About a "peaceful rise of China" that fits Japan and India

Henri Matisse, Le jeu de Boules (Game of Bowls) 1908

"We would of course both Japan and India wish to see the peaceful rise of China."

India Foreign Secretary Mrs. Nirupama Rao to the international press during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit in Tokyo.

About a "peaceful rise of China", IBNS writes that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan have emphasized on engaging China in more productive dialogue. How the three biggest Asian economies - China, India and Japan - need to cooperate for a common further rise in the global scene?

Each country, Japan and India, has a special relation with China, and the question is to define how important these relations are from a strategic, security and economic point of view, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao: "How both Japan and India desire a peaceful and productive relationship with China, and how it is essential to engage China in closer and more open dialogue?"

... "The fact is that there are systems in place and we mentioned from our side (India) that we have a very well-functioning system to discuss these issues, these differences with China have to be engaged in a peaceful way"

The growth of the Chinese economy, China's emergence as a global power, its military modernization, its ability to project its influence in the region when it comes to respective neighborhoods, these are all issues that will require a close analysis, a study, and understanding because of dealing with the rise of China.

Sources. Agencies, Ibns, Reporters' Notes.

Irak: Wikileaks met la pression sur Washington

Après la publication de 400 000 documents par Wikileaks sur les cas de torture par l’armée américaine en Irak entre 2004 et 2009, plusieurs organisations dénoncent "une grave violation du droit international" et demandent une enquête à Washington.

La pression s’accentuait dimanche sur les Etats-Unis après les révélations sur les cas de mauvais traitements couverts ou commis par l’armée américaine lors de la guerre en Irak, contenues dans les quelque 400.000 documents publiés par le site WikiLeaks.

"Nous pouvons déplorer la manière dont ces fuites ont eu lieu mais je pense que la nature des allégations faites est extraordinairement sérieuse", a déclaré le vice-Premier ministre britannique Nick Clegg, dimanche dans une interview à la télévision BBC One.

http://bit.ly/bWPtE0

Publiés vendredi sur le site de WikiLeaks, les quelque 400.000 rapports d’incidents, écrits de janvier 2004 à fin 2009 par des soldats américains, relatent de nombreux cas de torture par les forces irakiennes, ainsi que "plus de 300 cas de torture commis par les forces de la coalition", selon le fondateur du site, Julian Assange. Ce dernier a assuré, samedi lors d’une conférence de presse à Londres, avoir voulu rétablir "la vérité" sur la guerre en Irak, promettant de plus la diffusion prochaine de nouveaux fichiers, cette fois sur l’Afghanistan.

Vendredi, la secrétaire d’Etat américaine Hillary Clinton avait condamné "la diffusion de toute information (...) faisant peser un risque sur la vie des soldats et des civils des Etats-Unis et de leurs alliés". Les ministères britannique et australien de la Défense ont également dénoncé un danger pour les troupes sur le terrain.

Le rapporteur spécial de l’ONU sur la torture, Manfred Nowak, a néanmoins appelé le président américain Barack Obama à lancer une enquête. "Je me serais attendu à ce que (ce genre d’enquête) soit lancée depuis déjà longtemps, car le président Obama est arrivé au pouvoir en promettant le changement... Le président Obama a l’obligation de traiter les cas passés".

Le Site Wikileaks http://wikileaks.org/

Amnesty International a elle aussi appelé Washington à lancer une enquête, évoquant "une grave violation du droit international" quand les forces américaines ont remis "des milliers de détenus aux forces irakiennes tout en sachant qu’elles continuaient à torturer". L’organisation de défense des droits de l’homme Human Rights Watch a demandé que "l’Irak poursuive les responsables de tortures et d’autres crimes" et que "les Etats-Unis enquêtent".

Washington a cependant opposé une fin de non recevoir à ces appels. Interrogé par la BBC, le porte-parole de l’armée américaine, le colonel Dave Lapan, a dit n’avoir pas l’intention d’ouvrir une enquête, affirmant que, en matière de mauvais traitements par des Irakiens, le rôle des soldats américains étaient "d’observer et d’établir un rapport" à leurs supérieurs chargés de le transmettre aux autorités irakiennes. Il s’agit là d’une "pratique habituelle" de la communauté internationale.

Fin de citations

VDO de l'affaire sur le site Democracy Now. Un show TV de Amy Goodman et Juan Gonzalez, diffusé sur un network de 850 stations aux Etats-Unis et repris sur Youtube qui diffuse les deux émissions du programme.

