Thanks to the Iran Nuclear Deal that was going to make the world "much safer," according to the words of our Secretary of State John Kerry and the Obama Administration, Iran has become a much more dangerous country than it was before! The infusion of much needed cash, huge sums of money, and lifting of sanctions allowed Iran immediately to not only purchase more arms from Russia, but also speed up their weapons development. We have been hearing regularly about illegal missile testing that Iran has been conducting, but that is not all. They have been developing weapons at all stages, and no doubt are engaged in nuclear development as well, albeit in total secrecy!
The latest announcement by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, that of the development of a "suicide drone" is truly a disturbing piece of news. It isn't so much that they have the scientific and technological know-how to make drones that is disturbing, it is what this development actually signifies! The drone itself, called Radd 85 and nick-named Saegheh (which means Thunderbolt in Farsi) is no big deal. It is not anywhere as sophisticated or technologically advanced as our drones that we employ in warfare. The Radd 85 is only a few stages ahead of the German V-1 unmanned rocket of World War Two or the Japanese MXY-7 Ohka (Baka bomb) Kamikaze manned rockets. Those were truly primitive by today's standards, sort of like a flintlock rifle versus today's M-4 or similar combat rifle. The Iranian Radd 85 would fall in the category of say, an M-1 rifle when compared with the more sophisticated drones of today. However, just as the M-1 rifle is technologically inferior to the M-4, it is still effective and it will kill!
The Radd 85 Saegheh travels at the speed of around 160 miles per hour. It flies at an altitude of around 3000 feet and has a range of about 600 miles. That is plenty to do damage to ships or land targets! The problem with the German World War Two V-1 was that it was "unguided." It had to be fired like an artillery round and hoped for the best. The Japanese manned MXY-7, of course, could be more accurate because a pilot could guide it to the target, before it was shot down! The Iranian's suicide drone Radd 85 can be guided remotely, plus, it has stealth capability, having been built with materials that can deflect radar detection. So, despite lagging our drones in technology and sophistication, they are still far superior to anything that was available before to Iranians, and most of all, to those terror groups that they support and supply arms!
The most dangerous part of this whole new scenario is if the Radd 85 will fall into the hands of terrorists, which will happen! Iran is the world's biggest sponsor of Islamic terror groups. In short, Iran is a terrorist state itself! It is a given that once the production of Radd 85 gets going, it will be delivered to the various terror groups that Iran sponsors, and will be sold to other groups that perhaps Iran is not sponsoring but willing to sell. So, despite the fact that Iran is supposedly involved in fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq does not preclude the likelihood that ISIS will end up buying some of these suicide drones through third party. ISIS, and other terror groups in fact never buy arms directly from the seller, they use third, some times multiple parties and fronts to purchase arms. That is why, for the most part, arms sellers can never be sure who will be the end user. Despite complicated measures that are in place to prevent misuse of end user documents, weapons legally sold constantly end up in the wrong hands! That is how North Korea has been able to sell its missiles and other weapons. Iran is no exception, in fact, in this regard, Iran and North Korea are like peas in a pod! We, on the otherhand, quite often give weapons to "friendly" forces who sell them to the enemy!
Earlier there was talk about the fact that North Korea had developed drone technology which although primitive by South Korean standards, still was effective enough to penetrate into South Korea for intelligence gathering purposes. This was discovered when one of the North Korean drones had malfunctioned and crashed in South Korea. What was not released in the news was that the South Koreans were surprised to discover that the drone was made of material that would escape radar detection, in other words, it was a stealth drone. Obviously the stealth technology is not exclusive to us anymore. So, the fact that both North Korea and Iran have stealth technology is not a surprise anymore.
What is disturbing is the fact that no doubt these "suicide drones" will shortly appear in the hands of terrorists. The fact that North Korea has these drones is not something that we could have prevented. After all, North Korea has nuclear weapons and it developed its weapons technology on its own. What bothers me is that in case of Iran, we helped them to develop this newest drone technology and perhaps much more, by actually financing them! We financed Iran through that disastrous nuclear deal that our administration still insists is the best thing to happen since the dark ages! There is no doubt that Iran would have eventually come up with the drone technology and other weapons developments in time, but it would have not been so quick, because R&D costs money! We provided that money! Now we have to sit and nervously watch and see how soon these new weapons of war will find their way into the hands of other terrorists. They are already in the hands of two terrorists states, North Korea and Iran, but they haven't yet been distributed to the "other" guys!
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Our Flawed Political System - It Is What It Is!
We are now two weeks away from finding out who will be our next president for the next four years with a possibility of extension into eight years! We will find out either early or late in the evening of November 8. This election year has been unusual in some respects, especially in view of the overwhelming support given by the news media to one candidate. The news media has always leaned to one side or another in the past, and television has played a key role in swaying public opinion and deciding the winner of elections since the 1960s. In short, whoever became the "media candidate" ended up winning the election. That has been the case since JFK.
Normally, a four-year-old could determine who would win the election based on television coverage. Today's TV coverage and support is so one-sided that it is embarrassing. There is a constant barrage of positive ads for one candidate and negative ads directed at the opposition. It is as if we are in a one political party system! A visiting foreigner commented on this phenomena on our television and said that he thought we had laws prohibiting such one-sided presentation, that equal representation was required. Yes, we do have something like that somewhere in our system, but apparently this election year all bets are off! The news media is embarrassingly biased and is showing its true colors as the "king makers." However, despite news media's overwhelming support of one candidate, nothing is for certain and there are no guarantees! Anything can happen in this crazy election year!
We are a nation of almost 300 Million souls with arguably some of the better informed population on this planet. Yet, we are unable to come up with two better presidential candidates? I am stumped! Surely we can come up with candidates with more integrity, honesty, and less negative baggage! But here we are, literally forced to make a choice between two candidates that are strongly lacking in many areas to be president! Personally, I wouldn't trust or consider either one of the candidates for any political office!
Now it isn't so much a choice between the lesser of the two evils as I have blogged before, it is simply no choice at all! How did we reach this point? It seems that our political system is truly flawed and only the very rich and corrupt seem to be able to survive running the political gauntlet to become the party nominee for president. The American people have to change the system, for despite all the talk about having the best political system in the world, it is obviously broken and not working like it is supposed to! Just because we have the best system doesn't mean it can't be made better. In fact, because we really haven't done much to tweak the system through the years, it has reach the point that it is in today. No system is completely perfect, not as long as it is run by humans. But that doesn't mean that it can't be made better, and right now we desperately need to make our system better.
When it comes to electing leaders, the people who vote are their own worst enemies. Many vote with their "hearts" rather than their head, and others vote simply because they have always voted the party line. Very few sit down and rationally determine who would make the best candidate! If that were the case, today neither one of the candidates would have been on the ballot, on the verge of taking the highest seat in the country.
