TERROR THREAT 

- 10-31-05

 

Terror test shows political mettle

By Tony Parkinson
November 11, 2005
Page 1 of 2

Politicians on both sides have demonstrated their strength in recent days.

Advertisement Advertisement

JUST this once, let us break with tradition and offer a word in support of the political class. Despite attempts by a hostile minority to portray them as authoritarians and bullyboys over their more robust approach to counter-terrorism, the Howard Government, the federal Opposition, and state Labor leaders worked together to do what they knew had to be done.

In the face of shrill, sometimes hysterical opposition, they equipped police with the capacity to move expeditiously against radical Muslims in Sydney and Melbourne alleged to be planning a terrorist attack.

John Howard, Kim Beazley, Steve Bracks and Morris Iemma had to make difficult choices about security arrangements, knowing they would likely get far more criticism than praise — but knowing also the extraordinary potential costs if they chose not to act. This is called leadership.

It is hoped the events of this week will bring a more sober perspective to the debate about the global war on terror, and Australia's role in it. If nothing else, it might reduce to a dull roar those who saw all this as some sort of hoax, concocted by cynical Anglo-Saxon governments to oppress and enfeeble other races or religions, or to avail themselves of Stasi-style powers over their own citizens.

One hopes civil rights campaigners will set aside their indignation just long enough to examine more rigorously than they have so far the phenomenon of jihadism, and the serious challenges it presents. As 17 terror suspects in Australia were brought before the courts, suicide bombers struck hotels in the Jordanian capital of Amman, taking more than 50 lives. In southern Thailand, the motorcade of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was forced to detour when security forces found a 10-kilogram bomb near a cafe where he planned to lunch.

In east Java, bombmaker Azahari Husin, one of the operational commanders of Jemaah Islamiah, detonated an explosion, killing himself and two others, after being cornered by counter-terrorism police. In Iraq, a brutal tug-of-war continues, with American and Iraqi troops engaging al-Qaeda fighters in a town near the Syrian border.

Then, there are the riots in France. Some explain the actions of marauding youths on the streets of Paris and other cities as a cry of anger over racism, poverty and alienation. But does nobody stop to consider why Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is so intent on restoring law and order in those inner-city housing estates?

 

 

 
10-27-05 - DREAM - I went somewhere to a neighborhood church gathering of people where people came in and used the pastor's wife's dishes and cooking pots to cook food for large gatherings. 

I was an area that was right by the ocean, with sand dunes and a long pathway where people could walk out into the water - like a narrow Peninsula.

We went with the tourists and while we were out there, a huge extra high wave came in and washed over everyone. We were able to hang onto tall reeds and let the wave go by. Then we hurried back to dry land before another wave came.

We went back to the house and various people were gathering . Some were cooking, some were just sitting around talking. 

One older man had a coin collection. I found two dimes on the floor, each one in its own plastic case. I handed them back to the old man. He said, "Thank you so much. Do you know what the old man and the little boy are worth?"  (referring to the dimes) 

I said, "No!"

He said, "They are worth several hundred dollars each." 

I was amazed and he sat there with 1/2 cup of them, treasuring his dimes.

We were sitting at a table, and I took an envelope out of my purse that I hadn't seen before. In bright red ink or blood, was written 

"10-31-05 - 
LARGE EXPLOSION ON THE DOCKS."

I didn't want to frighten anyone, so I didn't say anything. I stuffed the envelop back in my purse.

A few minutes later, we went outside and were standing near the building when I saw a military flying boat. The men were in uniform and were all highly visible in the convertible-type flying platform (similar to a helicopter)  They were all heavily armed, carrying weapons and every was silver colored.

They looked like they were looking for someone and I did want it to be me, so I quickly went under a porch overhang and when the swung around at the end of their flight path at the ocean's edge, I quickly ducked back into the house.

One of the guys in the building had a religious radio show going on, warning people of what was coming. I could hear him in the next room, but I didn't tell him about my prediction for 10-31-05 for the explosion on the docks. It was too non-specific as they say. 

I was getting late in the day by then, and as we were leaving, one of the older men  said to me, "Thank you for what you do. We really appreciate it."

I thanked him, and we left and I woke up as we went out the door.  
The time was 3 a.m.
Joe woke up at the same time and left the room.

DREAM #2 - I was given another envelope with red numbers: 

3-14-21   

NOTE: I think that's the time of day.

DREAM #3  - I heard a loud horn in my left ear and I saw what resembled an American Express card.  I examined the card for what it said. At the top it said,  REMEMBER THE EAST WIND

DREAM #4 - I saw what looked like an insurance card.  In the upper left hand corner, it said:

AMERICAN PENNSYLVANIA

DREAM #5 - I was walking down the street on 17th and Center, with an oblong gravy boat dish that was colored reddish brown. It had an upside-down 1/2 yellow grapefruit on top of dirt in the dish. A worm came out from under the yellow grapefruit and then a second white grub worm came out from under the yellow grapefruit. The two worms crawled around on the dirt and I became squeamish that they were there. 

Some girls walked by and laughed at me for being afraid of the worms.

Right then, the caterpillar crawled over to the edge of the dish and launched itself into the air like a missile and flew off towards my left shoulder towards the southeast. 

The other grub worm was gyrating and rolling around and doubling over in the gravy boat still, like it was highly agitated.

I was afraid to touch the worm and didn't know what to do with it.

I went to a downtown jail and met with some young men criminals there. One guy's name was TEVEO. I handed out coloring books and other fun things for the young men and made friends with them.

Later, I was walking past a gas station on the corner of 16th and Center. On the driveway was a sign that said, HAVE JOB.  TEVEO was walking up 16th street towards me so I told him to apply for the job and he got it. 

Another criminal boy I had met at the jail also came down the sidewalk towards me and I told him to go into the gas station as well and apply for a job too. 

Then I went inside and TEVEO and the other kid and some young black men were there with the boss.

I said to the boss, let me recommend these two kids. They deserve a chance.

When I walked out, someone asked me if I was afraid of the criminals. I said, "I made friends with them and gave them stuff and they trust me now. 

I then went to an apartment building where my spiritual teacher lived. I was told he lived in apartment #314. But when I said I was going up to see him, someone told me he was out on the town with another woman.

But I knew he'd be glad to see me when I arrived at his door.

I was then told by another person, "Remember to tell Mr. Gordon".

 

USS PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

The USS Pennsylvania was used in "Operation Crossroads" as a target ship for Atomic Bomb testing. Following the first Atomic explosion at Bikini Island on July 1, 1946 and then a second explosion on July 25, 1946, the USS Pennsylvania did not sink. Almost two years later, February 10, 1948, the USS Pennsylvania was towed to the Island of Kwajalein in the South Pacific and a small crew went aboard and opened the "Sea Valves" and removed the Evaporator cover plates and sent the "Grand Old Gal" to the bottom of the sea. So ends one of the greatest chapters in Naval history. She takes with her the hearts and minds of all who served and with whom she shared a place of Patriotism, Honor and Tradition.....  

EAST WIND

Riding the East Wind
by Otohiko Kaga
translated by Ian Hideo Levy
Kodansha International, 1999, 518 pages

This historical novel, published originally in Japanese in 1982, features diplomatic intrigue, strong family bonds, and intense wartime suffering. The Association for 100 Japanese Books, an organization that promotes translations of modern Japanese classics, provided funds for this fine English translation.

Ken Kurushima, the son of a senior Japanese diplomat and an American woman, joins the Japanese Army and becomes a test pilot for new fighters. Although he strongly supports the continued development of a high-altitude fighter with a pressurized cabin in order to stop American B-29s, the Army leadership decides to concentrate on production of suicide planes to be used in ramming attacks on B-29s. When Ken departs in a Hayate fighter to meet a B-29 squadron, he says to a friend, "I'm not a Kamikaze. If I attack I'll do it with my guns." However, when he spots a B-29 below him, he dives to make a ramming attack that brings down the American plane.

Real people and events form the basis for this novel. Saburo Kurusu (named Saburo Kurushima in book) served as Japan's special envoy to Washington in a eleventh-hour attempt to conduct peace negotiations with President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull. Although most historians depict Kurusu's mission as a tactic to delay and deceive the Americans while the Japanese Navy prepared for an attack, Kaga suggests that Prime Minister Tojo deceived Kurusu by telling him to try to reach a peaceful settlement while never revealing the plan to attack Pearl Harbor. Just like the novel, in real life Saburo had an American wife named Alice who became a Japanese citizen when the two married.  Saburo and Alice Kurusu had a son named Ryo, who served in the Japanese Army as in an experimental fighter squadron. The original Japanese title of this translated novel is Ikari no nai fune (Ship Without an Anchor), which aptly describes the Kurusu family (and Kurushima family) members as they moved to several diplomatic posts around the world before 1941. The Japanese title also portrays the lives of Alice and her half-American children as they lived in Japan during the war.

The author, Otohiko Kaga, became a cadet in the Junior Army Academy as a teenager and saw his hometown Tokyo go up in flames in the last year of World War II. He started his career as a professor of criminal psychology and in his late thirties turned to writing novels. Kaga's works achieved best-selling status in 1979 with The Sentence, an epic novel about Japan's condemned prisoners. Riding the East Wind is his first novel to be translated to English.

This epic novel covers events chronologically from August 1941 to August 1945, with the first half focused on Saburo's diplomatic efforts to stop the war and the second half concentrated on Ken's experiences in the Army. In addition to Saburo, Ken, and Alice as the protagonists, Kaga also carefully develops distinct personalities for another dozen or so minor characters. For example, the journalist Arizumi enthusiastically supports the ultranationalists and Nazis, which sharply contrasts with the tactful, diplomatic approach of his father-in-law Saburo. Kaga skillfully weaves historical events into the plot and accurately presents the harsh conditions faced by Japanese people near the end of the war. Descriptions of near starvation are especially heartbreaking, as many people must barter their household goods just to obtain food to survive.

The book's characters present varied attitudes toward suicide attacks carried out by the Japanese military near the war's end. Ken's mother Alice expresses several times in the book her desire for her son to stay alive. Lieutenant Colonel Asai from Imperial Headquarters expresses the official military view (p. 397), "In the Philippines we've already had magnificent results with Kamikazes attacking enemy ships. If we're not willing to use suicide planes, we'd be failing in our duty to protect the Emperor." Ken expresses the opposite position held by many Army fighter pilots (p. 399), "Kamikaze tactics involve the loss of men and planes. It would be better to complete an advanced fighter." Ken gets rebuffed by a General from Air Command, "You coward! Trying to save your own skin, are you?" Ken's two good friends have different views toward the idea of suicide attacks. Lieutenant Haniyu, who played a Mozart duet with his younger sister during a visit to Ken's home, volunteers for a suicide squad and brings down a B-29 over Tokyo in a suicide ramming attack. Lieutenant Yamada, who marries Ken's other younger sister after the war, reminds Ken before his final flight not to forget his parachute and to come back alive. Even though Ken had expressed his opposition several times to suicide attacks, in the end he decides to ram a B-29 with his fighter.

Kaga's brilliance as a novelist shines through even in a translation. He lets readers think for themselves regarding the truth behind certain actions and situations, since he only provides some facts and certain characters' opinions but does not give definitive conclusions. This reflects real life where people often do not know for certain the entire truth. For example, the local police arrest Father Henderson, the Anglican Church pastor in the Kurushima family's neighborhood, on suspicion of being a spy, but the reader never knows for sure whether or not the police planted the evidence.

