Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned this week that China must make significant structural changes in its economic policies, lest it remain "a problem for the international economy."
"The relationship with China is just big and complicated, and it's got good parts and it's got not so good parts," she said. "But what we are trying to stay focused on is the understanding that China is going to be influential in international politics one way or another. It's a major power, and it's going to be an even more major power."
"A lot depends on what the Chinese do," Ms. Rice said, speaking more generally. She also made it clear that she was concerned about China's military buildup, which she said "looks outsized for its regional interests." "We're going to continue to press" on "human rights and religious freedom," she added.
"But on balance," she said, "it is a good relationship" that has "a considerable benefit in the war on terrorism" and "in the North Korea proliferation issues," among others.
Mr Hu has identified the ally he wants to appoint as Shanghai party secretary, and hence the city’s most influential official, party sources have told The Times. She is Liu Yandong, the head of the United Front Work Department in Beijing. It would be a stunning promotion and could make Ms Liu, 60, the first woman in history to hold such a senior post in one of the thirty-two provinces and municipalities that are traditional staging posts on the long march to the top of the party hierarchy. The question is whether Mr Hu has the clout to oust the incumbent, Chen Liangyu ? a Jiang protege with a powerbase in Shanghai.
With the exception of Germany and Japan, the voting records of the main contenders for additional permanent Security Council seats indicate that they will likely vote against the U.S. on most key issues. In other words, a larger Secu-rity Council with these nations as permanent mem-bers will likely be less supportive of U.S. policy priorities.
Nile Gardinerのいっているのは、今でさえ問題多すぎの安保理を大きくしても問題が解決 しない、ということで日本が反米的などと言っていません。
ジ・オーストラリアン:米豪リーダーシップ対話での、アーミティジ語録 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 「the annual Australia America Leadership Dialogue」に出席のためオーストラリア訪問中の アーミティジの発言をまとめた記事。この中で、日本に関連するものを拾ってみると: ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー NORTH Korea has nuclear weapons and is almost certainly not going to give them up. That's a strategic reality that we're going to have to live with, according to former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage.
"I believe North Korea does have a nuclear weapon," he tells Inquirer in a long discussion. "It's going to be very difficult to separate them from that weapon. But to put it under an international safeguard is a possibility."
Nor does Armitage believe regime change is a realistic short-term policy goal in North Korea. "It's better to try to change the behaviour of the regime and through osmosis of exposure to South Korea gradually try to introduce them to more openness," he says.
One of Armitage's great virtues is he tells you what he thinks, and he admits what he doesn't know. Thus, he says, he does not know what China's ultimate strategic intentions are and why it is pursuing such a formidable military build-up: "I don't know if they [the Chinese] themselves know what their ultimate intentions are.
"They want options. Their energy needs will drive their security policy. They also want political options. I think they're unamused by what's happened in recent years in Georgia and the Ukraine."
By this, Armitage means the revolutions that have brought democracy to those former states of the Soviet Union. "Any political openness seems to be a long way off in China," he says. "What China wants and needs most in the immediate future is stability."
"The US is intent on trying to increase Taiwan's international space," Armitage says. "I think it's important that Taiwan, as a democracy representing its people, have that space. The US necessarily has to do this publicly and loudly. Not every country has to do it that way."
In some senses he is surprisingly optimistic about Iran, in that he says recent US intelligence suggests Iran is perhaps 10 years away from making a nuclear weapon.
However, the market is now tantalisingly close to a decisive break-out, even in spite of the snap election called by Prime Minister Koizumi following the refusal of Japan's Upper House to approve Post Office privatisation.
日本株式は選挙を前にしているのだが、それでもブレークアウト寸前なのだ。
Yet Christopher Wood, of Asian brokers CLSA, is optimistic. He pointed out that Mr Koizumi still enjoys approval ratings comfortably above 40 per cent, and added that "his party needs him more than he needs them".
Japan's economy defies all the conventions of a developed economy. Public sector debt is 180 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with below 40 per cent in the UK and 105 per cent in Italy, with its budget deficit close to eight per cent of GDP.
Even so, UBS research shows Japanese returns on equity to be 37 per cent below the global average. Higher profitability and a dull market performance mean that shares are modestly valued.
If the target of Hideo Shiozumi, manager of the Legg Mason Japan Equity Fund, of 20,000 on the Nikkei Dow within three years is achieved, Japan would be a very profitable place to invest.
Legg Mason Japan Equity FundのHideo Shiozumiファンドマネージャーは日経225の目標は3年以内 に20,000円という。もしそうであれば日本株式は投資に適するものであろう。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 相変わらず日本に対して強気の海外マーケット。立花さんらのペシミストが聞けばどんな顔をする ことやら。
Average real estate prices in China rose by 14.4 percent in 2004 over the previous year. And they rose by 12.5 percent in the first quarter of 2005, the report said. Prices in cities like Shanghai have risen still faster, although they have moderated in recent months after government moves to cool the property boom. "Property price inflation can easily result in prices soaring out of line with real values and thus cause a bubble," said the report, posted last week on the Web site of the People's Bank of China.
"Once the bubble bursts, it can cause a contraction in the real estate sector and significant losses for banks." Housing loans, including those to property developers, stood at 2.6 trillion yuan ($310 billion) at the end of 2004, accounting for about 15 percent of all yuan-denominated loans, the report said.
``Koizumi is seen as a reformer and that's a good thing for the country and good for the yen,'' said Neil Mellor, a currency strategist at Bank of New York in London. ``The big rise in the Nikkei will help the yen. We've seen substantial inflows into Japan.''
SD/JPY pierced through the 110.00 figure tonight in European trade with complete ease as the market becomes increasingly convinced that Prime Minister Koizumi will easily win his bid for reelection enabling him to enact the long overdue reform of the Japanese Post office. The latest survey over the weekend pegged Koizumi’s support at 53% and rising. Typically during times of political uncertainty the country’s currency declines as market participants await the results of the outcome. However, in the case of the yen many traders are trying to front run the good news of a decisive Koizumi win which would signal that Japan is serious about engaging in economic reform. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー これは為替関連のメディアに掲載されたアナリストのコメントで、マーケットは小泉勝利を予想 と書いている。
A hospital in central Tokyo has become the first in Japan to issue tradeable bonds in a move that highlights the government's attempt to cut its huge spending on healthcare. Kawakita General Hospital has issued bonds worth about Y700bn through a special purpose company, in a deal involving Mizuho bank.
Kunji Okue, fiscal policy analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said financial reform of Japan's medical system was more important than postal privatisation - the catalyst for Japan's parliamentary election next month. He said unlike the medical system, postal privatisation was “not an immediate problem” for the government's finances.
Mr Okue added that further hospitals might well be tempted to issue such bonds “in the near future. On the one hand the demand for medical treatment is skyrocketing because of a sharply ageing society, and on the other hand the Japanese government wants to cut its financial support to medical institutions.”
アジアタイムズ:(日本の選挙戦の)刺客と受刑者と ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー J Sean Curtin is a GLOCOM fellow at the Tokyo-based Japanese Institute of Global Communications. という先生の書いている日本の選挙戦の開設で、自民党内の造反、刺客、 新政党の動きなどを解説。
Their decision not to join the PNP or Nippon but stand as independents indicates that they are confident of reelection, something that will cause Koizumi an extremely nasty post-election headache if it happens, especially if the assassins fail to win more than a handful of seats and the ex-cons stage a comeback.
Thus, whether the LDP is broken up, Koizumi and his generation of politicians will seek to redefine Japanese politics in the next decade. Members of this generation understand that Japan's decade-long depression cannot end by the traditional solution of an export surge into the US. They also understand they cannot force a Japanese recovery without a massive overhaul of the country's postwar institutions. This strategic thinking about economic solutions leads inevitably to the political framework of the constitution and the question of the military, and that is the real beef in the political party manifestoes of the 2005 general election. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 投資銀行の株式投資アナリストの前職を持つコンサルタントの評論で、こちらは、まあまとも。
中国と露西亜の共同軍事演習の意味を深刻にとらえたもの: It is hard to imagine an event more discomfiting for Washington than the first combined show of force by an ex-superpower and a future superpower that have buried their differences and discovered a common interest in challenging the US, the only superpower of today.
米当局が偽札密輸団摘発 北朝鮮製 【12:04】 【ニューヨーク22日共同】AP通信によると、米捜査当局は二十二日までに、北朝鮮 製とみられる米百ドル紙幣の偽札を密輸しようとした大規模な密輸グループをおとり捜査などで摘発 アジア人や米国人計87人を起訴した。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/12448858.htm Posted on Mon, Aug. 22, 2005 Feds bust major counterfeiting ring MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
The guests thought they were headed to an early afternoon wedding on a yacht docked near Atlantic City. They ended up in jail instead, courtesy of an elaborate ruse by federal authorities hoping to bust up an international smuggling ring.
