Alice Slater writes: After World War II, the victorious allied powers, implementing a transition to democracy in Japan, required Japan to forego any future aggressive military action by including a provision in their new Constitution to renounce war and the threat or use of force. That provision is stated as follows:

ARTICLE 9 of the JAPANESE CONSTITUTION: Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

But by 1950, following the outbreak of the Korean War, when US General MacArthur ordered the establishment of a 75,000-strong Japanese National Police Reserve equipped with US Army surplus materials, numerous assaults have been made on the integrity of Article 9.

By 1990, Japan was ranked third in military spending after the US and the Soviet Union, until 1996 when it was outspent by China and dropped to fourth place. Today, the US-Japanese joint Theater Missile “Defense” which in reality poses an “offensive” threat to China, as well as the US military bases in Japan, and other US-Japanese military cooperation have further undermined the spirit of Article 9.

Presently, the Bush Administration is creating an all out assault on the peace constitution, pressuring the Japanese government to amend Article 9 in order to permit Japanese soldiers to serve in the wars of the Empire, providing fresh cannon fodder for battles in Iraq and Afghanistan and other imperial adventures yet undeclared. (06/02/08)
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BBC Health & Government — The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments to ban all tobacco advertising to help prevent young people taking up the habit. It accused manufacturers of using increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques to ensare young people, particularly girls in poorer countries.

The UN agency says the more they are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely people will start smoking.

The appeal was issued to mark the WHO’s World No Tobacco Day. The organisation said only 5% of the world’s population was covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. It says current restrictions are not enough to protect the world’s 1.8bn young people, who are targeted through the intenet, magazines, films, concerts and sporting events.

In Russia, which has few anti-smoking laws, the number of female and adolescent smokers has tripled in the last decade. However, in Canada, where smoking and cigarette advertising has been severely restricted, numbers of smokers are at their lowest in 40 years.

The UK has recently announced plans to outlaw cigarette vending machines and packets of 10 to prevent children and young people smoking.

The WHO also accused manufacturers of continuing to attract young people by “falsely” associating cigarettes with “glamour, energy and sex appeal”. Most smokers take up the habit before the age of 18, with almost a quarter of those before the age of 10, according to the organisation. In a WHO worldwide survey of 13 to 15 year olds, 55% reported seeing billboard advertisements for tobacco, while 20% owned an item with a cigarette brand logo. (06/02/08)
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BBC Climate Science — High-resolution satellite images have revealed the “rapid deforestation” of Papua New Guinea’s biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years.

An international team of researchers estimates that the current rate of loss could result in more than half of the nation’s tree cover being lost by 2021. They added that the main threats came from commercial logging and burning.

Existing conservation measures were failing to protect the world’s third largest rainforest, the team concluded.

Scientists from the University of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Australian National University spent five years analysing satellite images that showed deforestation and habitat destruction between 1972 and 2002. They estimated that in 2001 the nation’s accessible forests were being cleared or degraded at an annual rate of 362,000 hectares (3,620 sq km).

The images also showed that trees in protected areas were being felled at the same rate as unprotected regions, the team added. Although it only accounts for less than 0.5% of the Earth’s land cover, the heavily forested island nation is home to an estimated 6-7% of the planet’s species.

“It is still one of the most forested nations on the planet,” said lead author Phil Shearman. “However, the report details how the forests are being lost at a far higher rate than previously thought.”…

The team found that the main drivers were commercial logging, subsistence agriculture and burning.

“Contrary to the popular opinion that little is happening, rates of change are high and accelerating,” explained Julian Ash, one of the report’s co-authors. “Commercial logging operations are extracting more than 2.6% of the accessible resources yearly and causing the release of about 22 million tonnes of carbon.” (06/02/08)
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