The book depicts racial prejudice in several different forms. Ken sometimes receives physical abuse in the Army for his foreign-looking face, but he has reserves of strength since he had received beatings since starting in schools in Japan when he was eight. He also recalled his time in Chicago, where children at the Japanese Consulate there were spat on, tripped up, or sworn at by children simply because they looked Asian. After Ken rams a B-29 bomber, he somehow survives after a crash landing. However, three men from a local village kill him with bamboo spears since he looks like an American soldier [1].

With an evenhanded approach, Kaga presents a moving story of the conflicts faced by this Japanese-American family in the midst of war. The novel provides excellent insights into wartime Japan and the Army pilots who made ramming attacks on B-29s.

Note

The actual death of Ryo Kurusu, son of Saburo and Alice Kurusu, was quite different than Ken Kurushima's fictional death described in this book. Yasukuni Jinja (2003, 76) states that he fought single-handedly against eight American planes and shot down one on February 16, 1945. Watanabe (1999) gives the following account of Ryo Kurusu's tragic death after returning to base (translation by Mieko Morita):

Capt. Kurusu, born in January 1919, died due to an accident at Tama Army Airfield on February 16, 1945. When an air-raid siren sounded at the airfield, all pilots including Capt. Kurusu ran to their aircraft. As he was trying to pass in front of one plane, it moved forward two to three meters, and its propeller cut his neck. His severed head flew up two meters, and his headless body moved forward four or five more steps. This accident was unavoidable even though 1st Lieutenant Umekawa, the pilot of the plane that hit Capt. Kurusu, had fourteen and a half years of flying experience. If someone had given instructions to 1st Lieutenant Umekawa on the taxiway, this unfortunate accident could have been avoided. However, no one was giving directions to the aircraft. Capt. Kurusu was running in 1st Lieutenant Umekawa’s blind spot as everybody hurriedly ran to their planes to make sorties. 1st Lieutenant Umekawa honestly reported the accident to his commander, Maj. Yoshitsugu Aramaki.  Maj. Aramaki did not say anything to 1st Lieutenant Umekawa, whose face was pale. Later, the Imperial Army leaders overlooked the accident since it was unavoidable.

Sources Cited

Watanabe, Yoji. 1999. Rikugun jikken sentoukitai (Army experimental fighter squadrons). Tokyo: Green Arrow Publishing.

Yasukuni Jinja. 2003. Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan zuroku (Yasukuni Jinja Yushukan in pictures). Tokyo: Yasukuni Jinja.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Antarctic Coastal Current, also known as the East Wind Drift Current, is the southernmost current in the world. This current is the counter-current of the largest ocean current in the world, Antarctic Circumpolar Current. On the average, it flows westward and parallel to the Antarctic coastline. Although it is circumpolar, the Antarctic Peninsula partially impedes its flow (Tchernia, 1981; Grelowski and Pastuszak, 1984). The current is an important component of the very active air-sea exchange in this area that leads to deep convection and production of deep ocean water masses. The Antarctic Bottom Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water obtain their fundamental characteristics (Tchernia, 1981) in this region.

http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/ southern/antarctic-coastal.html  with map
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Nineteenth Chapter. The Rock

Up they got, early next morning, out of the silken beds; and they saw that the sun was shining brightly and that the wind was blowing from the South.

Jip smelt the South wind for half an hour. Then he came to the Doctor, shaking his head.

"I smell no snuff as yet," he said. "We must wait till the wind changes to the East."

But even when the East wind came, at three o'clock that afternoon, the dog could not catch the smell of snuff.

The little boy was terribly disappointed and began to cry again, saying that no one seemed to be able to find his uncle for him. But all Jip said to the Doctor was,

"Tell him that when the wind changes to the West, I'll find his uncle even though he be in China--so long as he is still taking Black Rappee snuff."

http://www.online-literature.com/lofting/doctor-dolittle/20/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New PRC Short Range Ballistic Missiles Aimed at Taiwan:  A Pentagon report released in February 1999 in response to a Congressional mandate, according to published sources, reveals that the PLA has about 100 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) targeted on Taiwan and could build up to 650 SRBMs by 2005.  These include the 360-mile range Dong Feng (“East Wind”) 15—which were fired toward Taiwan in 1995 and 1996. The PLA is also building one brigade of the 180-mile range M-11 missile, which carries a larger warhead than the DF-15.  Both the East Wind and the M-11 are mobile missiles and thus especially threatening offensive weapons, because they are nearly impossible for a defending force to neutralize.  These new offensive systems are being made more effective with new highly accurate navigation systems based on the U.S. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)system and with new non-nuclear warheads. A stealthy warhead shape and novel two-stage design will make the DF-15 difficult to shoot down even for the Patriotanti-missile systems the U.S. has sold Taiwan.

FROM: http://www.fas.org/news/china/2000/000131-cgtaiwan.htm

 

GRAPEFRUIT SYMBOLISM:

The grapefruit was first described in 1750 by Griffith Hughes who called it the "forbidden fruit" of Barbados. In 1789, Patrick Browne reported it as growing in most parts of Jamaica and he referred to it as "forbidden fruit" or "smaller shaddock". In 1814, John Lunan, in Hortus Jamaicensis, mentions the "grapefruit" as a variety of the shaddock, but not as large; and, again, as "forbidden fruit", "a variety of the shaddock, but the fruit is much smaller, having a thin, tough, smooth, pale yellow rind". In 1824, DeTussac mentions the "forbidden fruit or smaller shaddock" of Jamaica as a variety of shaddock the size of an orange and borne in bunches. William C. Cooper, a citrus scientist (USDA, ARS, Orlando, Florida, to 1975), traveled widely observing all kinds of citrus fruits. In his book, In Search of the Golden Apple, he tells of the sweet orange and the grapefruit growing wild on several West Indian islands. He cites especially a fruit similar to grapefruit that is called chadique growing wild on the mountains of Haiti and marketed in Port-au-Prince. The leaves are like those of the grapefruit. He says that it was from the nearby Bahama Islands in 1823 that Count Odette Phillipe took grapefruit seeds to Safety Harbor near Tampa, Florida. When the seedlings fruited, their seeds were distributed around the neighborhood.

CATERPILLAR WORMS IN CHINA

Cordyceps in Chinese or Japanese herbal terminology are termed and called "The Winter-Worm-Summer-Grass". Thus in Winter, it is a Worm and in Summer it is a Grass".

But in actual fact, Cordyceps are a type of Insects (Moth) and Mushroom combination.

In high altitude of over 3,500 M (In Tibet, ChingHai, Sichuan), during the Winter season, a kind of mushroom spores on the ground, penetrate the body of the infant of a kind of Moth's Caterpillar Worm, either through the body or through the caterpillar Worm's feeding.

These spores starts to germinate and grow along with the Caterpillar Worms taking in the body nutrients of the Moth caterpillar.

And in the month of Summer July, when the Caterpillar Worm is motionless in a Cocoon, while it is a Chrysalis, the Mushroom sprout its mature Mushroom-Stem through the insect's mouth, out of the ground, and having consumed all the nutrients of the Caterpillar, thus killing it, then, wilted also to become a combination of an "Insect-Mushroom" Cordyceps.

GRUB WORMS

Garden Terms: Definition of grub worm


Definition of grub worm. Search Terms:. Definition as written by Terry:.
These grayish-white c-shaped worms become Japanese beetles later in life. ...
davesgarden.com/terms/go/416/

 

WEIRD COINCIDENCES TO DREAM

On 10-29-05 - I watched 5 TV shows in row that had been taped by my DVR - called TEEVO I guess.  I had not seen any of these shows previously.

The show was called THRESHOLD

In show 2 - they said, "Information starts as a trickle and ends as a wave." 

In show 3 - they said, "They were stealing dime-size microchips."  The microchips downloaded virus information into cell phones, and other machines like computers, etc.  These viruses changed the DNA of people to alien DNA. 

In show 4, which was a second running of show 1 - there were all sorts of scenes that related to the first dream: 

One person said, "What is this? War of the Worlds"
Another person showed a video of the UFO coming down and making the virus sound that infected all the people watching it.  Many people were killed outright, and those who weren't started turning into aliens.

Another person said, "The bomb at Hiroshima burned shadows onto contrete."

Another said, "Math is a language."

Another said, "Cell phones causes brain tumors." 

Another person said, "Can you download a program into an indigenous population and turn them into you? "

Then they blew up the ship at the docks that contained the virus.

Then they said, "We don't have time for fear oro the have the luxury of self doubt".

 

TEVEO - is manufactured by Orange ______

 

Robert Novak

Is China really a threat?

October 27, 2005

BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

BEIJING -- The message from officials in this huge, shiny, booming capital is that China's military buildup does not connote desire to kick the Americans out of East Asia. Their assertion is buttressed by the clear impression that people here are interested in making money, not war. Yet, that members of the U.S. Congress see China's communist regime as a threat is felt here to be endangering the relationship between the two powers.

The Chinese position was laid out unequivocally for me by Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang, the highest official made available to me on my first visit to China in 12 years: ''China has no intention to restrict or limit United States influence. We do not have the capability. Nor would we have such need" to attain that capability. He added: ''We are not a threat to anybody.''

But difficulty in Sino-American relations is no mere paranoia among hard-line congressmen in Washington. Chinese officials and U.S. diplomats admit that the love affair with America by ordinary Chinese ended more than a decade ago, replaced by a worrisome anti-Americanism. The United States is not much better loved in Beijing than it is in Paris.

On the surface it is difficult to see militarism here. The dusty old city I encountered for the first time in 1978 is now a glittering giant of 11 million dedicated to commerce. Patriotic posters have been replaced by corporate ads. Once omnipresent, soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are nowhere to be seen, either demobilized or back in barracks.

Assistant Foreign Minister Shen expressed exasperation at anybody imagining that the Chinese military could crowd U.S. forces out of Asia. ''We are not that strong. There is not a military buildup,'' he told me, because Chinese spending is at only one-eighth of the U.S. level.

The Chinese regime wants to reassure Washington, giving Donald Rumsfeld remarkable access here last week even though the secretary of defense had been demonized in the Chinese press as instigator of the Iraq intervention. Sources close to communist leaders say they're not really that concerned with nuclear weapons in North Korean hands but are aggressively engaging in the six-power process to please Americans.

The issue cited by Shen and other Chinese officials most dangerous to Sino-American amity is the Taiwan question. But sources say the regime actually is not eager to incorporate Taiwan as long as it does not move to independence. With the Kuomintang party apparently poised to regain power in Taiwan, the independence threat would be gone for now.

Bad blood was spawned in the streets in the early '90s when the U.S. Congress opposed the 2000 Olympics for Beijing. The bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War was not regarded as an accident by either the people or the authorities and is still talked about here. Displeasure with Iraq followed these special irritants.

Beyond the streets, however, is one prominent Chinese businessman who feels he was treated unfairly by U.S. politicians: Fu Chengyu, chairman of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. A little more than 70 percent of the company is owned by the state, the rest by private investors. But Fu told me the communist regime had nothing to do with his decision to buy California-based Unocal oil company or his decision to back off when a firestorm developed in Congress.

In the oil company's gleaming Beijing office building, Fu said he thought the Unocal deal would not only have benefitted his shareholders but also fit the U.S. ideal of unimpeded investment across national borders. Instead, China was accused of trying to corner the international oil market. ''We thought we were doing a good thing,'' Fu told me. ''I was naive. But this is the world we live in.''