アトランティックシティの均衡のヨットドックで国際的な密輸組織の摘発があった。
Authorities said they seized $4.4 million in high-quality fake $100 bills, more than 1 billion counterfeit cigarettes worth $42 million, and ecstasy, methamphetamine and Viagra worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Some of the cigarettes were made in China, said acting assistant Attorney General John Richter. The money appeared to have been produced in North Korea, two officials said on condition of anonymity because there are ongoing counterfeiting investigations involving similar phony currency.
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose after polls suggested Sept. 11 elections will give Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi more power to push through policies to boost economic growth. NTT DoCoMo Inc. led gains after a report showed service industry demand increased in June. 小泉首相の支持率向上のニュースで日本株が上昇した。
``I'm bullish on Japan,'' said Koji Uchida, who helps look after $17 billion at UFJ Partners Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``Good economic numbers and optimism Koizumi will win decisively have helped to convince investors, both foreign and domestic, that Japanese stocks have room for more gains.''
The best strategy for the U.S. is to stand back and let China make such a strategic error. For example, there is no need for America to counter China's more aggressive submarine activity by increasing its deployment of surface ships and nuclear submarines in the region. Rather, America should concentrate on remaining forward deployed with the right force structure to respond to the real threat -- a Chinese attempt to seize Taiwan. That includes, for example, the U.S. marines in Okinawa, who are only a 90-minute flight away from Taiwan. The best way for the U.S. to deter a Chinese attack is to show it has the capability to respond by rapidly putting forces on the ground in Taiwan and the Marine Corps., which specializes in combined-arms tactics, are ideal for this purpose. COMMENTARY China's Muddled Maritime Strategy By ROBYN LIM August 23, 2005 ttp://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112474420580319883,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Feurope%5Fasia
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Sales of existing homes slowed in July from their record pace as the latest reading on the strength of the real estate market came in below Wall Street expectations. The report from the National Association of Realtors showed that existing homes sold at an annual pace of 7.16 million in July, down from the record 7.33 million sales rate in June. The July sales pace was still the third strongest month on record.
CNNマネー:アメリカの7月度の住宅販売個数は予想を下まわえる
記録的なペースになっていたアメリカの住宅販売個数は7月度の統計では市場の予想を下回った。 NARの報告書によれば、住宅販売は年率で716万戸となり、6月の年率733万戸から減少した。 しかし7月の販売個数は市場三番目の高い値である。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー アメリカの金利上昇で住宅販売にも抑制効果が出てきているの鴨。一部に言われるようなバブル 状況というわけではない。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ttp://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112480451897420507,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us July Home Resales Fell 2.6% As Mortgage Rates Increased A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP August 23, 2005 10:23 a.m.
WSJ:不動産ローンの金利上昇のため7月の住宅販売は2.6%減少する
The latest snapshot of housing activity, released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday, suggested that the sizzling housing market may be cooling a bit but nonetheless remains in healthy shape.
ttp://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nT60400&imageid=&cap= The Nikkei share average was almost flat after rallying to four-year highs on hopes for a sustained economic recovery and expectations that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will win a mandate for reform in the Sept. 11 election. "This is just a correction and I don't think the rally in the Nikkei is over yet," said Sharada Selvanathan, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore. "Political and economic factors are bright and in this sense, foreign investor interest in Japanese equities should persist."
英・ガーディアン;郵政改革のマドンナ達 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 日本の衆議院選挙の、造反、美人刺客、ホリエモン騒動などについて紹介している日本 政治のひやかし観察記事といったもの。ご丁寧に former Miss Tokyo University Satsuki Katayamaの写真もついている。いってみれば、夕刊紙のような記事。それにしても日本の 選挙のこういうエピソードが外電に出てくるというのは従来あまり見ないような。
小泉劇場で観客もメディアも大喜び、と書く。
The media and public are delighting in public these slanging matches. Pretty much from the outset, this election has been about Koizumi and his conservative nemeses.
The list of ``unacceptable behaviors'' includes expressing views that justify, glorify or foment terrorist violence, according to a statement released by the Home Office in London today. A database will be compiled of foreign-born radicals who will face vetting by immigration officials before being allowed into the U.K.
LONDON No one living in China is more daring than the maverick writer Yu Jie. He recently said of the memorial to Japan's war dead: "We criticize the Yasukuni Shrine, but we have Mao Zedong's shrine in the middle of Beijing, which is our own Yasukuni. This is a shame to me, because Mao Zedong killed more Chinese than the Japanese did. Until we are able to recognize our own problems, the Japanese won't take us seriously."
The Democrats appear to be losing ground in urban areas, traditionally their stronghold. 民主党は都市部で、明らかに支持を失っているが、それは伝統的に民主党の強い地域だった。
Only 9 percent of big-city voters said they planned to vote for the party, down from 17 percent in the previous poll. 都市部では有権者の9%が民主党支持で、以前の17%から低落している。
The LDP also has the backing of Japan's biggest business lobby, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), although a spokesman for the group denied reports that it planned to make a formal announcement of its support. 経団連も自民党を支持している。しかし経団連のスポークスマンは公的な支持の声明は出さない としている。
"The Bush administration finally did something right in brokering this constitution," Galbraith exclaimed, then added: "This is the only possible deal that can bring stability. ... I do believe it might save the country."
筆者はもう一人の鋭いイラク分析家、前CIA勤務で今はAEIに勤めるReuel Marc Gerechtにも 意見を求めた。
Gerecht is also upbeat about this constitution. It's crazy, he says, to think that you could have an Iraqi constitution in which clerical authorities are not assigned a significant role. Voters supported clerical parties because they are, right now, the natural leaders of society and serve important social functions.
Understanding the clerics, Gerecht has argued, means understanding two things. First, the Shiite clerical establishment has made a substantial intellectual leap. It now firmly believes in one person one vote, and rejects the Iranian model. On the other hand, these folks don't think like us.
What's important, Gerecht has emphasized, is the democratic process: setting up a system in which the different groups, secular and clerical, will have to bargain with one another, campaign and deal with the real-world consequences of their ideas. This is what's going to moderate them and lead to progress. This constitution does that. Shutting them out would lead to war.
But when you get Galbraith and Gerecht in the same mood, you know something important has happened. The U.S. has orchestrated a document that is organically Iraqi.
By concurring in the two-plus-two statement, Washington complicated the matter, leading many Chinese to wonder whether it was trying to moderate or aggravate Sino-Japanese relations.
``The recovery in Japan appears to be for real,'' said T.J. Marta, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. RBC's ``favorite trade'' is to sell dollars and buy yen, he said. The firm's forecast is for the dollar to fall to 95 yen next year.
ニューヨークのRBCキャピタル・マーケット社の為替ストらテジスト、T.J. Martaは「日本経済 の回復は本物で、ドル売り円買いにつながる。」という。彼は対ドルの円レートで来任は95円を 想定している。 A separate report from the Ministry of Finance showed foreign investors bought a net 447.7 billion yen in Japanese stocks in the week ended Aug. 19, a 10th week of net purchases. 別の報告で、日本の財務省の発表によれば、外国人投資家は8月19日の週に4477億ドルの日本株を 買い、10週間連続の買いこしになる。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 海外アナリストの分析をみても、国内とは異なリ、経済回復懐疑論とか、自民党勝利不安論といっ たものは殆ど見つからず、日本経済うp、自民党改革うp、日本株うp、という景気の良いもの ばかりで、半年ほど前までの、ここ5年間(以上)の日本悲観論が何処かにいってしまった。
Longtime Japan watchers often take comforting talk of a turnaround with a grain of salt. Most of the Nikkei's upswing came largely from the past three months. Dominic Rossi, who manages the AXP Threadneedle Global Equity Fund in London and has been overweight in Japan in 2005, concedes that hot money can flow like tides -- in during the evening, out during the morning -- particularly if something destabilizing happens, such as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's coalition surprisingly losing power in Sept. 11 elections.
