Replies to post #1667 on Foreign Correspondence

[otraque]

DECLARATION OF WAR
©2001 Ethan Miller

(edit: read this carefully and you will know where i stand.
Also i am proud to say the song is written and performed by a member of our community---do not quote without crediting Ethan Miller---this is a great song to hear with your ears).

In terms of how it is sung, it is sung with strength, the blood drip sarcasm laced thru out.


Declaration of War



In times of war the folksingers are supposed to write peace songs,
Go to candlelight vigils and lead all the people in sing-alongs,
Say make love not war and have no vengeance on your enemies,
Meet violence with love, and anger and hatred with empathy
Now don't get me wrong, I ain't got nothin' against peace songs,
Or goin' to rallies to call for an end to the guns and the bombs,
But in times like these I feel compelled to declare my support
For a radical new escalation of our war effort.

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CHORUS
This ain't no peace song.
This is a declaration of war.
And this ain't no sing-along.
This is the rise of a mighty roar.

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When the towers came down everyone looked around for a culprit
And the media moguls and corporate elites took the pulpit,
"Ain't no fault of ours that all these people are angry.
They must be hungry for power or crazy with envy."
Draped in a flag they are pointing away at the enemy.
"United we stand." they say, cleverly shirking complicity.
"Don't ask any questions, just follow us, we will show you the way.
Rise up America, come bomb another impoverished nation today."

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CHORUS

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Now just look around as the bombs hit the ground, tell me what do you see
Are the ones callin' the shots your friends or your enemies?
Who are the victims? Who are the innocent? And who commits crimes?
And who gets to spin the answers next day frontpage on the New York Times?
And furthermore, if I may ask, who are they anyway?
Who can give us our freedom and then with one vote they can take it all away.
Well, I do declare they've exceeded their share of the oxygen,
And we will not stand for one more command from their lips again.

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CHORUS

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An eye for an eye will leave us all blind. I have heard it said.
Yes, but peace without justice and struggle will surely leave a million more dead.
So stand up on your feet and take to the streets, this is no time for fear.
Call us traitors or spies and spread all your lies, but we will persevere.
It's been said before and I'll say it once more, let's bring the war home,
To battle the forces of greed and injustice wherever they may roam.
United we'll stand, here in this land of hypocrisy,
To take back our lives from the rulers and build a democracy.

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CHORUS

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No more will we stand idly by
While they ravage the earth and hurl flame from the sky.
No more we'll be silenced, no more we'll be still.
No more will be pillaged, no more will be killed.
No more silent vigils, this time we will roar.
We'll call out the traitors and we will declare war.
On the oil executives, corporate elites,
Wall Street vigilantes in mountain retreats
IMF bureaucrats, Monsanto thugs,
CIA agents with taps and with bugs,
Rich greedy landlords and real estate crooks,
Corporate lawyers with corporate law books,
Fascists in the White House and fools on the Hill,
Puppets in uniform, guns set to kill,
Racist avengers and pentagon brutes,
Slick politicians and bankers in suits,
Old money, new money, privileged few,
Owners of Nike, Chevron, and GQ
Pesticide pushers of chemical war,
Econ departments, Walmart superstores,
Kings and their armies and princes and dukes,
Religious zealots who kill for the truth,
Free trade agreements and global control,
Smokestacks and gasoline and ozone holes...
This ain't no peace song.

In times of war the folksingers are supposed to write peace songs,
Go to candlelight vigils and lead all the people in sing-alongs,
But this ain't no peace song.

[Amaunet]

Koizumi set to dub China a military threat

DEFENSIVE MOVE: A newspaper said a soon-to-be completed official report will highlight Beijing's military spending and `expansionist' policies

STAFF WRITER , WITH AGENCIES
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004,Page 1
China is expected to be described as a military threat in a Japanese defense review which could form the basis of Tokyo's long-term defense plan, reports said yesterday.

A private advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to mention, in a report to be completed by the end of this month, the threat stemming from China's military build-up and fears of a military clash with Taiwan, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

Wary of raising the hackles of its powerful neighbor, up to now Japan has not so far explicitly referred to nuclear-armed China as a military threat in any published official document.

Pointing to a steady rise in China's defense budgets, the advisory panel is considering expressing "caution" about chances of a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the paper said.

But China's lavishly funded military build-up has been seen as one of the reasons for a reduction in Tokyo's official development aid to Beijing in recent years.

The report from the advisory panel is expected to be reflected in a new long-term defense plan to be completed by the government by the end of this year, the leading business daily said.

The unprecedentedly frank description risks heightening further the diplomatic tension between Beijing and Tokyo.

Beijing's plan to develop natural gas near the demarcation line of Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea has also added to the bilateral strain.

The current defense plan avoids mentioning China specifically as a military threat although it refers to "large-scale military powers," including those with nuclear capability, in the region surrounding Japan.

"Many countries are inclined to expand and modernize military capabilities on the strength of economic development and other factors," it says, citing the Russian far east and the Korean Peninsula.

The panel warned Japan should cope with "each and every instance" of China's military expansion, the report added.

The panel's report is expected to highlight increases in China's military spending and strategy statements, which point to the country's expansionist policy, the daily said.

Japan's financial aid to China has been under fire from some members of the Liberal Democratic Party in view of Beijing's huge spending on its military buildup, manned spacecraft program and its own aid to neighboring countries.

Japan's subtle shift from its cautious approach to China reflects the chill in their bilateral relations on one hand and the strengthening of Tokyo's alliance with Washington on the other, the daily said.

The panel's report is expected to underline the maintenance of a "deterrence based on the Japan-US alliance," the daily said.

China's rising nationalist sentiment, coupled with its authoritarian political system and increasingly powerful military, is viewed as a source of grave concern by many security analysts in Japan, which is one of Asia's oldest democracies.

Meanwhile, Chinese observers point to Japan's dismal humanitarian record during World War II as a reason for keeping Japan's power in check.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/09/16/2003203071

[CoalTrain]

I love maps!



Looking at this map the first thing I think of
is your post on Russia trying to make a deal to
run the power lines into North Korea. I believe
that was Nuklur power. Hard to imagine that
China does see Russia controlling the electricity
in N.Korea as some kind of a threat.
Where those explosions closer to Shenyang or
Vladivostok?

At the upper right hand corner of the map the
Kuril Islands. Russia took them in WW2 and
Japan still claims them. Not sure what is on
them. Maybe nothing.

Looking at the map I wonder how much an
issue the shipping lanes were in the Korean
and Vietnam wars. I also see why Australia
has an interest in East Timor.

The map shrinks. To make it big again
click on the right bottom pointer thingy.