The company, he said, is a good global citizen. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the company's employees contributed $100,000 for relief of the victims, which was matched by the company. That unpublicized charity, he said, reflects a China that members of Congress don't know about. ''China has changed,'' he said. ''Even the Communist Party has changed. But the world does not know it.''

 

US wants a more aggressive Japan

The commander of US troops in Japan sees the US-Japan military alliance evolving

By ERIC TALMADGE

10-27-05

Misawa Air Base, Japan _ Just an hour's flight from the shores of North Korea, Lieutenant-General Bruce Wright, commander of the United States Forces in Japan, has spent most of the afternoon in his F-16 fighter flying manoeuvres over the Sea of Japan. For a seasoned combat pilot like Lt-Gen Wright, the training is routine. But as the top US military representative to Washington's most important Asian ally, it offers him a sense of perspective.

``You just have to take a look around the region to see why it is so important,'' he said in an interview. ``The size of militaries, and in fact the growing military capabilities in this region, certainly gets my attention.''

Since World War II, Japan has been the key to Washington's security posture in Asia.

US bases in Japan provided a staging area for the Korean and Vietnam wars, and today Japan continues to be home to about 50,000 American troops, including the largest contingent of US Marines based overseas, Asia's largest US air base and the only ``forward deployed'' fleet in the US Navy.

But Washington's alliance with Tokyo is evolving.

With US military resources drained by Iraq and the global war on terrorism, the two countries are in talks that could lead to the most sweeping realignment of US troops in Japan _ and the biggest shift in Japan's own leadership role _ in recent memory.

What Washington wants is a more effective use of its own forces and to foster a stronger Japan that will play a more aggressive role in regional security issues and, perhaps, serve as a counter-balance to China's rising strength.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi backs that shift. He has sent hundreds of troops to Iraq in a humanitarian role and supports efforts to revise Japan's postwar ``peace'' constitution, which severely restricts the use of the nation's military.

``There is tremendous promise for Japan to be an international security leader,'' Lt-Gen Wright said. ``We have proven to the world that Japan and the US can be mutually supportive partners. ...I have a lot of confidence in Japan.''

Japan already has its Self-Defence Forces, with 250,000 troops and state-of-the-art ships and fighters.


Over the past several years, Japanese and US troops have also significantly boosted their ability to work together, from refuelling each other's ships and planes, to improving command communications.

But many Japanese believe their country should demonstrate it has learned the lessons of World War II by restricting its international relations to diplomacy, aid and political leadership.

Mr Koizumi's insistence on visiting a shrine in Tokyo closely associated with pre-1945 militarism has raised concerns around Asia as well. His latest visit last week prompted strong protests from South Korea and China.

The talks in Tokyo have an added sense of urgency because of related changes in South Korea.

The United States is scaling down its forces in South Korea, where it has maintained a contingent of about 37,000 troops for decades. By the end of this year 8,000 of the 12,500 troops designated for withdrawal will have left.

No such cuts are expected in Japan, though Japanese media reports have indicated Tokyo is seeking a significant reduction in the military footprint on Okinawa, where most of the US troops in the country are stationed.

In particular, the two sides are at odds over the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Both agree the facility should be moved from the heavily populated area where it is now located, but can't agree on where it should go. The stalemate and other issues have slowed the talks, though an interim report could be issued as soon as this weekend.

Many Japanese saw Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's decision not to visit Tokyo on his five-country swing through Asia last week as a sign of Washington's growing impatience with the impasse over Futenma, and the slow pace of the consensus-building within Japan's government regarding the alignment talks overall.

Lt-Gen Wright acknowledged the talks have been complicated. ``There are a lot of stakeholders,'' he said. Even so, he said he believes they have shown ``a lot of progress'' and stressed that ``we have well-established common objectives''.

Washington has good reason to want a strong partner in Asia. North Korea has one of the biggest standing armies in the world and has shown its missiles have the range to attack virtually any of the dozens of US military facilities in Japan, and possibly the American west coast.

Islamic insurgencies are long-standing in the Philippines and southern Thailand. Al-Qaeda has been linked to terrorism in Indonesia. Piracy is a constant threat to shipping in the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian and Pacific oceans.

And then there is China.


Along with tensions over Taiwan and increasingly heated territorial disputes with Japan, China's rise as an economic and military power in the region is generating a good deal of concern _ though Lt-Gen Wright and other US officials are careful not to call Beijing a threat. ``It's my job to plan for the worst case,'' Lt-Gen Wright said. ``I think the best thing to say about China is that we look forward to increased transparency regarding Chinese military growth.'' AP

U.S. opposes Lee's name change proposal

2005-10-21 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Evelyn Chiang

 In response to former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui's proposal to rename the country "the Republic of Taiwan," the U.S. State Department said Wednesday that it is opposed to any moves that would seem to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, including changing Taiwan's official name.

The 82-year-old pro-independence Lee, who is currently visiting the U.S. capital, said during a Washington Post interview that "Taiwan is already an independent country" and that what is needed now is for the official name of the country to be dropped in favor of one that accurately reflects reality.

As the highest ranking Taiwanese dignitary to be greeted on Capitol Hill, Lee was welcomed by U.S. lawmakers who called China's leaders tyrants and praised Lee as "the founding father of Taiwan democracy" for his unrelenting stand against Beijing.

Lee, who mapped out Taiwan's transition from dictatorship to democracy, is promoting a movement during his visit, featuring the creation of what he calls "national identity" for Taiwan and claiming that Taiwan's own lack of identity, rather than Beijing's unification tactics, is the biggest threat facing the country.

He added that the major purpose of his current U.S. visit is to help Washington better understand the prime threat facing Taiwan, and stressed that "Taiwan is Taiwan, and it is by no means a part of China."

Lee noted that a growing military imbalance with China has made it increasingly necessary for the island to acquire long-range missiles to equip it with an offensive capability. A purely defensive posture "is a very big risk to the military balance across the Taiwan Strait," he said.

China has deployed more than 700 ballistic missiles pointed at Taiwan, and much of China's military development appears targeted at achieving an upper hand in air and sea in any conflict with the island.

Lee also warned in a speech that China could become a mirror of Japanese militarism of the past, and expressed the view that China's democratization was key to preventing conflict in Asia.

"Without democracy there is always the danger of a large country spreading its power outwards and becoming a threat to world peace," he added.

In the Capitol Hill reception attended by a few dozen members of the U.S. Congress, Lee reiterated, "we hope that our American friends will understand and accordingly support the Taiwan people's desire to be free and to choose our own future."

Lee's last U.S. visit in 1995, when he was president, drummed up furious protest in China, where officials criticized him for promoting international recognition for Taiwan. China fired missiles into Taiwan's nearby waters and held military drills on Chinese territory facing Taiwan.

The cross-strait crisis continued until March 1996 when the United States sent two battle carrier groups to waters off the island to warn Beijing not to use force to settle its governance dispute with Taiwan.

Lee was slated to give a speech at the National Press Club on Thursday that would call attention to China's alleged threats to Taiwan and other neighboring countries before heading to Los Angeles for the last stop in his five-city U.S. visit.


 Greater China

 Oct 15, 2005


Revving up the China threat
By Michael T Klare

Ever since taking office, the Bush administration has struggled to define its stance on the most critical long-term strategic issue facing the United States: whether to view China as a future military adversary, and plan accordingly, or to see it as a rival player in the global capitalist system.

Representatives of both perspectives are nestled in top administration circles, and there have been periodic swings of the pendulum toward one side or the other. But after a four-year period in which neither outlook appeared dominant, the pendulum has now swung conspicuously toward the anti-Chinese, prepare-for-war position. Three events signal this altered stance.

The first, on February 19, was the adoption of an official declaration calling for enhanced security ties between the US and Japan. Known officially as the "Joint Statement of the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee", the declaration was announced at a meeting of top Japanese and US officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The very fact that US and Japanese officials were discussing improved security links was deeply troubling to the Chinese, given the continued salience of Japanese World War II militarism in the 60th anniversary year of Japan's surrender, and their ongoing anxiety about US plans to construct an anti-Chinese alliance in Asia.

But what most angered Beijing was the declaration's call for linked US-Japanese efforts to "encourage the peaceful resolution of issues concerning the Taiwan Strait through dialogue". While sounding relatively innocuous to American ears, this announcement was viewed in Beijing as highly provocative, an example of illicit interference by Washington and Tokyo in China's internal affairs.

The official New China News Agency described the joint declaration as "unprecedented" and quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official as saying that China "resolutely opposes the United States and Japan in issuing any bilateral document concerning China's Taiwan, which meddles in the internal affairs of China and hurts China's sovereignty".

The second key event was a speech Rumsfeld gave on June 4 at a strategy conference in Singapore. After reviewing current security issues in Asia, especially the threat posed by a nuclear North Korea, Rumsfeld turned his attention to China.

The Chinese can play a constructive role in addressing these issues, he observed. "A candid discussion of China ... cannot neglect to mention areas of concern to the region." In particular, China "appears to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world," and is otherwise "improving its ability to project power" in the region. Then, with consummate disingenuousness, he stated, "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: why this growing investment? Why these continuing large and expanding arms purchases? Why these continuing robust deployments?"

To Beijing, these comments must have been astonishing. No one threatens China? What about the US planes and warships that constantly hover off the Chinese coast, and the nuclear-armed US missiles aimed at China? What about the delivery over the past 10 years of ever more potent US weapons to Taiwan? What about the US bases that encircle China on all sides? But disingenuousness aside, Rumsfeld's comments exhibited a greater degree of belligerence toward China than had been expressed in any official US statements since September 11, and were widely portrayed as such in the American and Asian press.

The third notable event was the release, in July, of the Pentagon's report on Chinese combat capabilities, "The Military Power of the People's Republic of China". According to press reports, publication of this unclassified document was delayed for several weeks in order to remove or soften some of the more pointedly anti-Chinese comments, to avoid further provoking China before President George W Bush's November visit there.

In many ways, the published version is judicious in tone, stressing the weaknesses as well as the strengths of China's military establishment. Nevertheless, the main thrust of the report is that China is expanding its capacity to fight wars beyond its own territory and that this constitutes a dangerous challenge to global order.

"The pace and scope of China's military build-up are, already, such as to put regional military balances at risk," the report states. "Current trends in China's military modernization could provide China with a force capable of prosecuting a range of military operations in Asia - well beyond Taiwan - potentially posing a credible threat to modern militaries operating in the region."

This annual report, mandated by Congress in 2000, is intended as a comprehensive analysis, not a policy document. However, the policy implications of the 2005 report are self-evident: If China is acquiring a greater capacity to threaten "modern militaries operating in the region" - presumably including those of the US and Japan - then urgent action is needed to offset Chinese military initiatives. For this very reason, the document triggered a firestorm of criticism in China. "This report ignores fact in order to do everything it can to disseminate the 'China threat theory'," a senior Foreign Ministry official told the American ambassador at a hastily arranged meeting. "It crudely interferes in China's internal affairs and is a provocation against China's relations with other countries."

While much of this was going on, the American public and mass media were preoccupied with another source of tension between the US and China: the attempted purchase of the California-based Unocal Corporation by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). This attempt received far greater attention in the media than did the events described above, yet it will have a far less significant impact on US-Chinese relations than will the Pentagon's shift to a more belligerent, anti-Chinese stance - one that greatly increases the likelihood of a debilitating and dangerous military competition between the US and China.