In this election there will be those who will or have already voted for the candidate simply because they are of the same gender. Minorities are known to vote for minority candidates because they are minority members, and others will vote for a candidate because they are of that party, qualifications and background notwithstanding. In short, vast majority of votes will be cast based on the party line or the "heart." In the last two elections, minorities predominantly voted for Obama because he is a member of the minority! Unfortunately, that is not the way to elect the best candidate for the job, but that is how presidents have been elected, not only in America, but in other countries as well. How else do you think that someone as foul mouthed and vile as the current Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte could have been elected? Vladimir Putin, although hated by many, still has enough supporters to keep him in office. There may have been accusations of fraud in his election, but obviously he did receive many votes from his supporters! That's how it goes.
Yes, our system is flawed, it has become very much apparent in this election year. But, it is what it is. We the people have to fix it. The corrupt individuals in office will not fix it, why should they remove themselves from positions of power and influence? We have to vote-in the right kind of people, people who will change the system, not just mouth the words and once in office, continue as before. The American voters have to become more discriminating, selective. Note that I said American voters, not people. That is because, sadly, less than half of our voting age population actually is registered to vote or casts votes! People complain and grumble, but many never vote, it is sad, but it is true. Perhaps if more people voted, our political scene will change, who knows?
Normally, a four-year-old could determine who would win the election based on television coverage. Today's TV coverage and support is so one-sided that it is embarrassing. There is a constant barrage of positive ads for one candidate and negative ads directed at the opposition. It is as if we are in a one political party system! A visiting foreigner commented on this phenomena on our television and said that he thought we had laws prohibiting such one-sided presentation, that equal representation was required. Yes, we do have something like that somewhere in our system, but apparently this election year all bets are off! The news media is embarrassingly biased and is showing its true colors as the "king makers." However, despite news media's overwhelming support of one candidate, nothing is for certain and there are no guarantees! Anything can happen in this crazy election year!
We are a nation of almost 300 Million souls with arguably some of the better informed population on this planet. Yet, we are unable to come up with two better presidential candidates? I am stumped! Surely we can come up with candidates with more integrity, honesty, and less negative baggage! But here we are, literally forced to make a choice between two candidates that are strongly lacking in many areas to be president! Personally, I wouldn't trust or consider either one of the candidates for any political office!
Now it isn't so much a choice between the lesser of the two evils as I have blogged before, it is simply no choice at all! How did we reach this point? It seems that our political system is truly flawed and only the very rich and corrupt seem to be able to survive running the political gauntlet to become the party nominee for president. The American people have to change the system, for despite all the talk about having the best political system in the world, it is obviously broken and not working like it is supposed to! Just because we have the best system doesn't mean it can't be made better. In fact, because we really haven't done much to tweak the system through the years, it has reach the point that it is in today. No system is completely perfect, not as long as it is run by humans. But that doesn't mean that it can't be made better, and right now we desperately need to make our system better.
When it comes to electing leaders, the people who vote are their own worst enemies. Many vote with their "hearts" rather than their head, and others vote simply because they have always voted the party line. Very few sit down and rationally determine who would make the best candidate! If that were the case, today neither one of the candidates would have been on the ballot, on the verge of taking the highest seat in the country.
In this election there will be those who will or have already voted for the candidate simply because they are of the same gender. Minorities are known to vote for minority candidates because they are minority members, and others will vote for a candidate because they are of that party, qualifications and background notwithstanding. In short, vast majority of votes will be cast based on the party line or the "heart." In the last two elections, minorities predominantly voted for Obama because he is a member of the minority! Unfortunately, that is not the way to elect the best candidate for the job, but that is how presidents have been elected, not only in America, but in other countries as well. How else do you think that someone as foul mouthed and vile as the current Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte could have been elected? Vladimir Putin, although hated by many, still has enough supporters to keep him in office. There may have been accusations of fraud in his election, but obviously he did receive many votes from his supporters! That's how it goes.
Yes, our system is flawed, it has become very much apparent in this election year. But, it is what it is. We the people have to fix it. The corrupt individuals in office will not fix it, why should they remove themselves from positions of power and influence? We have to vote-in the right kind of people, people who will change the system, not just mouth the words and once in office, continue as before. The American voters have to become more discriminating, selective. Note that I said American voters, not people. That is because, sadly, less than half of our voting age population actually is registered to vote or casts votes! People complain and grumble, but many never vote, it is sad, but it is true. Perhaps if more people voted, our political scene will change, who knows?
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Chinen Gun Club
Without a doubt, the least known, and one of the shortest lived clubs or organizations on Okinawa was the Chinen Gun Club which existed for about a three month period during the summer of 1957. It had one of the smallest memberships, most of the time only four, plus the club manager! It was unusual in more ways than one. Its four "permanent" members were teenagers, only the so-called manager, the man who supervised the activities, was a bona fide adult. The guns that were used in that gun club were all military, the standard U.S. military arms plus some exotic foreign arms thrown in. I don't believe there was another gun club on the island that was like that! Usually, a gun club will involve target shooting and competition using various "civilian" shotguns, rifles, and pistols. In cases where the club was made up of teenagers, .22 rifle competition along with shotgunning (trap and skeet) were the popular activities. But at the Chinen Gun Club, there was not a .22 to be seen nor were there any trap and skeet shotguns. There were shotguns, but they were all combat shotguns!
At this point I will skip forward a half a dozen years or so, from Camp Chinen, Okinawa to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In the summer of 1963 I was undergoing training with the Special Forces Training Group on Smoke Bomb Hill in Fort Bragg. I was going through Special Forces Weapons Course at the time. The course was designed to train and familiarize Special Forces personnel with all infantry weapons, including the more common foreign weaponry from Soviet Union, PRC, UK, Germany, etc. In case of U.S. infantry weapons, they were the weapons of the day, the M-1 Garand rifle, M-1/M-2 Carbine, the M-3 submachinegun (greasegun), the BAR, on down to the .45 auto pistol and the .38 revolver. We were also trained and familiarized with some of the older weapons like the 1903 Springfield, and the 1928A1 Thompson submachinegun (tommygun). We trained with the British Sten, the Soviet PPSH, the Danish Madsen, the Finnish Soumi, and the German MP38 and 40 submachineguns. In otherwords, we were familiarized with all of the infantry weapons in use around the world at the time.
For most trainees, except for those who came into Special Forces from other units, all of the weapons except for the M-1 Garand which they were exposed to in Basic Training, were unfamiliar. Those who were veterans and came from other units naturally were familiar with all of the U.S. weaponry. But for the younger crop of soldiers, except for the M-1, all the other stuff was new and strange. However, in my case, because of my experience at Camp Chinen Gun Club, I was not only quite familiar with the U.S. weapons but had familiarity with some of the more exotic foreign weaponry. This caused a bit of a problem with my Training NCO. He asked me where, what unit I had served with before and I told him that I was not "prior service." He didn't believe me and couldn't understand why I was denying that I had prior service! He was certain that I was a "ringer" and trying to pull "something." People can be very suspicious! I explained to him that I had been exposed to all those weapons as a teenager at a gun club and he refused to believe me, saying that no gun club had such weaponry! I insisted that the club I belonged to on Okinawa, Chinen Gun Club, did indeed have all these weapons. Fortunately for me, another Training NCO stepped in and said that he was familiar with Camp Chinen on Okinawa since he had just been with the 1st Special Forces Group on the island. He said that Chinen did indeed have all sorts of exotic weapons that he and his team members had received both language and weapons training at Camp Chinen! So, I was saved!
