Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 3 Oktober 2005 / Time Line October 3, 2005
Version 3.52. Oktober 2005, 4. Oktober 2005
10/03/2005
Den tyske nobelfredsprissmodtager Carl von Ossietzky
fødes 1899.
/ Die deutsche Friedensnobelpreisträger Carl von Ossietzky
geboren wurde, 1899.
10/03/2005
International lov
ABM-traktaten
træder i kraft, 1972.
10/03/2005
Første
britiske
atomvåbenforsøg på Monte Belloøerne
ved Australien, 1952.
/ The first British nuclear weapons tests in the Montebello Islands
in Australia, 1952.
10/03/2005
Have Okinawan protests forced Tokyo and Washington to rethink
their base plan?
By David McNeill
After nine years of stalling and prevarication over the replacement
of Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, and nearly eighteen months of
protests against its proposed replacement, a solution of sorts is
finally stirring in the dusty halls of power in Kasumigaseki.
On September 24, the Yomiuri newspaper reported that the Japanese
government is backing the relocation of Futenma’s Marine
chopper base to the Marines Camp Schwab in Nago. Tokyo had
initially supported the construction of a joint civil-military
airport off the coast of Henoko village to replace Futenma.
At an estimated cost of 330 billion yen, the Heneko project would
have lined the pockets of local and national construction firms
– key backers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party -- and
settled one of the rawest issues in the US-Japan security alliance:
reducing [by 21 percent, according to Stars and Stripes] the
American military footprint in Okinawa Prefecture, which
reluctantly hosts three quarters of all US military facilities in
Japan. There was just one serious problem: many local people
strongly opposed the idea.
According to the Yomiuri, the latest decision was prompted mainly
by a rethink over the “environmental impact” of the
base on pristine coral reefs off Heneko, home to the endangered
dugong, but there is every reason to believe that the real reason
was a remarkably successful grassroots protest campaign.
In 1996, Tokyo and Washington agreed to close Futenma, which
occupies the heart of the densely populated Ginowan City, by
December 2003 at the latest and replace it with one of three
options: move the helicopter functions to Kadena, the biggest and
most active US Air Force base in East Asia; build an airstrip in
Camp Schwab or construct an entirely new offshore facility. All
three options would maintain the base in Okinawa.
The 1996 agreement was forced on the two governments by the largest
protests in Okinawa history following the kidnap and rape of a
12-year-old girl by two Marines and a sailor, an incident that
capped years of sex crimes by military personnel.
In July 2002, after years of wrangling, Tokyo announced it would
build a joint military-civilian airfield with a 2.5 km runway over
coral reefs about 2km off the coast of the Henoko district of Nago,
all paid for by the Japanese taxpayer. The main outstanding issue
was the Japanese demand for a 15-year limit on US use of the base.
The issues gained urgency in summer 2004 when a US helicopter
crashed into densely populated Ginowan next to the base, touching
offer the largest anti-base demonstrations since 1996.
The transfer of the base to Heneko was backed by Nago Mayor
Kishimoto Tateo and the local business community. But amid the
buildup to the US ‘war on terror’ and another spike in
tensions between locals and the military, the offshore plan
predictably sparked outrage among anti-base campaigners and
environmentalists and was reportedly scaled down to a 1,500-meter
exclusively military facility.
In June 2004, a small group began demonstrating against test
drilling for the construction of the new base. The protestors set
up camp on a roadside close to the beach at Heneko, blocking
government surveyors. When the surveyors tried approaching from the
sea, the demonstrators took to canoes or scaled construction
scaffolding to obstruct them. By September 2004, an Okinawa
Times-Asahi Shinbun survey indicated that 81 percent of Okinawans
opposed the building of the new heliport.
As of September 27, 2005 the Heneko protest is 528 days old. It has
been joined in spirit and sometimes in body by dozens of
international groups campaigning on antiwar and environmental
issues. Several civil lawsuits have also been filed, including one
against the US Defense Department, writes Japan Focus.
10/03/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $107,319,016
cost-plus-fixed-fee/performance incentive contract, for lead yard
services, development studies and design efforts related to
Virginia class submarines. The contract provides services that will
maintain, update and support Virginia class design and related
drawings and data for each Virginia class submarine, including
technology insertion throughout its construction and Post Shakedown
Availability period. Contractor also will provide all engineering
and related lead yard services necessary for direct maintenance and
support of Virginia class ship specifications. Work will be
performed in Groton, Conn. (94 percent), Quonset, R.I. (5 percent)
and Newport, R.I. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by
September 2005. Contract funds in the amount of $21,463,803, will
expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not
competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington,
D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-05-C-2103).
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