Shifting positions

What lies behind this momentous shift? At its root is the continuing influence of conservative strategists who have long championed a policy of permanent US military supremacy. This outlook was first expressed in 1992 in the first Bush administration's Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) for fiscal years 1994-99, a master blueprint for US dominance in the post-Cold War era.

Prepared under the supervision of then-under secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, and leaked to the press in early 1992, the DPG called for concerted efforts to prevent the rise of a future military competitor. "Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival ... that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union," the document stated. Accordingly, "We [must] endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power." This has remained the guiding principle for US supremacists ever since.

In this new century, the injunction to prevent the emergence of a new rival "that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union" can apply only to China, as no other potential adversary possesses a credible capacity to "generate global power". Hence the preservation of American supremacy into "the far realm of the future", as then-governor, George W Bush, put it in a 1999 campaign speech, required the permanent containment of China - and this is what Rice, Rumsfeld and their associates set out to do when they assumed office in early 2001.

This project was well under way when the September 11 attacks occurred. Those events gave the neo-conservatives a green light to implement their ambitious plans to extend US power around the world. However, the shift in emphasis from blocking future rivals to fighting terrorism was troubling to many in the permanent-supremacy crowd who felt that momentum was being lost in the grand campaign to constrain China.

Moreover, antiterrorism places a premium on special forces and low-tech infantry, rather than on the costly sophisticated fighters and warships needed for combat against a major military power. For at least some US strategists, not to mention giant military contractors, then, the "war on terror" was seen as a distraction that had to be endured until the time was ripe for a resumption of the anti-Chinese initiatives begun in February 2001. That moment seems to have arrived.

Why now? Several factors explain the timing of this shift. The first, no doubt, is public fatigue with the "war on terror" and a growing sense among the military that the war in Iraq has ground to a stalemate. So long as public attention is focused on the daily setbacks and loss of life in Iraq - and, since late August, on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina - support for the president's military policies will decline. And this, it is feared, could translate into an allergy to costly military operations altogether, akin to the dreaded "Vietnam syndrome" of the 1970s and 1980s. It is hardly surprising, then, that senior US officers are talking of plans to reduce US troop strength in Iraq over the coming year even though Bush has explicitly ruled out such a reduction.

At the same time, China's vast economic expansion has finally begun to translate into improvements in its net military capacity. Although most Chinese weapons are hopelessly obsolete - derived, in many cases, from Soviet models of the 1950s and 1960s - Beijing has used some of its newfound wealth to purchase relatively modern arms from Russia, including fighter planes, diesel-electric submarines and destroyers.

China has also been expanding its arsenal of short-range ballistic missiles, many capable of striking Taiwan and Japan. None of these systems compare to the most advanced ones in the American arsenal, but their much-publicized acquisition has provided fresh ammunition to those in Washington who advocate stepped-up efforts to neutralize Chinese military capabilities.

Under these circumstances, the possibility of a revved-up military competition with China looks unusually promising to some in the military establishment. No American lives are at risk in such a drive. Any bloodletting, should it occur, lies safely in the future.

These moves are supported by a recent surge in anti-Chinese popular sentiment, brought about in part by high gasoline prices (which many blame on China's oil thirst), the steady loss of American jobs to low-wage Chinese industry, and the (seemingly) brazen effort by China's leading oil company to acquire Unocal.

The oil factor

This appears, then, to be an opportune moment for renewing the drive to constrain China. But the brouhaha over Unocal, together with other Chinese attempts to secure oil and natural gas, also reveals something deeper at work: a growing recognition that the US and China are now engaged in a high-stakes competition to gain control of the rest of the world's oil supplies.

Just a decade ago, in 1994, China accounted for less than 5% of the world's net petroleum consumption and produced virtually all of the oil it burned. True, China was already number four among the world's top oil consumers, after the US, Japan and Russia, but its daily usage of 3 million barrels represented less than one-fifth of what the US consumed on an average day.

Since then, however, China has jumped to the number two position (supplanting Japan in 2003), and its current consumption of about 6 million barrels per day is approximately one-third of America's usage. However, domestic oil output in China has remained relatively flat over this period, so it must now import half of its total supply.

And with China's economy roaring ahead, its need for imported petroleum is expected to climb much higher in the years to come: According to the Department of Energy (DOE), Chinese oil consumption is projected to reach 12 million barrels per day in 2020, of which 9 million barrels will have to be obtained abroad. With the US also needing more imports - as much as 16 million barrels per day in 2020 - and with no credible research on alternative energy sources approaching conclusion, the stage is being set for an intense struggle over access to the world's petroleum supplies.

This would not be such a worrisome prospect if global petroleum output could expand sufficiently between now and 2020 to satisfy increased demand from both China and the US - and in fact, the DOE predicts that sufficient oil will be available at that time.

But many energy experts believe world oil output, now hovering at about 84 million barrels per day, is nearing its maximum or "peak" sustainable level, and that there is no way that the world will ever reach the 111 million barrels projected by the DOE for 2020. If this proves to be the case, or even if output continues to rise but still falls significantly short of the DOE projection, the competition between the US and China for whatever oil remains in ever diminishing foreign reservoirs will become even more fierce and contentious.

The intensifying US-Chinese struggle for oil is seen, for instance, in China's aggressive pursuit of supplies in such countries as Angola, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Venezuela. Until recently China derived very little of its petroleum from these countries; now it has deals with all of them to secure new supplies.

That China is competing so vigorously with the US for access to foreign oil is worrisome enough to American business leaders and government officials, given the likelihood that this will result in higher energy costs leading to a slowing economy; the fact that it is seeking to siphon off oil from places like Canada, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela - which have long sent a large share of their supplies to America - is the source of even greater concern, holding as it does the potential to result in a permanent shift in the global flow of oil.

From a strategic perspective, moreover, US officials worry that China's efforts to acquire more oil from Iran and Sudan have been accompanied by deliveries of arms and military aid, thus altering the balance of power in areas considered vital to Washington's security interests. China, whose reach not long ago seemed to be limited to regions on its immediate borders, has emerged as a significant global player in the energy sweepstakes and beyond.

Initially, discussion of China's intensifying quest for foreign oil was largely confined to the business press. But now, for the first time, it is being viewed as a national security matter - that is, as a key factor in shaping US military policy.

This outlook was first given official expression in the 2005 edition of the Pentagon's report on Chinese military power. "China became the second largest consumer and third largest importer of oil in 2003," the report notes. "As China's energy and resource needs grow, Beijing has concluded that access to these resources requires special economic or foreign policy relationships in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, bringing China closer to problem countries such as Iran, Sudan, and Venezuela."

Again, the implications of this are obvious: China's growing ties to "problem states" constitute a threat to strategic initiatives in volatile areas of particular interest to US policymakers and so must be met with countermoves of one sort or another.

Two trends have thus joined to propel this new swing of the pendulum: a drive to refocus attention on the long-term challenge posed by China and fresh concern over China's pursuit of oil supplies in strategic areas of the globe.

So long as these two conditions prevail - and there is no repeat of September 11 - the calls for increased US military preparation for an eventual war with China will grow stronger. The fact that Bush has seen his job-approval rating plummet in the wake of Hurricane Katrina might also tempt the administration to play up the China threat. While none of this is likely to produce an immediate rupture in US-Chinese relations - the forces favoring economic cooperation are too strong to allow that - we can expect vigorous calls for an ambitious US campaign to neutralize China's recent military initiatives.

This campaign will take two forms: first, a drive to offset any future gains in Chinese military strength through permanent US military-technological superiority; and second, what can only be described as the encirclement of China through the further acquisition of military bases and the establishment of American-led, anti-Chinese alliances will continue. None of these efforts are being described as part of an explicit, coherent strategy of containment, but there is no doubt from the testimony of US officials that such a strategy is being implemented.

Elements of this strategy can be detected, for example, in the March 8 testimony of Admiral William Fallon, Commander of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It's certainly cause for concern to see this continuing buildup [by China]," he noted. "It seems to be more than might be required for their defense. We're certainly watching it very closely, [and] we're looking at how we match up against these capabilities."

To counter China's latest initiatives, Fallon called for improvements in US anti-missile and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, along with a deepening of military ties with America's old and new allies in the region. With respect to missile defense, for example, he stated that "an effective, integrated and tiered system against ballistic missiles" should be "a top priority for development". Such a system, in all likelihood, would be aimed at China's short-range missiles. He also called for establishment of a "robust and integrated ASW architecture" to "counter the proliferation of submarines in the Pacific".

Note that Fallon is not talking about a conflict that might occur in the central or eastern Pacific, within reach of America's shores; rather, he is talking about defeating Chinese forces in their home waters, on the western rim of the Pacific.

That US strategy is aimed at containing China to its home territory is further evident from the plans he described for enhanced military cooperation with US allies in the region. These plans, encapsulated in the Theater Security Cooperation Plan, were described by Fallon as "one of the primary means through which we extend US influence, develop access and promote competence among potential coalition partners".

Typically, the cooperation will include the delivery of arms and military assistance, joint military maneuvers, regular consultation among senior military officials and, in some cases, expansion (or establishment) of US military bases.

In Japan, for example, PACOM is cooperating in the joint development of a regional ballistic missile defense system; in the Philippines it is assisting in the reorganization and modernization of national forces; in Singapore - which already plays host to visiting US aircraft carriers - "we are exploring opportunities for expanded access to Singaporean facilities".

And this is not the full extent of US efforts to establish an anti-Chinese coalition in the region. In his March testimony, Fallon also described efforts to woo India into the American orbit. "Our relationship with the Indian Integrated Defense Staff and the Indian Armed Services continues to grow," he noted. "US and Indian security interests continue to converge as our military cooperation leads to a stronger strategic partnership."

All this and much more is described as an essentially defensive reaction to China's pursuit of forces considered in excess of its legitimate self-defense requirements - "outsized", as Rice described the Chinese military in a recent interview.

One can argue, of course, about what constitutes an appropriate defense capacity for the world's most populous nation, but that's not the point - what matters is that any rational observer in Beijing can interpret Fallon's testimony (and the other developments described above) as part of a concerted US campaign to contain China and neutralize its military capabilities.

Chinese leaders are fully aware of their glaring military inferiority vis-a-vis the US, and so can be expected to avoid a risky confrontation with Washington. But any nation, when confronted with a major military buildup by a potential adversary off its shores, is bound to feel threatened and will respond accordingly.

For China, which has been repeatedly invaded and occupied by foreign powers over the past few centuries, and which clashed with US forces in Korea and Vietnam, the US buildup on its doorstep must appear especially threatening. It is hardly surprising, then, that Beijing has sought modern weapons and capabilities to offset America's growing advantage.

Nor is it surprising that China has sought to buttress its military ties with Russia - the two countries held joint military exercises in August, the first significant demonstration of military cooperation since the Korean War - and to discourage neighboring countries from harboring American bases. (Uzbekistan asked the US to shut down its base at Karshi-Khanabad after a meeting of the Chinese-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization in July.) But even if defensive in nature, these moves will provide additional ammunition for those in Washington who see a Chinese drive for regional hegemony and so seek an even greater US capacity to overpower Chinese forces.

This is all bound to add momentum to the pendulum's swing toward a more hostile US stance on China. But that outcome is not foreordained: future economic conditions - a sharp rise in US interest rates, for example - could strengthen the hand of those in Washington who seek to prevent a breach in US-Chinese relations.

