Yoshie Furuhashi and I traveled to Japan during the 9-11 anniversary, where we attended seminars, actions, and meetings that questioned the direction the USA and the Asia-Pacific region appear to be going. A seminar planned by the American-Pacific Studies Center at the University of Tokyo gathered six professors from Japan, Malaysia, and Hawai’i to reflect on the meaning of 9-11 and the call to war. All spoke on the reality that war on Iraq would reflect a clash of civilizations not seen or wished for in the past.

We also went to a meeting on the Japanese-Korean relationship, to a petition drive on closing the USA military bases on Okinawa which met at the USA embassy, and to several political discussions with movement leaders. As in the USA, the Japanese justice and peace movement must confront the hysteria around the post 9-11 drive to war.

Congress and the White House may soon approve opening a dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada where the nuclear power industry hopes to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste. If Yucca Mountain opens in 2010, as scheduled, all that waste must travel American highways or railroads to get there -- some 100,000 shipments over three decades through thousands of American communities. The potential for a serious accident or terrorist hijacking has oppontents to the transport plan calling it “Mobile Chernobyl.” To find out how close you (or your child’s school) are to a proposed route see: www.MapScience.org. (See Nov. 8 calendar event)

On August 22nd George Bush, Jr. came to Oregon to attend a fundraising dinner at the Portland Hilton for Sen. Gordon Smith (R, OR). Local activists used this occasion to let the un-elected president know that the citizens of Portland do not support his administration and its endless wars. Portland has a rich history of opposition to the Republican regime, and this time there were numerous near-riot street protests when Bush, Sr. came to town. This aggressive opposition to the Bush’s war machine caused some White House staffers to label Portland “little Beirut,” a name most radical Portlanders take with pride. A few hours before Bush was to speak at the fundraiser, close to 2000 people had gathered in a downtown park, preparing to march on the Hilton. It was a splendid display of freedom and diversity, with parents and children, Vietnam vets, black bloc anarchists, greens, tree sitters, and everyone in between turning out to express their feelings. A carnival atmosphere was enjoyed by all, with many costumes and a large marching band. It was like a holiday. People were excited to take this festival of resistance to the streets. The march itself was powerful and loud.

HEBRON—At least fifteen people are dead and fifteen more wounded after a shooting attack Friday evening, November 15th, at 7:15pm. Palestinian gunmen opened fire and threw grenades at a group of Israeli settlers and soldiers walking to the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba after Shabbat services at the synagogue in the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Mosque complex. The dead include nine Israeli soldiers and border policemen, three armed Israeli settler security, and three Palestinians believed to have perpetrated the attack. Colonel Dror Weinberg, commander of the Israeli forces in Hebron, was one of the victims. At least five of the wounded are soldiers in serious condition according to reports received by the team. The Palestinian militia Islamic Jihad has confirmed responsibility for the attack, claiming retribution for the Israeli military assassination of its leader Iyad Sawalha in Jenin late last week.

The United Nations Security Council (UN) in all its pompous and hypocritical glory passed Resolution 1441 on November 8, 2002. The resolution endorses unrestricted access by weapons inspectors to any sites in Iraq and “…warns Iraq that it will face serious consequences” for failure to comply. The next day 1200 anti-war activists rallied at the Ohio Statehouse, many pledging to refuse and resist, and some vowing to oppose this war by any means necessary.

And here’s the reason why: the one country in the world that Resolution 1441 is most applicable to is George Bush’s United States of America. Bush the Lesser, a victim of “dry-drunk syndrome,” told an invitation-only audience of Fourth Reich fanatics in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 7, 2002 that Iraq posed “clear evidence of peril.” That very same day, CIA Director George Tenet wrote a letter to Congress refuting everything that Bush had told his adoring Deutschlanders.