Now, back in the summer of 1957, it was decided that a gun club would be organized to keep teenagers occupied and out of trouble during the summer months. I had arrived in Chinen in the Spring of 1957 and had completed the 8th grade at the old Kubasaki (the old Quonset huts!). There was no teen club to speak of in Camp Chinen, so there was precious little for teenagers to do except to go to Club Hotei and play ping pong or pool, if the pool tables were not being used by adults. There was the swimming pool and the tennis courts, and the gym, but that was about it. The golf course had not yet been built. The teenage population was not very large in Chinen that summer, less than a dozen.
A volunteer was sought to organize and supervise the gun club and a young man, that I will call "Bill" offered his services. Bill was married to a very pretty woman that some of the teenagers had a secret crush on. Bill was in his mid 30s and he and his wife were childless. So, a notice went out for teenagers interested in joining the gun club to show up at the shooting range in the morning. The range was located at the bottom of the hill as you came down the road from the upper base housing area. As you reached the bottom of the road, the motor pool was on the left and the paved road turned left to go past the motor pool and on to the tennis courts and Club Hotei and other places in the lower base. However, if you turned right, rather than following the paved road, you would find yourself on a small dirt road that led through a thick stand of elephant grass to the shooting range. The range was about a hundred yards from the road completely hidden by tall elephant grass. The range itself was very basic. There were no buildings or any sort of cover that you could use if it rained. It was about a hundred yard range set up against the backdrop of a hill.
Bill had knack for "relating" with teenagers. Unlike some of the other adults, he didn't seem to be bothered at all by the strange quirks and "cultural" differences that teenagers tend to exhibit. We in turn, liked Bill very much, thought he was very "cool" not only because of his attitude and his personal experience and knowledge of weapons, but because he was married to a very pretty woman as well! Sometimes during breaks between shooting sessions he would tell us about his experiences during World War Two. Bill was a young, 18 year old paratrooper with the 503rd Airborne Regimental Combat Team in New Guinea. He saw some tough combat duty and even made a combat jump before he changed units. He had volunteered for a new, "hush-hush" unit that was seeking volunteers from all branches of service in the Pacific Theater. After some very intense and hard training at another place in New Guinea, he was assigned to his new unit, the Alamo Scouts. The Alamo Scouts were the predecessors of the Vietnam era MACV-SOG units. They conducted clandestine scouting missions deep into Japanese held territories.
We fired all sorts of weapons, and Bill seemed to enjoy dragging out exotic weapons from the warehouses for us to fire. Our "club" did not participate in any competition. As I said earlier, it was mostly just four teenagers and Bill. So we just shot for fun, all sorts of weapons. Bill was an excellent instructor. At one time he noticed that I was having some difficulty holding the .45 auto steady for a period of time. The pistol weighs almost 3 pounds fully loaded (39 ounces empty), and for a skinny 8th grader, it was a bit of a chore to hold it steady for a long time. In those days we fired handguns one handed, it wasn't until I was in the Special Forces in the 1960s that I was taught to shoot two handed! Anyway, seeing my difficulty with the heavy gun, Bill suggested that I take an empty liter bottle of Coke (in those days they were made of glass, therefore, very heavy!) and hold it up like a pistol for as long as I could. He said to practice doing that every evening and that would strengthen my arm to hold the gun. He was right, after a couple of weeks of holding up the large Coke bottle, I didn't have nearly as much problem with the heavy .45 as I did before!
All in all, the summer of 1957 was a very interesting summer before I started my 9th grade year at Kubasaki at the "new" campus in Naha Wheel Area! The Camp Chinen Gun Club (actually, we never had any "official" name!) lasted from mid June through mid August of 1957. When the school started, the club was no more. I have never forgotten that experience and it still brings back some very fond memories of those early days in Camp Chinen.
At this point I will skip forward a half a dozen years or so, from Camp Chinen, Okinawa to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In the summer of 1963 I was undergoing training with the Special Forces Training Group on Smoke Bomb Hill in Fort Bragg. I was going through Special Forces Weapons Course at the time. The course was designed to train and familiarize Special Forces personnel with all infantry weapons, including the more common foreign weaponry from Soviet Union, PRC, UK, Germany, etc. In case of U.S. infantry weapons, they were the weapons of the day, the M-1 Garand rifle, M-1/M-2 Carbine, the M-3 submachinegun (greasegun), the BAR, on down to the .45 auto pistol and the .38 revolver. We were also trained and familiarized with some of the older weapons like the 1903 Springfield, and the 1928A1 Thompson submachinegun (tommygun). We trained with the British Sten, the Soviet PPSH, the Danish Madsen, the Finnish Soumi, and the German MP38 and 40 submachineguns. In otherwords, we were familiarized with all of the infantry weapons in use around the world at the time.
For most trainees, except for those who came into Special Forces from other units, all of the weapons except for the M-1 Garand which they were exposed to in Basic Training, were unfamiliar. Those who were veterans and came from other units naturally were familiar with all of the U.S. weaponry. But for the younger crop of soldiers, except for the M-1, all the other stuff was new and strange. However, in my case, because of my experience at Camp Chinen Gun Club, I was not only quite familiar with the U.S. weapons but had familiarity with some of the more exotic foreign weaponry. This caused a bit of a problem with my Training NCO. He asked me where, what unit I had served with before and I told him that I was not "prior service." He didn't believe me and couldn't understand why I was denying that I had prior service! He was certain that I was a "ringer" and trying to pull "something." People can be very suspicious! I explained to him that I had been exposed to all those weapons as a teenager at a gun club and he refused to believe me, saying that no gun club had such weaponry! I insisted that the club I belonged to on Okinawa, Chinen Gun Club, did indeed have all these weapons. Fortunately for me, another Training NCO stepped in and said that he was familiar with Camp Chinen on Okinawa since he had just been with the 1st Special Forces Group on the island. He said that Chinen did indeed have all sorts of exotic weapons that he and his team members had received both language and weapons training at Camp Chinen! So, I was saved!
Now, back in the summer of 1957, it was decided that a gun club would be organized to keep teenagers occupied and out of trouble during the summer months. I had arrived in Chinen in the Spring of 1957 and had completed the 8th grade at the old Kubasaki (the old Quonset huts!). There was no teen club to speak of in Camp Chinen, so there was precious little for teenagers to do except to go to Club Hotei and play ping pong or pool, if the pool tables were not being used by adults. There was the swimming pool and the tennis courts, and the gym, but that was about it. The golf course had not yet been built. The teenage population was not very large in Chinen that summer, less than a dozen.
A volunteer was sought to organize and supervise the gun club and a young man, that I will call "Bill" offered his services. Bill was married to a very pretty woman that some of the teenagers had a secret crush on. Bill was in his mid 30s and he and his wife were childless. So, a notice went out for teenagers interested in joining the gun club to show up at the shooting range in the morning. The range was located at the bottom of the hill as you came down the road from the upper base housing area. As you reached the bottom of the road, the motor pool was on the left and the paved road turned left to go past the motor pool and on to the tennis courts and Club Hotei and other places in the lower base. However, if you turned right, rather than following the paved road, you would find yourself on a small dirt road that led through a thick stand of elephant grass to the shooting range. The range was about a hundred yards from the road completely hidden by tall elephant grass. The range itself was very basic. There were no buildings or any sort of cover that you could use if it rained. It was about a hundred yard range set up against the backdrop of a hill.