These figures argue, for example, that Beijing helps keep US interest rates low by using part of its enormous trade surplus to buy large quantities of US Treasury bonds and that China represents an expanding market for US cars, aircraft and other manufactured goods. But the pursuit of ever more potent weapons on each side could prove to be a self-sustaining phenomenon, undermining efforts to improve relations.

The debate over China's military power and the purported need for a major US buildup to counter China's recent arms acquisitions will become increasingly heated in the months and years to come. As always, it will be fueled by claims of this or that Chinese military advance, often employing pseudo-technical language intended to exaggerate Chinese capabilities and discourage close scrutiny by ordinary citizens.

If this trend persists, we will become locked into an ever expanding arms race that can only have harmful consequences for both countries - even if it doesn't lead to war. Questioning inflated Pentagon claims of Chinese strength and resisting the trend toward a harsher anti-Chinese military stance are essential, therefore, if we are to avert a costly and dangerous course.

Michael T Klare is the defense correspondent of The Nation and a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. His latest book is Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependence on Imported Petroleum.

(Republished with permission from Japan Focus )

21 October, 2005
TAIWAN – USA – CHINA
Former president urges recognition of Taiwan independence

During his trip in the United States criticised by Beijing Lee Teng-hui call for “a normal life in a normal country“. Chinese officials: “independence means war”.

Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui on Thursday called for international recognition of Taiwan’s independence, concluding a trip to Washington strongly criticised, and monitored, by China.

Mr Lee, a fervent supporter of independence, spoke to a crowd gathered at the National Press Club about the mainland’s threat to Taiwan democracy, and urged the international community to support Taiwan against Chinese aggression.

His speech came as Chinese officials branded Mr Lee a troublemaker and accused him of trying to ruin Chinese-US relations, and while outside the building about 40 protesters carried signs calling him a traitor and associating “Taiwan independence” with “war”.

“Taiwan has long been an independent and sovereign country,” Mr Lee said through a translator. “What I want is for the Taiwan people to have recognition in the international society, to live a normal life in a normal country.”

He said that since receiving that recognition has proved so hard, he has also tried to get Taiwan to change its name from the official “Republic of China” to simply “Taiwan,” adding that many people were confused “and even believed that Taiwan is a part of China.”

The mainland strongly protested Mr Lee’s travel to the United States, filing objections with the US State Department and refusing to believe Mr Lee’s claim that he was a private citizen interested in visiting Washington’s symbols of democracy.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy said Mr Lee was solely interested in spreading “secessionist theories”. An official at the National Press Club said Chinese officials tried to get Thursday’s speech scuttled.

Mr Lee led Taiwan from one-party rule to a multiparty democracy in the 1990s. His last US visit, in 1995, when he was president, sparked fierce protest in China, where officials accused him of advancing a campaign to win international recognition for the democratic island 160 kilometres across the Taiwan Strait from the mainland. After he returned to Taiwan, China lobbed missiles into nearby waters.

 
See also
03/26/2005 TAIWAN - One million march in Taipei against mainland’s ...
03/14/2005 CHINA - Beijing launches anti-secession law against Taiwan
11/9/2004 taiwan - china - 70pc say island is sovereign state
12/20/2004 TAIWAN - CHINA - USA - US military staff to be stationed in Taipei after 25 ...
03/14/2005 TAIWAN-CHINA - Anti-secession law does not apply to Taiwan, says

ASTROLOGY OF CHINA/TAIWAN/U.S.

BEWARE THE YELLOW PERIL

There has been an incident, on April 1st,. 2005 in international waters off the coast of China whereby an American spy/reconnaissance plane was forced to land on a Chinese Island due to a Chinese jet fighter plane having come too close to the US craft. As a professional astrologer, I have looked at the chart of this event from its astrological perspective and see an ominous and rocky road in the days ahead for the United States.  First, let me explain some astrological planetary configurations in the sky both at the time the event occurred and in the time period surrounding it that impact and color this event tremendously:  

On March 18, 2001 the planets Pluto and Mars came together in the sky in the Tropical Zodiacal Sign of Sagittarius at exactly 15 degrees as viewed from Earth. There is a great possibility that the powerful energy of these two awesome planets will open the door to the use of some type of nuclear weapon being used somewhere in the world...very soon. 

The planet Mars is the astrological ruler of Aries, the god of war, and orbits the 12 Zodiacal Signs every 2 years. Mars/Aries are associated with fires, accidents, wars, blood, weapons, arrogance, violence, machines, surgeons and bravery. It also has two Moons called Deimos (fear) and Phobos (panic). 

The planet Pluto is the astrological ruler of Scorpio, the god of the underworld, and orbits the 12 Zodiacal Signs every 246 years. Pluto/Scorpio are associated with the Underworld - such as the Mafia and terrorists, dictators, oil (black gold), politicians, secret societies, CIA, nuclear weapons and nuclear scientists, magicians, sexuality, mysteries of the Universe and profound secrets. 

The zodiacal sign of Sagittarius represents foreign powers, religious outlooks and prophetic awareness. With Pluto conjunct Mars in Sagittarius during the month of March 2001 and continuing into the summer, there is a strong possibility there could be a very profound terrorist attack somewhere in the USA this year, or at the latest, by 2003 based on some distorted religious beliefs. It is also possible that a crude nuclear weapon, the size of a suitcase or somewhat larger will be detonated in America or/and in a western country between now and 2003. The combination of these two planets usually refers to great violence and destruction such as was the effect of the atomic bombs on Japan. It, no doubt, will be brought about by terrorists or some rogue country who work in secrecy and darkness. Welcome to the Millenium of Madness. 

For over a week the Chinese have dragged out the spy plane situation and have not allowed the crew or plane back in U.S. hands. Certainly it was a provocation on the part of the Chinese since they had been warned not to play "cat and mouse" with our planes as they had done in the recent past, on numerous occasions. The Clinton Administration knew of the systematic campaign of "buzzing" dangerously close to US planes for over a year but failed to brief Congress. Clinton didn't want to "offend" the Chinese mostly because they had him in their back pocket for the last several years of his administration as was seen by his coziness with the Chinese in numerous instances. Now, we are told, the Chinese have taken electronic/computer equipment off the American plane to figure out or back engineer our equipment. This is an act that is most dangerous and can lead to what I had mentioned above...namely that a confrontation between the U.S. and China might well occur soon. China seems to never care what other nations think of her actions. The question remains, did the Chinese come too close on purpose so that our plane would be "ambushed" and then have to land on Chinese soil? DEBKA-Net-Weekly, a Mideast and regional intelligence newsletter seems to think so based on Chinese sources who state that China wanted to get back at the US for the "accidental" US bombing of an electronic center located in the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1999 (during our intense bombing campaign) and for the US pressure on Israel to cancel an estimated $2.5 billion sale of up to 5 very advanced "Phalcon" Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWAC) planes to China in 1998. 

Looking at the U.S.A.'s astrological chart (whose birth time was very well researched), we see that the Ascendant (the most powerful point of any astrological chart which acts like one's "front door") is at or about 12 degrees of Sagittarius. Transiting Pluto and Mars are meeting right around that powerful point. Imagine two powerful people showing up suddenly and unexpectedly at your door. They can bring terror and fear as they menacingly stand there. That is the feeling that will come over America within the next year and by 2003 at the latest. And indeed the folks in Washington are discussing, in great detail, the possibilities of numerous ways that terrorism can and probably will come to America. As a nation we will be experiencing apprehension and wonder when and where these "dark" events will come to our shores. Mars and it's moons Deimos and Phobos along with Pluto are the "characters" that stand at the front door of America. This is not a good thing for these moons and planets represent great danger and a serious threat to the US. On the other hand, there is the possibility that the U.S. may start some military engagement somewhere in the world, such as the Middle East or against some rogue country in the Far East that may escalate into a situation that will not be favorable for world peace.

Looking at the astrological chart for China (according to a CBS Radio Broadcast) for October 1, 1949 in Peking at 3:15 pm local time (GMT 7:15 a.m.),  China has 3 planets in Libra - Sun, Mercury and Neptune. The ruling planet of China is Venus which is associated with Libra. This combination can be extremely deceptive or very compassionate and caring. The Chinese government obviously chooses the former. What stands out most prominently is the Pluto/Mars conjunction located in the House of Partnerships (marriage or business). They are accentuated by being located right on the Horizon (Descendant). This means that the Chinese relate to other countries with a rather "in your face attitude" as has been well-noted by their decimation and rape of the country and peoples of Tibet. Let us not also forget what happened at Tiannamin Square in June of 1988 where, it is estimated by the Russians, that over 10,000 Chinese (mostly students) were massacred by the Chinese Military (and many more were thrown in jail) for wanting to have freedom and democracy in China. And don't forget about the recent massive persecution of the spiritual movement Falun Gong whose followers are peaceful but powerful in numbers and thus a threat to the Communist government. So much for consideration and care of their own people. The Chinese leadership is definitely paranoid and totally consumed by power, manipulation and lies. China poses a threat to the world as we go into this century due primarily to their attitudes and actions towards Japan, the U.S. and Taiwan. Would we Americans expect the Chinese to give back our crew and plane easily? Most definitely not. They have an agenda. Isn't it fascinating that the transiting Pluto/Mars Conjunction in Sagittarius is also present in the sky for the next number of months which will push the Chinese Pluto/Mars conjunction in Leo to act as if they are some great power in the world who are unstoppable. They are trying to humiliate the US and make us beg for forgiveness and also to plead for our crew while cannibalizing our plane. That is a big mistake. The US is not some "banana republic" who can be kicked around. The Japanese once called us "the sleeping giant" after they bombed Pearl Harbor. It is clear that China wants to be the leader and overlord of Southeast Asia as was Japan in the last Century. She doesn't want us looking at her new destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers, some of which are being bought from Russia and then modified to be more effective and destructive such as being able to fire nuclear tipped missiles that will destroy our aircraft carriers in the Pacific. That is why she (in my opinion) wanted to bring down our plane so that in the future we would not be spying on them. I don't believe China expected the situation to turn out as it did. But surely, they scored big! I expect this incident to go at least to April 20th. Why? Because the planet Venus, which represents Diplomacy and Understanding, is going retrograde (seems to be traveling backwards in relation to the Earth from March 8th - April 20th). This is NOT a favorable time for negotiations and diplomacy. Venus is the ruling planet of China's chart and thus it is certain that however China handles this serious situation, the outcome will not be favorable for her, especially since she started the whole event under the vibration of a Retrograde Venus. There is a great possibility that the US will give more weapons to Taiwan and that China will not have the next Olympics in their country. If this situation does not end by April 20th then it will continue into July. The Saturn (planet of seriousness and karma) of the United States is positioned directly on China's Sun, Mercury and Neptune in Libra. This planetary comparison makes for difficult relations and mistrust between both countries. It must be also noted that there were enormous solar flares over the April 1st weekend that sent our scientific detection meters off the scale! Solar flares have a tendency to stir up people and emotions. We have not seen such powerful solar flares for 12 years. Interestingly under the influence of this flare activity, it should be noted that this was the time when Milosevic, that most dark soul who caused 4 wars and incredible carnage, death and destruction in Yugoslavia during his 12-year reign, was forced to surrender to authorities and is now in jail. Who could have ever imagined such a thing? Certainly, not he! The rule of karma applies - what goes around - comes around - dude!

