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Showing posts from 2006
Powering up a Nation: Energy Security in Japan and Australia by Willhemina Wahlin This year marks the Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, which celebrates 30 years since the signing of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation. Back in 1976, Japan, still reeling from the first oil shock of 1973, was forced to revise its approach to energy security. Australia’s oil supply, on the other hand, remained largely uninterrupted, which did little to encourage any rethinking of energy policy. Fast forward to 2006, and the energy situation is looking no better. The peak oil debate and increasing tensions in the Middle East have pushed up the price of crude, and just about every natural resource is in high demand and tight supply. Meanwhile, global warming is presenting unprecedented challenges for governments worldwide. It seems, then, an appropriate time to compare the energy security and climate change policies of Japan and Australia, and to look at what solutions they may be able to offer
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Power Sourcing Japan's Race for Resources by Willhemina Wahlin and Kaoru Natsuda It's only natural that in light of the high level of consumption in the developed world in the last 100 years, something was going to have to give. Now, in an increasingly unstable world, where developing nations are quickly developing and developed nations are quietly panicking, governments are beginning to take the idea of resource security very seriously indeed. Japan, one of the world's most resource-poor countries, recently unveiled the New National Energy Strategy (NNES) - an aggressive plan to procure sources of energy to keep its economy humming. The Japanese will use their expertise in energy-efficient technology and such things as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to exploit other countries' energy sources. But they must work quickly. Geopolitical lines are already being drawn in the sand. Japan may have to sacri
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Anti-Social Insecurity If you haven’t taken a good look at the US government’s plan for social security, and you’re under 5 0, then you ought to. The White House website is a good place to start, but don’t get bogged down by the rhetor ic before you get to read between the lines. President Bush claims that he will listen to any good idea, save raising payroll taxes, to save the pension system. Well, if gove rnments really want to look at what will happen to people when they’re old, I make a great case study of what to expe ct. First of all, I’m Australian, and we have been under the grip of Superannuati on for almost as long as I have been working. However, back when Superannua tion was introduced, the majority of workers could still work under relatively fair labour law s – that is, if you worked over a certain amount of hours a week, there were regulations wh ich stipulated you had to be hired full-time, and all of the benefits that this ensured, such as sick days, holidays, and, so
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Murder, if by any other name... A report released in August by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) bombing of Lebanon has pointed out what anyone with any common sense can conclude: that Israel is in violation of international humanitarian law. It is, in its most basic form, strong evidence for the United Nations to pick up the pace in calling for an immediate ceasefire. More Pic above: A crushed Beirut (BBC News). This story was originally published for Smokin' Mirrors weekly political column in The Cheers Magazine, published every Friday at: http://www.thecheers.org
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Hollywood in La La Land In a joint statement made in an advertisement in the LA Times this week, some of Hollywood's most powerful actors, producers, directors, studio bosses and media moguls condemned terrorism. Why don't we call terrorism what it is - the new red menace - and then we'll all know we're back in the throws of Mc Carthyism and be done. More Pic: Niciole Kidman presents the Humanitarian Award to Rupert Murdoch...somewhere, someone is laughing very hard. This Story was originally published for The Cheers Magazine's Political Column. The Smokin' Mirrors political column is published every Friday at http://www.thecheers.org
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Sony and WWF raise the bar on corporate responsibility Sony has become one of the most ambitious corporations worldwide in the fight to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by joining the World Wildlife Fund's "Climate Savers" program. In a joint press conference in Tokyo yesterday, Sony announced they will commit to absolute target emission reductions in both their operations and production by as much as 7 percent of its 2000 levels by 2010. "Sony is the first Japanese company in consumer electronics to take corporate responsibility this far," said Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF International's Climate Change Programme. "It intends to make the best effort, in terms of energy efficiency, for the benefit of its clients, its own business and the future of the planet." More Pic above: Sony's Senior Vice President, Naofumi Hara, signing the Climate Savers Agreement on Tuesday (pic: Willhemina Wahlin) This article was originally published
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Japan: Land of the Rising Target? by Willhemina Wahlin Japan, steeped in a tradition of honor and commitment, must face an embarrassing truth: it has not made a dent in its Kyoto Protocol target emissions, its 6% target reduction soaring to an 8.3% increase by 2003, which essentially puts the target in the vicinity of 15%. So the protocol's redfaced host country is bumping up its involvement in the treaty's three mechanisms: Joint Implementation, the Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Emissions Trading. Although still in their infant stage, these mechanisms are already big business. Japanese corporations are among the world's largest investors in carbon credits. Strangely, however, there are no plans to require mandatory emission reductions or to create a trading scheme within Japan. While certain government ministries are still debating the best course of action, Japanese corporations have been there, bought that. Environmental groups contend that if Japan is to reach
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The Revolution Will be Emailed By Willhemina Wahlin The humble email is a sign of extraordinary times. It acts like a huge chain of information that spreads out across the world in a way that our f orbearers would have thought impossible. Individuals and groups can get their messages out to people in a much more effective way -- particularly when it comes to the petition. I receive so many petitions for this and that via email, but due to the unfortunate lack of space left in my grey matter vaults for the daily intake of info, I often don't remember what those petitions were about 5 seconds after I press send. But one email recently stuck in my mind. It may have simply been its reappearance so many times in my inbox, each new sender compounding upon the urgency of the last, or it could be that I was simply dumbstruck by the tragedy it was telling. More Pic above: A quiet street in the town of San Felix, seemingly unaware of what is to come...the town is known for its tracks of vin
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Comics for the politically bent By Willhemina Wahlin Pic: From the 4th espisode of Shooting World by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman. It's 2011. The Iraq war has been going for 8 years, and is spreading. A self confessed enemy of the corporate world, the young and cocky blog journalist Jimmy Burns, unwittingly finds himself at the right place at the right time. More This article was orginally published for the Cheers Magazine's weekly Smokin' Mirrors political column on Friday 9 June, 2006.