Bill had knack for "relating" with teenagers. Unlike some of the other adults, he didn't seem to be bothered at all by the strange quirks and "cultural" differences that teenagers tend to exhibit. We in turn, liked Bill very much, thought he was very "cool" not only because of his attitude and his personal experience and knowledge of weapons, but because he was married to a very pretty woman as well! Sometimes during breaks between shooting sessions he would tell us about his experiences during World War Two. Bill was a young, 18 year old paratrooper with the 503rd Airborne Regimental Combat Team in New Guinea. He saw some tough combat duty and even made a combat jump before he changed units. He had volunteered for a new, "hush-hush" unit that was seeking volunteers from all branches of service in the Pacific Theater. After some very intense and hard training at another place in New Guinea, he was assigned to his new unit, the Alamo Scouts. The Alamo Scouts were the predecessors of the Vietnam era MACV-SOG units. They conducted clandestine scouting missions deep into Japanese held territories.
We fired all sorts of weapons, and Bill seemed to enjoy dragging out exotic weapons from the warehouses for us to fire. Our "club" did not participate in any competition. As I said earlier, it was mostly just four teenagers and Bill. So we just shot for fun, all sorts of weapons. Bill was an excellent instructor. At one time he noticed that I was having some difficulty holding the .45 auto steady for a period of time. The pistol weighs almost 3 pounds fully loaded (39 ounces empty), and for a skinny 8th grader, it was a bit of a chore to hold it steady for a long time. In those days we fired handguns one handed, it wasn't until I was in the Special Forces in the 1960s that I was taught to shoot two handed! Anyway, seeing my difficulty with the heavy gun, Bill suggested that I take an empty liter bottle of Coke (in those days they were made of glass, therefore, very heavy!) and hold it up like a pistol for as long as I could. He said to practice doing that every evening and that would strengthen my arm to hold the gun. He was right, after a couple of weeks of holding up the large Coke bottle, I didn't have nearly as much problem with the heavy .45 as I did before!
All in all, the summer of 1957 was a very interesting summer before I started my 9th grade year at Kubasaki at the "new" campus in Naha Wheel Area! The Camp Chinen Gun Club (actually, we never had any "official" name!) lasted from mid June through mid August of 1957. When the school started, the club was no more. I have never forgotten that experience and it still brings back some very fond memories of those early days in Camp Chinen.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
"Henrose"
Those who lived on Okinawa, prior to reversion to Japan in 1972, were more than likely aware of the existence of a U.S. government installation that was located on the southern tip of the island called Camp Chinen. Some may have visited the place as guests of school friends who lived in that camp. It was an isolated place, on a small plateau, named after the area which was on a small peninsula called Chinen (pronounce "shee-nen"). It was a completely "self-sustaining" installation with all of the amenities one would expect from a larger government installation. It had its own small movie theater that showed all the latest movies that were shown at larger bases like Kadena or Sukiran. It had a small PX that carried most necessities, a nice club (Hotei) that served the needs of its residents, a large community swimming pool, golf course, tennis courts, fully equipped gymnasium, four lane bowling alley, and a dispensary to take care of its residents. In short, it was just a smaller version of one of the larger camps/bases located on the island.
It was a very nice place in may respects, but somewhat isolated and, therefore, a bit of a bore for a teenager. I have blogged about some of the people that I met in Chinen previously, they were all very interesting, fascinating people. As I explained in one of the blogs, as a teenager I couldn't always get away from Camp Chinen to go to one of the teen clubs located on the main part of the island. In those cases, I was "stuck" in Chinen and had to find a way to entertain myself otherwise. During fall and winter I was usually occupied with hunting in the surrounding area, but during spring and summer there wasn't much to do, so I used to hang around the bowling alley where I became good friends with its manager, Moriyama. I had told the story of Moriyama, who was originally from Hiroshima area, who was a "boy soldier" during WWII, a kamikaze pilot, no less! Moriyama was a very good friend and I spent many hours talking with him, since I was not much of a bowler! The other person that I befriended was the manager of our gym, a man who went by the nick-name of "Henrose." Moriyama the bowling alley manager and Henrose the gym manager were two of my closest friends in Camp Chinen during my five years in that place. I befriended both of them when I first arrived in Chinen as an 8th Grader and continued my friendship with them through all the years until after I graduated from Kubasaki and left Okinawa! So, ours was a long association and friendship, and I got to know the two men very well.
Like Moriyama, Henrose came to work in Camp Chinen shortly after it was built during the Korean War. His real name, Ikemiyagi, apparently was difficult to remember or pronounce for some Americans, so someone gave him the nick-name of Henrose, which stuck, and everyone called him by that name. He didn't mind, in fact, he seemed amused by it. I asked him once if he wasn't upset with the foreign nick-name when he had a perfectly good name, and he just waved it off and said he didn't care. Essentially he said it didn't matter what he was called.
Henrose was a stocky, muscular guy with a dark complexion. He was the exact opposite of Moriyama who was slender with a very fair complexion. Henrose told me that when he first went to work at the gym, he used to lift weights regularly out of boredom, that's how he became so muscular. The gym usually had no customers during the day. Perhaps someone who was not working might pop-in, or someone else might drop by during lunch to exercise a bit. But for most of the day it was empty. It was after work hours and weekends that the gym saw most activities such as pick-up basketball, in which case Henrose had to work those times and days. On movie nights Henrose worked as a projectionist, so he got to see all the movies that were shown! But, most of the day Henrose was by himself or in company of another Okinawan employee who was off work that day and they would be engaged in a game of shogi (Japanese chess) or go and work regular 8 to 5 work hours. Henrose loved to play shogi or go, and from what I understood, he was the grand champion of all Okinawan employees in Camp Chinen.
Unlike Moriyama who lived in Naha and used to make the long commute on his motorcycle daily, Henrose lived in Oyakibaru, the small village just outside the main gate across the fire station. Oyakibaru was a small village that was created after Camp Chinen was built. Some of the Okinawan employees at the camp lived there, as well as one American who had an Okinawan common law wife and family! Once, during the summer, Henrose invited me to his house after he closed the gym. He had a nice, very typical Okinawan house and we sat in his house eating goat sashimi. That's the first time that I had eaten goat sashimi!
Through the years I learned some very interesting things about Henrose. He was older than Moriyama and in 1944 he was in his final year at the Ryukyu University when he was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army. Because he was an Okinawan, despite his university education, he was sent to a work battalion where he served as a private, mostly as an ammunition bearer on the front lines and laborer in the rear areas. It goes without saying that he was treated brutally, not only because he was a private, but because he was not a "real" Japanese. He was not from naichi (main islands) therefore, according to what he told me, Okinawans were treated like Koreans and Taiwanese, who were also drafted into Japanese military to serve in work battalions! He was in Burma for a while, then got transferred to Philippines where he served most of the war years. At the end of the war, after spending time in a POW camp in Philippines, he was repatriated back to Okinawa.
