Japan's Ultra-Right Shame

The special case ("特殊性") of far right-wing Moritomo Gakuen 森友学園 in Japan is an outrage, paying virtually nothing to secure valuable public land.

Until any politician(s) involved is incriminated, the bureaucrats who approved the transfer should be held responsible: jailed for corruption & gross misconduct.

[ Update - 13 March ]
Now the head of the National Tax Agency has resigned; a Ministry of Finance official involved in the case committed suicide (7 March); Mainichi reports the Board of Audit is implicated (12 March); and Japan's Finance Ministry admits illegally manipulating documents (12 March). 

Surely the corruption goes further than Japan's bureaucracy - how long will the bureaucrats burn while top politicos simply watch?

Danger in Korea

Reapproachment between North & South segments of Korea do not fit smoothly with USA geopolitical strategy.

By permanently basing some 25,000 military personnel within South Korea & the Demilitarized Zone, US militarism's intimately linked to South Korea's formidable security forces. But close American ties to disgraced President Park Geun-hye's right-wing government soured relations with her successor. How much did the USA tolerate or tacitly support Park's illegal authoritarian repression & corruption?

All nearby nations have a strong wish to avoid inter-Korean warfare, but the risks of war are less painful to militarists in far-off Washington. Commander-in-Chief Trump may frankly welcome opportunity to prove his personal toughness...

God Save Us ALL

Mending Murders?

School Snipers ?   NO to Militarization

Off Wit'er 'ed!

Brexit could again allow public hangings. 

Government May be wary...

Double Down Doggedness

Britain has curried a strong reputation for good sportsmanship. Strongly influenced by His Lordship Sebastian Coe, they're outspoken against doping, but fixated on Russian devils.

Not enough care is directed to avoid tarring innocent athletes with doping accusations.

Coe himself is insecure, his personal achievements tarnished from boycott-depleted competition in the Moscow & Los Angeles Summer Olympics. 

Britain should look objectively at mighty ally America, which for many years has shielded admitted drug-cheat Lance Armstrong from justice.

Will we ever see the video evidence of International Olympic Committee member Adam Pengilly's altercation with  Pyeongchang Winter Olympics security? Pengilly admits multiple lapses. He claims there was no physical contact. Yet he was ordered home and quickly bundled away, his actions reported in the UK as disgraceful.

Pengilly is one of just twelve elected IOC Athletes' Commission members, and thus also one of only 100 IOC members. He was elected to an eight-year term from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. It seems the British hope his case is quietly forgotten and he's allowed to finish his term. We want Olympic Games success. But is coverup proper accountability?

The simple label of "incident" is being spun by the UK & international press. But The Korea Times headline (link) is more severe:
"British IOC member assaults security guard in PyeongChang"

The Korea Herald is also markedly more condemnatory.

At least one ally has tried to portray Adam Pengilly as a victim of the IOC -- rather than an arrogant bully above security checking or censure.

What Happened?  Should Adam Pengilly face criminal charges?

Across decades, Aloha

Boston in July 2016: greeting the Hawaiian diplomatic voyaging canoe Hōkūle'a on its global multi-year mission of mālama honua (caring for our island Earth). I begin talking to an older Hawaiian lady. She's lived in Massachusetts for decades, but grew up around Punalu'u, O'ahu. "Perhaps you knew my Uncle George Hiilani Mills" (my grandmother's younger brother).
She gently reaches out to touch my arm -
"Of course I knew Dr. Mills - he was our family doctor for many, many years. Such beautiful eyes! ..."
...Aloha shared, far away....