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School of the Americas: School of Assassins? By Willhemina Wahlin Pic: Fr Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch (SOA Watch) The US military may have changed the name of the School of the Americas (SOA) to the 'Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation' (WHINSEC) and added a few token human rights courses to the curriculum, but shedding the dark and bloody past of the institution responsible for training some of Latin America's most notorious human rights violators, murderers and dictators won't be as simple as a semantic differential. An investigation of the school's history has never been officially undertaken, despite the approximated deaths of hundreds of thousands of people at the hands of its graduates. Now, however, a bill has entered the congressional arena that hopes to shut down the institution dubbed the 'School of Assassins' - this time for good. More This article was originally published in Cheers Magazine on Friday 2nd June, 2006.
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Chavez, OPEC & oil George W. can't control by Willhemina Wahlin It’s a little over four years since the failed military coup took place in Venezuela. On April 11, 2002, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Pedro Carmona, and Carlos Ortega, head of CTV, a trade union with strong political ties to the old political establishment in the country, forcefully removed from office the most popular president in Venezuelan history: Hugo Chavez. Such is his popularity among the majority of Venezuelans, that it was the ordinary voter, loyal to the last, who marched on the palace just two days later to demand the return of their President, and by April 14, he was back in his elected place. More This article was orginally published for Cheers Magazine on Friday 26 May 2006. Pic: Panorama, Venezuela
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An Oita Sea-Change by Willhemina Wahlin On a recent trip to Oita Prefecture, on Kyushu Island, for Golden Week, my husband's parents booked us into an "onsen" (hot spring) hotel in the mountains just outside Oita City. After a quiet afternoon nap, I was the first to wake and make my way down to the bathhouse, where I found steamrooms, saunas and a variety of tubs, one even filled with roses of every color. Just when I was thinking that a girl could get used to this kind of indulgence, I was off for a 10-course meal, meticulously laid out on small plates. Most definitely, this is one of my favourite parts of Japanese culture. Next we went to stay with my husband's aunt in Hita, also in Oita Prefecture. "Do you want to go to the onsen?" she asked after dinner. Feeling a little onsen-ed out (if there is such a thing), I was hesitant, until my husband pointed out it was a private onsen - for friends only. Now that's what I'm talking about.
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Just Keep Rovin' On... by Willhemina Wahlin In a dramatic twist in the long and drawn out saga that is the Valerie Plame case, Karl Rove was charged this week with perjury and lying to investigators about how and when he discovered that Ms Plame, also known as Ms Wilson, was a CIA operative, and whether he shared that information with reporters, reported Truthout’s Jason Leopold. Back in 2003, when the White House was pleading ignorance through the mouth piece of Scott McClelland at a press briefing, a reporter asked: "Weeks ago, when you were first asked whether Mr. Rove had the conversation with Robert Novak that produced the column, you dismissed it as ridiculous. And I wanted just to make sure, at that time, had you talked to Karl?" To which McClellan replied: “I've made it very clear, from the beginning, that it is totally ridiculous. I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need to go ask Karl, because I know the kind of person t
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Japan and Stiglitz Spice Up World Bank Parley By Willhemina Wahlin (pic: PBS News Hour) What do Japan and the US economic rebel Joseph Stiglitz have in common? For one, they have both, at one time or another, challenged the fundamental economic philosophy on which the World Bank bases its policies. They are also, ironically, two of the most prominent contributors to this month's World Bank ABCDE Conference, which will be held in Tokyo on the 29 and 30 May. Along with some of Japan's most important economists, Stiglitz himself will be one of the special keynote speakers. In a world full of dry, dull conferences, the ABCDE Conference is beginning to look a little spicy. Japan has an interesting history with the World Bank. According to Dr. Kaoru Natsuda, a Political Economist and Official Development Assistance Consultant with Ernst & Young ShinNihon in Tokyo, Japan and the World Bank have disputed the role of the state in economic development since the 1980s. "Japan in
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Remembering Marla A tribute to Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005) Marla Ruzicka was tragically killed in a car bomb explosion in Iraq on April 16 2005, along with her co-worker and friend Faiz Ali Salim. One year on, we take a look at what CIVIC, the organisation she founded, still has to say about the innocent victims of war, and how they choose to remember Marla. ________________________ I confess that a year ago, when I heard of the tragic death of a woman I had never heard of before that night, I cried. Marla Ruzicka, a young Californian woman, was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16 2005, along with her friend and co-worker Faiz Ali Salim. She had travelled extensively to both Afghanistan and Iraq, her main mission to try to get aid to civilians who have been harmed by the US wars in both countries. In an online journal entry on June 25 2004, she had this, almost prophetically, to say: “Back in Baghdad and happy. A good friend of mine, advised me to keep my movements minimal in t