Once when I was walking with him through the main gate (I was headed for Machinato area and was going to catch an Okinawan bus) and Henrose was headed home. Henrose had a bag that he carried and the guard insisted on thoroughly searching the bag before allowing him to leave. Henrose was visibly upset, and it was also obvious that there was some bad blood between him and that particular guard. They exchanged some unkindly words before parting, Henrose calling the guard a "watch dog." Later, when we were talking in the gym, for some reason I mentioned the Japanese Imperial Army's notorious secret police, the kempei tai. Henrose bristled upon hearing the name kempei and practically spit out the name followed by some strong language. He called them chiksho (animals) and some much stronger names! I asked him why he hated the kempei tai so much and he proceeded to tell me that he hated all security services, including our own gate guards!
It took a while, several months, before Henrose finally told me the reason for his hatred of "security personnel." He said that when he was in the army during the war, he along with some of his companions in the work battalion complained to the higher ups about the brutal treatment. They had written a petition requesting better treatment, saying that they were all in it together and they were willing to work hard, but the treatment was unfair and brutal, and counterproductive. He said that shortly after they submitted the petition the kempei swooped down on them and arrested all of the involved members. They were tortured, beaten daily, and forced to make false confessions that their protests were a part of a much bigger plot that involved all sorts of high ranking individuals. Of course it was all made up to make the kempei look good. He said their torture involved everything from simple beating with kendo swords to using electric shock, attaching car battery wires to genitals! He said that eventually several of his comrades died, and those that remained alive were returned to their units, broken men!
Henrose said that to this day, if he ever ran into any one of his former torturers, he would kill them with his bare hands, without hesitation! He said he didn't care if he had to go to prison for the rest of his life, it would be worth it! Although Henrose was married for over ten years at that time, he and his wife had no children.
Few people who lived on Okinawa actually realized how badly Okinawans were treated by the Japanese before and during the war. When talk of reversion first started to be heard in the 1960s, the older generation, especially those who had suffered through the war in the military, were strongly opposed to any kind of a return to Japan. Moriyama, who was a Japanese, but married to an Okinawan, didn't think it would be good for Okinawa. Henrose, when I asked him about the reversion, snickered and spit out, "Return to motherland? What motherland! We're not Japanese! We are Okinawans, Ryukyuans, not Japanese!" But apparently he and those others like him had very little to say, as Okinawa was "returned" to Japan in 1972.
It was a very nice place in may respects, but somewhat isolated and, therefore, a bit of a bore for a teenager. I have blogged about some of the people that I met in Chinen previously, they were all very interesting, fascinating people. As I explained in one of the blogs, as a teenager I couldn't always get away from Camp Chinen to go to one of the teen clubs located on the main part of the island. In those cases, I was "stuck" in Chinen and had to find a way to entertain myself otherwise. During fall and winter I was usually occupied with hunting in the surrounding area, but during spring and summer there wasn't much to do, so I used to hang around the bowling alley where I became good friends with its manager, Moriyama. I had told the story of Moriyama, who was originally from Hiroshima area, who was a "boy soldier" during WWII, a kamikaze pilot, no less! Moriyama was a very good friend and I spent many hours talking with him, since I was not much of a bowler! The other person that I befriended was the manager of our gym, a man who went by the nick-name of "Henrose." Moriyama the bowling alley manager and Henrose the gym manager were two of my closest friends in Camp Chinen during my five years in that place. I befriended both of them when I first arrived in Chinen as an 8th Grader and continued my friendship with them through all the years until after I graduated from Kubasaki and left Okinawa! So, ours was a long association and friendship, and I got to know the two men very well.
Like Moriyama, Henrose came to work in Camp Chinen shortly after it was built during the Korean War. His real name, Ikemiyagi, apparently was difficult to remember or pronounce for some Americans, so someone gave him the nick-name of Henrose, which stuck, and everyone called him by that name. He didn't mind, in fact, he seemed amused by it. I asked him once if he wasn't upset with the foreign nick-name when he had a perfectly good name, and he just waved it off and said he didn't care. Essentially he said it didn't matter what he was called.
Henrose was a stocky, muscular guy with a dark complexion. He was the exact opposite of Moriyama who was slender with a very fair complexion. Henrose told me that when he first went to work at the gym, he used to lift weights regularly out of boredom, that's how he became so muscular. The gym usually had no customers during the day. Perhaps someone who was not working might pop-in, or someone else might drop by during lunch to exercise a bit. But for most of the day it was empty. It was after work hours and weekends that the gym saw most activities such as pick-up basketball, in which case Henrose had to work those times and days. On movie nights Henrose worked as a projectionist, so he got to see all the movies that were shown! But, most of the day Henrose was by himself or in company of another Okinawan employee who was off work that day and they would be engaged in a game of shogi (Japanese chess) or go and work regular 8 to 5 work hours. Henrose loved to play shogi or go, and from what I understood, he was the grand champion of all Okinawan employees in Camp Chinen.
Unlike Moriyama who lived in Naha and used to make the long commute on his motorcycle daily, Henrose lived in Oyakibaru, the small village just outside the main gate across the fire station. Oyakibaru was a small village that was created after Camp Chinen was built. Some of the Okinawan employees at the camp lived there, as well as one American who had an Okinawan common law wife and family! Once, during the summer, Henrose invited me to his house after he closed the gym. He had a nice, very typical Okinawan house and we sat in his house eating goat sashimi. That's the first time that I had eaten goat sashimi!
Through the years I learned some very interesting things about Henrose. He was older than Moriyama and in 1944 he was in his final year at the Ryukyu University when he was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army. Because he was an Okinawan, despite his university education, he was sent to a work battalion where he served as a private, mostly as an ammunition bearer on the front lines and laborer in the rear areas. It goes without saying that he was treated brutally, not only because he was a private, but because he was not a "real" Japanese. He was not from naichi (main islands) therefore, according to what he told me, Okinawans were treated like Koreans and Taiwanese, who were also drafted into Japanese military to serve in work battalions! He was in Burma for a while, then got transferred to Philippines where he served most of the war years. At the end of the war, after spending time in a POW camp in Philippines, he was repatriated back to Okinawa.
Once when I was walking with him through the main gate (I was headed for Machinato area and was going to catch an Okinawan bus) and Henrose was headed home. Henrose had a bag that he carried and the guard insisted on thoroughly searching the bag before allowing him to leave. Henrose was visibly upset, and it was also obvious that there was some bad blood between him and that particular guard. They exchanged some unkindly words before parting, Henrose calling the guard a "watch dog." Later, when we were talking in the gym, for some reason I mentioned the Japanese Imperial Army's notorious secret police, the kempei tai. Henrose bristled upon hearing the name kempei and practically spit out the name followed by some strong language. He called them chiksho (animals) and some much stronger names! I asked him why he hated the kempei tai so much and he proceeded to tell me that he hated all security services, including our own gate guards!
