NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

I am staying up all night tonight to finish an article on environmental discourses surrounding the US military buildup to Guam as it was proposed in the 2009 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and later formalized in their Record of Decision (ROD). This buildup as it was proposed never happened, as financial problems in both the United States and Japan as well as local resistance efforts, including a lawsuit ended up stalling and delaying the process for years. The buildup looks and sounds so much different today than it did five or six years ago. There is a greater emphasis on environmental stewardship and also constant reminders that the Department of Defense (who currently control 28-29% of Guam) plan to control less total land once the buildup is over. Part of the change in tone is due to the fact that the island of Guam changed in the buildup debate process. This is a key feature of my article. When the buildup was first announced, public opinion on the buildup was op

I wrote an entire dissertation about some of the blind spots and forms of hypervisibility that Guam is cloaked in. I based my theoretical framework on the idea that Guam is something that is largely invisible to the world, but also at the same time fairly secure in its identity as something military belonging to the United States. Guam is often regarded as a place that affords the United States strategic flexibility. I built off this to argue that the island's political status, it being a place that flickers in and out of existence on the one hand, but is rarely questioned as being something the US clearly has the right to militarize and control, gave the United States far more than just strategic possibilities, it gave them larger political abilities. Strategic labiality was a phrase I sometimes used, where the ambiguity of the island provides the US with far more than just a small island, a sliver of real estate in the Pacific. My dissertation was easy to write, because of the

I was speaking to someone recently about the issues of Pagan. There has been buzz for more than a year now about turning Pagan into a large-scale training area and firing and bombing range. There was an international petition drive to protect it that garnered more than 100,000 signatures. Some families with roots in Pagan have been to stay there again. But while for a time in 2013 it seemed as if Pagan was going to be taken any minute now, that has all changed. Things calmed down and grew quiet. The conversation I had recently was a warning that things may heat up again soon about Pagan. From Pagat to Pagan to Litekyan. If you can remember back far enough you can add even Sella in there if you'd like. Gi Fino' Chamoru sesso masangan na ti maimaigo' Si Yu'us. Sina ta sangan lokkue' na ti maimaigo' i militat. Ti maimaigo' DOD. Gi fino' un activist giya Hawai'i, i militat Amerikanu kalang un sen dangkolu na gamson. Maestitira huyong i kannai-na siha

"Disgraceful," "Criminal Act": Israel Condemned as 10 Die in Another Strike on UN Shelter in Gaza Monday, 04 August 2014 11:34   By Amy Goodman , Democracy Now! The United States and the United Nations have condemned Israel after an air strike killed 10 people near the entrance of a United Nations school sheltering Palestinian civilians. The school was reportedly being used as a shelter for about 3,000 people. It was the second attack on a U.N. school in less than a week, and the seventh over the course of Israel's offensive in Gaza. The coordinates of the school were reportedly communicated to the Israel Defense Force no fewer than 33 times, the last time just an hour before the shelling. Shortly after Sunday's attack, the State Department issued a statement saying: "The United States is appalled by today's disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school." U.N. Secretary-Gene

Published on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 by Foreign Policy In Focus America after Hegemony by Cole Harrison   With the Iraq war fading into memory even as the country still simmers, the U.S. peace movement faces the need to reframe its message. We have spent the last 10 years resisting the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – tragedies that have not only devastated those two countries and taken tens of thousands of lives, but have left thousands of returning veterans with lifelong disabilities and taken a huge toll on our national economy. We’ve exposed nuclear weapons’ threat to human survival, organized against sanctions and war on Iran and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and built alliances with labor and community groups to cut the military budget. We’ve opposed lawless torture and drone killings, cyber-warfare attacks, and the U.S. “ pivot ,” which seeks to encircle China with military bases.

By James Moore from the Huffington Post 12/10/10 I am Julian Assange. I want information so that I can hold my government accountable. If my country acts improperly and in my name, I want the proof. I want to know if there actually is no evidence proving weapons of mass destruction. I want to know if America is working with Israel to overthrow Iran's leadership. I want data that has not been spun by reporters that work for publishers and broadcasters with political and business goals that conflict with the facts. I want to know. I am Julian Assange because I know unfettered information is valuable to democracy and a peaceful world. I can make the best decisions with the most knowledge. I can vote for the best candidates. I can support the smartest policies to help my country and the world. I am not naïve; I know that not every operation can be transparent but I have a right to know its outcome and how it has affected my country and me. I do not believe Julian Assange has