This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- South Africa racial tensions revived with bloody mine workers confrontation
- BBC’s Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank
- Japanese officials to visit disputed islands after ‘stunt’ by Chinese activists
- China protests visit by Japanese nationalists to disputed islands
South Africa racial tensions revived with bloody mine workers confrontation
A policeman fires at protesting miners in South Africa on Thursday (Reuters)
At least 34 people were killed, 78 injured and over 200 people
arrested on Thursday in a confrontation between police using live
ammunition and protesting mine workers at the Lonmin Marikana platinum
mine in South Africa. Two of the dead are policemen, and police
claimed that they were defending themselves from striking miners who
were carrying sticks and machetes. The entire country is shocked by
the incident, because it recalls the “Sharpeville Massacre” of March
21, 1960, when white policemen fired at a crowd of black protesters,
killing 69.
Thursday’s incident does not involve white vs black violence, but it
involves racial violence nonetheless. The strike was called by the
rock drillers, who earn the lowest pay (about $500 per month) and
perform the hardest and most dangerous job, and who are mostly from
the Basotho tribe, immigrants from the country Lesotho. The better
paying and safer jobs are done by groups from the elite Xhosa tribe.
The rock drillers are asking that their pay be tripled, to around
$1500 per month. Independent Online (Cape Town) and BBC
BBC’s Humphrey Hawksley scammed by HSBC bank
This is from the blog of BBC commentator Humphrey Hawksley:
“I have just looked too closely into a regularly
renewed household insurance policy run by HSBC and uncovered an
underbelly of the life of a British consumer.The premium was increased by 100 per cent without notice or
explanation. The policy which I thought was with HSBC had been
outsourced to Premium Scanner which had re-outsourced it to BDML
which is owned by Capita. The insurance company is Prestige which
on the Internet has a telephone number in Spain. A premium charge
is made on the 0845 number which begins with a lengthy rambling
message. But this is not stated and the staff do not know what the
charge is. In my first call to an rival insurance company, I was
quoted less than half the HSBC premium for twice as much
cover. HSBC claims to ‘search the most competitive price from our
panel of insurers.’In two hours of household admin this morning, I have found
hundreds of pounds in small bills here and there that are being
wrongly charged.”
As we reported in July, HSBC
Holdings is the largest bank in Europe, and has admitted to criminal
money-laundering. In today’s society, where fraud and extortion are
rampant, it pays to check everything. Humphrey Hawksley
China protests visit by Japanese nationalists to disputed islands
A flotilla of 20 ships carrying about 150 Japanese nationalists and
eight lawmakers arrived Sunday on the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, whose
sovereignty is claimed by both China and Japan. The flotilla visit
comes just days after Japan’s coast guard arrested, and then released,
a group of 15 Chinese activists from Hong Kong who visited the same
islands to establish China’s sovereignty. China issued a strong
protest about the visit on Saturday. The flotilla visit was sponsored
by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Government and not approved by the Japanese
government. Some of the Japanese nationalists plan to fish in the
disputed waters to try to catch their breakfast. Reuters and Xinhua and Asahi (Tokyo)
Although China appears to be using its vast military power to enforce
claims against practically everything in the Pacific Ocean and central
Asia, there is quite a big difference between the status of the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea and the Paracel and
Spratly islands in the South China Sea. As we’ve reported, China has
established “Sansha City” in the South China Sea, along with a
military force that apparently plans to kill anyone that challenges
China’s claims to the entire South China Sea. But China can’t really
do something similar with the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands. The reason is
that, in 2010, Hillary Clinton reaffirmed that the Senkaku/Diaoyu are
considered Japanese territory under the mutual defense treaty that the
United States and Japan signed in 1960. Thus, the Senkaku/Diaoyu
islands have the same status as Taiwan. China claims both as their
sovereign territory, and we’re obligated to go to war with China to
defend either of them.
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, South Africa, Lonmin Marikana,
Sharpeville Massacre, Lesotho, Basotho, Xhosa,
BBC, Humphrey Hawksley, HSBC Holdings,
China, Japan, Senkaku, Diaoyu, East China Sea,
South China Sea, Paracel, Spratly, Sansha City
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An outbreak of violence between Japan and China could have an unusual result. It could spark an upsurge in Japanese militarism, which is always just below the calm surface of the Japanese people. The Chinese might want to re-consider their aggressive attitude towards Japan. I saw a figure, some time ago, that Japan not only has the missiles, but could create the nuclear warheads for them, in short order.