It took a while, several months, before Henrose finally told me the reason for his hatred of "security personnel." He said that when he was in the army during the war, he along with some of his companions in the work battalion complained to the higher ups about the brutal treatment. They had written a petition requesting better treatment, saying that they were all in it together and they were willing to work hard, but the treatment was unfair and brutal, and counterproductive. He said that shortly after they submitted the petition the kempei swooped down on them and arrested all of the involved members. They were tortured, beaten daily, and forced to make false confessions that their protests were a part of a much bigger plot that involved all sorts of high ranking individuals. Of course it was all made up to make the kempei look good. He said their torture involved everything from simple beating with kendo swords to using electric shock, attaching car battery wires to genitals! He said that eventually several of his comrades died, and those that remained alive were returned to their units, broken men!
Henrose said that to this day, if he ever ran into any one of his former torturers, he would kill them with his bare hands, without hesitation! He said he didn't care if he had to go to prison for the rest of his life, it would be worth it! Although Henrose was married for over ten years at that time, he and his wife had no children.
Few people who lived on Okinawa actually realized how badly Okinawans were treated by the Japanese before and during the war. When talk of reversion first started to be heard in the 1960s, the older generation, especially those who had suffered through the war in the military, were strongly opposed to any kind of a return to Japan. Moriyama, who was a Japanese, but married to an Okinawan, didn't think it would be good for Okinawa. Henrose, when I asked him about the reversion, snickered and spit out, "Return to motherland? What motherland! We're not Japanese! We are Okinawans, Ryukyuans, not Japanese!" But apparently he and those others like him had very little to say, as Okinawa was "returned" to Japan in 1972.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Putin's View of America - "Rabid With Fat"
Someone once said that the Russians language was one of the best languages for poetry, that one could express feelings in a fashion that was not possible in another language. Whether that is true or not, I cannot say. I can say, however, that Russian language is full of very unique and interesting expressions and sayings. Take for example how Boris Yeltsin's face was commonly described by his critics. He was said to have a "a mug that invites a brick" ("rozha kotorye prigloshayet kirpitcha"). Perhaps not the most complimentary description of Yeltsin's appearance, but nevertheless a very colorful though crude expression! There is another very old popular saying, "zhyrym besyatza" which literally translates to "rabid with fat."
"Rabid with fat" refers to a person or people who are spoiled, have everything and are bored so they seek to satisfy their boredom with useless activities with self gratifying goals. Some historians believe that is what happened to Rome, that the rich and powerful were so hedonistic, engrossed with satisfying their own pleasures that they completely lost track of what was happening to their country. Putin, as well as some of the other members of his ruling class (the new nomenkultura), definitely believe that America has fallen into the category of ancient Rome before its fall. Putin, in some of his speeches has said that America was on the decline, that its people were "rabid with fat." He pointed at the various changes that had taken place in the last few decades and derisively said that it was a sure sign of our impending collapse as a nation.
Being basically the old hard-line Soviet that he is, he considers any softening or changing of old rules as a weakness, a sign of decay! He points at our acceptance of same sex marriage, the legalization of marijuana in some parts of the country, and our seeming inability to control Muslim population. He made quite a joke about the flap that we had not long ago about bathroom usage by transgender kids in schools. He constantly points out some of the more controversial occurrences that take place in America. His remarks concerning the latest "Clowns' Lives Matter" (yes, if you haven't heard, there is a movement afoot for "Clowns' Lives Matter," its not a joke!) illustrates his view and opinion of our country. He said that he was surprised it took so long for the clowns to get into the act!
Putin is an extremely dangerous man. I don't believe there has been a world leader as dangerous as Putin since Yuri Andropov (1982-84), and not surprisingly, both are diehard former KGB! It is not very well known that before he became the Soviet Premier, Andropov, as the head of KGB, came up with a plan to involve PRC in a war with the United States. A complicated plot was hatched to launch a missile attack on South Korea and Japan by North Korea and PRC. At least the attack would appear to have been launched by China and North Korea. The idea was to engage us in a war with China and Soviet Union would step-in to take over when we were weakened and unsuspecting! Obviously, nothing like that happened, and today it sounds more like a Hollywood movie script or a spy novel. But if the truth be known, intelligence information surfaced that Andropov and the KGB indeed had such a plan which they planned to execute without the knowledge of Kremlin and the Politburo! Well, I don't mean to be an alarmist, but Putin is just such a man, having been trained and groomed by the KGB during that era!
The current alarming situation in Aleppo, Syria is a good example of what Putin is doing. He is completely ignoring previous talks and promises of mutual cooperation and continues to bomb indiscriminately and refuses to allow UN or any other NGO to enter the area to help the desperate people. European sensationalist press is abuzz with rumors that World War Three is about to start! Putin supposedly recalled all his high ranking officials and their families stationed abroad, calling for them to return to the "motherland." Alarmists insist that it is a precursor to the start of World War Three, that Putin is getting ready to attack. I don't think so. Putin will get what he wants without resorting to such drastic actions.
Despite Europe's opposition to Putin's antics and the seeming cooling relations at present, Europe needs Russia! Europe gets its natural gas from Russia as well as some of its oil supply! If Russia cut off its supply of natural gas to Europe, it would cause considerable problems. So, despite the cooling relations and periodic quarrels, most of Western Europe (as well as all of Eastern Europe) will not risk going to a catastrophic war against Russia. Putin knows this, and European leaders know this as well. That is why Putin recently ordered nuclear warhead missiles to move as close to the Western border as it has ever been. He knew there would be no physical response as such, just verbal protestations! NATO, on the other hand, does not have any nuclear weapons anywhere near the Russian border! So, who is the winner in this game of show of strength?
Right now, while most of Americans are preoccupied with the forthcoming presidential elections, Putin is making his moves to strengthen his position in Europe and Middle East. He would like nothing more than to create chaos during the elections which he believes will bring about an unstable government, regardless of who gets elected! Using others to say things that he wants said to disrupt and destabilize our elections, his spokesmen, both official and unofficial, claim to want Trump to be elected rather than Clinton. They claim that Clinton would bring about World War Three. I don't believe that Putin really thinks that will happen. All of the talk is simply to destabilize the elections, cause confusion.
Make no mistake about it, Putin's ultimate goal, his dream in life is to bring about the downfall of the United States of America. He hates the U.S. and has made no bones about it. He is an old school, ruthless former Soviet who blames all of Russia's woes on the United States. Although Russia has its Parliament, the Duma, Putin makes all the decisions and will override anything the Duma does that does not please him. It has taken him a while to modernize the Russian military to the point where he feels that Russian forces are no longer behind times, inferior to NATO. The main thing, however, is that he knows that Western Europe, like the United States, has a current population that is "rabid with fat." Rightly or not, he does not fear us. He fears our weapons, but not our leadership or resolve to carry the fight! Putin is the most dangerous man of the 21st Century, so far!
"Rabid with fat" refers to a person or people who are spoiled, have everything and are bored so they seek to satisfy their boredom with useless activities with self gratifying goals. Some historians believe that is what happened to Rome, that the rich and powerful were so hedonistic, engrossed with satisfying their own pleasures that they completely lost track of what was happening to their country. Putin, as well as some of the other members of his ruling class (the new nomenkultura), definitely believe that America has fallen into the category of ancient Rome before its fall. Putin, in some of his speeches has said that America was on the decline, that its people were "rabid with fat." He pointed at the various changes that had taken place in the last few decades and derisively said that it was a sure sign of our impending collapse as a nation.