長期の日本ウオッチャーは日本経済への楽観的な見方に、いくばくかの警戒心を持ってあたるように という。日経平均の上昇の大部分は過去3ヶ月に起こっているが、ロンドンのAPXThreadneedle Global Equity FundのファンドマネージャーDominic Rossiは、2005年に日本株の比重を増している。 彼はホットマネーは潮のように夕べに満ちて朝に引くかもしれないと警告していて、何かの不安定要 因、たとえば小泉政権の選挙での敗退といったことがあればそうなるという。
Mr. Rossi believes Japan's fundamentals are improving. But other nascent recoveries have hit the skids before, hurt by tax increases in 1997 and interest-rate increases of 2000, analysts say. Andrew Smithers, of Smithers & Co. in London, says the government is hamstrung by debt. Japan's net debt-to-GDP ratio is around 80%, according to the International Money Fund, up from 60% in 2000. (The U.S. was at 37% at the end of 2004, according to the Congressional Budget Office). That is "in the danger area," said Mr. Smithers. Consumer spending alone can't sustain Japan's economy, he added, because it represents only 59% of GDP there, compared with 70% in the U.S. and U.K.
Speaking to Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Jean-Louis Bruguiere said an attack on Tokyo, Singapore or Sydney would be symbolically important for al Qaeda. "We have several elements of information that make us think that countries in this region, especially Japan, could have been targeted," Bruguiere said without elaborating on the intelligence or nature of the threat.
ロイター:日本の政治の新時代の到来か By Linda Sieg ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ロイターの日本特派員、Linda Siegの書いた評論のような記事で、全体として古い自民党が壊れ 新しい自民党に変身するプロセスが進行中で、小泉首相が選挙に大勝すればそれが促進されるだ ろうという見方。
When Japan's reform-minded, telegenic prime minister flung a muffler round his neck and strolled jauntily before cameras at a leaders' summit, pundits predicted a new age was dawning in Japanese politics. Twelve years later, forces set in motion when Morihiro Hosokawa's coalition briefly ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party have revolutionised Japan's political culture.
For all the fuss, the political landscape might well appear little changed on September 12 if, as seems possible, the LDP and its junior coalition partner win a small majority and recruit former rebels or opposition defectors to bolster their ranks.
"The city is slowly rebuilding and returning to life. Some report that it's now the safest city in the Sunni Triangle due to the heavy presence of Iraqi police and army. Every major intersection now has unarmed Iraqi police directing traffic in crisp short-sleeve button down shirts, white gloves, black flack vests, and dark blue pants. More frequently we're responding to IEDs [improvised explosive devices] reported by local children, police and informants.
"The 10pm-5am curfew is still in effect. But people can be seen on the streets up until the last minutes before 10. The streets remain unlit at night although there are green neon lights around the minarets of the major mosques. Lines at the gas stations can be over a hundred cars long. Ironic since we are in the heart of oil country."
"We have tightened control in order to protect mobile phone users from malicious and fraudulent SMS (short messaging service) messages," Hu Yonglong, Vice Director of the Shanghai Communications Administration, told Interfax.
上海通信管理局の副局長、Hu Yonglongは「携帯電話の使用者を、邪悪な、また詐欺的な携帯メール から守るために、我々は管理を強めて、使用者に正規の名前を登録するように定めた」という 現在の使用者は、9月1日以降、3ヶ月以内に市内に設けられた登録所で正規の名前を登録しなければ ならない。 "If a mobile phone subscribers has not registered his or her legal name and is then later discovered to be a sender of fraudulent SMS, they will face serious consequences," Hu said.
イラクでは連日のように爆弾テロが起き、治安はますます深刻な状況になっている。比較的安定 しているといわれたサマワも例外ではない。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー The number of provinces that it's occurring in Iraq are relatively few, three or four or five, not 18; relatively modest numbers in the remainder. The -- as you point out, the lethality, however, is up. Interestingly, however, of the number of incidents, the overwhelming majority are not effective at all; there are no casualties. I'm going to say like 80 percent of them (ラムズフェルド国防長官記者会見) ttp://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
ttp://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section=ybbf&story_id=79477086&ID=blackenterprise "The stock market so far has stuck to only one scenario, which is victory for the ruling coalition," Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at the Tokai Tokyo Research Center, said. "So if any news indicating its defeat comes up, the mood will change dramatically. Many players are thus likely to keep a watch on how the election campaign plays out."
Greenspan Speaks, Stocks Fall Fed Chairman Warns Investors About Taking Excessive Risks By DAVID A. GAFFEN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE August 26, 2005 10:53 p.m.
Speaking at an annual central bankers' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Mr. Greenspan said investors have become willing to accept "lower compensation for risk" but that some view increases in market value as "structural and permanent" when "newly abundant liquidity can readily disappear."
He acknowledged the market's fears that rising rates could choke off the housing-related wealth effect that has contributed much to the economy in recent years -- one of the strongest warnings Mr. Greenspan has delivered about financial market risks in years. "History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums," he said.
While Mr. Greenspan often tweaks the market about the deficit and housing, "he just made it a little more blunt this time," said Mr. Pado. With oil prices higher, the costs of mortgages rising and Americans taking on increasing debt, "he made it clear how he felt."
グリ−ンスパン氏の演説は↑のWSJ記事の第二パラでも言っているように、アメリカの住宅市場 に発生している過熱性を放置すればバブルになるという警告を含んでいるわけで、記事の言うよう にグリーンスパン氏が明確な言い方をしたことは注目すべきなのでしょう。ある程度の成長率の犠 牲があっても、中長期の資産インフレを引き起こすわけにはいかないという金利政策を示したので しょうけれど、記事の第三パラにあるように(a little more blunt)という節度の中で行ったのだ と思います。
Pinning hopes on NATO's presence in Afghanistan is likewise quixotic. Even as the Atlantic alliance trumpeted its expansion into western Afghanistan this summer, the U.S. military quietly maintained a base of its own in the region. Why? As senior leaders in Kabul admit, NATO structures have proven ill-equipped to rapidly and flexibly disburse aid money, the lifeline of any stability operation. Rather than waiting for reform from Brussels, U.S. military leaders realized it was easier to act on their own.
読売新聞の支持率調査を伝える新華社。支持率は53.1%で先の調査から0.1%低下と うれしそうな様子の記事。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ttp://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=17496 Posted on 27 Aug 2005 # Reuters LDP support steady ahead of Japan election--poll:
ttp://frum.nationalreview.com/ AUG. 24, 2005: YET MORE READER RESPONSE ディビッド・フルムの日記(NRO) From a reader in an undisclosed location: "Yeah, it's depressing to see Bush not making the speeches he should. None of these condone - I am only guessing why.
ほかに、そうしタ世論の評価を論じたものとしては;“Pollitics” AEI resident fellow Karlyn H. Bowman discusses the latest poll numbers on terrorist threats against mass transit, President Bush, the Supreme Court, John Roberts’s nomination, the media, and smoking. ttp://www.aei.org/publication22906
To maintain momentum, Ms Merkel has to widen her reform agenda beyond tax reform and cuts in non-wage labour costs. She must talk about the next stage of welfare reform and marketliberalisation. She will have to do this not only to win, but also to govern. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 本来は「小泉と岡田」といった評論がFTに載るようであってほしいものだけれど民主党の 政権運営能力を現実的と高く買うのはエコノミストなど少数の外国メディアにとどまると思 われ。WSJやWaPoなどは不安を隠さない。
That raises many frightening possibilities, not just for China but for all those investors who've pumped billions into its rickety institutions. "If the Chinese banks collapse, the whole world economy collapses," Wilson warns. "The world economy is very dependent on China in ways we still don't completely fathom, and we won't for another five or 10 years." We do, however, know this: when Japan arrived at its day of reckoning, the rest of the world escaped relatively unscathed, and the lessons learned faded quickly. Should the same fate befall China, the pain will be spread far and wide. It's not something we're likely to forget.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi constitutional committee signed off on a draft of a constitution Sunday after making some minor amendments, a committee spokesman said. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー イラク新憲法草案に署名 起草委員会 <共同、8、27、フラッシュ>
SIXTY YEARS ago this month, Japan laid down its arms, ending World War II and embarking on a remarkable journey that has led a great nation to peace, democracy, and prosperity 60年前の第二次世界大戦の終戦で、日本は民主主義と平和と繁栄に向けての注目すべき新しい 歩みをはじめている。
(日本が過去の歴史を反省せず、民族主義的高揚が見られるとの説があるとの説明、略) This does not mean the Japanese will jettison their past or that everyone will agree with their interpretation of their own history or their reverence for controversial national symbols. We do not have to agree. What the world seeks, and what Japan readily agrees to, is a forward-looking nation ready to use its economic power and its profound commitment to democracy for the good of the world. 日本はその過去の全てを放棄したわけではなく、全ての人が歴史解釈に同意するということでは ないかもしれし、国家の象徴への尊崇についてもそうなのだが、我々アメリカ人がそれに同意す る必要があるというわけでもない。日本が望み、そして合意しているものは、深くコミットした 民主主義体制で、経済力で世界に貢献する前向きの国家という姿である。
The world has properly sought, and Japan has properly given, numerous apologies for the aggression of 60 and 70 years ago. But such acts of contrition for events in the last century must ultimately give way to more substantive acts of constructive engagement with the world of the new century, and here again Japan has not been found wanting.
