|
How Many Minutes to
Midnight?
On the Nuclear Era
and Armageddon
If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of
homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW
(before nuclear weapons) and NWE, the nuclear weapons era. The latter era
opened on August 6 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the
inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to
discover effective means to destroy itself, but not the moral and
intellectual capacity to control their worst instincts.
This article reflects on the "auspicious opening
days" of the NWE, a period when the U.S. was overwhelmingly powerful
and enjoyed remarkable security. The author provides an incisive historical
retrospective that takes us through the missile threats of the Cold War, as
well as the Clinton and Bush Doctrines of the post-Cold War period, to
explain why the prospect of nuclear disarmament grows fainter. As we now
enter the 70th year of the NWE, we should be contemplating with
wonder that we have survived. The longer we tempt fate, the less likely it
is that we can hope for divine intervention to perpetuate the miracle.
|
|
Mel Gurtov
Time for the U.S. to Engage North
Korea
In recent weeks, North Korea has sent the usual mix of signals
about its strategic intentions on the Korean peninsula. In July it carried
out a ballistic missile test in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), in violation
of UN resolutions.But it's not all aggression. Perhaps in response to
Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Seoul in early July, in defiance of
presumed protocol that would have called for him to visit Pyongyang first,
North Korea called on the South to join it in renewed efforts at national
reunification.
The so-called "North Korea nuclear issue," which in
fact involves the interests of several countries, is security and strategic
stability on the Korean peninsula. This article outlines multiple powerful
reasons for the United States to embrace engagement with North Korea, and
explains why chances for this bilateral engagement would be greatest if the
talks were embedded in a multilateral framework that builds on the
Six-Party Talks of the past including China, Russia and South Korea.
|
|
Gavan McCormack and
Urashima Etsuko
Okinawa's "Darkest Year"
As Japan burned in the mid-summer heat
of 2014, the long-running "Okinawa problem" entered a critical,
perhaps decisive, phase. On the question of whether to build or not to
build a major new military base for the US Marines in the waters off
Northern Okinawa, Tokyo (backed by Washington) confronts Okinawa. The
stakes and the level of commitment are high and there is no sign to be seen
of any readiness to compromise or submit.
It is impossible to contemplate events in Okinawa without deep
foreboding. It is, however, also difficult not to feel inspired by the
sense of justice, truth, and determination conveyed by the Okinawan civil
society forces that confront the mobilized resources of the Japanese
national state and the United States. Here we present Gavan McCormack's
analysis of the forces and issues at stake, accompanied by a translation of
the most recent short essay by the chronicler of the resistance, local
writer, activist and poet, Urashima Etsuko.
|
|
Rick Baldoz
"Comrade Carlos Bulosan":
U.S. State Surveillance
And the Cold War Suppression of
Filipino Radicals
Throughout the Cold War period, American authorities
believed that a worldwide communist conspiracy was at the root of political
unrest in the Philippines, a former U.S. colony, and that Filipino labor
activists in the United States communicated with insurgents in the
Philippines through an elaborate spy ring that linked left-wing cadres
across the globe. According to the FBI, radicals like Carlos Bulosan
transmitted secret dispatches to Ho Chi Minh in Saigon, who then passed
them on to Madame Curie in Paris, which ultimately enabled professors at
the University of Philippines to serve as the intellectual ringleaders of
the local communist movement.
While it is hard to know if this sophisticated communication network really
existed, it is clear that American officials were deeply concerned about
the threat of popular insurgency in the Philippines and the role played by
U.S.-based Filipinos in fomenting revolutionary struggle across the globe.
This article discusses the far-reaching campaign to root out Filipino
radicals during the Cold War, and compares this phenomenon to the present-day
U.S. political regime. The author historicizes contemporary debates about
state surveillance and social control by tracing the use of "national
security," a term that has provided a pretext for the casting of
indiscriminate dragnets that amass personal information about citizens and
legal residents with almost no independent oversight. Consequently,
government officials have been granted wide latitude to assail critics
whose political beliefs are capriciously labeled as a threat to U.S.
|
|