Being basically the old hard-line Soviet that he is, he considers any softening or changing of old rules as a weakness, a sign of decay! He points at our acceptance of same sex marriage, the legalization of marijuana in some parts of the country, and our seeming inability to control Muslim population. He made quite a joke about the flap that we had not long ago about bathroom usage by transgender kids in schools. He constantly points out some of the more controversial occurrences that take place in America. His remarks concerning the latest "Clowns' Lives Matter" (yes, if you haven't heard, there is a movement afoot for "Clowns' Lives Matter," its not a joke!) illustrates his view and opinion of our country. He said that he was surprised it took so long for the clowns to get into the act!
Putin is an extremely dangerous man. I don't believe there has been a world leader as dangerous as Putin since Yuri Andropov (1982-84), and not surprisingly, both are diehard former KGB! It is not very well known that before he became the Soviet Premier, Andropov, as the head of KGB, came up with a plan to involve PRC in a war with the United States. A complicated plot was hatched to launch a missile attack on South Korea and Japan by North Korea and PRC. At least the attack would appear to have been launched by China and North Korea. The idea was to engage us in a war with China and Soviet Union would step-in to take over when we were weakened and unsuspecting! Obviously, nothing like that happened, and today it sounds more like a Hollywood movie script or a spy novel. But if the truth be known, intelligence information surfaced that Andropov and the KGB indeed had such a plan which they planned to execute without the knowledge of Kremlin and the Politburo! Well, I don't mean to be an alarmist, but Putin is just such a man, having been trained and groomed by the KGB during that era!
The current alarming situation in Aleppo, Syria is a good example of what Putin is doing. He is completely ignoring previous talks and promises of mutual cooperation and continues to bomb indiscriminately and refuses to allow UN or any other NGO to enter the area to help the desperate people. European sensationalist press is abuzz with rumors that World War Three is about to start! Putin supposedly recalled all his high ranking officials and their families stationed abroad, calling for them to return to the "motherland." Alarmists insist that it is a precursor to the start of World War Three, that Putin is getting ready to attack. I don't think so. Putin will get what he wants without resorting to such drastic actions.
Despite Europe's opposition to Putin's antics and the seeming cooling relations at present, Europe needs Russia! Europe gets its natural gas from Russia as well as some of its oil supply! If Russia cut off its supply of natural gas to Europe, it would cause considerable problems. So, despite the cooling relations and periodic quarrels, most of Western Europe (as well as all of Eastern Europe) will not risk going to a catastrophic war against Russia. Putin knows this, and European leaders know this as well. That is why Putin recently ordered nuclear warhead missiles to move as close to the Western border as it has ever been. He knew there would be no physical response as such, just verbal protestations! NATO, on the other hand, does not have any nuclear weapons anywhere near the Russian border! So, who is the winner in this game of show of strength?
Right now, while most of Americans are preoccupied with the forthcoming presidential elections, Putin is making his moves to strengthen his position in Europe and Middle East. He would like nothing more than to create chaos during the elections which he believes will bring about an unstable government, regardless of who gets elected! Using others to say things that he wants said to disrupt and destabilize our elections, his spokesmen, both official and unofficial, claim to want Trump to be elected rather than Clinton. They claim that Clinton would bring about World War Three. I don't believe that Putin really thinks that will happen. All of the talk is simply to destabilize the elections, cause confusion.
Make no mistake about it, Putin's ultimate goal, his dream in life is to bring about the downfall of the United States of America. He hates the U.S. and has made no bones about it. He is an old school, ruthless former Soviet who blames all of Russia's woes on the United States. Although Russia has its Parliament, the Duma, Putin makes all the decisions and will override anything the Duma does that does not please him. It has taken him a while to modernize the Russian military to the point where he feels that Russian forces are no longer behind times, inferior to NATO. The main thing, however, is that he knows that Western Europe, like the United States, has a current population that is "rabid with fat." Rightly or not, he does not fear us. He fears our weapons, but not our leadership or resolve to carry the fight! Putin is the most dangerous man of the 21st Century, so far!
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The Manchurian Candidate
In 1959 Richard Condon published a thriller called The Manchurian Candidate that became a best seller. It was basically about a former U.S. Army POW who was brainwashed by communist North Korean/Chinese intelligence during his captivity towards the end of Korean War. Upon return to the United States, the brainwashed former POW, who is from an influential political family, is being positioned by his communist handlers to commit an assassination during the presidential election night.
The story, as far-fetched as it may be, was interesting and exciting and naturally made for perfect fit for a Hollywood movie. Frank Sinatra starred in the 1962 black and white version, a very interesting and somewhat avant-garde movie for the times. This subject was hashed and rehashed in several different versions in various TV and other Hollywood productions. In 2004 the "new" version of The Manchurian Candidate was made in color and starring Denzel Washington. So, the subject matter of enemy forces affecting our presidential elections is very popular and something that has been told in various forms for a number of years.
Most recently all of the news networks covered the subject of Russia trying to influence our elections via cyber attacks, releasing sensitive information to various sources known to publish secrets such as WikiLeaks. If anyone was surprised at this revelation, then they really haven't been following international news and developments very well. With the advent of the computer age, cyber attacks and constant attempts to access classified U.S. government computer files by foreign powers has been a standard practice. After all, this is no different from trying to get someone to steal sensitive information, hard copies of documents, etc.! This has been going on for centuries! For the past decades there have been constant complaints from our government about Chinese government trying to break-in into our government computer files. North Korea has been accused of doing the same also, as well as Iran and even smaller entities like Al Qaeda and ISIS.
What I think most Americans don't realize is that trying to affect our presidential elections and other important political activities by foreign powers has been taking place for a long time, most certainly since the end of World War Two. This sort of activity by foreign powers increased dramatically during the post World War Two, the Cold War era! The former Soviet Union was very active in this and there were special departments created to carry out these missions by KGB as well as their military intelligence GRU. The Chinese got into the act once People's Republic of China was established on the mainland. Even North Korea started using its agents to try to penetrate into our government "circle." So, although the method used in The Manchurian Candidate may be a bit of a stretch, the idea behind the story is certainly plausible!
In the more "innocent" days of mid 20th Century, our chief concern was with the Soviet Union and Communist China. North Korea was considered small potatoes and not much attention was paid to them and most other countries, like North Korea lacked resources to be a major threat. Back in the day, intelligence had to be accessed or gathered physically by spies, human intelligence (humint). Remember all those spy movies with stealing of documents, microfilms, breaking into safes, etc. You needed someone to physically steal microfilm or photograph hard copies of documents. However, today, with computers being used as the primary communication vehicle, just about anyone with a laptop and computer smarts can try to hack into our government systems, as even some high school kids have been known to do!