En langue anglaise. http://www.democracynow.org/

Sources: Agencies, Reporter's Notes

✍✍✍ Commentaires:

"... Cette opération spectaculaire permet à la presse dominante de rattraper son retard en matière d’information. Les documents divulgués rapportent des événements dont la presse irakienne et la Résistance se sont fait l’écho au fur et à mesure au cours des dernières années et que la presse dominante s’est efforcée d’ignorer et de cacher à ses lecteurs. le New York Times, le Guardian, Le Monde et Der Spiegel présentent leur remise à niveau comme un exploit journalistique, un scoop de très grande ampleur, au lieu de s’excuser auprès de leurs lecteurs pour leur avoir si longtemps menti."

Who is this man standing near Kim Jong Il and who looks like Kim Il Sung?

North Korea went last month, late September 2010, through a series of large-scale events to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party, and to rename Kim Jong IL as the top leader of the North Korean regime. KJI was reelected as General Secretary as officially announced on the KCNA news September 28th. DPRK, (North Korea) has introduced a successor named Kim Jong Un who, according to press reports, is said to be the 3rd son of current leader Kim Jong Il. KJI is now 69 years old.

I have been searching in the DPRK official communiques since September and things are clear and simple, nowhere have I found that the KCNA agency announced any information stating officially that this man of the balcony is Kim Jong Un, the 3rd son of Kim Jong Il. Someone forgot to send a telex? Who is this young man who looks like Kim Il Sung in his younger age? *** And I won't rely on any type and origin of propaganda papers whatever from DPRK, ROK, Japan based or else such as Radio Press, Daily NK.

Sources specialized on DPRK and Korean peninsula affairs confirmed this lack of official announcement. But they added "KJU might be presented as such," naturally. Why is there no official announcement on KCNA official link and sources?

I know it appears as a bit weird and I am certainly not speculating into controversy or trying to make any suspicious claim, although North Korea has educated foreign observers to double even triple check any piece of information about the Stalinian alike state DPRK.

Especially we know that DPRK is branded by watchers as a "Royal" family who has had a rather lavish and well-entertained life, with luxurious life style in hermit properties, with the female battalions. Reference about it is made in Bradley K. Martin's book "Under the loving care of the fatherly leader" about the Happy Corps Girls or de facto female concubines trained at Tongi-Ri. (Page 195 and more about the contemporary "harem" of the DPRK elite that some foreign VIPs' had the experience to attend). Therefore one question comes in mind: how many potential heirs, official or unofficial exist born from the leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il? Issue related to other Asian current royal families too.

On the contrary, the alleged natural heir of Kim Jong Il and officially recognized elder son, Kim Jong Nam, stated in Korean language during an interview made in Beijing to Japanese Asahi TV that he, Jong Nam, disapproved "hereditary succession" but that because there were "certainly intern reasons to this situation and that if it was the case", "then we have to accept it". Unquote. The last segment of this sentence suggest several interpretations, one being that eventually Jong Nam only serves the same propaganda as Pyongyang is willing to air, but that he also felt, as was previously said, betrayed by his biological father, in the same way as other "potential" heirs. To be continued.

Chosen Soren in disgrace in Pyongyang?

Now on "Chosen Soren", the North Korea resident association in Japan seems to be loosing influence in Pyongyang located Workers Party as they did not appear at the celebrations in Pyongyang. Why? Re organization? What we heard is that there was a limitation of financial contribution to DPRK from Chosen Soren since the mid- 2000's PM Junichiro Koizumi "embargo" and freeze of income on Japan based organization supporting North Korea. My Japan sources were crystal clear at that time, politics, police departments, diplomats in Japan and foreign. Everything has been made to cut the cash line between Japan and DPRK, at least, through the banking system. Koreans pro DPRK in Japan isolated by Pyongyang rulers?

Images

Collected here are reports and images from the recent highly-orchestrated events in Pyongyang, with the "young general" Kim Jong Un in an excellent collage of pictures.

Click http://bit.ly/diwguX

*** NB: Asian Gazette has no reason whatsoever to suspect that KJU is not the proper offspring of North Korean leader KJI but has not found any official confirmation from Pyongyang authorities and therefore expect official statements contradicting experts sources on North Korea who seem to be branding controversies on this dynastic transmission of power. No more no less. Could be a long wait in...