Now it remains to be seen as to what happens in China. If the situation starts spiraling out of control we could see some rather nasty and serious threats hurled at each country. It is also to be noted that the transiting Pluto/Mars combination (in the sky) is making an adverse relationship (for the rest of 2001) to natal Saturn in China's chart which will cause more frustration, volatility, arrogance and anger within that country. Not good. On May 11th the planet Mars is also going retrograde at 29 degrees of Sagittarius and will travel backwards (in relation to the Earth) until July 19th and stop at 15 degrees of Sagittarius, where it first met with the planet Pluto on March 18th. July 19th (and leading up to this date) can certainly be a very explosive period. During the time that Mars is retrograde, frustration occurs especially when confrontation is happening between 2 large nations, as is now the case. My impression is that there is a great possibility this situation between America and China will continue for the next several weeks, perchance going even as far as July. Nonetheless, this tenuous situation will calm down after July 19th, at least for a time. It remains to be seen how President Bush will manage to come out of this dangerous situation. This is truly a monumental test for this young president. He is certainly dealing with a group of military and political Orientals who want China to be the most powerful country in the world. It looks like the Japanese Imperialism of the 1930's all over again. My Italian father, who was born in 1892, used to tell me that during the early part of the last century there was a phrase bantered about in Europe........'Beware the Russian Bear' ...but moreso the 'Yellow Peril'! 

Marcello Galluppi, Master Astrologer
"Astrology By Marcello"

FROM: http://www.moonbowmedia.com/osotm/china.htm


November Astrology:  For 2001

 Saturn and Pluto are still in opposition, which I covered in October's astrology, and the same definitions still apply.  One thing I did forget to mention in October is that Saturn and Pluto are Masculine/Feminine like the Sun and the Moon.   Saturn might be considered more mature, like a grandfather, and Pluto like the Crone.  This opposition suggests to me a struggle between the feminine and masculine.   War and strife would be considered masculine action, Peace and compromise feminine alternatives.  Perhaps this aspect is revealing that we need to bring the Goddess back along side the God.  A balance is needed in the world, and if the two sides could work in concert, I think many issues could be resolved.  For this we can hope. 

 This opposition will remain until mid-November.  With these two planets continuing to pull against one another we will be forced to face any and all fears we harbor.  This transit reminds us that we are not always able to be in control, in control of ourselves, or others.  So, power issues need to be resolved, or they will be resolved for us, one way or another.  An example of the repercussions of this is:  If you are one who is literally walking around in fear of what is going to happen next, if you are holding tightly to your fears, keeping them to yourself, instead of talking about them, or releasing them, or even finding time in your day to focus on something else, illness may arise in your body.  Or, an accident may happen, you could literally trip over your own feet and find yourself face down in the mud.   Let your fears out, talk about what bothers you, share them with another, or talk out loud to yourself about them. They need to be vocalized and let go.  Then find something, which you can enjoy, and spend, some time each day doing it. 

 Mars and Neptune have already begun merging into a conjunction that will be exact on November 5th, 2001, yet can be felt now and for a while afterward.   Mars rules masculine aggression (this is not being pointed to men folks--many men are not this way, and some women are).  It is just a term to describe the action of Mars power.  Neptune rules mysticism, mystery, fog, water, drugs, hallucinations, deception and addictions. An example of this is the Anthrax predicament going on now.  It is hidden, it is a drug, it causes health issues---but watch Neptune the great deceiver, as perhaps the real attack is not being seen--the media has made Anthrax a common household word--there have been 3 unfortunate deaths.  I am sorry for those who where taken by this evilness, but at the same time, Anthrax is not a big killer at the moment, and once more, I will say it will not be.  Neptune is deceptive, if there is an attack--I would say watch water--specifically waterways, coastal towns, ships, submarines--attacks on either side of the fence, yet I am not sure we are at the right fence so to speak.  Again, a Neptune illusion.  Who is behind this?  With Neptune in action, we may never truly know.  Watch lungs, allergies, air quality--which can come from may things besides anthrax!  Let us work to manifest Neptune's positive qualities of Spirituality, Mysticism, Creativity, and wonderful vibrations.  Neptune is the ethers!  Mar is now in Aquarius, and wants to reign in the New Age.  Aquarius is electrical, ruled by Uranus, quick and sudden.   Surprises--watch yourself around electrical appliances and water.  Also, communication and computer glitches are a possibility. Slow emails, delays or just plain back logged. This should effect many home computers.

 The Sun will be on 8’ Scorpio this Full Moon which occurs on October 31, at 9:41 PM-PST.  The Moon will be in 8' Taurus in opposition to the Sun.  The Sun will be conjunct the Ascendant in the USA Astrological Chart bringing focus to the US--the Moon conjunct the 7th house of partnerships, especially in Taurus can bring about money issues, banking, economy, The energy of this Full Moon will be a very powerful tug on our Ascendant--which is  "how the US presents itself to the world, and it is also the mask that is worn.  In an opposition like this, masks can fall (I find this especially interesting with the Full Moon falling on Halloween--the day of masks--the day of the dead), will our nations mask fall and the true position of our political leaders be seen.  Anything can happen with an opposition like this.   This energy will also be felt over the Middle East, so I would expect big clashes to occur.  Scorpio is ruled by Pluto---it is the sign the Sun is in, the sign our Ascendant is in, and is a huge factoring transit as Pluto is fighting it's own battles with Saturn--very explosive--but what can counter this energy us?  Well. Venus will rule the Taurus Full Moon--maybe love and compassion will be stronger than might.  And, any spirituality that can be brought about through Neptune. This Full Moon will also be a Blue Moon—meaning the second we have had in October.

 Saturn's conjunction to the US Uranus is crucial, Uranus wants it now, Saturn can cause delays.  When these planets clash--a sudden change can occur, at the same time, action that happens now can backfire, causing repercussions if not done in the name of truth and justice.  Also, great losses can occur with this transit of any kind--financial, personal, and physical.  This is a time where travel should be kept to a minimum.  It also may be a time when we clean our own houses and begin to throw out the old to make way for the new.

 I believe the Pacific Northwest is at risk still for earthquakes, volcanoes, windstorms, and even high coastal ocean waves, especially along the Oregon Coast to the Vancouver islands.  Mountains will be a focus, so lets keep an eye on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt Baker.  I actually see many fires throughout various parts of the world, and volcanoes stirring in other lands.  I expect many of these earthquakes and volcanoes to be underwater--out to sea.   Hopefully, this will keep the ground and people safe and not cause any tidal waves.   California is always at risk for quakes.  Washington is a Scorpio state, so we may be hit hard in the Seattle area with any number of things, since our state is also ruled by Pluto.

My biggest concerns for November are seaports and barges. Seattle has a large waterfront that is full of barges. All along the West Coast is prime for targeting trade barges. I would not rule out any coastal seaports—Neptune rules water and I have seen a few ships in my visions sinking at sea. Another ship to be concerned with are the aircraft carriers.

 These energies can work both ways people, each planet has two sides, and it all depends on our leaders and the decisions they make.   I expect these oppositions to pull at both sides of the world.  Other countries will be pulled into this war.  I expect the ones I have been saying--China, Russia, England, US, Middle East--now add France, Mexico, India, Germany and possibly Canada.  These countries should begin to come into play between now and the New Year.  Israel is a big instigator in the world’s present situation, perhaps in the future we will learn just how so.

 I hate doing this--but if I had to select cities or states that residents need to be presently cautious in they would be:   Chicago, Corpus Christi and all of Texas, especially the oil fields.  North Eastern United States, Boston, New England, Philadelphia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and that entire area.  I also feel little islands--maybe not even a part of the US.  The west coast.  Atlanta.  Hopefully, these areas will be fine; I know I am going to focus positive energy their way.

 In the Spirit of Peace,

Leslee Dru Browning

FROM: http://onelight.com/prediction1.htm

Oct. 26, 2005. A meeting in Moscow of the 6 nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), consisting of Russia, China, and 4 central Asian countries. SCO is forming a military alliance led by Russian President Putin, to counter U.S. influence in the world. India, Pakistan, and Iran were observers at this meeting. Likely this is the beginnings of a new 10 horned beast led by the Antichrist Putin. Also, today Iran's President declared at an Anti-Israel conference that Israel should be "wiped off the map". Maybe its time for the U.S. to consider a First Strike against Iran to wipe out its nuclear capability. Do not be surprised to soon see terrible natural disasters and diseases hitting Iran and other Muslim countries, because according to Bible prophecy the countries that curse Israel will be cursed, see this page.

Oct. 30 2005. Watch out for major Muslim terrorist attacks on Oct. 30 2005, the Muslim Night of Power Lailat ul-Qadr, which celebrates when the Koran was revealed to Mohammed, which in 2005 falls on Devil's 

Night Oct. 30, the night before Halloween in the U.S., indicating there is a strong Satanic energy to the Muslim Night of Power in 2005. Also, the planet Mars (war) is closest to earth on Oct. 30 2005, as bright in the sky as it gets. Mars = war. This all adds up to major Muslim terrorism then, Oct. 30, and big trouble. I have read that the Night of Power is a favorite time for Osama to do terrorism, so he could attempt a big attack on Oct. 30 or when Ramadan ends in early Nov..

Nov. 2, 2005. Ramadan ends, so watch out for Muslim terrorism.

Nov. 7, 2005. Mars at opposition, its brightest. Mars is only slightly less bright than its spectacular bright appearance in 2003. So war and Muslim terrorism are likely.


Dec. 15, 2005. Pluto is in conjunction with the sun. (Pluto being associated with death - so a disease epidemic? Bird Flu?) And the King Tut exhibit opens in Southern Florida.

Jan. 2006. The Stardust Sample Return Capsule, with a sample of comet dust, is scheduled to land on earth. This could holographically relate to events on earth then, possibly problems with the dragon (Muslims, North Korea, or Red China).



Jan. 27, 2006. Saturn is closest to earth, at opposition. Watch the world economy then.

March 29, 2006. A total solar eclipse seen in Brazil, over the Atlantic Ocean, North Africa, and ending in Western Mongolia. Since it passes over a Muslim area in North Africa perhaps it relates to increased Muslim Terrorism then. And this eclipse ending in Mongolia may relate to the "King of Terror" Nostradamus prophecy, and the appearance of a returned Genghis Khan, King of the Mongols, perhaps as Dr. Khan of Pakistan, the atomic scientist who developed Pakistan's A-Bomb and allegedly has given it to North Korea, Iran, and other Muslim countries.

June 6, 2006. 6-6-06, 666 being the number of the Antichrist. A day of Satanic power? Note that this is 40 years after 6-6-66 (June 6, 1966), 40 years being associated in the Bible with a peroid of testing.

June 17, 2006, a close approach in the sky of Mars and Saturn (within .5 degree). War? Terrorism?

June 27, 2006. The crescent Moon, Saturn, Mars, and Mercury are near each other, low in the Western sky. Watch out for Muslim terrorist attacks then, and economic chaos.

July 27, 2006. The moon passes in front of Mars (an occultation). War?

Aug, 22, 2006. Mercury, Saturn, Venus, and the crescent Moon are grouped together low in the East. 

Aug. 26, a very close approach of Venus and Saturn (.5 degree). Big events in the world: economic crash and war? Watch for major events in Russia and China, or more trouble with Muslim terrorism.

Sept. 23, 2006. Jewish New Year, and this year it also the beginning of Muslim Ramadan which is Sept. 23 - 

Oct. 22, which coincides with the Libra Astrology sign. And Sept. 22 there is an annular solar eclipse in the Southern Hemisphere from near Brazil to near Antarctica.


