ORGANIZING RESPONSE TO ARMS RACE IN ASIAN-PACIFIC

I am in the airport preparing to board a plane for Washington DC to attend a meeting that is going to form a new coalition to work on Asian-Pacific issues. As I've written on this blog many times, the U.S. is arming itself to the teeth in order to surround and control China in the coming years.

This reality is now causing virtually all other nations in the region to up-arm themselves in response and the concerns are growing about the obvious implications.

The peace movement has not had much of a Asian-Pacific focus (due in large part to being quite bushed with the Iraq occupation) so the new coalition hopes to be able to begin to bring some consciousness and organizing to this neglected part of the world.

Because of U.S. "missile defense" deployments in Japan and Australia, and Navy Aegis destroyers being outfitted with these systems, the Global Network for many years has been on this case. It is important though that others like Joseph Gerson (AFSC) and John Feffer (Foreign Policy in Focus), who have also long been key voices on Asian-Pacific issues, have a chance to bring their leadership on the region to a larger body. The Global Network will enthusiastically be a part of this effort.

The meeting will last two days beginning with an educational forum this evening and strategy sessions on Friday.