Since the war, Japan has achieved six decades of sponsoring peace, democracy, and prosperity worldwide.This is the real Japan, the new Japan, the Japan that deserves our appreciation, respect, and friendship. 戦後の日本は平和と民主主義、経済繁栄で60年間、世界に支援してきた。それが現実の日本であり、 日本はアメリカの友好、評価、尊敬に値する。 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 前駐日大使のハワード・ベーカーが、一部に見られる日本は過去の歴史を充分に謝罪しておらず 近年の民族主義の高揚は危険な兆候、などとする(中国共産党的な)言辞に反論したもの。
フォーリン・アフェアーズ:イラクで成功するには By Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments の取締役というアナリストの書いている イラク論で、イラクの国内警備保障の問題を全面的にイラク人に任せなくてはいけない、とい う。外国人軍隊での、イラク国内武装派の殲滅というシナリオに批判的な論文で、むしろ、そ うした外国人軍隊のイラク駐留がアラブ諸国のイスラム過激派を活性化させ、シリアやイラン や、さまざまな国からのテロリスト流入を促進する面がある、という。そして、アラブでは外 国人テロリストのイラクへの供給については、それがなくなりそうもないのでアメリカの戦略 は今のままでは長期の駐留にならざるを得ない、という。
NYT:イラクで戦いに勝つために By DAVID BROOKS ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー NYTのOp-Ed Columnistのデイビッド・ブルークスの書いている評論で、>>191 の Andrew F. Krepinevichのいうイラク戦略(の転換論)を高く評価しているもの。
今週北京で開催の中国・アフリカ諸国フォーラム(China-Africa Co-operation Forum (CACF)) に触れて、アフリカへの中国の影響力について評論したもので、中国のなりふりかまわぬ資源 獲得外交のために、
“What is disconcerting is the willingness of China to not only help but to defend rogue regimes,” said Princeton Lyman, a former US ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria . “China [with its membership and veto on the Security Council] has in effect inhibited the United Nations from imposing sanctions on Sudan and, in Zimbabwe, is helping to bail out a regime that is repressive and is destroying the country.”
Meanwhile, China relishes the West’s difficulties. China’s deputy foreign minister Zhou Wenzhong recently said: “Business is business. We try to separate politics from business. You [the West] have tried to impose a market economy and multiparty democracy on these countries which are not ready for it. We are also against embargoes [on African states], which you have also tried to use against us.”
ttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=af3Rifje1e6c&refer=us ``If the polls are showing it's closer, then that makes investors nervous because the outcome is less clear and that hurts the yen,'' said Marcus Hettinger, a currency strategist at Credit Suisse Group in Zurich. ``Investors just want to see the economy doing well.'' August 29, 2005 07:53 EDT
ブルームバーグ;チューリッヒのクレディスイスの為替グループで通貨ストラテジストの Marcus Hettingerは「日本の世論調査で、与党と野党の支持率の差が縮小してきているの で、海外投資家は円に対して神経質になっている。さらに投資家は、日本経済の現状が健 全であるかを見極めたいとしている」
November marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Democratic Party. This amazing organization held power virtually without break during those five decades. It would be ironic if this year spelled the electoral defeat and possible crackup of this historic party. Or, it could be the year the LDP gains a whole new lease on life. That is Koizumi's great gamble.
Keeping vital naval bases open like New London, Conn., and Kittery, Maine, are steps in the right direction. But unless we find a way to maintain our military edge beyond the War on Terror, such as building two new nuclear attack subs a year instead of one as the Pentagon currently wants, we will be sending the wrong signals at precisely the wrong moment ? and may find ourselves facing Peace Mission 2005 again, but this time for real.
WSJ/OPJ:チャラビの復活 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー OPJに掲載された、とてもおもすろい記事で、ブレーマーイラク臨時行政官時代にアメリカ軍 と親密な関係があり、イラク政策のキイマンとみなされていて、その後失脚した Ahmed Chalabi が復活して、再びイラク政治の重要人部になっているというもの。
Ahmed Chalabiの失脚にはいろいろな要素があって、そのひとつはイラク政策を進める上での国務 省と国防省の対立(誰をイラク側の重要パートナーとするか)、WMDが見つからなかったことに 対するイラク側情報提供体制(チャラビはCIAと特に親密だった)の責任追及、それにイラク国 内の政治闘争の駆け引きやスキャンダルが加わった複雑怪奇なもの。
August 28, 2005: Many Sunni Arabs themselves are getting fed up with the terrorism, and lack of order in Sunni Arab areas. The contrast between the poverty stricken Sunni Arab areas, and the peaceful, and increasingly prosperous Kurdish and Shia Arab zones, is growing. Sunni Arab tribes are taking sides, and going to war with each other over this issue. That’s part of the problem with the deadlock over the new constitution. The other problem is that many Sunni Arabs really believe that they represent the majority of the population. Even those Sunni Arabs who know better, believe that the Sunni Arabs deserve more power, and oil income, than their 20 percent of the population justifies. The fact that Sunni Arabs have called the shots for centuries is something the Sunni Arabs just cannot give up, or at least not give up easily. At the same time, Sunni Arabs appear to be clueless when it comes to confronting their blood soaked past, and the fact that they grabbed most of the oil money for the past half century. Too many Sunni Arabs believe that reality does not apply to them.
FORTUNATELY, the longer-term outlook remains bright. Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies points out that (ハーバード大学の共同研究報告は中期で楽観的)
* Housing is still relatively affordable in 77 of 110 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas; (米国都市部の110地区の中の77地区で、価格はまだ比較的に妥当)
* In several areas in which prices have risen most rapidly, "natural or regulatory- driven supply constraints may have resulted in permanently higher prices;" (価格上昇の著しい地区では、規制や供給限界からの供給不測による価格上昇が見られる)
* Household growth, and with it the demand for houses, is likely to accelerate over the next decade, with immigrants accounting for one-third of that growth; (次の10年間での住宅需要は移民の増加などで従来以上に多きくなる。移民の影響は三分の一)
* Baby Boomers, possessed of "record wealth [are] fueling the demand for . . . second homes"; (団塊世代が第二住宅を求めている)
* The increase in minority first-time buyers "is dramatic." (少数民族などの、最初の住宅購入希望者は、ドラスティックに多い)
So if demography is destiny, things look good for homebuilders. And since homeowners don't dump their houses, in which most have built up substantial equity as well as emotional ties, at the first sign of a price drop (houses are not shares of stock, after all) the danger of a nation-wide significant downward price spiral seems minimal. Australia's experience suggests that an end of price increases need not precede the start of nation- wide price declines. Still, prospective buyers would do well to heed Professor Schiller's warning: "Beware"--of unaffordable mortgages, and tales of never-ending price increases.
The fact that some Sunnis have declined to sign on to the current draft has been played by the mainstream media as a defeat for the Bush administration and, somehow, an indictment of its policy in Iraq. Which causes me to wonder: if the United States were now to commission a group with representatives from all ideological, political, religious and ethnic groups to write a new constitution, do you think that they would achieve unanimity? Do you think that they would come anywhere near as close to consensus as the Iraqi negotiators did?
August 30, 2005: In the last 18 months, there has been a noticeable decline in hostile incidents by North Korean troops along the DMZ, and at sea. Part of this is North Korean attempts at diplomacy, but American military officials believe poverty also plays a role. Despite diverting about a third of their GDP to the military, that's not enough to keep a 1.2 million man force going, much less up-to-date.
Since 2001, the sum of errors and omissions and the non-FDI capital account balance has swung around markedly, turning sharply positive in 2003?04. Indeed, this category has been the dominant contributor to the surge in the pace of reserve accumulation since 2001. A likely reason for the turnaround is that it represents large inflows of speculative capital in anticipation of a possible appreciation of the renminbi. Such flows may not enter through official channels since they would otherwise run afoul of capital controls.
In any case, wouldn’t a decline in investment growth hurt China’s long-term growth prospects? Quite the contrary. Reducing China’s overall investment growth and directing capital toward more economically efficient uses is in fact essential to help ensure the durability of China’s economic expansion. Moving in this manner toward domestic demand- led growth, and tilting domestic demand itself toward consumption-led rather than investment-led growth, would help put China on a more sustainable growth path.
Add it all up, and clearly the world will remember the Koizumi years as a time of significant change for Japan. And regardless of how Koizumi and the LDP fare on Sept. 11, those changes are likely to be lasting ones, too.