Oct. 19, 2006. The Muslim Night of Power Lailat ul-Qadr, which celebrates when the Koran was revealed to Mohammed, it is on the 27th night of Ramadan. It is also a favorite time for Osama to try terrorist attacks.

Oct. 24, 2006. To the right of the crescent Moon are Mercury and Jupiter.

FROM:
http://www.revelation13.net/calendar.html

Seoul, South Korea 01 November 2005 10:07 A series of explosions erupted on Tuesday after fire broke out in a highway tunnel south of Seoul, South Korea, and trapped military trucks carrying missile parts, firefighters said.

Two 15-tonne army trucks carrying missile parts and about 50 other vehicles were trapped in the tunnel by the fire and thick smoke, they said.

But all occupants of the vehicles managed to escape unhurt, according to the local fire department and witnesses.

"There were no casualties," Daegu Fire Department official Kyong Soo-Hyun said. "There are some 50 cars still stuck in the tunnel. But motorists all evacuated the tunnel upon the fire."

Witnesses said they heard seven or eight loud blasts in the tunnel about 300km south-east of Seoul.

The ministry of defence in Seoul said it was investigating the cause of the incident and it was unclear whether the explosions were linked to the missile parts.

Witnesses and fire-department officials said a convoy of four trucks carrying missiles parts was passing through the tunnel when one of the trucks caught fire.

The incident occurred at the Dalseong 2 tunnel on the Guma Expressway, which links Daegu to coastal Masan, officials said.


Two of the trucks passed through without incident, but the fire blocked the two other trucks and a stream of cars arriving in the tunnel.

A quick-thinking truck driver who was caught behind the military vehicles said he told all of the motorists to evacuate the tunnel as quickly as possible.

"All of the motorists escaped the tunnel, leaving their cars behind. I also abandoned my truck to escape the tunnel," said the driver, Kim Tae-Soo.

Kim O-Yon, head of Daegu fire station, said 70 fire trucks were at the scene and the fire was under control.

"Trouble in the break lining of a military truck carrying missile parts appeared to have caused fire, followed by an explosion that also caused the fire to spread to other cars inside the tunnel," he said. "All drivers have escaped safely." -- Sapa-AFP
EXPLOSIONS ON 10-31-05

Indian officials in man-hunt after New Delhi explosions
31/10/2005 - 10:41:55 Police in India have launched a major man hunt after this weekend's bombings in New Delhi in which at least 57 people died.

Police in India have launched a major man hunt after this weekend's bombings in New Delhi in which at least 57 people died.

Three separate explosions ripped through the Indian capital, two through crowded market-places and the third exploded on a bus, but did not kill anyone.

A little-known group, Inqilabi, with links to Kashmiri militants, has claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Reports say police have been examining mobile phone records for any calls made at the time of the attacks.

A number of people have been questioned but no arrests have been made as yet.

India’s Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that the investigations are going well and that authorities have gathered a good deal of information.

Explosions Cause Fire In SF Mission District

- An explosive three-alarm structure fire burned in a downtown industrial area Monday, sending plumes of black smoke over the city.

Firefighters worked feverishly late Monday afternoon to extinguish the remaining hot spots, and the smell of burning rubber pervaded the site close to the city's Mission District.

"There were probably at least 15 explosions," said David Grace, 50, who said he was about a block away when the blaze broke out. "One of them was so big that we felt the heat on our face."

The fire started around 3 p.m., when heavy smoke was reported in the back of a Hertz equipment rental lot, said Pete Howes, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesman.

Propane tanks and tires were apparently stored at the site.

Howes said the blaze spread to an abandoned house at the back of the lot.

Don Shugrue, 58, said he heard about 12 explosions from his apartment across the street. He said his building shook with each blast.

"I just heard a bang and then another bang and I looked out the windows and saw flames shooting about 80 feet," he said.

Fire officials did not say what caused the explosions, and Hertz employees on the scene declined to comment.

One person suffered smoke inhalation but refused treatment, Howes said. No other injuries were immediately reported.

 
30 October 2005
51 KILLED IN STREET MARKET EXPLOSIONS

AT LEAST 51 people died and hundreds were hurt when three terror bombs ripped through crowded street markets in India yesterday The areas were packed with shoppers preparing for a Hindu festival.

The blasts in the capital New Delhi rocked entire neighbourhoods.

The Indian government confirmed the explosions| were the work of terrorists but refused to name any suspects.

Last night, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged people to remain calm, adding: "India will win the battle against terrorism."

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the blasts "appear to have been targeted at heavily populated areas to produce maximum carnage".

He added: "This is yet another example of terrorists' cynical and callous disregard for human life. On behalf of the British government, I would like to offer the people of India my support and deepest sympathy."

The attacks took place in the early evening when the markets were at their busiest.

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said 39 people were killed in a blast in the Sarojini Nagar market.

Another seven died in the crowded neighbourhood of Paharganj and five more were killed on a bus in the Govindpuri neighbourhood.

Babu Lal Khandelwal, a shop owner in Paharganj, an area often filled with foreign backpackers, said the blast knocked him to the ground.

He added: "There was black smoke everywhere. When it cleared, there were people bloodied and people lying in the street."

Police declared a state of emergency and all the markets were closed.

The explosions came days before the festival of Diwali, a major Hindu holiday

 

Large structure fire burns in San Francisco


Associated Press
10-31-05

An explosive three-alarm structure fire burned in a downtown industrial area Monday, sending plumes of black smoke over the city.

Firefighters worked feverishly late Monday afternoon to extinguish the remaining hot spots, and the smell of burning rubber pervaded the site close to the city's Mission District.

"There were probably at least 15 explosions," said David Grace, 50, who said he was about a block away when the blaze broke out. "One of them was so big that we felt the heat on our face."

The fire started around 3 p.m., when heavy smoke was reported in the back of a Hertz equipment rental lot, said Pete Howes, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesman.

Propane tanks and tires were apparently stored at the site.

Howes said the blaze spread to an abandoned house at the back of the lot.

Don Shugrue, 58, said he heard about 12 explosions from his apartment across the street. He said his building shook with each blast.

"I just heard a bang and then another bang and I looked out the windows and saw flames shooting about 80 feet," he said.

Fire officials did not say what caused the explosions, and Hertz employees on the scene declined to comment.

One person suffered smoke inhalation but refused treatment, Howes said. No other injuries were immediately reported.

 

Sidon residents shaken by two explosions
Merchants association says blasts targeted economy

Monday, October 31, 2005

SIDON: Residents of this southern port town were awaken on Saturday, as two small explosions went off in the central area of the town. A little after 9 a.m. two small blasts were heard when two soft drink cans stuffed with flammable products exploded in two separate buildings. No casualties or damages were reported.

One of the cans was placed on the rooftop of the Barbir building, the top floor of which contains the of local media outlets.

Just 10 minutes later, residents reported having heard a second blast coming from a building just a few meters from where the first explosion had just occurred.

The second can was placed inside a broken down elevator in the Jumblatt building. Although the blasts did not cause any injuries or damages, they did cause a small panic among area residents.

Following the blasts, the head of the Sidon Merchants Association Ali Sharif held a news conference reassuring citizens that the small explosions had left no lasting results on the city.

Sharif said the blasts were "attempts to cause chaos in Sidon just a couple of days ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations," stressing that their severity should not be overstated or exaggerated.

Several officials in Sidon believed that, though small, the two explosions "were carefully planned ahead of time and were aimed at tainting Sidon's image as a tranquil, calm and safe city."Moreover, they suggested that the blasts were intended to "target the economy."

Sidon's markets in the old city have been busy since the beginning of Ramadan, with many shops extending their hours in the days ahead of the Eid marking the end of the Islamic holy month.

Toledo, Ohio
Van Causes Explosion At Gas Station

10-31-05

A minivan slammed into a gas pump at a Toledo service station, sparking a huge explosion early Sunday morning. 

Toledo police say the driver of the minivan had too much to drink before the crash.

It all happened at about 2:40 Sunday morning, when the driver of a white minivan drove head-on into a gas pump at Barney's Convenience Mart.

A store manager, who did not want to be indentified, says he's "extremely grateful" that no one was seriously injured.

"(On video), you see the girl going back to the car after it's already engulfed in flames," the manager told ONN affiliate WNWO.  "Then you see another burst of fire coming off the vehicle, another explosion or whatever.  It's amazing she didn't get hurt."

Toledo police say the driver of the minivan is Kenya K. Thomas of Monroe, Michigan.  She was treated for minor injuries. 

Thomas is charged with reckless operation and driving under the influence.  She is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

 
 

Truck carrying rocket parts explodes in S.Korea

date: 01 11, 2005 

Seoul, Nov. 1 (BNA) A military truck carrying rocket parts exploded Tuesday in a highway tunnel in South Korea, a television station reported.
The blast between the southeastern cities of Daegu and Masan occurred after the truck had had earlier problems with its tyres, KBS television said. There was no immediate news on whether there were casualties. The explosion happened while the truck was travelling in a military convoy.


Truck carrying missile parts explodes in
S Korea

ISN SECURITY WATCH (Tuesday, 1 November: 16.04 CET) – A truck transporting missile parts
has reportedly exploded in a tunnel on a highway in South Korea, setting fire to another truck in the
tunnel and causing at least 100 drivers to flee on foot.

According to the English-language Chosun.com website, the vehicle’s tire caught on fire, spreading
to Nike-Hercules missile propellants inside the truck, causing the explosion in a tunnel along the
Guma Highway in North Gyeongsang Province.

The media outlet said the truck was one of a four-vehicle convoy transporting missile components to
 the 11th Fighter Air Division in Daegu from an Air Force unit in the South Jeolla Province.

Officials told reporters there were no casualties in the incident.

Another official told Yonhap news agency that "the fire was brought under control and Air Force
personnel are now putting the site in order".


Missile trucks in South Korean tunnel blast
Nov 10, 2005, 13:10 GMT

Iraqi Al-Qaida Claims Jordan Bombings

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- An Internet posting from an al-Qaida faction in Iraq Thursday claimed responsibility for three deadly bombings at Jordanian hotels that killed 57 people.

The Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels in Amman were struck almost simultaneously Wednesday, and at least 150 people were injured.

Although the veracity of the Internet claim was not immediately confirmed, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads the Iraq insurgency, was 'a prime suspect.'

The al-Jazeera news network said the Web posting claimed Jordan was targeted for its role in the Middle East conflict.

'Let the tyrant of Amman know that his protection ... for the Jews has become a target for the mujahedin and their attacks, and let him expect the worst,' the statement said.

While most of those killed were Jordanian, several of the fatalities were Palestinian officials, CNN reported.

Terror Suspects Linked to Mosques

MELBOURNE, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- At least six of the men charged with terror-related crimes in Melbourne this week were followers of a radical Islamic cleric, The Australian reported Thursday.

The six were linked to controversial Melbourne cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran and his group, the Ahlus Sunnah Wal-Jamaah Association, the newspaper said.

One of them, Adbulla Merhi, was reportedly anxious to become Australia`s first suicide bomber. Merhi posted an article on the group`s Web site urging Muslims to stand up for their rights and never compromise their religion.

Another radical cleric, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was among the 17 men arrested for allegedly plotting a major terror attack in Australia. Benbrika is the suspected spiritual leader of the group and has been charged with directing a terrorist organization.

