North Korean rulers have long been testing nuclear weapons and threatening to use it against anyone who offends them!
They're now giving warnings that they will launch missiles towards Guam, a small island in the western Pacific that also happens to be a US territory, and therefore a host to US military bases.
Now Donald Trump is threatening North Korea with "fire, fury and frankly power the likes of
which this world has never seen before."
Meanwhile, the US military is also beefing up their missile defense systems to protect their bases in Hawaii as well.
Being in Hawaii, I can definitely feel the nervousness about North Korea's threats.
If Trump wants to attack North Korea, he better destroy all their military facilities fast, because North Korea will use everyone it got! After the first attack, North Korea will launch every single long-range missile in its arsenal!
In that scenario, Guam and Hawaii are screwed, even if the US wins!
But at the same time, we have to ask the tough questions.
Would North Korea be threatening Guam or Hawaii if they were independent nations?
After all, North Korea isn't threatening Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea!
That's because they're independent nations that aren't hosting US or European military bases!
This isn't Blame America First, it's just an observation of facts!
Let's be real about this, the US took control of Hawaii and Guam not for the benefit of their people, but to use their lands as military launching pads towards Asia.
But why? Why do the US need a military launching pad towards Asia? Why can't the US learn to mind its own business!
If poverty-stricken North Korea can build nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, why can't "economic miracles" South Korea, Japan and Taiwan do the same!
If North Korea can scare Big Bad USA with its long-range nukes, why can't Taiwan do the same to China?
Meanwhile, it is the USA that abused the Marshall Islands by forcing their people off their islands and using those islands as nuclear testing sites.
That's right, it wasn't North Korea, China or Russia that abused the Marshall Islands with nuclear testing.
Meanwhile, the radiation has caused so much medical problems to the Marshallese people, that many of them come to Hawaii to get their medical needs taken care. Sadly, those people face racist abuse in Hawaii after all they've been through!
Many in Hawaii and Guam are reluctant to become independent partly because of the addiction to "federal funds", when much of that money has been taken away from us as federal taxes. Why should we pay money to the US federal government (where senators and reps from other states argue over what to do with it) when we can be independent, we keep our tax revenues here and we tell ourselves what to do with it!
But even a bigger factor of why many in Hawaii and Guam are reluctant to be independent is because of the trauma of World War 2.
At the time, much of the world was under the rule of European empires, and Japan wanted its own empire.
Therefore, Japan attacked US territories in the Pacific!
But we're not living in 1941 anymore!
I doubt North Korea has any interest in conquering the entire Pacific! They're only threatening Pacific Islands that host US military bases! They're not threatening independent Pacific Island nations! China hasn't even threatened the other Pacific Islands either!
Guam and Hawaii needs to be defended, but we should stop being used as US military launching pads towards Asia!
Guam and Hawaii needs to be defended, but we should stop being sitting ducks targeted for retaliation over someone else's rivalries!
Guam and Hawaii should be independent, and collaborate with other Pacific Islands in establishing a military defense system.
Guam, Hawaii and the other Pacific Islands should collaborate in establishing a naval system designed purely for self-defense purposes.
Guam, Hawaii and the other Pacific Islands should collaborate in establishing a missile defense system to protect ourselves.
Guam, Hawaii and the other Pacific Islands should collaborate in establishing an air force designed purely to defend our skies!
If other places can do it, why not us? Why beg for a faraway empire to do it for us, when we should do it ourselves?
All the European, American and Asian empires should just leave us Pacific Island residents alone already! Stop using our lands as "bargaining chips" and "targets" over your rivalries. Leave us out of it !
----------------
For all those US military troops stationed in the Pacific Islands, this isn't personal against you! You joined to defend your country, but you're being pimped by your government! Your government is pimping you to be involved in foreign disputes that your government shouldn't be involved in!
Now, some of you probably fell in love with our islands while being stationed here. If it was up to me, a newly independent Hawaii and a newly independent Guam would invite you to join our military, under the condition that you follow OUR rules and you defend OUR interests!
============
You can learn more by checking out this editorial by the Hawaii Independent
The Hawaii Independent. “Rather than keep us safe, U.S. militarism puts HawaiĘ»i in the crosshairs.” June 1, 2017.
http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/rather-than-keep-us-safe-u.s.-militarism-puts-hawaii-in-the-crosshairs
Friday, August 11, 2017
Learn Your Geography (part 2)
(note: you can see part 1 at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2014/10/learn-your-geography.html)
Some kids say "why we gotta learn geography, when are we going to need that information?"
They assume that if their parents don't use geographic information in their jobs everyday, then they don't need to pay attention during geography lessons.
But there's more to life than just knowing things related to the everyday duties of your specific job!
Your everyday reality is affected by what's going on in other places.
For example, Donald Trump is threatening to go to war with North Korea.