Facts speak for themselves. This election is about further reducing bureaucratic havens and reinforcing the government's weak financial base by ensuring Finance Ministry solvency. Koizumi's postal reform, if successful, will give him and the Liberal Democratic Party greater control over the economic levers of government and solidify the power base for future generations of politicians.
On one level, an electoral victory for Koizumi will right the political wrongs of Occupation head Gen. Douglas MacArthur, but at another level it continues the old Japanese power game of state-controlled economics.
The Koizumi administration, often characterized as authoritarian and arrogant, reflects the growing centralization and strengthening of Japan's political power elite. Koizumi's neoconservative shock troops want a new constitution and a stronger military.
This new Japan appears likely to be more confrontational with its neighbors, especially China, and to be unwilling to express feelings of guilt over its prewar past. Increasing the power of the politicians and securing control over the financial resources to fund Japan's growing debt is what the Sept. 11 election is really all about.
David Linehan, the manager of the Excelsior Asia Pacific Fund, recently had a hefty 56 percent of his portfolio in Japan. "That's more than in a long time," he said. His low, in 2002, was 16 percent.
BEIJING, Aug. 29 - The Chinese police raided the office of an American-financed human rights group here on Monday shortly before the arrival of the United Nations human rights chief, as the authorities sought to keep a tight lid on dissent during the visit.
大統領の思惑にもかかわらず与野党連携の実現する可能性は低く、権力の移譲など誰もまと もに考えてはいないので、大統領が今までどおり職務遂行する以外の道はない。 Then there is no alternative but for the president to continue to push ahead, and for those who are not interested in a coalition to carry on doing their jobs.
ロイター:胡錦涛はアメリカ訪問で「中国脅威論」をなだめようというわけだが ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー The Chinese president hopes to defuse some U.S. angst with a possible deal to end a dispute over Chinese textiles and by milking any remaining goodwill over China's July revaluation of its currency. His underlying message, diplomats say, will be that China's development is positive for the United States.
In return, analysts say, Hu wants the United States to ease off on its rhetoric about China's military threat and stop pushing arms to Taiwan, which China claims as its own. How successful he will be remains to be seen.
"While China's economy has become more and more market-oriented, China's political system remains single-party rule or dictatorship, and this is the very root of all the talk about a China threat," Jing Huang, an analyst at Washington-based Brookings Institution, said.
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The yen may advance for a second day against the dollar in Asia after the latest opinion poll showed a widening margin of support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
世論調査で小泉首相への支持が増していることを受けて円が高くなっている。
``Markets have been pricing in Koizumi's victory in the elections,'' said Toru Umemoto, chief currency analyst at Barclays Plc in Tokyo. ``That's positive for the yen.''
ttp://news.ft.com/cms/s/1faab0d8-1a7f-11da-b7f5-00000e2511c8.html Shizuka Kamei, one of the top Liberal Democratic party rebels who helped to organise the defeat of bills toprivatise Japan Post, described Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister, yesterday as “a fascist, a tyrant and a despot”.
Washington proposed that Hu meet President George W Bush at his Crawford, Texas ranch or Camp David retreat -- informal settings where the American leader feels comfortable discussing issues in a relaxed fashion.
But Chinese officials wanted a state visit for Hu -- an arrival ceremony on the White House south lawn accompanied by a 21-gun salute customary for a head of state, a summit meeting at the Oval office and a State dinner.
Washington however was worried a state visit would not go well among Americans.
アメリカ政府は、胡錦涛主席の国賓待遇が、国民に良く思われないのではと憂慮した。
Finally, after much deliberations and a compromise, US officials agreed to give Hu a 21 gun salute and a welcome on the south lawn but drew a line at the state banquet -- no state dinner but just a lunch, officials familiar with the protocol said.
'Unfortunately I think that is the product of really the Chinese intent on making this a state visit. I think the outcome is not particularly good,' Schriver said, according to Agence France-Presse. 'For relations to actually move to the next level, they need to worry less about 21 guns and more about how to get this president comfortable to discuss issues,' he added.
江沢民の訪米では、アメリカ政府は国賓待遇とした。 Jiang was given a state visit because 'there was a desire on the part of the Clinton administration to improve relations with China and to show that US-China relations were good,' said John Tkacik, a former US State Department official and now a China expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. 'My impression is that this time, the Bush administration did not want to give that impression that relations are flowering,' he said.
Tokyo, Sept. 1 (Jiji Press)--Foreign investors last week stayed net buyers of Japanese stocks for the 11th straight week, helping drive up the benchmark Nikkei average to four-year highs, a Tokyo Stock Exchange report showed Thursday. 東京株式市場への外人買いは11週間連続している。
Nonresidents posted net buying of 298,751 million yen in the Aug. 22-26 week, down slightly from 304,894 million yen in the previous week. The 11-week streak of their net purchases was the longest since the 15 consecutive weeks of their buying excess reported between December last year and March this year.
Two major factors continued to drive the market higher--a widespread recognition that the Japanese economy has emerged from a soft patch and expectations that the ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party will win the Sept. 11 general election thanks to high public support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who heads the party.
WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked the International Energy Agency to ship emergency gasoline to the struggling U.S. gasoline market, where retail prices have soared since Hurricane Katrina shut down eight Gulf Coast refineries.
A U.S. government official told Reuters that most of the IEA gasoline supplies would come from European member nations. The IEA coordinates emergency oil reserves in 26 industrialized countries, including the United States.
IEAの要請にこたえて欧州各国からの輸出がなされると予想している。
The U.S. market has lost daily gasoline production of about 42 million gallons or about 1 million barrels, equal to 10 percent of the nation's normal consumption, according to government estimates. Eight refineries were shut and several others crippled from Katrina's 140 mile per hour winds on Monday and ensuing floods and power outages.
The refinery disruption cut a total of about 2 million bpd of U.S. refining capacity to make gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel and other products. One barrel holds 42 gallons.
石油精製施設の被害は、アメリカでの合計は日量200万バレルのガソリン精製能力の減少になる。
The IEA said it is able to draw down 3.3 million bpd in its member nations' refined product inventories for 30 days.
IEAは日量330万バレルまでの提供が30日間、加盟国からの協力による拠出で可能という。
Under the IEA's allocation procedures, the United States would be responsible for using its own emergency crude stockpile to make up 44 percent of the 2 million bpd loss. The remaining 56 percent would come from IEA members' gasoline reserves.
The United States has an emergency stockpile of 700 million barrels of crude oil known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and a smaller one for heating oil. It does not have a gasoline stockpile.
アメリカの緊急用石油備蓄は7億バレルで、原油と灯油であり、ガソリンの備蓄はしていない。
On Thursday, the Bush administration loaned 8.5 million barrels of emergency crude oil from its stockpile to three refineries. Other requests for several million barrels of crude were being reviewed.
Some of Mr Hu's handicaps are personal. Foreign affairs are still a bit of a maze to him, and he knew little of them before he assumed the leadership. Nor does he seem to have hit it off with President George Bush, though they have met several times elsewhere. He remains an enigmatic figure, with none of Deng's crowd-pleasing ways. Diplomats say he prefers to stick closely to his brief.
WSJ/OPJ;カタリーナ台風対応、官僚主義の失敗 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー 記録的な大型台風カタリーナの被害がニューオーンズで暴動騒ぎまで引き起こしていることにつ いて欧州サヨクはブッシュ非難という解かり易杉の対応をしている(幼稚な)ものもあるのだけ れど(たとえば、ガーディアンの、Katrina comes home to roost、President Bush is to blame for the scale of the disaster as a result of his administration's policies and actions、 Sidney Blumenthal、Friday September 2, 2005、 ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1561246,00.html)いくらなんでも、これは無 茶苦茶で、論理も合理もない、只の非難誹謗になってしまっている。
September 2, 2005: The Russian navy is apparently preparing two late model two Akula class nuclear submarines, for transfer to India. The subs will be leased, with the option to buy.
I think CNN would turn Noah's flood into a partisan attack on George Bush. Even such a hardened politico as James Carville had to tell their brain dead reporter to shut up and deal with the reality in front of him, rather than casting blame. What is wrong with these CNN people? What culture do they come from? Their lack of moral and psychological sophistication is truly stunning. ttp://www.rogerlsimon.com/
As a third-generation LDP politician, Mr Koizumi is an unlikely candidate finally to torpedo "Japan Inc" - the trinity of bureaucratic, political and business interests that have run the country for 50 years. But if he succeeds, he will emerge as one of Japan's strongest political leaders since 1955
From shock therapy to sleep therapy ショック・セラフィかスリープ・セラフィか? By Kenneth Rogoff (Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist of the IMF, is Professor of Economics at Harvard University.)
In a remarkable coincidence of timing, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for early elections in the hope of energizing reform. In Germany, the most urgent needs are for tax and labor-market reform. In Japan, the Koizumi government wants to privatize the behemoth postal service, whose giant financial arm is wrapped like a python around the country’s banking system.
Even in the United States, one of the few places where economic liberalization is not a dirty word, President George W. Bush has his own frustrations. Despite a huge investment of time and energy, he has failed to marshal even his own troops in support of a relatively modest proposal to stave off collapse of the nation’s old-age insurance program. Indeed, Bush’s popularity has taken a beating over pension reform.
・・・
If change is inevitable, we must make our economies more flexible and prepare to live with the consequences. There is no other way. So why doesn’t the public accept this need for flexibility, which, in the end, is what market-based economic liberalization is all about? ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー パキスタンのディリータイムズに掲載の評論だけれど、大変良いものにみえる。
I haven't had much chance to watch TV or read the papers, because even here in central Mississippi, there is just too doggone much to do, trying to cope with refugees and track down missing family on the Coast and wait in line for gasoline, etc., etc. But the little I have seen, especially on national TV, is weird and bizarre, with all the fingerpointing and self-righteous pontificating going on from the talking heads.
These guys and gals need to get a clue. Today's story is not: "What went wrong and who can we blame?" -- that story can wait for tomorrow. Today the story is: "What are the obstacles preventing help from arriving and what can we do to solve them?" Some of these people are reporting like they've never been through a natural disaster, like they have no idea of the logistical nightmares that occur when power, water, communications systems and transportation systems literally disappear overnight. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who are disgusted with much of the national TV coverage. For God's sake, please tell them to save the finger-pointing and blame game for when the immediate disaster is over.
A Perfect Storm of Lawlessness ニューオーリンズの洪水と暴力行為について By Nicole Gelinas. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ニューオーリンズで洪水発生後に起こっている、数々の不法行為(窃盗、強姦、殺人・・) について、地元の事情に詳しい筆者の書いているたいへん興味深い分析記事。これを読むと、 メディアの報道している事情は、ほんの上っ面しかカバーしていないことが良くわかる。
・洪水で、普通の市民が避難したあとで、違法行為が蔓延しているのは不思議ではない。むしろ そうした行為に走るために残留した人が多いとみるべき Katrina didn’t turn innocent citizens into desperate criminals. This week’s looters (not those who took small supplies of food and water for sustenance, but those who have trashed, burned, and shot their way through the city since Monday) are the same depraved individuals who have pushed New Orleans’ murder rate to several multiples above the national average in normal times.
ttp://www.powerlineblog.com/ パワーライン・ブログ The DOD response is well ahead of the 1992 Hurricane Andrew timetable. Back then, the support request took nine days to crawl through the bureaucracy. The reaction this time was less than three days officially, and DOD had been pre-staging assets in anticipation of the aid request from the moment Katrina hit. DOD cannot act independently of course; the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the lead agency. Requests for assistance have to be routed from local officials through FEMA to U.S. Northern Command and then to the necessary components. In practice, this means state officials have to assess damage and determine relief requirements; FEMA has to come up with a plan for integrating the military into the overall effort; DOD has to begin to pack and move the appropriate materiel, and deploy sufficient forces. This has all largely been or is being accomplished.
The investigators, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, are expected to issue a public report Wednesday about abuses in the relief program. A committee spokesman said it would be at least 700 pages and would also examine the responsibility of Security Council members who knowingly allowed Saddam Hussein to reap billions from smuggling and kickbacks.
東南西北ブログ(中国情報ブログ) The Internet Sea Change In China. What is a 'sea change' anyway? The phrase is a quotation from Shakespeare. It comes from Ariel’s wonderfully evocative song in The Tempest:
Full fathom five thy father lies: Of his bones are coral made: Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.
'sea change'というのは、時間を経て穏やかな変化がやがては全てを飲み込むような変化(トラン スフォーメーション)にいたる過程を言う。中国のブロガーMichael Antiにドイッチェ・ベレがイ ンタビューした記事がある。 ttp://www.zonaeuropa.com/20050904_1.htm (Blogging in China: The Michael Anti Interview)
"We will stick to the fundamental principles of 'peaceful reunification' and 'one country, two systems,' as well as the eight-point proposal for the current stage of efforts to develop crossStraits relations and advance the process of peaceful national reunification," Hu noted.
As for Category 4 storms like Katrina, the only defense was to pray nothing wicked that way came for three decades.
"any concerted effort to protect the city from a storm of category 4 or 5 will probably take 30 years to complete. And the feasibility study alone for such an effort will cost as much as $8 million. Even though Congress has authorized the feasibility study, funding has not yet been appropriated. When funds are made available, the study will take about six years to complete. “That’s a lot of time to get the study before Congress,” Naomi admits. “Hopefully we won’t have a major storm before then." ttp://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
The safe evacuation of threatened populations when endangered by a major catastrophic event is one of the principle reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan. The thorough identification of at-risk populations, transportation and sheltering resources, evacuation routes and potential bottlenecks and choke points, and the establishment of the management team that will coordinate not only the evacuation but which will monitor and direct the sheltering and return of affected populations, are the primary tasks of evacuation planning. Due to the geography of New Orleans and the varying scales of potential disasters and their resulting emergency evacuations, different plans are in place for small-scale evacuations and for citywide relocations of whole populations.(ry
Opinion polls in Japan show Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's party is likely to be returned to power with an increased majority in next weekend's election. The Asahi Shimbun poll suggests his Liberal Democratic Party is likely to win over 250 seats in the 480-member House of Representatives in the September 11 vote.
The prediction means the upcoming vote could be the first general election since 1990 in which the L-D-P would be able to govern alone without needing to rely on a coalition partner. ABC Asia Pacific TV / Radio Australia
No, this is not new. "Where's the federal government?" is a question we seem to ask more often than ever. And not just when natural disasters hit. Terrorism, health care, jobs, AIDS, avian flu, gasoline prices, you name it ? people expect the feds to do something ? NOW! Sometimes it's legitimate; sometimes it's not.
Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, speaking on WWL radio Thursday night, screamed that federal officials "don't have a clue what's going on down here." Yet, even as he spoke, tens of thousands of National Guard troops were on their way to afflicted parts of the Gulf. Tons of supplies ? food, water, medicine ? were being airlifted in.
Scapegoating the federal government misses the point. No president can stop a hurricane, or keep people from looting, rioting or shooting at government aircraft. Nor, for that matter, can a president know all that's needed, and how much, in an emergency.
Yes, the federal government can help clean up the mess, police the streets with federal troops, even bring in food. It can also budget more than the $4 billion it now spends each year on an average 50 or so declared emergencies nationwide.
But it can't make local officials prepare for the inevitable or make local victims immediately whole. Nor can it make New Orleans rise from the rubble.
That will take more than federal largess or bureaucratic diktat. It will require local people to roll up their sleeves and, with help from the rest of us, rebuild their beautiful city. Let's get to work.
ttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=adfhWNOetblw&refer=japan ``There is a growing possibility of a victory for the LDP and Koizumi by a big margin, which is positive for the yen,'' said Minoru Shioiri, senior manager of the treasury and foreign exchange division in Tokyo at Mitsubishi Securities Co., a unit of Japan's second-biggest lender. ``There is speculation that Koizumi's grip on power will strengthen, making it easier for him to promote reforms.'' Sept. 5 (Bloomberg)
The report, from the independent committee appointed by Kofi Annan and chaired by Volcker, a former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, will criticize the Secretary-General's failure to stop corruption inside the oil-for-food scheme, as well as his responsibility for U.N. mismanagement, the sources tell TIME. But the report does not find that he influenced U.N. contracts in favor of Cotecna--or knew the precise details of his son's car deal.
In a September 2004 article for China Reform Forum Journal, Mr. Zheng revised his formulation of the theory in an effort to address these concerns: "Our China's] path is different from both the paths of Germany in World War I and Germany and Japan in World War II, when they tried to overhaul the world political landscape by way of aggressive wars. Our path is also to be different from that of the former U.S.S.R. during the reign of Brezhnev, which relied on a military bloc and arms race in order to compete with the United States for world supremacy."
Mr. Zheng told me that, after some months of internal debate, the party finally concluded last November that "there is no contradiction between military modernization or military strength and China's peaceful rise."
Beijing's real meaning of Peaceful Rise can best be understood by the analogy of a newcomer who deliberately walks down the middle of a wide street straight toward someone walking on an intersecting path. From China's perspective, there is no reason to deviate from its path-and it is the other party who should shift its course to accommodate the new arrival's route. To challenge the new arrival would be seen as hostile, while even failing to shift out of his route might be interpreted in the same way and result in a clash.
