Tokyo Bay
Yurikamome Traffic System on Tokyo Bay
Afghanistan (Afghanistan)
Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Naoto Kan changed his mind and expressed his will to resign without taking many days, weeks, or months as he virtually promised early resignation to Former Prime Minister Mr. Yukio Hatoyama so as to avoid passing of votes of no confidence in the National Diet.
PM Mr. Kan could not obtain full support within the ruling party DPJ. He also failed in getting full support from the opposition parties. The duty and task to handle the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and damage caused by the 3/11 Disaster seems to be beyond Mr. Kan's power, ability, and capability. His behaviors are reportedly a cause of alienating efficient and diligent officials and staff members.
Probably, he would step down in July or August at the latest. He would not meet President Mr. Barack Obama in September.
SECTION I: Historical Afghanistan
After putting India, including Bangladesh, under its colonizing power, Great Britain started to invade and colonize Burma or Myanmar situated in the wast of Bangladesh.
But, the U.K. failed to put Afghanistan under its control.
The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo-Afghan_War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner after attaining all the British geopolitical objectives. Most of the British and Indian soldiers withdrew from Afghanistan. The Afghans were permitted to maintain internal sovereignty but they had to cede control of their nation's foreign relations to the British
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War
The Third Anglo-Afghan War (also referred to as the Third Afghan War) began on 6 May 1919 and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. It was a minor tactical victory for the British. For the British, the Durand Line was reaffirmed as the political boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British India and the Afghans agreed not to foment trouble on the British side. In the aftermath, the Afghans were able to resume the right to conduct their own foreign affairs as a fully independent state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Afghan_War
It took 80 years for the British Government to have engaged in invasion of Afghanistan and abandoned the idea.
Yet, it is not only Great Britain that tried to invade Afghanistan from the late 18th century. Iran and Russia were also active in extending their influence to Afghanistan, though Iran soon abandoned the idea.
After WWII when the U.K. left India, the Soviet Union found no obstacles for their ambition to expand their influence in Afghanistan. Accordingly, they strengthened their diplomatic and political engagement in Afghanistan.
Nonetheless, the failure in Vietnam forced the U.S. to find a place to regain its fame as a warrior for freedom. So, the U.S. identified Afghanistan as the battle field for this purpose against communists. The U.S. did not send, however, its regular troops to Afghanistan. But, they decided to help, foster, and use Islamic fighters who hated communists. Many Islamic volunteer fighters came to fight Soviet troops. One of them was reportedly Osama bin Laden.
The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev.[16] The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Due to the interminable nature of the war, the conflict in Afghanistan has sometimes been referred to as the "Soviet Union's Vietnam War."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan
Then, Afghanistan was long forgotten. Everybody thought that it was natural that the Islamic Taliban took control of Afghanistan, since Islamic fighters with help from the U.S. won and defeated Soviet communists. But the Taliban leaders were very local minded. They did not understand what it mean to accept Osama bin Laden returning from his home territory of Saudi Arabia via Sudan. Osama bin Laden reportedly gave costly gifts to the Taliban leadership to acquire their friendship. Many, many Toyota and Nissan cars were presented to the Talibans. And they demolished big statutes of the Buddha at Bamiyan in early 2001, which was a big sign of imminent danger to the world.
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001,[28] as the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, and the Afghan United Front (Northern Alliance), launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States, with the stated goal of dismantling the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base. The United States also said that it would remove the Taliban regime from power and create a viable democratic state.
...
On May 1, 2011, US officials reported that al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed after a firefight with US armed forces in Pakistan. Crowds gathered outside the White House in Washington, DC, chanting "USA, USA" after the news emerged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)
Since Alexander the Great could march just to the east of Afghanistan and pulled back his great troops before the Indus, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been a crossover point of various world powers. Buddhism from India, Greece culture from the west, Islamic influences from Iran, British invasion, Russian invasion, and finally American involvement and AlQaeda have all concentrated on this region.
Today it is said that Afghanistan accounts for 90% of global opium production. Probably a war on opium must be launched in Afghanistan. But by whom? By Pakistan, the U.S., or Islamic fighters?
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/28/map-afghan-opium-trade/
*** *** *** ***
Former President Mr. George W. Bush spent seven and half years and a $1 trillion budget only to fail in capturing Osama bin Laden.
President Mr. Barack Obama spent two years and a minimal budget to mobilize scores of special troops and a few helicopters, in addition to ordinary operating costs of CIA, to take on Osama bin Laden.
It is crazy, it is extravagant, and it is an unforgivable waste of thousands of lives of American soldiers and hundreds of thousand of lives of Iraqi and Afghan people.
To put simply, it is a crime.
By the way, 383 earthquakes occurred in New York between 1677 and 2007. It came at a pace of once per year, though their magnitude is at a level of 2 or 3. The last time an earthquake of M5.0 or more occurred in New York was in 1884.
Since Japan recently suffered an M9.0 earthquake that could happen once in 1000 years, New York could be hit by M6.0 at any time. A lack of preparation in New York would surely multiply damage to the scale 100 times more than the 9/11 Terror of 2001. Yet, even Americans will be reluctant to take a large-scale preventive measure, since the last time an earthquake of M5.0 or more occurred in New York was in 1884.
Americans had better choose a new president from California, if not of a Japanese origin.
Act 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Act 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Act 6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: