KOROR, Palau (4 July 2005) -- Propped up by bribes from Japan, Palau is flexing its Tokyo enhanced muscle in opposition to whale conservation despite diver and surfer boycotts by CDNN and Hawaii-based groups. "We definitely have to support Japan," said Palau Vice Speaker Okada Techitong. "The Japanese government is helping us with millions of grants and aid. The Japanese visitors are one of our top tourists here." What Techitong neglected to mention is that many Japanese consumers also oppose Japan's small but influential group of extreme right-wing ultranationalists who are attempting to resume commercial whaling on behalf of the country's failed fishing industry which has overfished coastal edible fish species. "Techitong's rhetoric reflects the same old Japanese "us against the Western barbarians" party line," said CDNN Managing Editor Freeman Washington. "It's the same onslaught of nationalist propaganda that fanned the flames of Japan's barbaric atrocities during World War 2," added Washington. "After the war, the world learned that Japanese citizens never supported Japan's imperialist agenda to rule the world by violence," Washington explained. "Thanks to the internet, we are learning in real time that Japanese citizens oppose the whale killing coalition of extreme right-wing politicians, 'yakuza' organized criminal gangs, fishing industry bosses and Japan's whaling puppets including Palau and a half dozen increasingly unpopular dive destinations in the Caribbean." Ken Watanabe, a Japanese environmentalist also critized Japanese ultranationalist politicians. "People everywhere need to fully understand this issue is absolutely not about East versus West, about Japan against the world," said Ken Watanabe, a Japanese anti-whaling activist. "This is about people in Japan and around the world who really care about protecting marine wildlife against corrupt politicans and money-driven political hypocrisy in Japan, Palau and elsewhere." Palau President Tommy Remengesau vehemently denies that Palau's position on commercial whaling has anything to do with financial assistance from Japan. | | With the support of Palau and other whaling whores, Japan hopes to resume commercial whaling Remengesau says that Palau's stance on commercial whaling reflects scientific studies that have yet to be completed. According to Cyber Diver Society (CDS), that's a signal that Palau will follow Nauru and endorse the ludicrous Japanese psuedo-scientific propaganda that whales are an environmental negative because "they eat all our fish." "For thousands and thousands of years, the sea was full of whales and fish," said CDS Vice President Naoko Sato. "Now Japanese politicans bought and paid for by the fishing industry, and puppet presidents in Palau and Nauru want to blame whales for the industrial overfishing by Japan's corrupt and mismanaged fishing industry? Nobody in Japan or anywehre else is so stupid to believe that..." Still, politicians in Palau are betting that tourists don't really care about protecting marine wildlife. "I think tourists come for different reasons. Palau is a beautiful place," said Del. Noah Idechong, chairman of the House Committee on Resources and Development. So far, CDNN has collected over 12,000 letters from divers stating they will boycott Palau. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