There have been instances in the past when important government officials were "caught" accepting cash or lavish gifts from foreign interests. Sadly, majority of these cases involved our elected officials, not career government employees. Although these congressmen or senators were censured, or in some cases forced to resign, very few if any ended up in prison. Part of the reason for this is that there were so many layers involved that it was very difficult to tell who the real source was. In other words, it may appear that the congressman was bribed by someone from country X but if you removed numerous layers, you would have found Soviet Union or PRC underneath, not some friendly nation! In most cases the foolish congressman who took the bribe and carelessly gave information to a foreign contact did not realize or suspect who was behind it all. In other cases, to avoid embarrassment to the government, the true source of the bribe was not revealed and the guilty congressmen was let go with a slap on the wrist.
A couple of decades ago, before the computer age really kicked in, there was a very wealthy Korean businessman in Washington D.C. who hob-knobbed with all of the influential politicians inside the beltway. He gave lavish gifts and held expensive parties to which he invited all of the influential folks in Washington. It is not known exactly how many of Washington's influential politicians he had in his pocket, but he was eventually caught bribing and was disgraced and jailed for a short period. It was assumed that he was using his money to gain access to defense contracts and possibly favorable votes for Republic of South Korea, because he was a citizen of that country. However, it was discovered years later that he was in fact an agent of North Korea and gathered valuable intelligence information and influenced a number of political appointments! His North Korean connection has been hushed-up, for no doubt it would cause greater embarrassment to our government and to those who were bribed by him!
That case certainly lacked the drama and excitement of Hollywood version of The Manchurian Candidate and it did not involve presidential elections, at least it hasn't been proven. But what it showed was that you really didn't need any exotic methods and intricate "brainwashing" to get some people in Washington to do your bidding, all you need is money! Goes to show the quality of people we elect and send to Washington!
So, the fact that Russia is trying to influence our elections by using cyber attack is nothing new or unusual. Russia is not alone, China is also busily involved in trying to exert its influence. To me what is more alarming and disturbing is not the fact that they are trying to influence our elections but the fact that they were able to gain access to such sensitive information. I have no doubt that we too have "hacked" into their systems and have gathered considerable amount of intelligence. I find it stupid and counterproductive for Washington to announce that we know what they are doing and that they must "cease and desist," or we will take some drastic action! What are we going to do, bomb them? If we are going to take some action, via cyber warfare, why not just do it, why announce it? It reminds me of our announcing of pulling out troops from Iraq or Afghanistan, giving the enemy a "heads-up," why do we keep doing it? Oh well, who says that our government can learn from history when it can't even learn from yesterday!
The story, as far-fetched as it may be, was interesting and exciting and naturally made for perfect fit for a Hollywood movie. Frank Sinatra starred in the 1962 black and white version, a very interesting and somewhat avant-garde movie for the times. This subject was hashed and rehashed in several different versions in various TV and other Hollywood productions. In 2004 the "new" version of The Manchurian Candidate was made in color and starring Denzel Washington. So, the subject matter of enemy forces affecting our presidential elections is very popular and something that has been told in various forms for a number of years.
Most recently all of the news networks covered the subject of Russia trying to influence our elections via cyber attacks, releasing sensitive information to various sources known to publish secrets such as WikiLeaks. If anyone was surprised at this revelation, then they really haven't been following international news and developments very well. With the advent of the computer age, cyber attacks and constant attempts to access classified U.S. government computer files by foreign powers has been a standard practice. After all, this is no different from trying to get someone to steal sensitive information, hard copies of documents, etc.! This has been going on for centuries! For the past decades there have been constant complaints from our government about Chinese government trying to break-in into our government computer files. North Korea has been accused of doing the same also, as well as Iran and even smaller entities like Al Qaeda and ISIS.
What I think most Americans don't realize is that trying to affect our presidential elections and other important political activities by foreign powers has been taking place for a long time, most certainly since the end of World War Two. This sort of activity by foreign powers increased dramatically during the post World War Two, the Cold War era! The former Soviet Union was very active in this and there were special departments created to carry out these missions by KGB as well as their military intelligence GRU. The Chinese got into the act once People's Republic of China was established on the mainland. Even North Korea started using its agents to try to penetrate into our government "circle." So, although the method used in The Manchurian Candidate may be a bit of a stretch, the idea behind the story is certainly plausible!
In the more "innocent" days of mid 20th Century, our chief concern was with the Soviet Union and Communist China. North Korea was considered small potatoes and not much attention was paid to them and most other countries, like North Korea lacked resources to be a major threat. Back in the day, intelligence had to be accessed or gathered physically by spies, human intelligence (humint). Remember all those spy movies with stealing of documents, microfilms, breaking into safes, etc. You needed someone to physically steal microfilm or photograph hard copies of documents. However, today, with computers being used as the primary communication vehicle, just about anyone with a laptop and computer smarts can try to hack into our government systems, as even some high school kids have been known to do!
There have been instances in the past when important government officials were "caught" accepting cash or lavish gifts from foreign interests. Sadly, majority of these cases involved our elected officials, not career government employees. Although these congressmen or senators were censured, or in some cases forced to resign, very few if any ended up in prison. Part of the reason for this is that there were so many layers involved that it was very difficult to tell who the real source was. In other words, it may appear that the congressman was bribed by someone from country X but if you removed numerous layers, you would have found Soviet Union or PRC underneath, not some friendly nation! In most cases the foolish congressman who took the bribe and carelessly gave information to a foreign contact did not realize or suspect who was behind it all. In other cases, to avoid embarrassment to the government, the true source of the bribe was not revealed and the guilty congressmen was let go with a slap on the wrist.
A couple of decades ago, before the computer age really kicked in, there was a very wealthy Korean businessman in Washington D.C. who hob-knobbed with all of the influential politicians inside the beltway. He gave lavish gifts and held expensive parties to which he invited all of the influential folks in Washington. It is not known exactly how many of Washington's influential politicians he had in his pocket, but he was eventually caught bribing and was disgraced and jailed for a short period. It was assumed that he was using his money to gain access to defense contracts and possibly favorable votes for Republic of South Korea, because he was a citizen of that country. However, it was discovered years later that he was in fact an agent of North Korea and gathered valuable intelligence information and influenced a number of political appointments! His North Korean connection has been hushed-up, for no doubt it would cause greater embarrassment to our government and to those who were bribed by him!
That case certainly lacked the drama and excitement of Hollywood version of The Manchurian Candidate and it did not involve presidential elections, at least it hasn't been proven. But what it showed was that you really didn't need any exotic methods and intricate "brainwashing" to get some people in Washington to do your bidding, all you need is money! Goes to show the quality of people we elect and send to Washington!
So, the fact that Russia is trying to influence our elections by using cyber attack is nothing new or unusual. Russia is not alone, China is also busily involved in trying to exert its influence. To me what is more alarming and disturbing is not the fact that they are trying to influence our elections but the fact that they were able to gain access to such sensitive information. I have no doubt that we too have "hacked" into their systems and have gathered considerable amount of intelligence. I find it stupid and counterproductive for Washington to announce that we know what they are doing and that they must "cease and desist," or we will take some drastic action! What are we going to do, bomb them? If we are going to take some action, via cyber warfare, why not just do it, why announce it? It reminds me of our announcing of pulling out troops from Iraq or Afghanistan, giving the enemy a "heads-up," why do we keep doing it? Oh well, who says that our government can learn from history when it can't even learn from yesterday!
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