Sources: Reporter's Notes

2010 Violations of Press Freedom: Western Democracies too...

Freedom of the press,

Access to sources, Confidentiality of Sources

The real "barometer" of Democracy

After Afghanistan this summer, the website Wikileaks released October 22nd with several media 400,000 classified documents from the archives of the American army on the war in Iraq. The New York Times, United States, the British Guardian, Le Monde in France or the Spiegel in Germany were able to consult these reports 400,000 U.S. forces in Iraq.

This, says Le Monde on its website, reports of incidents written by officers in the field between January 2004 and December 2009. They "describe, day after day, the bombings, fire-fights, searches for weapons caches, arrests and violence against civilians."

These "Leaks"were harshly criticized by US officials sources, [one can understand why] but welcomed by international media and the public who discovered a hidden aspect of the Iraq war. Similar releases are to be made soon again about Afghanistan, according to Wikileaks sources.

Sources, and provided data, are naturally most crucial assets to journalists who then are to establish the credibility or not of these data.

France, in spite of claiming that the secret of sources is the key to democracy and claims in the "Act No. 2010-1 of 4 January 2010 on the confidentiality of journalists' sources with the Article 7 that this Act is applicable throughout the territory of the French Republic" was ranked 44th in the latest ranking on press freedom published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Among the reasons cited for poor ranking in France, Jean-Francois Julliard, Secretary General of RSF, quotes Nicolas Sarkozy (29% in the latest popularity survey presidential) majority "abusive" towards journalists, and notes the repeated attempts to violate the confidentiality of sources.

Even in sport journalism: "Le président de l'OL n'a pas aimé un article de L'Equipe". "War is declared between Jean-Michel Aulas and daily L'Equipe. The president of Lyon, very put together by an article published Friday, publicly settled its accounts with one of the daily..." http://bit.ly/9k2yda

Commentator Shoichiro Tahara

In the RSF list, Japan is 12th. One recent controversy is the Tahara case. Tahara is a famous TV Asahi commentator and the Kobe District Court has ordered him to turn over a taped interview with a senior Foreign Ministry official as evidence in a lawsuit over remarks he made on TV stating that the ministry knows the people on its list of potential abductees taken by North Korea must already be dead. Soichiro Tahara will appeal to the Osaka High Court, arguing that he should be allowed to keep his news source confidential the Mainichi wrote yesterday. Tahara made the recording on Nov. 11, 2008, when he interviewed the senior official. Tahara is being sued by the parents of an abductee who claim his remarks caused them psychological pain and that he should pay compensation.

RSF 2010 World Press Freedom Index

It is not a surprise that the countries who have a better defined line of respect towards the journalists are in western Europe. The EU leads the list of nations being most respectable of the protection of sources.

Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden are the top 5 and lead the list with European Union nations like Belgium 14th or Luxembourg 15th. Israel, is 86th, the UK 19th, the USA 20th, Singapore 136th, Russia 140th, Brunei 142nd, China 172nd, Hong Kong 34th!

RSF commented after publication of its Press Freedom Index 2010:

"It is disturbing to see several European Union member countries continuing to fall in the index. If it does not pull itself together, the European Union risks losing its position as world leader in respect for human rights. And if that were to happen, how could it be convincing when it asked authoritarian regimes to make improvements? There is an urgent need for the European countries to recover their exemplary status. We are also worried by the harsher line being taken by governments at the other end of the index. Rwanda, Yemen and Syria have joined Burma and North Korea in the group of the world’s most repressive countries towards journalists. This does not bode well for 2011. Unfortunately, the trend in the most authoritarian countries is not one of improvement.

"The Rules Of The Journalism Game"

An article describes that it is not easy to understand freedom of Press, an example in the USA: "Most reporters think that the average reader is totally in the dark about the rules of the journalism game. After the Washington Post fired one of its bloggers last week, readers would be justified in concluding that they know more about the rules than the journalists do. The Washington Post fired David Weigel, a blogger for washingtonpost.com who covered the Republican Party and conservative politics in general, after it came to light that he had written some nasty e-mails about Ron Paul, Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh."

The story here:

http://bit.ly/apH5Ek

A good story about France, "Mémoire qui flanche La tremblante du journaliste" in lunion.presse.fr

http://bit.ly/9xCw0h

RSF 2010 index: http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010,1034.html

CCJ http://www.concernedjournalists.org/

Sources: RSF, CCJ, Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, cartoons Sejong, Reporter's Notes