Day Seventeen - 070606 - North Korea and the Jellyfish

The picture to the left shows the building where the IUC is that I am taking classes at. It is the small building next to the half moon building with the many layers on the bottom left.

I think that I should comment a bit on the North Korea missile launch that has thrown everyone into a frenzy and has even impacted the markets. Here in Japan, the closeness of the tests is not a point whose impact should be taken lightly. My opinion on the matter does not differ much from other pundits in that it seems clear that China and Russia should play a more active diplomatic role in easing any tensions with North Korea. Ultimately, however, the timing of the missile launch with the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery may not be a coincidental occurrence and may suggest that this message was aimed at the U.S. more than anybody. The U.S., in grouping Iraq, Iran, and North Korea into a new and much more ridiculous "axis of evil" formation shows a comic book like simplicity in foreign policy formulations. Such statements can only be considered to be provocative on the part of the U.S., and represent a heightening of rhetoric that does little to help ease tensions in the region. North Korea is not controlled by a person of party more insane than the person or party that controls the U.S. (Er, maybe that's not a good thing). But really, North Korea has its reasons for doing things also, and it doesn't take much to try to understand what that position is. Post-9-11, the U.S. has shown its unilateral colonial actions in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. It has made threatening overtures regarding possible interventions in Iran. And for the North Koreans, everyone knows that the possibility that North Korea may possess nuclear weapons is the only thing keeping the U.S. from taking a stronger position of direct military intervention. North Korea has been in an embattled state for a long time, considering U.S. involvement in the Korean War that still has not legally ended, since no peace accord between the North and South has been formally signed. North Korea has been racked with famine for the last decade. They realize that the only way to stave off U.S. military intervention is to rattle their sabers once in a while, or else they will end up like Iraq, considering that U.S. policy does not respect national sovereignty one bit if the positions of the country in question do not agree with U.S. positions. If North Korea has closed itself off from the world, is it any wonder? Ultimately, threats from North Korea can be best met by reducing the idiocy of U.S. rhetoric, and working with Russia and China to develop diplomatic interventions. Economic embargos have been shown to be terribly ineffective as a means of applying pressure. As shown by both Vietnam and China, economic trade development has actually been the most effective tool for normalization of political relations. My two cents.

On a completely unrelated note, I was walking on the bridge near the bay and looked in the water and noticed that the water was teeming with a bloom of jellyfish. There were probably thousands of them in the water there, if not more. Throughout the water you could see hundreds of these light white ovals in the water at any particular moment. In the picture on the right the white oval-like spots are just a few that filled the water. It was quite a scary sight, and considering that jellyfish blooms are common near run-off, it may suggest that nutrients in agricultural and industrial runoff may be influencing this bloom. Very strange indeed.