Global briefs
JAPAN: The Japanese Government is set to abandon the purely defensive role of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, a role the international community imposed following Japan's aggressive part in WW2. Right-wing think tanks have laid out the details to allow the military to take a belligerent role in world affairs as a pre-emptive strike partner with the USA, based on the lie that North Korea poses a threat to the nation's security. A report, "The Vision for Future National Security and Defence Capabilities", calls for investment in state-of-the-art weaponry, including long-range missiles. It also recommends that Japan become a weapons manufacturer and exporter. The Koizumi Government has already breached the country's constitution by sending troops to Iraq.* * * KOREAN PENINSULA: The Pentagon's massive redeployment of US troops in and around South Korea, and the shipment of the most modern weapons to US forces there, is aimed at provoking a second Korean war, the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun said. The US this week deployed naval destroyers in the Sea of Japan. Though the US claims that the troop shifts are intended to fill a vacuum caused by a cutback in the number of US troops, the changes are actually aimed at waging blitz warfare through a pre-emptive attack.* * * MEXICO: Mexico's official unemployment rate reached 4.35 percent in August, up from 3.75 percent in July and the highest it has been since January 1997. President Vicente Fox tried to give the numbers a positive spin, saying the country had recovered jobs lost during the recession that started in 2001. However, he expressed concern about jobs for youth coming into the workforce. Over a million young people reach working age each year, and the economy would have to grow over seven percent a year, instead of the present 4.2 percent, to provide work for them all.* * * CANADA: The British Columbia Federation of Labor has released a report showing that abuse of agricultural workers continues to be widespread, naming changes in employment standards under the Liberal government as the main culprit. "Abuses that have long been part of doing business in the fields are increasing under Liberal policy", said report author Graeme Moore, a former Employment Standards branch program advisor. "The living and working conditions that this mainly Indo-Canadian workforce endures are comparable to those in the Third World."* * * CHINA: Chinese farmers' income grew by 16.1 percent in the first half of 2004, the People's Daily reports. The growth rate sets a new record for the last eight years, Ministry of Agriculture official Chen Xiaohua told a national rural conference in the south-western city of Guiyang. Mr Chen said China will continue to stress development of agricultural areas and development of rural industries, and work to make farm products more competitive on the world market.