That analogy is worth bearing in mind as Beijing seeks to put a friendly face on a policy which, upon closer examination, may not be nearly so benign.
Q. The Japanese press said that you didn't want to join the LDP. Is it that you didn't want to join them, or you couldn't get them to accept you?
A: Yes to both. I didn't want to join them, and they didn't want me. They wanted me to step down as Livedoor's CEO. I can't do that. They didn't ask that of me in the beginning. There are people in the LDP who are scared of [me]. The head of the party and those directly below didn't care, but talk of my joining the party sparked off a wave of alarm within the so-called opposition forces in the party; that's why they created such impossible clauses. Obviously it wasn't something I could stomach. I may have gotten their endorsement if I agreed to resign, but I think it's not worth it.
Q. Is it really possible for you to remain as Livedoor CEO and become a Diet member?
A: It can be done. Why are you asking this? Because no one has done so in the past? There's no law that says you can't be both a Diet member and a CEO. Of course it's different if you're talking about joining the cabinet or becoming the prime minister. You can't be both prime minister and CEO. At that point I don't know if I would choose CEO or prime minister. But as a Diet member there's no problem. Politicians say it's a problem because they're weak at numbers and don't think of anything else besides politics. They don't understand business; that's why they think it's impossible. Actually I think that there's a lot of benefit in being both in business and government.
Q. Do you think you're starting to become more aligned with the mainstream?
A: I haven't changed. If it seems I'm becoming more mainstream, doesn't that mean instead that Japan is aligning itself with me? I haven't changed one bit.
Mr. Loy's posting that Friday afternoon came three days before the hurricane struck and two days before the mayor of New Orleans, Ray C. Nagin, issued an evacuation order. Posts over the next several days, in aggregate, seem now like an eerie rewriting of the tale of Chicken Little, in which the sky does in fact fall. ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー こういう記事を読むと、ネットやブログが、既存のメディアの限界を超えた、アルタナティブな 情報提供が出来ていることに驚かされる。
First of all, their equipment is old, decrepit and poorly maintained. Most of their tanks are elderly T-62s (a 1960s design), and T-54s (a half century old design). Fuel shortages make it impossible to train the crews, especially the drivers. Money shortages mean few spare parts and little gunnery practice. Put their 3,000 tanks up against what South Korea and the U.S. has, and there will be a general slaughter of the North Korean vehicles. Iraq had better tanks, and better trained crews in 1991 and 2003, and got quickly blown off the battlefield both times. The North Korean air force is not much better, although they have gotten some MiG-29s, but they cannot afford the fuel for their pilots to fly them on many training missions. It’s another massacre in the making. The navy is in slightly better shape, as they have some submarines that could be a problem. Again, these boats don’t get to sea that often, which means the crews will make mistakes in wartime.
The big fear down south was always been the hundreds of thousands of North Korean infantry coming across the border, especially through the mountainous, forested portions in the east. But the North Korean infantry is poorly fed, led and trained. Despite diverting resources, including foreign food donations, to the military, there has not been enough to keep the army up to snuff. Even over 100,000 commandoes, long believed to be a key weapon in any move south, are hobbled by lack of resources. Most of these elite troops will have to hike over the mountains along the DMZ, because their air and sea transport is no longer in working order. The South Koreans are also prepared to deal with these troops, at least enough to make sure the northern super soldiers are not a decisive weapon.
Even the North Korean artillery and rockets, many of them within range of the South Korean capital, Seoul, are much less potent than they used to be. Lack of fuel and spare parts has limited training, and the North Korean tactics were never that effective anyway. While a few hundred of the long range guns, and rockets, can reach Seoul (and kill hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians), most of the northern artillery will get destroyed by superior artillery and air power.
The North Korean leadership are apparently well aware of all this. Which is why they place so much faith in nuclear weapons. Only nukes can put them back into the balance of terror game, and provide a credible weapon with which to blackmail their neighbors, and the United States.
He was the first postwar prime minister who had the courage to go and pray at the Yakusuni shrine for the Japanese war dead, including General Hideki Tojo, prime minister in World War II, and 13 others whom the Allies convicted as war criminals.
The temple was originally founded to commemorate the victims of a civil war in 1868-69 that ended the rule of the Shoguns and restored the power of the emperor. As Japan fought other wars, those who died in them were added to the pantheon. Yakusuni means the peaceful country. The Japanese believe that when people die, they become gods, and live in a tranquil place within sight of their descendants; the living go to Yakusuni to pay homage to their dead ancestors and relatives. The names of 2? million little gods are recorded at the shrine. When Koizumi went to Yakusuni in 2001, 700 people filed suits charging him with breach of the Japanese constitution (adopted when General MacArthur ruled a defeated Japan, it prohibits Japan from waging war). And yet, this supposedly chauvinistic prime minister is an admirer of Winston Churchill who fought Japan.
(中略) After World War II, Japan set up factories using the latest technology, kept the yen low, and achieved the world’s lowest costs in industry after industry. When the oil crisis struck in the early 1970s, Japan was the most energy-efficient country in the world; in the next ten years, the Japanese increased their energy efficiency by a third. With sustained low-cost production, they kept a boom going for almost forty years. At its end, they were rich, and their economy emerged the world’s third largest.
But by the 1980s, their payments surpluses were so huge that they found it difficult to find investments abroad. They bought up and financed much urban real estate. Once they owned Rockefeller Plaza, the most expensive property in New York. When I went to Melbourne in 1989, its entire city centre was owned by Japanese banks ? and most of it was empty for want of tenants. The Japanese lost much money on their investments abroad.
But even such spectacular innovations could not keep up growth; by the end of the 1990s, production was declining. To revive it, the Japanese government tried out classical Keynesian solutions. It reduced interest rates to close to zero; but investment failed to revive. So it started itself to invest in infrastructure. On that trip, I found that the government was scooping out an entire mountain and dumping it into the sea to create a new port. Such profligacy has left Japan with a debt that is one-and-a-half times its GDP ? twice India’s proportion, and India is pretty bankrupt itself.
Such huge infrastructure pro-jects were funded by Japan Post. But they did not bring any returns; there was no income to pay interest. The only people it enriched were borrowers, contractors and their political patrons. It was a racket, which Koizumi is determined to end.
ttp://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/12568267.htm The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 84.62 points, or 0.67 percent to 12,719.50 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The index climbed at a four-year high close of 12,634.88 on Monday. Traders expect the Nikkei to keep climbing, perhaps reaching 13,000 as early as next week, amid confidence that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will win Sunday's national elections.(AP)
Virginia rescue workers go door to door. If people resist the plea to leave, Mr. Judkins told The Daily Press in Newport News, rescue workers give them Magic Markers and ask them to write their Social Security numbers on their body parts so they can be identified.
The collapse of Schroder's red-green coalition this year was one of the most ignominious events in its history. With a clear parliamentary majority and more than a year of its mandate remaining, Schroder in effect threw in his hand, calling an election that he seemed certain to lose. More than anything, it was an admission of bankruptcy, a confession that the once mighty SPD had nothing left to offer Europe's largest and most important nation.
The SPD's central failure has been its inability to provide a coherent social-market-based answer to the problems posed for the nation state by globalisation. There are many reasons behind this failure, some only too understandable. No country in Europe, after all, has had to absorb so many economic, political and cultural shocks as Germany in the aftermath of its 1990 reunification. The rest of Europe still underestimates the scale of this fantastic effort.
Nevertheless, too much of the SPD remains too comfortable with a vision of Germany, and of Europe, that is too heavily defined by the cold war. German social democrats cling to a social and economic model that made great sense - and was economically sustainable - as long as the Berlin Wall existed.
Not that Merkel is the answer to Germany's or the EU's problems. She isn't. But she is a less bad answer than Schroder. She offers some prospect, at least until the CDU starts losing Lander elections, of a government that will stick with the reform agenda while remaining true to inclusive social-market principles and spurning France's desire for anti-American grandstanding. A Merkel government will be good for Europe. It is the ultimate indictment of the German left that one finds oneself saying such things with such confidence.
Mayor Nagin(ニューオーリンズ市長) When you know that the city you lead is 1) below sea-level and built to withstand only a Category 3 storm and 2) is a very difficult place to evacuate based on past history and 3) is relying on what you yourself characterize as limited local resources to conduct such an operation, there is no excuse to wait until less than 24 hours to pull the trigger on ordering a mandatory evacuation when a Category 5 storm is bearing down on you. None.