Prime Minister John Howard criticized Sheik Omran after he proclaimed Osama bin Laden a good man and claimed that the United States was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, urged the nation`s clerics not to 'hijack' Islam and to tone down their inflammatory language.

Violence in France Eases to 394 Car Fires

PARIS, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Rioting by youths eased considerably in Paris, but police said Thursday 394 vehicles had been torched overnight elsewhere in France.

The most violent clashes occurred in the southern city of Toulouse, the BBC said.

Wednesday, major cities such as Marseille, Strasbourg, Lyon and Toulouse, as well as the Paris suburbs, were given emergency powers to last 12 more days. Only six towns had imposed curfews on minors by late Wednesday, The Guardian reported. No one under the age of 16 in those areas is allowed out unaccompanied by an adult between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

An extra 1,000 police were brought in overnight, bringing the total on duty across the country to 11,500. Residents in several towns organized patrols, standing guard with fire extinguishers over apartment buildings, parking lots and other facilities.

The riots began in Paris on Oct. 27 when two black North African were electrocuted while trying to hide from police.

Baghdad Restaurant Bomb Kills 34

BAGHDAD, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A bomb explosion in a busy central Baghdad restaurant killed at least 34 people Thursday and wounded some 25 others.

Police said a man with explosives strapped to his body walked into a restaurant close to the Palestine Hotel in the city center shortly before 10 a.m. and blew himself up. The restaurant is known to be popular with police and security officials, the BBC said.

The bomb was not large, but was particularly lethal because it exploded in a confined space. The explosion was heard several miles away.

An hour later in Saddam Hussein`s hometown of Tikrit, at least six people were killed and 13 injured by a suicide car bomber who drove into the middle of a group of men queuing at a recruiting centre for the Iraqi army.

On Wednesday, seven Iraqis were killed and four others injured when a suicide car bomb exploded in Baquba, north of Baghdad. Also, two car bombs killed at least five Iraqi civilians and wounded 25 others near the Al Shab police station and the next-door Al Sharoofi Mosque in the Adhamiya district, CNN reported.

U.S. Indicts 2 for Missile Smuggling

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Two Chinese naturalized U.S. citizens have been indicted in Los Angeles on charges they conspired to import heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missile launchers.

Chao Tung Wu, 51, and Yi Qing Chen, 41, had initially been charged with conspiring to smuggle methamphetamine, Ecstasy and counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes into the country, but on Wednesday, federal authorities added the new indictment accusing them of also brokering the sale of 200 Chinese-made QW-2 missiles to an undercover FBI agent.

In August, when federal agents arrested 59 people on both coasts who allegedly belonged to what they described as a 'one-stop-shopping' crime organization that smuggled contraband cigarettes, illicit drugs, weapons and other goods, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Wu is also charged with taking part in a scheme to smuggle into the United States extremely high-quality counterfeit $100 bills made in North Korea and known as 'supernotes.'

Wu and Chen are being held without bond, and could face 25-year-to-life prison sentences if convicted.

 
11/10/05-Amman, Jordan
Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Bombings

Three terror bombings that killed at least 56 people in Jordan's capital sparked furious protests against al Qaeda on Thursday after a Web site carried a claim that the group was behind the attacks.

Jordanians flooded Amman blaring car horns and waving the nation's flag to protest the suicide attacks at three hotels with Western connections.

The Wednesday attacks at the Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels in downtown Amman took their greatest toll on a wedding party.

The wedding reception of Ashraf al-Akhras and his bride Nadia Alami at the Radisson was targeted by one of the bombers. The explosion killed both of their fathers, a number of guests and wounded the newlyweds.

"There were between 250 and 280 people in the wedding party. The suicide bomber blew himself up as the bride and groom prepared to enter the ballroom," Radisson senior manager Bassem al-Banna told Agence France-Presse.

Some Middle Eastern nations are accustomed to suicide bombings, but Jordan is not. Wednesday's blasts that wounded more than 100 people shook the country's confidence about its security.

National leaders convened shortly after the explosions.

"This is something that Jordan is not used to," Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said, taking a break from the meeting. "Obviously, we are not happy about what happened and we are going to take whatever measures we can to guard against these terrorist activities."

Jordanian television, government offices and schools closed Thursday to regroup after the attacks.

'Bodies and blood all over'

Randa Jaaqoub said she was the Grand Hyatt's lobby with her fiance when that blast occurred.

"Everything just exploded, and we had fire and smoke all over," the Jordanian American from Chicago said. "We saw the bodies and blood all over."

Outside the Days Inn, Anwar Dabass said he "saw three people in the street. They weren't dead. They were moving. We were one of the first people there and there were some body parts in the street."

Protesters also rejected the idea that the explosions were carried out to protect Islam.

Groom al-Akhras said, "The world has to know that this has nothing to do with Islam."

Al Qaeda in Iraq boasts of attack

Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group led by one of the United States' most wanted militants, claimed responsibility for the bombings in a Web site posting, and linked them to its Islamist beliefs.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi leads the group that took credit for the explosions. The Pentagon has had a $25 million bounty on his head since 2004.

CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the Web site claims, but U.S. intelligence officials said they "view that claim as credible."

CNN also has learned from a source with detailed knowledge of the investigation that two of the bombers have been identified as Iraqis, prompting Jordanian police to narrow their focus on possible facilitators they believe are still in the country.

The Web site posting boasts that the attacks happened at "retreats that were planted in the land of Muslims in Amman" -- a reference to the hotels that Westerners frequents.

It continues: "After studying the targets and watching, we chose the places to carry the mission on some of the hotels, which the Jordanian dictator turned into a backyard for the enemies of faith -- the Jews and the Crusaders."

Jordan's King Abdullah II has close relationships with Israel and the United States.

Pentagon officials said that before the explosions, a former hostage revealed that his captors had talked about such attacks on Western targets.

But Jordanians accounted for most of the casualties from the Wednesday attacks, and Jordanian officials said they viewed the blasts as attacks against their country. The State Department said one American was among the dead and two were among the wounded.

A senior Jordanian intelligence said suicide attackers with explosive belts caused the blasts and contrary to earlier reports, no vehicles were involved.

Palestinian officials among dead

Jordanian Embassy officials in Washington said the blasts came without warning, and Jordanian government officials were not among the casualties.

Officials from other governments, however, were among the dead. Four Palestinians, including Maj. Gen. Bashir Nafeh, head of Palestinian military intelligence, died in the blast at the Grand Hyatt, said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.

Also killed was Col. Abed Allun; Jihad Fattouh, the brother of the Palestinian parliament speaker; and Mosab Khoma, Erakat said. The four were on their way back from Cairo, Egypt, he said, adding his condemnation of the attacks.

Three Chinese were killed and one wounded in the attacks, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, which cited a press release on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Web site. They were members of a delegation from China's University of National Defense and were staying at one of the hotels, according to the report. The report did not specify which hotel.

 
 
 
 

CHINA SHIP MISHAP - ACCUSED OF LINING UP 100 MISSILES
Taiwan Accuses China of Threat. By ANNIE HUANG .c The Associated Press. TAIPEI,
Taiwan (AP) -(November 25, 1999) Taiwan's outspoken leader today accused ...
www.greatdreams.com/china.htm

ASIA REVEALS ITS DARK SIDE
China's Unocal bid sparks House threat Committee chief vows legislation to ...
But his threat to use nuclear weapons in a conflict over Taiwan is the most ...
www.greatdreams.com/war/asia.htm

PAKISTAN HISTORY AND PROPHECY
... ago upon receiving a security threat, said the minister, Narayan Singh Pun,
... The Taiwan-China confrontation began, coincidentally on July 9, 1999. ...
www.greatdreams.com/pakistan.htm

666
The $4 billion sale cements Russia's place as China's biggest military trading
... North Korea poses no real military threat to either the United States or ...
www.greatdreams.com/war/1715-war.htm

POLE SHIFT - CATACLYSMS
The Taiwan-China confrontation began, coincidentally on July 9, 1999. Still other
observers believe the ... THE THREAT OF ASTEROIDAL AND COMETARY IMPACTS ...
www.greatdreams.com/lostland/pole2.htm

THE WEAPONS OF THE SEA
And the threat posed by North Korea will be the key issue under discussion ...
In addition, in early August, the Taiwan authorities boarded a North Korean ...
www.greatdreams.com/war/weapons-sea.htm

THE UNITED NATIONS - A VISION AND THE REALITY
3-22-00, Newspaper reports plan to attack Taiwan Threat of nuclear war, seizing
US assets mentioned. 3-22-00, China behind Christian persecution in SE Asia ...
www.greatdreams.com/unvision.htm

DREAMS OF PLANES CRASHING AND MILITARY GOGGLES
TAIPEI, Taiwan –– A China Airlines pilot suffered a heart attack Monday en route
to Vietnam, ... Canada police dismiss plane threat as prank ...
www.greatdreams.com/52planes.htm -

THE RED WARNING
... Bahamas on Alert as Jeanne Nears; Ivan Poses New Threat. ... China admits
first 2004 SARS death. ... last week in Anhui province had SARS -- the first ...
www.greatdreams.com/red_warning.htm

THE KOREAN LEADER - ATTACK ON AMERICA?
The obvious villain would be China, possibly North Korea with Chinese backing.
Whichever, a new cold war ... Spain 8, Sweden 1, Switzerland 6, Taiwan 9. ...
www.greatdreams.com/korean.htm

ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR IN OUR FUTURE?
... weapons force able to intimidate Taiwan and defeat US forces in Asia, ...
Twenty years from now, when Chinese hegemony has ceased being a threat to Asia ...
www.greatdreams.com/land_forces.htm

Star Wars: The Next Generation
The Russian threat, although significantly reduced, will continue to be the ...
While all states back the launch of negotiations, China has refused to let ...
www.greatdreams.com/war/starwars.htm -

THE ELECTRIC OCTOPUS
In an address to the ministers, Powell said ``no threat is more serious to aviation''
... Worried about China's huge trade surplus with the United States, ...
www.greatdreams.com/political/electric-octopus.htm

THE BLOODY WAR OF JOEL FOR WARREN
Afana did not conceal his concern for Al-Aqsa, describing the threat to it as
... It's like Taiwan not declaring independence against China even though ...
www.greatdreams.com/joel.htm

THE UNITED NATIONS FOOD PROGRAM
If France, Russia, China and Germany had told Saddam it was time to back ...
Lee said that as WTO members, China and Taiwan should deal with each other as ...
www.greatdreams.com/political/ united_nations_food_program.htm

WEATHER ANOMALIES
and important air bases under threat, while the list of the targets in Iraq ...
Taiwan's weather centre says it is the strongest earthquake ever to have hit ...
www.greatdreams.com/weather/weather_anomalies.htm

RED LINE - BLUE LINE - THE DREAM AND THE REALITY
Indeed, the Iraqi "revelations" may even have been meant as a threat, an attempt
to intimidate the ... Expect China to move against Taiwan this October. ...
www.greatdreams.com/redline.htm

DISASTER DREAMS - PAGE 3
**China and Russia participating in joint maneuvers or war games. ... 9-13-05
Voice in dream: - "There are 17 cities under threat of terrorism." ...
www.greatdreams.com/disaster-dreams3.htm

WAR WITH IRAN
China undoubtedly wants to send a message to Taiwan during the joint exercises
... China, Libya, Russia, Iraq, and Iran are among those deemed a threat, ...
www.greatdreams.com/political/stalemate.htm

DREAMS OF THE GREAT EARTHCHANGES - MAIN INDEX