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New role for Japan?
Asahi Shimbun via Japan Focus
Japan as a Global Contributor: Envisioning an expanded role in a world of militarism, global warming and multipolarity
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[Japan Focus introduction. Below are the first two in a twenty-one part series published by the Asahi Shimbun and International Herald Tribune on May 23, 2007 that seeks to chart Japan's role in shaping the world's future. The Asahi editors target the twin dangers of militarism, particularly nuclear weapons and global warming, at the center of their effort to frame an appropriate role for Japan in the coming decades. These are indeed two of the most intractable issues facing the Asia Pacific and the world. Yet the series nowhere confronts the central obstacles to an expanded Japanese contribution toward peaceful resolution of global problems: that is Japan's subordination within a US-Japan security relationship.

... Likewise, in broaching environmental issues, the Asahi series nowhere suggests how Japan, which appears to have effectively abandoned in practice, if not in rhetoric, even the modest Kyoto targets, can contribute to halting the expansive carbon emissions development strategies that ultimately must be tackled globally. This means recognizing, and acting to halt, the reckless energy policies pursued by the US, followed by addressing the challenges posed by such high growth countries as China and India. ...]

...such an era [as the present one] offers an optimal opportunity for Japan to make the most of its inherent characteristics. This is because the country became wealthy as a trading nation through its constant efforts and ingenuity--despite its woeful lack of natural resources.

This being the case, Japan should aim to become a "nation that contributes to the world."

* * *

A nation that does so is one that seriously ponders issues that affect all of mankind, thereby leading the international community in its efforts to react positively. Japan should try to secure its national interests by looking through this prism. The diagram above lays out the overall concept.

Japan was once an economic powerhouse, but its power is declining in relation to the rapid growth being chalked up by China and India. But if it sticks to self-centered national interest out of a sense of crisis, its influence will shrink and there will be fewer gains.

Instead, we believe Japan should promote a broadening of the "international public good" that can be shared with many countries. We are sure it would be wiser to reap the fruits of such a policy.

Japan excels in efficient energy use. It should extend that expertise to China and India, and other countries that would benefit. Certainly, it would be appreciated by people all over the world. Moreover, it would contribute to the global environment. Japan's business opportunities would grow, too.

The complete series is available here.
(May/June 2007)
Of special interest in the Asahi/IHT series:
2. CLIMATE SECURITY: Kyoto the starting point of global environmental conservation
3. ENERGY CONSERVING SOCIETY: Natural energy technologies will lead the way to a sustainable society
5. FOSSIL FUELS: Avert an oil crisis through energy conservation and partnerships

For an example of a REALLY energy-efficient society see the remarkable set of essays: Japan's sustainable society in the Edo period (1603-1867). -BA

China says exports fuel greenhouse gas emissions
Chris Buckley, Reuters
China said on Thursday it was unfair for rich countries to buy its cheap goods and then condemn its greenhouse gas pollution, a day after one study suggested the nation was already the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter.

China's growing greenhouse gas emissions are under a glare of international attention as nations prepare to seek a climate change treaty after the Kyoto Protocol targets expire in 2012.

Many experts and foreign politicians say an effective new deal needs China to accept specific emissions goals, if not restrictions, which the Protocol does not now demand.

But China's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Western countries needed to consider his country's role as a low-cost export powerhouse that in effect helps rich Western consumers avoid emissions at home.

"China is now the factory of the world. Developed countries have transferred a lot of manufacturing to China. What many Western consumers wear, live in, even eat is made in China," spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing.

"On the one hand, you want to increase this production in China. On the other hand, you want to condemn China over the issue of emissions reductions. This is unfair."

China could overtake Germany as the world's biggest exporter of goods this year or soon after. Exports from China jumped 27 percent in 2006, outpacing all other major trading nations, the World Trade Organisation has estimated.

...China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said on Wednesday.
(21 June 2007)

Confronting empire
Joel Geier, Socialist Worker
THE EMPIRE tells us we're in a war on terrorism that's a generational conflict. Some of that sounds a little loony. The loony part is the war on terrorism. The rational part is the generational conflict. They can't really tell you what the war is about, but they have told you that we're involved in a generational conflict.

What it's really about, as we've said for some time, is oil. They made a rational, strategic decision some years back that we were at peak oil, or close to it, and facing the rise of what they call BRIC--Brazil, Russia, India, China, as well as others in the emerging world. That meant oil production had to double in the next 20 years, and instead of oil shocks, we would be involved in a permanent oil crisis.

What do you do about that--a country that's dependent on that oil? They decided to take what was a weakness and turn it into an imperialist strategic advantage--to make the rest of the world dependent upon the United States and the American military as the guardians of the world oil supply and the channels of distribution for oil.

This has become the key strategic gain of American imperialism for this period--to use its military superpower for economic and political leverage, to gain the ability to turn off oil on potential rivals like China down the road, if necessary.

That's why this is a generational conflict, and why the United States will not walk away from the Middle East. It won't walk away from Iraq and from two-thirds of world oil supply.

This was a rational imperialist plan. So far, it's led to disaster.

Joel Geier is a veteran of decades of political struggles in the U.S. and associate editor of the International Socialist Review.
(22 June 2007)
The organization behind the website is the International Socialist Organization (ISO) which is Trotskyist: "We stand in the Marxist tradition, founded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and continued by V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky."

Although Trotskyists are usually considered far-left, the analysis here - that oil is the root of U.S. foreign policy - is not much different from that of thinkers in all parts of the political spectrum. Surprisingly, the author has a high opinion of current U.S. policymakers -- claiming that they know about peak oil and have developed a rational plan to cope with it. Based on several years of monitoring peak oil, I see little evidence that policymakers have been aware of peak oil, nor that rational planning is a prominent feature of the Bush administration. -BA

Letters from Osama
Bob Waldrop, Energy Conservation News and Resources
Dear People of America,

Thank you for your continued financial support of our activities. The petro-dollars that you send to the Middle East each year give us the resources we need to buy bombs and guns to kill your soldiers and any civilians who get in our way.

We could not do what we do without your support. So please buy more automobiles and drive them anywhere you want to go, whenever you want to go. Trash your bicycle. Never walk or take the bus anywhere. Tell your politicians that mass transit is a waste of money. Abandon any thought of energy conservation!

Remember: Every time you buy gasoline or diesel, you send me some money. So buy more gasoline today! With your support, we can continue to kill and destroy. I promise you we will do this.

Sincerely,
Osama Bin Laden
(18 June 2007)
Satire. More at original.