Because even though Iran is "a screwdriver’s turn away from the bomb [and] the preoccupation is warranted,” the recent deal has put the brakes on that war for now. Thus another scenario must be created for US aggression:
"After the announcement Saturday, several Japanese commercial airlines began filing flight plans with China, according to the Japanese government. On Tuesday, Japan’s Transportation Ministry asked them to stop"
Then the U.S. made an unscheduled flight:
"US flies B-52s into airspace China claims; Tensions with Japan on rise; no military reaction" by Thom Shanker | New York Times, November 27, 2013
WASHINGTON — Two long-range US bombers have conducted what Pentagon officials described Tuesday as a routine training mission through airspace recently claimed by China as its “air defense identification zone.”
Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and the Chinese did a fly over Hawaii or Key West? How long would those Chinese bombers be in the air?
And the timing of the "routine" mission sure is suspect.
The Chinese government said Saturday that it had the right to identify, monitor, and possibly take military action against aircraft that enter the area, which includes sea and islands also claimed by Japan. The claim threatens to escalate an already tense dispute over some of the maritime territory.
I was led to believe that was Chinese aggression.
US officials said the pair of B-52s carried out a mission that had been planned long in advance of the Chinese announcement last weekend, and that the US military would continue to assert its right to fly through what it regards as international airspace.
Yeah, right. They couldn't cancel it in advance?
As for the second part, it is the U.S. empire asserting it will go wherever it damn well pleases!
Pentagon officials said the two bombers made a round-trip flight from Guam, passing through a zone that covers sea and islands that are the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Japan and China.
Officials said there had been no Chinese response to the bomber run.
The Obama administration has become increasingly worried by the tense standoff over the islands, which could drag the United States into a conflict. By treaty, the United States is obligated to defend Japan if it is attacked.
Looks to me like they are trying to start one!
The islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, are currently administered by the Japanese, who consider the airspace above the islands to be theirs as well.
On Tuesday, Josh Earnest, a deputy White House spokesman, reiterated the administration’s view that the Chinese announcement was “unnecessarily inflammatory” and had a “destabilizing impact on the region.”
Within hours of the Chinese announcement that it had declared what Beijing termed an “East China Sea air defense identification zone,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued a statement expressing deep concern over the action.
“We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region,” Hagel said. “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”
All they want to know is who is flying through the airspace.
Pentagon officials said the training sortie by the two B-52s could be seen as underscoring that commitment to preserving traditional rules of international airspace.
How you liking all this double talk as the empire is losing its grip?
Hagel’s statement said the United States had conveyed “concerns to China through diplomatic and military channels, and we are in close consultation with our allies and partners in the region, including Japan.”
His statement concluded by noting that the United States is “steadfast in our commitments to our allies and partners. The United States reaffirms its longstanding policy that Article V of the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands.”
Anybody ask?
The move by China appeared to be another step in its efforts to intensify pressure on Japan over the Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that are at the heart of the dispute.
It's the East CHINA Sea, huh? That pretty much clears up ownership, doesn't it?
The declaration, from a Ministry of National Defense spokesman, Colonel Yang Yujun, accompanied the ministry’s release of a map, geographic coordinates, and rules in Chinese and English that said, “China’s armed forces will take defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in identification or refuse to follow orders.”
One of the rules requires all aircraft flying in the zone to file flight plans with Chinese authorities. After the announcement Saturday, several Japanese commercial airlines began filing flight plans with China, according to the Japanese government. On Tuesday, Japan’s Transportation Ministry asked them to stop, and a group representing the two largest Japanese airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines, issued a statement later Tuesday saying that it would heed the request.
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Related:
Sunday Globe Special: China Maps Out WWIII
Chinese Seize Japanese Islands
Droning On in Japan
There's no need for the Chinese to feel threatened though. It's US!
