Rice Apologises For Conduct of US Forces in Japan

Remember when the Bush administration claimed that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were down to few individuals? That this wasn't part of a wider problem within the US army? Well, think on.....

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, apologised yesterday for a string of crimes involving American troops based in Japan, amid warnings that failure to improve discipline risked damaging relations between Washington and one of its closest allies.

Resentment towards the US military presence erupted this month following the arrest of a marine for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the island of Okinawa, home to more than half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan.

Since then, US soldiers on the island have been arrested for trespassing and drink driving, and another is being questioned about the alleged rape of a Filipino woman in a hotel room.

The rape allegation has echoes of the 1995 gang rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen, which brought 85,000 people on to the streets in protest and international attention to the US base.

When a government figuratively rapes whole nations, is it really a surprise when it's people do it literally?

Nuclear Waste Leak in Japan - A Timely Reminder

After the government's call for a renewed push towards nuclear power due to the environmental benefits re climate change, a timely reminder of the cost of such a programme:

A radioactive leak at Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant following an earthquake this month has contributed to negative sentiment, with fears that it could spark new public opposition to nuclear power. [Financial Times]

I just love that extract from the FT. Doesn't it just sum up the capitalist system? 'Negative sentiment'. Brilliant.

Now, of course, a direct hit on a nuclear facility by an earthquake is pretty unlikely in the UK. However, given that we are living in circumstances similar to World War II (if you believe the fruit-cake brigade), isn't it just a tiny bit risky having more targets nuclear power plants in operation?

Anyway, what of the leak itself? Well, it was a typical story of gross incompetence and lies. According to The Telegraph:

The world's biggest nuclear power station in Japan was shut indefinitely yesterday after its operator admitted a larger leak of nuclear waste in an earthquake than previously disclosed.

The mayor of Kashiwazaki ordered the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station closed until its safety could be confirmed following Monday's 6.8-magnitude quake, in which low-level nuclear waste spilt into the sea.

Tokyo Electric Power, the operators, admitted that as many as 400 barrels of waste tipped over in the tremor, after previously stating a figure of 100, and that radioactivity levels from the waste were 50 per cent higher than originally stated.

The spillage was one of more than 50 faults experienced at the station - the world's biggest in terms of output capacity - following the quake. The firm said it was not designed to resist shaking caused by earthquakes of greater than magnitude 6.5.

Does anyone seriously believe that our government wouldn't try to cover this up? As for nuclear power being a positive step for climate change, it would appear the gains regarding CO2 emissions are slightly outweighed by the huge increase in radioactive wildlife. Not a great trade-off, is it? Yeah we get to save the planet, we'll just wipe out every living organism in the process. Well, apart from the rich who are, after all, genetically closer to cockroaches than any other creature on the face of the earth. Guess that's why they are not so bothered about it.