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Tokyo to New York in six hours? Sonic Boom by Willhemina Wahlin "Yes, only rich people can afford to take a Concorde," states concorde-jet.com. There's no doubting the Concorde had its fans, but like all good things, it too came to an end, the curtains closing on the elite's day-tripping flight service on October 24, 2003. In its wake is an industry in post 9/11 turmoil, where it's more common for an airline to go bust than boom. Despite this, a consortium of researchers from the United States, Europe and Japan are exploring new ways of bringing supersonic flight back and better than ever. In October 2005, on a rocket range in the middle of the South Australian desert, far from the glitterati and bubbly-quaffing elite travelers of the Concorde, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) tested a fuselage design for a new supersonic jet -- and it was a huge success. Dubbed the 'Son-of-Concorde, the test of the very practically named 'Scaled Experiment
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Red Blood & Blue Jeans : a day in the life of deadly Mexican fashion by Willhemina Wahlin There’s a strange tale unfolding south of the border in Pueblo, Mexico – a tale of corruption, abduction and plots of assassination. Far from being the inspiration of the next big Hollywood flop, this tale is for real, and for those involved, it’s deadly. More Pic: Diego Carranza/Dreamtime This story was originally published in Cheers Magazine on Saturday 25th April, 2006. http://www.thecheers.org
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The Glossy Stories and Seedy Underbellies of the Great Nuclear Race If The Telegraph in Calcutta, India, is anything to go by, George W Bush is a handsome, rock-star-esque man – powerful and yet humble. Reports centre on an impetuous kiss on the cheek he received from a woman, while “[f]or a split second, the most powerful man in the world was stunned. The next, he gracefully pulled himself away from K. Padmavathi and started patting her on her shoulders.” More pic: 'Hang on a sec, buddy, I just wanna get this little happy snap.' George W Bush with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week (pic: Al Jazeera) This article first appeared in the Cheers weekly political column, Smokin' Mirrors, on March 8 2006.
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The Secret Life of Japan's Homely Hermits By Willhemina Wahlin March 1, 2006 Flicking on a TV in Japan can be a disturbing experience. But the endless game shows, sensationalist news and samurai dramas reflect a cultural curse passed down the generations, where complex issues are seldom discussed and people are required to manage their personal problems without support. More This article first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 1 March 2006.
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An Interview with Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai by Willhemina Wahlin Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977, has called on industrialised countries to reduce waste and increase investment to stave off desertification across the world. Speaking to a 400-strong crowd at Waseda University on February 13, where she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for her work in environmental protection, Prof. Maathai called desertification “the new enemy.” More This article was first published as a JIN Newsletter for Japan Inc. on Tuesday 21 February 2006. www.japaninc.com www.japan.com For more information on the Green Belt Movement, go to: http://www.gbmna.org/ Pic: Prof. Wangari Maathai at the 2004 Nobel Laureate Ceremony, courtesy of the Green Belt Movement.
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When kick-backs bite you in the ass... The AWB is accused of funnelling AUD300 million of kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein via a Jordanian trucking company. While the upper management of the AWB has been going through the mill of an official inquiry, it wasn’t until most of them had claimed no knowledge that an AWB Market report on Iraq was brought before the Cole Inquiry, which stated: “Inland transport fees are paid via Alia in Jordon, which then pays the Ministry of Transport in Iraq.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. But there’s more.
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Water, Water Everywhere, and Every Drop to Drink by Willhemina Wahlin The 17th January this year marked the 11th year since the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated Kobe. In the midst of such a disaster freshwater is crucial. Burst water mains, spewing out onto the streets, become floods awaiting waterborne disease. A logistical nightmare unravels, as those in the wake of the disaster wait for supplies of freshdrinking water. Doctors treating the injured rely on clean water, but often that depends on whether the water system has made it through unscathed. Usually it hasn't. More Pic: DHD Multimedia picture Gallery This article was originally published via the Japan Inc. JIN Newsletter on February 15 2006. http://www.japaninc.com/ http://www.japan.com/
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English Web Design: A Niche for Someone to Fill It might be that my poor Japanese language skills are to blame, sending me on a futile trajectory into the world's most pointless English-language banking website, but I can't help feeling a little frustrated. I've just spent the last 15 minutes looking for some simple information on my bank's site. What's depressing is that the bank's Japanese-language version seems to have a lot more going on, and I'll be buggered if I can't find my 'Babel fish', which in "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" provides an instant translation of any language, when I need it. Back in Australia, I can do everything over the Net: the catch is that personal service is often sacrificed - just ask anyone who has spent the last five minutes trying to get through to a real live person on the phone. In Japan, the service is usually outstanding, but the technology often undermines it. Any visitor to Japan will