(LinkAsia: August 24, 2012)
Yul Kwon:
Meanwhile, the Japanese government has announced that it will move ahead with its plans to purchase at least some of the islands, which it calls the Senkaku, to make them national Japanese territory. To add insult to injury, the government is also trumpeting the start of a large military exercise with the United States. This will be the first time that Japanese ground forces will participate. Here's Japanese broadcaster NHK with the story.

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NHK World NEWSLINE
Airdate: August 21, 2012

Reporter:
Forty self-defense force personnel in Kyushu and Okinawa. Forty-two Navy vessels at the US White Beach naval facility in Uruma City, Okinawa. The Navy will use its amphibious assault ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard and the landing ship, the USS Tortuga. 

Vehicles and containers were loaded onto the decks. A military hovercraft was loaded in to the well deck of the assault ship. 

Members of Japan's self-defense forces have been training with marines based in California, but this is the first time they will take part in landing drills with those based in Okinawa. US military and SCS personnel are scheduled to depart in a few days for Tinian and Guam Island. They're located some 2,000 kilometers from Okinawa in the Western Pacific. 

The drill will employ marine vessels and helicopters. The exercise is viewed as a demonstration of bilateral cooperation at a time when China is increasing its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan and the United States want to stage this first joint landing drill so that Japan can learn from the US how to beef up the defense of its Southwestern islands. For its part, the US wants to secure the Japan's cooperation in stressing Guam's strategic importance as it faces cuts in its defense budget.

Takao Nabeshima, NHK World, Okinawa.

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Yul Kwon:
While the US government has publicly stated that it will remain neutral in this territorial dispute, analysts quoted by China Daily say that the drill is a clear signal that the US is throwing its weight behind Japan.

(Democracy Now! 0900 PST, February 5, 2011) In a special broadcast, Democracy Now! airs a two-hour program on the revolt against the U.S.-backed Mubarak regime.

 

 

Highlights include:

 

• Live Reports from Cairo with Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Democracy Now! correspondent Anjali Kamat.
• Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif on how life in Tahrir Square "is truly democracy in action."
• Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi on the impact of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings on the Middle East.
• Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists on the continued attacks on journalists by supporters of the Mubarak regime.
• Khaled Fahmy, professor at the American University in Cairo, on reports that Hosni Mubarak has resigned as head of the ruling NDP party.
• University of California-Santa Barbara professor Paul Amar on the military’s role in a post-Mubarak Egypt.
• Stanford Professor Joel Beinin on the Egyptian labor movement and the historical roots of the January 25 uprising.
• Egyptian-American activist Mostafa Omar on the role of Egyptian youth in the protests.
• And we play the "video that started the revolution," Asmaa Mahfouz's January 18 message calling for protests in Tahrir Square on January 25.

 

Click here for important background information on the unrest in Egypt.

 

On the latest Global Pulse episode, host Erin Coker reviews world coverage of the budget crises in both California and Greece. Watch the episode below and share your thoughts!
   
Going to the DMV is never a joyful experience. Due to the budget crisis the trip has become even more excruciating. The State of California has closed DMV offices on the first and third Friday of every month in an effort to save money. This means the offices are more crowded on operating days. This also means it takes even longer for the staff to call your magic number. This might not sound like much, but when you’ve been flipping through a tattered three month-old edition of Better Home and Gardens for two hours, it can feel like a lifetime.

Californians are having to learn to get used to these inconveniences. The budget crisis has affected virtually every interaction citizens have with the state. Bus schedules are slower. State employees are getting their salaries cut. And while all Californians are affected to one degree or another, perhaps the most impacted are students of the state's public universities.

When I started attending San Francisco State in 2004, semester student fees for residents was $1,256.00. In the past six years that number has nearly doubled to $2,370.00. The problem isn’t just that students are now paying more for their education, but that they’re getting less in return. Luckily I had finished school by the end of 2008, before most of the effects of the budget cuts had really been felt. However, for many of my friends still studying at SFSU the budget cuts have taken a toll.

Nicole Dixon is a Cell and Molecular Biology major who started work on her degree in 2004. She’s found it impossible to complete her degree within four years due to budget cuts. “I haven’t been able to get the classes I need each semester. When I did get into classes it was because I had to fight my way in and plead with professors to let me crash them.” She’s also noticed that the budget cuts have affected the quality of her education, “We’ve had fewer classes. Professors have to get all the material crammed into a semester with five less instruction days due to furloughs.”

Even the classrooms themselves have been impacted by the budget crisis. “There aren’t enough chairs in classes. Professors won’t print handouts anymore. There aren’t even markers in some classes to write on the whiteboard,” Dixon said. When asked if she would do it all again she remarked, “Knowing that I couldn’t graduate in at least six years seems unacceptable for a four-year degree. I would have rather gone somewhere where I knew I could get my classes. I thought I’d be in dental school by now.” Nicole isn’t alone. Many Californians are beginning to look for education elsewhere, as the public universities in California continue to face budget cuts.

With attendance being capped at many Cal State Universities, many students don’t even have access to the educational opportunity I had only a few years ago. As bad as California’s economy is now, how will California look twenty years down the line when it doesn’t have the same educated workforce that made it such an innovative place to begin with? The deficit is huge and cuts have to be made, but education is an important investment. It’s not only an investment for students who want better jobs, but also for a state that must continue to nurture its human capital.