Yet, a bunch of people from the United States can't even locate North Korea on a map
When your country is about to go to war with another country, YOU BETTER KNOW WHERE IT IS?
But more importantly, if you might be sent to fight (and get killed, or at least amputated), you need to know why you're being sent there! There's a context to the situation, wars don't just pop out of nowhere, there's a reason for it!
And it's not just about wars!
Even for peaceful things like trade, you need to know about it!
If those people can't find North Korea on a map, then they can't find South Korea on a map!
South Korea, where all the SamSung products, as well as Hyundai and Kia cars come from! (and yes, K-Pop and Gangnam Style too)
Could you at least have some interest in where the products you or your peers are using come from?
-------------------
Knowing geography can also help you learn where the recent immigrants are coming from!
It can also help you understand their situations better.
I mean, why wouldn't you want information that can help you understand the people around you better?
It's embarrassing that many people in Hawaii ( a group of PACIFIC ISLANDS) know almost nothing about OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS, some of them sources of new immigrants.
If you took the time to learn about other Pacific Islands, you would be more understanding about their situations.
I mean I actually heard people in Hawaii assume that Samoa and Micronesia are in the same part of the Pacific Ocean.
What?
The plane going from Hawaii to Samoa is going a different direction than a plane going from Hawaii to Micronesia.
And to hear people not know there are different island, cultural and language groups within what is Micronesia? Those people actually assume they all speak the same language?
Those islands maybe small (that's why the Europeans called those islands "micro", a Greek term for "small", which unfortunately has become a racial slur used against people from those islands), but they are spread out over a large area, of course that would make a difference in the cultural and linguistic evolution of the people of the islands!
All this is EASILY AVAILABLE INFORMATION!
I remember reading about this from encyclopedias and looking at atlases when I was a kid, ...................which was a few years BEFORE the internet became available to the masses.
But now we have smartphone, which gives you access to the information about the world that can fit into your pocket, but yet people don't even want to learn basic geography?
Come on people!
I'm not expecting everyone to learn every small town and every small pond that exist!
But at least know the continents, countries and major cities!
And if you hear a country's name being mentioned on the news .........LOOK IT UP!
You can do that! So let's do that!
Some kids say "why we gotta learn geography, when are we going to need that information?"
They assume that if their parents don't use geographic information in their jobs everyday, then they don't need to pay attention during geography lessons.
But there's more to life than just knowing things related to the everyday duties of your specific job!
Your everyday reality is affected by what's going on in other places.
For example, Donald Trump is threatening to go to war with North Korea.
Yet, a bunch of people from the United States can't even locate North Korea on a map
Jimmy Kimmel Live
"How Many Americans Know Where North Korea Is?"
When your country is about to go to war with another country, YOU BETTER KNOW WHERE IT IS?
But more importantly, if you might be sent to fight (and get killed, or at least amputated), you need to know why you're being sent there! There's a context to the situation, wars don't just pop out of nowhere, there's a reason for it!
And it's not just about wars!
Even for peaceful things like trade, you need to know about it!
If those people can't find North Korea on a map, then they can't find South Korea on a map!
South Korea, where all the SamSung products, as well as Hyundai and Kia cars come from! (and yes, K-Pop and Gangnam Style too)
Could you at least have some interest in where the products you or your peers are using come from?
-------------------
Knowing geography can also help you learn where the recent immigrants are coming from!
It can also help you understand their situations better.
I mean, why wouldn't you want information that can help you understand the people around you better?
It's embarrassing that many people in Hawaii ( a group of PACIFIC ISLANDS) know almost nothing about OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS, some of them sources of new immigrants.
If you took the time to learn about other Pacific Islands, you would be more understanding about their situations.
I mean I actually heard people in Hawaii assume that Samoa and Micronesia are in the same part of the Pacific Ocean.
What?
The plane going from Hawaii to Samoa is going a different direction than a plane going from Hawaii to Micronesia.
And to hear people not know there are different island, cultural and language groups within what is Micronesia? Those people actually assume they all speak the same language?
Those islands maybe small (that's why the Europeans called those islands "micro", a Greek term for "small", which unfortunately has become a racial slur used against people from those islands), but they are spread out over a large area, of course that would make a difference in the cultural and linguistic evolution of the people of the islands!
All this is EASILY AVAILABLE INFORMATION!
I remember reading about this from encyclopedias and looking at atlases when I was a kid, ...................which was a few years BEFORE the internet became available to the masses.
But now we have smartphone, which gives you access to the information about the world that can fit into your pocket, but yet people don't even want to learn basic geography?
Come on people!
I'm not expecting everyone to learn every small town and every small pond that exist!
But at least know the continents, countries and major cities!
And if you hear a country's name being mentioned on the news .........LOOK IT UP!
You can do that! So let's do that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)