When all is said and done I think we'll find that the greatest contributing factor in this tragedy was Mayor Nagin's lack of urgency on the front end and his inability to coordinate and execute an evacuation plan (even one that now looks in hindsight to have been seriously flawed) that got as many people out of New Orleans as possible. RCP氏は、この市長の判断の誤りが最も罪深いと断ずる。規定の市民脱出・移送計画を実行 できなかったために。
Governor Blanco(州知事) Since the hurricane hit Blanco's response has been a case study in lack of leadership; 非常時の危機管理に当たるべき行政の長として指導力不足
Michael Brown(FEMA長官) He's got to go. The bottom line is that as the man in charge of coordinating federal relief efforts the results produced on his watch were simply not good enough 連邦政府の危機管理官庁として職務怠慢で首にすべき
President Bush(大統領) As captain of the team, Bush is responsible for his players and he should have recognized sooner that Michael Brown was not getting the job done. 連邦政府のFEMAなどの危機管理機能が充分ではないことを認めて対処すべき。
Let me mention just one concern: Hurricane Katrina seems to have hit the black population of the Gulf Coast disproportionately hard. This has driven liberal America to a frenzy of accusation about race, class, and the uncaring Bush administration. Many conservatives have responded with counter-observations about looting, the incompetence of the state and city governments and police forces, and the character and capability of the local African-American population.
And now the country seems to be wallowing in it again, angrily in some cases, gleefully in others, and I can only wonder: Is this really necessary? Must Americans inflict and reinflict this injury upon themselves again and again and again? 09:18 AM ttp://frum.nationalreview.com/
The worst natural disaster in American history has become an ideological storm, with accusations and counter-accusations flying even before the flooding can be plugged and the dead counted.
On the left, Katrina has become an opportunity to re-amplify a half decade's worth of accusations against the Bush administration. ・・・・ ・・・・ So long as the message is consistently anti-Bush, it does not have to be consistent in any other way. The Mayor of New Orleans has now joined the litany. "We authorized $8-billion to go to Iraq, lickety split," he said yesterday.
But so what? In politics, innocence is seldom much of an excuse. Quite suddenly, Mr. Bush is looking at his own storm of political trouble. ・・・・ ・・・・ The elder George Bush lost in 1992 in part because he was perceived to have mishandled 1991's Hurricane Andrew. Katrina is bigger than either catastrophe--and its impact may be correspondingly bigger as well.
First, the rise in Japanese shares this year is looking more and more rational amid signs of strong corporate profits. As Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Tokyo points out, Japan's debt-to-equity ratio has been cut in half and profit margins have doubled in the past decade.
The second area of optimism is Japan's move away from the concrete-and-asphalt economics of the past. Koizumi's greatest accomplishment since taking over the LDP in April 2001 is reducing public works spending. By the year starting April 2007, Koizumi says he will have reduced such projects 15 percent to help cut Japan's national debt.
Third, by putting economic reform on the radar screen, Koizumi has created an unmistakable momentum. Even if he were to lose power Sunday, it's highly unlikely Japan's next leader might reverse course, especially when you consider most voters want less public works spending.
Koizumi also is changing the LDP from within. He has marginalized some opponents within the party and is stacking it with politicians who favor economic revision. And he's sacrificing the rural vote -- the LDP's political base and one resistant to reforming Japan Post -- for support among urban voters. It may alter Japan's political priorities.
Japan has much further to go to revive its economy. The good news is that change is afoot regardless of who is in the prime minister's residence after Sunday.
次の選挙でも政権交代はなさそうだ、とかくオーニシDQN名物記者なのだけど The Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan nearly continuously for half a century, appears headed for another victory in the general election on Sunday - a big one, if polls are correct. (世論調査どおりなら自民党の大勝になる)
まあ、それはよいとして、しかし Japan's democracy is East Asia's oldest, but its ruling party has held power almost as long as the Communist parties in China and North Korea. Younger democracies in South Korea and Taiwan have already experienced changes in ruling parties, and the underpinnings of democracies, from vibrant civil societies to strong, independent media, appear to be flourishing there more than they are here. ったく笑わせてくれる。さすがにオーニシ級DQNとなると発想がまるでジョーク;
Q. During Livedoor's acquisition of Fuji Television, you were seen as an anti- establishment maverick. Why don't you join the opposition party, the DPJ, instead? A: Because the DPJ's leader is inept. [DPJ President Katsuya] Okada is not a real leader. I've met and talked to him twice for several hours. He doesn't have what it takes to be a leader.
"His sins were ones of omission basically; there were things that he might well have done and should have done that he didn't do," a senior investigator said Tuesday. (omission:怠惰、てぬかり)
Yet two things remain true about the Bush presidency.
Mr. Bush knows how to win elections. And he knows how to drive his agenda, especially in Congress. Last winter, bills curbing class-action lawsuits and reforming bankruptcy law -- both favorites of Mr. Bush -- were enacted. (ry
The stakes are high. A recent analysis by the Central Intelligence Agency calls India the most important “swing state” in the international system--a country which has the ability to tilt the balance between war and peace.
The most difficult task will be to come to an agreement over how to deal with China. Both the United States and India understand China’s economic importance and growing global influence, yet both fear rising Chinese military power--indeed, with Beijing’s increased influence in South Asia, many Indian strategists feel this even more keenly than their American counterparts. Yet the same misguided “engagement vs. containment” arguments bedevil all nations’ China policies, and only become multiplied in an alliance arrangement.
The states control any National Guard troops who are not federalized (about two thirds of Louisiana troops were not federalized, and available to the governor for the recent hurricane Katrina), and the governor must order them into action for disaster relief duties. The governor also has to request that federal assistance, including outside troops (both National Guard from other states and federals). FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is set up to expedite this. FEMA is mainly a supervisory organization.
The actual relief work is done by federal and National Guard troops, as well as many public and private relief agencies. In the case of New Orleans, any requests from the Louisiana, for federal assistance, go first to a Department of Defense headquarters already established to deal with the situation (Joint Task Force, or JTF, Katrina) at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The staff officers there will, if need be, translate the request into language the military understands (specific types of military units, equipment and supplies), and transmit it to Northern Command headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, units, equipment and material available will be matched with the request, and then the document will be transmitted to the Pentagon, where the Secretary of Defense signs it and has orders sent out to all units involved, to get moving. Many of those units may have already been alerted by Northern Command, that they might be ordered out for disaster relief operations. The activation process takes less than a day. Additional requests from the state governor are handled the same way.
実際の災害出動は州兵と連邦政府軍の両方が協力して行うことになる。公的および私的な支援団 体(NGO)などもそうした行動に協力する。ニューオーリンズの場合は、ルイジアナ州知事か らの災害支援要請が国防省本部にゆき国防省に対策本部が作られる。実際、すでにカタリーナ統 合対策本部がミシシッピーにおかれている。(Joint Task Force, or JTF, Katrina)
The governor can mobilize National Guard troops at any time, and some governors do so before a major hurricane hits. The problem with Hurricane Katrina was that it was the largest to ever hit the city directly. Historically, about once every 35 years, a category 4 hurricane hits within 160 kilometers of New Orleans. The last category 4 to come close (but not as close as Katrina) was in 1965. Before that, water came over the levees in 1940. Each time the city got flooded, the levees were reinforced, and more pumping capacity added. Katrina was different because several levees actually failed, flooding most of the city, more than at any time in the past. This was a worst case situation, and the city government had no plan in place to deal with it. The attitude in New Orleans was to “muddle through,” some how.
New Orleans also has some unique leadership problems. The city is one of the most corrupt in the nation. Residents consider themselves survivors not only of the climate and weather, but also their own elected officials. The police force often provides ugly headlines about corrupt cops, and other city officials aren’t much better. It is a wild and lawless city even in the best of times. The murder rate in the city is one of the highest in the nation, ten times the national average, and higher than many cities in Iraq.
The New Orleans government thought they were ready for anything, but they weren’t. The flooding was so quick and extensive that it knocked out most communications, power and accessibility. The city was unable to muddle its way out of this one. Embarrassing details will emerge over the next few weeks and months of how the city and state officials did little, or nothing, as the city was flooded. But those who know the history of New Orleans will receive this information with a sense of deja vu. Meanwhile, the media and political partisans will invent villains to fit each of their particular agendas. In the end, however, it will be clear that the problems were a lot closer to the scene of the disaster.
September 6, 2005: In a rare incident, a U.S. nuclear submarine (SSN, the USS Philadelphia), bumped into with another vessel while both were traveling on the surface. The U.S. sub was on its way into Bahrain for a scheduled port visit when the 7,000 ton sub hit a 52,000 ton Turkish bulk carrier. The accident occurred at 2 AM local time, on September 5th.