with radioactive substances from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster

Five months after a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a tsunami that badly damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors causing leak of radioactive substances into the seas of Japan, researchers from Stony Brook University in New York have reported that Pacific tuna caught off the coast of San Diego had elevated levels of radioactive isotopes Cesium-134 and Cesium-137.

The levels were said to be 10 times higher than in previous catches off the California coast.

Although previous catches also registered already higher levels of the radioactive substances for the smaller fish and planktons, this is the first time they have discovered it in big fishes, and migratory ones at that, when tissue samples from all 15 tuna captured were analyzed.

The discovery, however, surprised the researchers since bluefin tuna, known for its size, speed and migratory distance traveled, continued to retain in its body radioactive isotopes instead of being dissipated or metabolized, as it should happen, having traveled almost 10,000 kilometers to the shores of the US from Japan and from across the Pacific ocean.

One of the largest and speediest fish, the Pacific bluefin tuna, spawns off the Japan coast and rapidly swims east to the waters off California.

Long before the Fukushima disaster, bluefin tuna that migrated to California and yellowfin tuna that are native to California waters were tested for radioactive substances and both indicated negative results.

This time, however, only the yellowfin tuna showed clean, but the bluefin tuna had signs of the presence of the radioactive isotopes, which indicated that it could only have come from Fukushima.

According to doctoral student Daniel Madigan, who studies the migration patterns of tuna at Stanford University, the amount of Cesium 134 and 137 detected in the fish “didn’t come close to exceeding safety limits.”

Madigan said, noting that what was in the fish, per gram, is lower than the amount of naturally occurring radioactive potassium found per gram in a banana.

Nevertheless, the presence of radioactive substances in big fishes is a warning that should nudge the researchers to monitor closely and do more sampling on migratory fishes, especially the expensive bluefin tuna, for the benefit of the consuming public.

Japanese man cooks, serves own genitals for a cause

Mao Sugiyama preparing his unique dish

“The meal came complete with mushrooms and a parsley garnish,” according to reports.

But, hey, this is Japan and no one question it is one place where people do bizarre acts!

This is about the case of 22-year-old Mao Sugiyama, a Tokyo-based illustrator, who in his burning desire to raise awareness about sexual minorities, had his penis and testicles surgically removed in March and kept them frozen for two months only to be dished out — seasoned and braised — to customers crazy enough to respond and partake after posting the invitation on his Twitter account.

Sugiyama, who considers himself “asexual”, that is without gender, initially thought about eating the genitals himself, but decided to solicit paying customers to help pay his hospital bills for the surgery.

The artist also said on Twitter the the organ had been removed by a physician and certified to be free of infections.

The meal was prepared under the supervision of a certified cook and diners were required to sign a waiver indemnifying Sugiyama and event organizers.

Before the event took place, however, Sugiyama made sure he violated no laws, including a ban on organ sales, processing of medical waste and food sanitation requirements. Even the issue of cannibalism was never brought up since there is no law prohibiting cannibalism in Japan.

Thus, for a truly unique meal, diners paid 20,000 yen ($250) for the plate with a portion of genitals complete with mushrooms and a parsley garnish.

According to the diners, the food was rather rubbery and all they tasted was the red wine the genitals were braised in, having been convinced that Sugiyama was not a natural-born chef.

Ugh!!!

Japan turns off last active nuclear reactor

 

One of Japan’s nuclear power plant

What is Japan without nuclear reactors?

This question is being asked since we all know that resource-poor and energy-hungry Japan can’t seem to do without nuclear power, a technology that had provided a third of its electricity until the 3/11 disaster at Fukushima.

But, bite the bullet Japan did when it switched off the nation’s last operating nuclear reactor leaving this third largest economic giant without atomic power for the first time in more than 40 years.

This came on the heels of a massive march by Japanese anti-nuke activists in Tokyo, waving traditional koinobori fish banners that now double as symbols of the anti-nuclear protest movement.

Anti-nuke protest symbol

“A new era in Japan with no nuclear power has begun,” said Gyoshu Otsu, a 56-year-old monk who joined a protest against nuclear power in front of the industry ministry in Tokyo which supervises the nation’s power utilities.

Protest organizer Masao Kimura said: “It’s a symbolic day today. Now we can prove that we will be able to live without nuclear power.”

As the reactor shuts down, Japan’s entire stable of 54 reactors will be offline.

But, is this move for good?

Most likely, it isn’t and will not be or it will have a dire effect on Japan’s economy that will reverberate all over the world, especially within members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international economic organization founded to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

Japan can’t simply afford to be without nuclear power reactors for long to sustain their standing as a nation.

Some of the plants now off line will eventually go back in service, but only after passing new safety tests and gaining the approval of local residents.

Most importantly, the reactors must now pass International Atomic Energy Agency-approved stress tests.

 

Rocket launch failure humiliates NoKor leader

 

The Unha-3 rocket which ended in failure

North Korea’s much-hyped launching of a long-range rocket, amidst warnings from the international community and concerned pleadings from neighboring Asian countries not to proceed with it, ended in an embarrassing failure for the young, untested, yet defiant leader Kim Jong Un.

Whether it was a flaw in ballistic missile technology or a divine intervention, the fact is it has given much sense of relief to many countries that the launching did not succeed.

The West and neighbors of the most isolated nation on earth said they suspected the action was a precursor to a nuclear test, debunking all the time the rogue nation’s assertion that it was for putting an observation satellite into orbit.

The rocket’s projected trajectory placed South Korea, Japan and the Philippines on heightened alert in case the launching could potentially endanger citizens and property in those nations.

The Japanese government, which has been monitoring closely the launching, said the missile disintegrated into pieces while still in North Korean territory or over South Korean waters.

The failed launch of the Unha-3 rocket happened in an unpropitious time when it was meant to dedicate its success to the 100-year anniversary of late founding father Kim Il-Sung’s birth.

The young, rotund Kim Jong Un

But, most of all, it was an ominous signal beamed to the whole world, and most especially to the Western powers, that the young, rotund-face egomaniac of a leader is capable of filling up the shoes and leading North Korea the way his father, Kim Jong-Il and grandfather, Kim Il-Sung did before him.

Alas, it did not go the way it was planned.

With this humiliating failure in Kim Jong-Un’s nascent leadership, will his pricked ego be a lesson in humility or will it turn him instead to be more of a monster and spend more money trying to develop and perfect the long range missile, holding hostage the international community while his people continue dying in starvation?

Could the international community depend on China, NoKor’s big brother, in restraining and taming this malevolent and capricious hermit country and turning it into a responsible member in the world of nations?

Will Russia be authoritative enough to be able to compel NoKor to attend to the needs of its people instead of engaging all the time in provocative acts, and wasting its money on weapons and propaganda displays?

NoKor should start realizing that there is more to gain for the country and its citizens when integrating with the world community rather than staying isolated and chanting the mantra of their self-sustaining policy.

For the moment, however, one can’t help but wonder how many heads are lined up on the chopping board for making the rocket launch a failure and humiliating Kim Jong Un? And whose heads is it going to be?