RIMPAC War on the Ocean

SUBHEAD: The unseen wars on the Pacific Ocean lead by the United States Navy is cranking up this summer.

By Oceans4Peace Staff on 2 July 2014 in Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2014/07/war-on-ocean.html)


Image above: Detail of image from poster for panel discussion and talk-story on July 12, 2014. Click to enlarge and see full poster (for printing and handing out).
 
WHAT:
Free panel discussion and talk-story on impacts on Pacific Ocean by military activity focusing on Jeju Island, Okinawa and Hawaii (RIMPAC 2014).

PANEL:
"What happens when coral reefs are militarized: Jeju Island, South Korea"
Jim Maragos PhD - Expert on Pacific Ocean atoll ecology

"The last pristine coral reef ecosystem of Okinawa Island"
Kenta Watanabe MS -  Tropical Botanist Okinawa national College of Technology

"Effects of RIMPAC on Marine Life"
Katherine Muzik PhD - Director of Kuku Wai Environmental Education Instititute

Moderator will be Juan Wilson, publisher of IslandBreath.org

WHEN:
Saturday July 12th 2014 at 5:00-7:00pm

WHERE:
Kapaa Public Library
4-1464 Kuhio Highway
Kapaa, HI, 96746

INFO:
Call (808) 822-7646

SPONSORS:
Kauai Alliance for Peace & Social Justice
Kohola Leo
Hawaii Sierra Club Kauai Chapter
Surfrider Foundation
People for the Protection of Kauai


Video above: Public service announcement about RIMPAC 2014 and its impact on Hawaii's ocean creatures by Surfriders. From (http://youtu.be/DIF9tdtmU0E).

INTRODUCTION:
Below is a draft  of the planned introduction to the panal discussion to be presented by the moderator, Juan Wilson:

RIMPAC Panel Introduction Introduction by Juan Wilson - moderator. INTRODUCTION TO WAR ON THE OCEAN Aloha to all of you, Thank you so much for coming out this evening. I'll be moderating. My name is Juan Wilson - I'm a member of the Executive Committee of the Hawaii Sierra Club Kauai Group and the publisher of IslandBreath. Tonight Oceans4Peace presents a panel discussion and talk story.   Our subject tonight is the War on the Ocean and RIMPAC 2014. We'll focus on Jeju Island, Okinawa and Hawaii. BATTLEGROUND OVERVIEW (see below). As human beings our attitude about the ocean is characterized by its use as the ultimate trashcan. The oceans can absorb as much garbage as we can put into them. When we were small in numbers and our technologically immature, that was true. Not so now. Living here on Kauai our home is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is largest crucible of life on earth - and it is suffering. It's not just Americans that have damaged it, but the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, Russian, etc. The Pacific Ocean has been used as a sushi bar, a strip mine, a junk yard, a toilet bowl, a bombing range, and a nuclear wasteland. We now face ocean acidification, global warming, climate change, rising seas, poisonous trash gyres, radioactive pollution, over-fishing, and coral reef die-off. Behind this destruction have been our financial, economic and industrial interests. Until now it has been cheaper to just look the other way. America's navy is the starring actor in the drama - securing the continuation of this large scale destruction through its military dominance in the Pacific. Our navy adds to the mix the use of sonar, radar and microwave radiation that damage the ecosystem. Even worse are large military exercises and weapons systems testing that intensify the degradation of life in the ocean. As destructive as RIMPAC exercises are they are largely just a biennial public relations effort - a satin curtain over the tip of the sharpened spear. The PRMF Open House and fireworks show, the outreach and TGI Puff Pieces, the balloons and NASA liftoffs, the Rim of the Pacific "joint cooperation" are all part of the hype. But underlying the gloss there are many ongoing and overlapping military activities in the Pacific that we do not see advertised and that are deeply troubling. For example as RIMPAC14 began so did CARAT14… the joint US and Filipino marines Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training exercise on the shores of the South China Sea. Also Japan has just announced it has reinterpreted its constitution to again allow it to adopt a more aggressive military posture in the Pacific. This coincided with an US Presidential executive order of a huge expansion of millions of square miles of "national marine monuments". This will greatly increase the regulatory rights of America in the Pacific Ocean. Add to this the military base expansions in Korea, Guam and Philippines - as well major extensions of our military test ranges in the Mariana and Hawaiian islands. A pattern emerges that clarifies the purpose of the Trans-Pacific Parternship (or TPP)…. It is is in effect a demand for the surrender of the Pacific Ocean to America's Asian Pivot. It should be clear that the War on the Pacific has been going on since Pearl Harbor and that from 1945 on it has been a nuclear conflict. The same American corporations - like General Electric, (that built the Fukushima nuclear reactors) helped build our Nuclear Carrier Strike Forces and our Nuclear Submarine Strategic ICBM fleet. This nuclear technology is the fist in the glove of the US Navy's Pacific Command - USPACOM. PACOM enforces American empire over half the surface of the world. From San Diego to the Indian Ocean. The War on the Pacific may now be morphing into World War Three. The conflicting resource claims in the South China Sea may be the flash point - and the US will be at the center of the maelstrom. This downward spiral must be stopped - And being informed helps! This evening we have a panel of three experts to clarify what is happening in the Pacific. After their presentations will be a Q and A session with some talk-story. Our panelists include: First, Jim Maragos PhD - Expert on Pacific Ocean atoll ecology He will address - "What happens when coral reefs are militarized: Jeju Island, South Korea" Then, Kenta Watanabe MS - He is a tropical botanist at the Okinawa National College of Technology He will describe the - "The last pristine coral reef ecosystem of Okinawa" And finally, Katherine Muzik PhD - Director of Kulu Wai Institute here on Kauai. Her topic will be - "Effects of RiIMPAC on Marine Life"

Below is map combing various US territorial claims in the Pacific Ocean including enormous military test range and war simulation areas. For more details see Island Ea o Ka Aina: The Pacific Pivot 6/26/14.


Image above: BATTLEGROUND OVERVIEW - Thumbnail of map joining  Maps A, B and C showing Pacific Ocean U.S.A. state, territory and protectorates as well as military range and testing facilities US marine national monuments existing and proposed.  Together these areas provide a complex and overlapping set of protocols, regulation and control that clusterfuck much of the Pacific Command area. Map by Juan Wilson (www.isladnbreath.org). Click for larger more complete view.

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