| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 5/25 |
| 2010/1/19-29 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Others] UID:53639 Activity:nil |
1/19 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_re_us/us_us_haiti_gates "(US ambassador to haiti) Merten ... described downtown Port-au- Prince, the capital city, as resembling "Tokyo at the end of the Second World War." What kind of stupid remark is that!? He could have said London or Paris or any other city on the Allies side. "Hey Haitians, your place looks like that other city that we once bombed the hell out of." \_ are you an idiot? London and Paris didn't have the crap bombed out of them at the end of the second world war. -tom \_ "The Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe during World War II killed over 30,000 Londoners and destroyed large tracts of housing and other buildings across London" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London#Late_modern_and_contemporary \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo "...the most destructive bombing raid in history." Paris was not damaged at all during WWII. \_ OK, thanks for answering my question. ("yes.") -tom |
| 5/25 |
|
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100118/ap_on_re_us/us_us_haiti_gates A police officer disperses people who were surprised taking goods from AP - A police officer disperses people who were surprised taking goods from quake-damaged stores in downtown ... CBS 3 Philadelphia Mon Jan 18, 4:53 pm ET ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the US forces in Haiti for earthquake relief can defend themselves and innocent Haitians or foreigners if lawlessness boils over. Gates said he does not foresee an expanded policing role for the United States, however. The United States is chiefly involved in distributing relief and will support the United Nations in providing security, Gates said. "I haven't heard of us playing a policing role at any point," Gates told reporters traveling with him to India for talks on defense cooperation, trade and relations between India and Pakistan. Gates gave a fuller explanation of the rules under which US troops are operating than the Pentagon previously provided. Gates approved rules of engagement for US forces on shore and aboard nearby ships. "Anywhere we deploy our troops they have the authority and the right to defend themselves," Gates said, adding that the troops could also defend others "if they see something happen." Ken Keen of the US Southern Command said some violence has hindered rescue workers trying to help earthquake victims. He said providing humanitarian aid requires a safe and secure environment, and while streets have been mostly calm, violence has been increasing. "We are going to have to address the situation of security," Keen said. Keen said about 1,000 US troops are in Haiti and 3,000 more are working from ships. More than 12,000 US forces were expected to be in the region by Monday. Fear of looters and robbers has been among factors slowing aid delivery. After last Tuesday's 70 magnitude earthquake, maintaining law and order fell to the 9,000 UN peacekeepers and international police already in Haiti, even though those forces also sustained heavy losses in the disaster. International aid agencies and US officials say they are watching for signs violence is rising as people compete for scarce resources. "After all we can't deliver the food and water if we don't have a reasonable security situation, so that obviously has to be an element of any work that we're doing with the government of Haiti and the UN," Gates said. A joint statement Saturday from the Haitian president and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to an expanded US security role. "President Preval, on behalf of the Government and people of Haiti, welcomes as essential the efforts in Haiti by the government and people of the United States to support the immediate recovery, stability and long-term rebuilding of Haiti and requests the United States to assist as needed in augmenting security in support of the government and people of Haiti and the United Nations, international partners and organizations on the ground," the document reads. President Barack Obama issued an order allowing selected members of the military's reserves to be called up to support operations in Haiti. Signed Saturday, it lets the Pentagon and Homeland Security Department tap reserve medical personnel and a Coast Guard unit that will help provide port security. More than 250 medical personnel from the Health and Human Services Department are already in Haiti. The US ambassador to Haiti said Monday that American officials are concerned about security but consider the situation manageable. "The Haitian police, due to their own significant losses, are degraded," Kenneth Merten said in a nationally broadcast interview. This is not a perfect law and order situation here even in the best of times." Merten called the US military presence in and around the island a backup option to handle violence, saying first call would be the Haitian police force and the UN force in Haiti. He credited Brazilians in that force with contributing to stability. "Our troops are standing by in cases where neither the Haitian police nor the UN troops are providing security," Merten said on NBC's "Today" show. "In most cases, the Haitian police and the UN forces have been able to handle the situation." Merten said it was too soon to put a number on the economic loss. He described downtown Port-au-Prince, the capital city, as resembling "Tokyo at the end of the Second World War." The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London#Late_modern_and_contemporary " You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; World War II killed over 30,000 Londoners and destroyed large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. Greater London's population declined steadily in the decades after World War II, from an estimated peak of 86 million in 1939 to around 68 million in the 1980s. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, which left London as the only large metropolis in the world without a central administration. City Hall, Southwark The administration of London is formed of two tiers--a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. London Assembly, who scrutinise the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year. National government London is an important city because the Government of the United Kingdom is located around the Palace of Westminster. City Corporation resisted attempts to amalgamate it with its suburbs, causing "London" to be defined in a number ways for different purposes; London telephone area code covers a larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are omitted and some places just outside are included. Koppen climate classification Cfb), like much of the British Isles, so the city rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. Summers are warm with average high temperatures of 21 C (70 F) - 24 C (75 F) and lows of 11 C (52 F) - 14 C (57 F). But temperatures can exceed 25 C (77 F) on many days, and in almost every year they exceed 30 C (86 F) on some days. Autumn is usually mild but often unsettled as colder air from the north and warmer air from the south meet. In the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, London was noted for its dense fogs and smogs. Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without current official boundaries. New Zealand 27,494 With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it was for some time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the most populous city in the world until overtaken by New York in 1925. Around 325,000 people were employed in financial services in London until mid-2007. London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. however the mayor's financial control does not extend to the longer distance rail network that enters London. London Overground network, adding to the existing responsibility for the London Underground, trams and buses. There is an extensive above-ground suburban railway network, particularly in South London, which has fewer Underground lines. bus network is one of the largest in the world, running 24 hours a day, with 8,000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over 6 million passenger journeys made every weekday. and, from the 3rd quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced. Transport for London has completely owned tramlink and plans to spend 54m until 2015 on maintenance, renewals, upgrades and capacity enhancements. London is a major international air transport hub with the largest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the word London in their name, but most traffic passes through only five. London is notorious for its traffic congestion, with the M25 motorway the busiest stretch in the country. admissions procedures, and are effectively universities in their own right, although most degrees are awarded by the University of London rather than the individual colleges. London South Bank University are not part of the University of London but are still leaders in their field and popular choices among students both nationally and internationally. its renowned art and fashion schools make it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan and New York. London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. BBC 1Xtra was set up to support the rise of homegrown urban music both in London and the rest of the UK. |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo edit B-29 raids The residential section was virtually destroyed. The mother was carrying the child on her back, the back itself has not burned. B-29, which had an operational range of 3,250 nautical miles (6,019 km); almost 90% of the bombs dropped on the home islands of Japan were delivered by this type of bomber. incendiaries to drop on Tokyo was on the night of 24-25 February 1945 when 174 B-29s destroyed around one square mile (3 km) of the city. US Strategic Bombing Survey later estimated that nearly 88,000 people died in this one raid, 41,000 were injured, and over a million residents lost their homes. The Tokyo Fire Department estimated a higher toll: 97,000 killed and 125,000 wounded. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department established a figure of 124,711 casualties including both killed and wounded and 286,358 buildings and homes destroyed. Japan Focus: The figure of roughly 100,000 deaths, provided by Japanese and American authorities, both of whom may have had reasons of their own for minimizing the death toll, seems to me arguably low in light of population density, wind conditions, and survivors' accounts. Damage to Tokyo's heavy industry was slight until firebombing destroyed much of the light industry that was used as an integral source for small machine parts and time-intensive processes. Firebombing also killed or made homeless many workers who had been taking part in war industry. Over 50% of Tokyo's industry was spread out among residential and commercial neighborhoods; Joseph Dodge stepped in and drastically cut back on Japanese government rebuilding programs, focusing instead on simply improving roads and transportation. A Forgotten Holocaust: US Bombing Strategy, the Destruction of Japanese Cities and the American Way of War from the Pacific War to Iraq. An Illustrated history of Air power in the Second World War. Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power. United States air strategy and doctrine as employed in the strategic bombing of Japan. The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II's Final Battle. Transcript of a radio documentary/commentary on the Tokyo firebombing with excerpts from interviews with participants and witnesses. |