"Secrecy law gains ground in Japan; Critics see threat to freedoms in tighter controls" by Mari Yamaguchi | Associated Press, November 27, 2013
TOKYO — Japan’s more powerful lower house of Parliament approved a state secrecy bill late Tuesday that imposes stiffer penalties on bureaucrats who leak secrets and journalists who seek them, despite criticism that the government is making a heavy-handed effort to hide what it’s doing and suppress press freedom.
And thus any information on the continuing radiation leaks at Fukushima will remain classified.
I wonder if Caroline Kennedy will raise the issue with the Japanese.
Citing concerns that the government won’t say exactly what becomes secret, critics say the law could allow the government to withhold more information and ultimately undermine Japan’s democracy.
The bill was approved after hours of delay due to protests by opposition lawmakers. The ruling bloc and its supporters hope the weaker upper house will pass it next month.
The ruling party says the law is needed to encourage the United States and other allies to share national security information with Japan. Along with a proposal to create a US-style National Security Council in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office, the secrecy law is part of an effort to strengthen Japan’s role in global security and create a more authoritarian government at home.
!!!!
That's enough to make one cry!
‘‘This law is designed to protect the safety of the people,’’ Abe said, promising to relieve citizens’ concerns through further parliamentary debate.
That's what all tyrannies claim.
The bill allows heads of ministries and agencies to classify as secret 23 vaguely worded categories of information related to defense, diplomacy, counterintelligence and counterterrorism almost indefinitely.
Critics say it might sway authorities to withhold more information about nuclear power plants based on fears they could become terrorist targets. Or officials may refuse to disclose key elements of free trade talks to protect concessions that would make Tokyo or a partner look bad, they warn.
The move is welcomed by the United States, which wants a stronger Japan to counter China’s military rise, but raises fears in Japan that it could be edging back toward its militaristic past, when authorities severely restrained free speech.
The move is welcomed by the country that spouts openness and transparency for everyone else?
Some experts say the legislation would ease the way for Abe’s drive to revise Japan’s US-drafted pacifist constitution to give more power to the government and stress civil duties over basic human rights.
************************
At a public hearing in Fukushima on Monday, the only one held before the vote, lawyer Hiroyasu Maki said the bill’s definition of secrets is so vague and broad that it could easily be expanded to include radiation data crucial to the evacuation and health of residents in case of another nuclear crisis....
Or the current one.
Lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party say Washington has repeatedly said it feels insecure about sharing top-secret information with Japan due to its lack of legal protections for secrets. The United States is worried about leaks to China, they say.
Those are going to happen anyway, and have nothing to do with the press.
Under the bill, leakers in the government face prison terms of up to 10 years, up from one year now. Journalists who obtain information ‘‘inappropriately’’ or ‘‘wrongfully’’ can get up to five years in prison, prompting criticism that it would make officials more secretive and would intimidate the news media. Attempted leaks or inappropriate reporting, complicity or solicitation are also considered illegal.
Good thing AmeriKa has a self-censoring pre$$.
‘‘This is a severe threat on freedom to report in Japan,’’ said Lawrence Repeta, a law professor at Meiji University in Tokyo. ‘‘It appears the Abe administration has decided they can get a lot of what they want, which is to escape oversight, to decrease transparency in the government, by passing a law that grants the government and officials broad authority to designate information as secret.’’
Each Japanese ministry has its own rules to protect secrets. The proposed legislation would complement a separate bill, also due to be passed this week, to establish a National Security Council that would centralize the chain of command in the office of the prime minister and give him more power.
Washington sees the proposal as a positive step that would make Japan a ‘‘more effective alliance partner,’’ United States charge d’affairs Kurt Tong said in a recent speech. He urged Japan to make the process transparent and to explain the policies to its Asian neighbors.
Kyouji Yanagisawa, a former top defense official who was in charge of national security in the prime minister’s office in 2004-2009, says he does not recall any instance in which Japan failed to obtain necessary information from Washington or other countries due to the lack of a secrets law.
Then what was this law really about?
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UPDATE: China deploys only aircraft carrier after US sends B-52s over disputed islands
