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Quake hits Indonesia
Jakarta: a 5.1 magnitude deep sea earthquake hit Indonesia’s province of south Sulawesi on Friday, meteorology agency officials said. The quake hit at 0633 GMT and was centered 111 km. under the sea floor, some 150 km. northeast of the south Sulawesi capital, Makassar.
Floods kill nine
Mogadishu : raging flood waters killed at least nine people , including five sleeping children , overnight as a third week of heavy rains pounded southern Somalia, bringing the death toll to at least 89,officials said on Friday . And with no end in sight to unusually heavy seasonal rains, UN officials said conflict could badly hurt emergency relief efforts for nearly a million Somalis.
Rockets delivered
Moscow: Russia has begun deliveries of the Tor – M1 air defense rocket system to Iran, Russian news agencies quoted military industry sources as saying on Friday. “Deliveries” of the Tor-Ml have begun. The first systems have already been delivered to Tehran, “ITAR-TASS quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Envoy recalled
KIGALI: Rwanda on Friday recalled its ambassador to France and hinted it might break diplomatic relations with Paris in a row over arrest warrants issued by a French judge related to 1994 genocide. A day after more than 25,000 people railed in Kigali to denounce France, alleged French complicity in the genocide and the judge who issued warrants, Rwanda’s foreign minister accused Paris of trying to destroy his government.
Pearl Harbor , 65 years later
On December 7, 1941, the us naval base at pearl harbor, Hawaii was attacked. The bombing killed 2,388 Americans, put much of the pacific fleet out of commission and came while the Japanese ambassador in Washington was preparing for a diplomatic appointment at the state department.
Among the losses was the battleship Arizona, which went down with nearly all hands on board. It is still there as a national shrined. In President Roosevelt’s speech to congress the next day asking for a declaration of war against Japan. It followed up on December 11 with retaliatory declarations of war against Germany and Italy. world war 2 was the last time the us has declare war , though it has fought three major wars ( Korea , Vietnam, Afghanistan- Iraq ) . It seems worthwhile to reflect on some of their consequences.
The attack unified a country that had been divided over the war in Europe, but it also terrified the country. This was much the same reaction as followed the attacks of 9/11. Just as 9/11 led to unjustified imprisonment of some Muslims living in the us, so Pearl Harbor produce persecution of Japanese American citizens. Most of them lived in California; they were interned in remote camps in Wyoming and other western states. Although the Japanese were not tortured, their treatment was as morally bad as what’s happened under Bush’s watch in Gitmo , Abu Ghraib, and other prisons . Critics of President Bush should take note. In 1988, congress apologized to the interned Japanese. It also provided payments of $20,000 to each surviving internee. It marked the faint beginnings of the civil rights movement.
After black Americans had served honorably in the armed forces, the injustice of forcing them back into a segregated society was intolerable. President Truman used an executive order to integrate the armed forces after the war. Other steps followed. The UN was born out of the resolve not to allow a repetition of world war -2. The senate, which refused to approve America’s membership in the League of Nations after world war -1, approved US membership in the UN after world war -2. Perhaps the most awesome consequence of Pearl Harbor was the development of nuclear weapons. Two of these were used to end the war against Japan. Historians have argued that these should not have been used, that Japan could have been driven to surrender by bombing. True but at what cost? Both Japanese and Americans casualties would have been far greater, and the war would have been prolonged. During a visit to Harvard University, Harry s Truman was asked what he was most proud of. His answer was that after America crushed its enemies, it embraced them and turned them into allies.
A final irony: Japanese investors now own much of the island their grandfathers once tried to destroy, and are tolerated by the country they once tried to conquer.
On December 7, 1941, the us naval base at pearl harbor, Hawaii was attacked. The bombing killed 2,388 Americans, put much of the pacific fleet out of commission and came while the Japanese ambassador in Washington was preparing for a diplomatic appointment at the state department.
Among the losses was the battleship Arizona, which went down with nearly all hands on board. It is still there as a national shrined. In President Roosevelt’s speech to congress the next day asking for a declaration of war against Japan. It followed up on December 11 with retaliatory declarations of war against Germany and Italy. world war 2 was the last time the us has declare war , though it has fought three major wars ( Korea , Vietnam, Afghanistan- Iraq ) . It seems worthwhile to reflect on some of their consequences.
The attack unified a country that had been divided over the war in Europe, but it also terrified the country. This was much the same reaction as followed the attacks of 9/11. Just as 9/11 led to unjustified imprisonment of some Muslims living in the us, so Pearl Harbor produce persecution of Japanese American citizens. Most of them lived in California; they were interned in remote camps in Wyoming and other western states. Although the Japanese were not tortured, their treatment was as morally bad as what’s happened under Bush’s watch in Gitmo , Abu Ghraib, and other prisons . Critics of President Bush should take note. In 1988, congress apologized to the interned Japanese. It also provided payments of $20,000 to each surviving internee. It marked the faint beginnings of the civil rights movement.
After black Americans had served honorably in the armed forces, the injustice of forcing them back into a segregated society was intolerable. President Truman used an executive order to integrate the armed forces after the war. Other steps followed. The UN was born out of the resolve not to allow a repetition of world war -2. The senate, which refused to approve America’s membership in the League of Nations after world war -1, approved US membership in the UN after world war -2. Perhaps the most awesome consequence of Pearl Harbor was the development of nuclear weapons. Two of these were used to end the war against Japan. Historians have argued that these should not have been used, that Japan could have been driven to surrender by bombing. True but at what cost? Both Japanese and Americans casualties would have been far greater, and the war would have been prolonged. During a visit to Harvard University, Harry s Truman was asked what he was most proud of. His answer was that after America crushed its enemies, it embraced them and turned them into allies.
A final irony: Japanese investors now own much of the island their grandfathers once tried to destroy, and are tolerated by the country they once tried to conquer.
posted by sunil joshi @ 1:52 AM
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