The Inconvenient Truth on Whaling

Paul Watson's World War II Rhetoric up to March 2010

2012-01-21T16:40:00.002-05:00

I haven't had as much time the past few years to keep up with this issue, but given recent events and an entry from the Japan Probe on SSCS' use of World War II imagery to foment racism and an article from The Australian on the same, I decided to put up the material I have on Watson's constant reliance on World War II to stir Anzac Nationalism and revive old hatreds for a war most of his followers parents weren't even alive for.

This style of rhetoric is certainly not lost on the faithful either.

http://www.planetoceanalliance.org/forum/showthread.php/7115-Australian-Government-Forget-The-Centaur-amp-Whaling

It's worth noting this was originally the Official Sea Shepherd forum, until Paul Watson cut them off after the FBI acted on a plan by some member to assault a Japanese Consulate in Florida. Screenshot of the same thread at the time of the original posting when it was still the Official SSCS Forum.

We start with a long rant by Watson on "Imperial Japan" which was posted to his now-defunct Myspace prior to filming the 2nd Season of Whale Wars. The rest are from SSCS' own website with hyperlinks provided.

Screenshot of original rant on myspace

I am beginning to understand that the underlying reason that Japan continues to subsidize and slaughter whales is that they simply can't get past the fact that they had their collective asses kicked when they lost the Pacific war in 1945. The entire nation apparently still carries a chip on their shoulders from that day in August 1945 when Emperor Hirohito's voice crackled through every radio set in Japan to say, "the war has gone not necessarily to our advantage."Over the last sixty-give years, the Japanese with the stoic determination of the ancient samurai have successfully retaliated with a relentless economic machine that has pushed this tiny nation into the forefront of economic influence in world affairs. A large population in a relatively tiny landmass with few resources has little alternative but to search out and exploit resources beyond its borders. And Japan does it with ruthless efficiency.It was this kind of pressure that led Japan to invade China and to set in motion the machinations that led to World War II with Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, France and the United States amongst others.And now sixty-five years later we have the same allied nations on side with defending the great whales with Japan intent upon ruthless slaughter of these same whales in the supposedly protected waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. For Japan, it's not about the money or a necessity to provide whale meat as an essential staple of the Japanese diet. Quite simply it's about pride. The Japanese kill whales because they know it pisses everyone off. The whales are dying for the sin of Japanese pride. They have become the scapegoats for Japanese frustrations for never having gained the world domination that they have striven towards for more than a century.When the Australians at Mawson Hut on the Adelie Coast asked the captain of the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru #2 what his business was in Australian Territorial waters, he arrogantly replies, "Japan does not recognize any territorial claims to Antarctica by Australia." Of course Japan did not recognize Australian sovereignty of Australians over Australia itself in 1942. But back then Australian leaders had a stronger backbone and considerably more self respect. Today it's all about selling of Tasmanian forests and bowing before the Japanese yen.The whaling industry has not made a profit in years. It survives only because of hand-outs from the Japanese tax-payers in the form of massive subsidies. It survives because the criminal Yakusa[sic] control the Union that provides to crews to these whaling ships and the same Yakusa[sic] carry considerable influence with many politicians. It survives because the Japanese fishing industry is afraid that if they back down on whaling, they will be forced to back down on over fishing Bluefin tuna or many other species that are being depleted due to the insatiable appetite of the Japanese people for seafood. It survives because Japan is trying to maintain an economic presence in Antarctica in order to get a piece of the Antarctic resource pie when the Antarctic Treaty comes up for renewal. But most of all whaling continues to survive because the Japanese demand the right to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want. It's all about spitting in the face of the gaijin, the word they use for foreigners. It translates as barbarian and that is exactly what the Japanese whalers think of us who are Westerners. It is of course ironic that we are being called barbarians by people who fire exploding harpoons into gentle sentient creatures and watch as the whales die in agonizing pain for anywhere from ten minutes to an hour.The Japanese government has over reacted to the opposition to their illegal whaling activities in a very irrational manner. They refuse to speak with any of us who oppose whaling and consistently dismiss us as eco-terrorists, violent criminals and even racists. Apparently it is considered racism in Japan to oppose whaling because whaling is according to the Japanese government a traditional Japanese activity and to be anti-whaling is to be anti Japanese and thus racists. We could say the same thing if we decided to use the same kind of language by saying that because we love and defend whales and this is a traditional value for us then the Japanese are being racist for condemning our traditional values of preferring whales alive instead of dead.The Japanese also say that Westerners eat beef, pork and chicken so it is hypocritical and racist to oppose Japanese food preferences. Of course the reality is that no cow, pig or chicken is killed as cruelly as the whales are slain. There is no abattoir in the Western world that would allow such agonizing pain to be inflicted on an animal. The Japanese are also major consumers of beef, pork, and chicken. MacDonalds[sic] and KC[sic] Chicken can easily be found in Tokyo or Osaka. In fact beef, pork and chicken are preferred foods over whale meat by the majority of the Japanese people. They are even famous for raising cows in a very resource wasteful manner and marketing it at high prices under the name of Kobe beef. Whale meat is not considered a regular part of the diet of any Japanese person. The fact is that this has nothing to do with subsistence necessity and everything to do with flying the red ball on the white background in Southern Ocean waters. It is about challenging the claim of Australia over sovereignty of the Australian Antarctic Territory. It's about being a people who remain bitter and vengeful for the loss of the horrific war they started when they invaded China and raped Nanking and beheaded Australian, Canadian, British, American and Dutch soldiers. It's about writing their contempt for the West in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean with the hottest of blood.The slaughter of endangered whales is a display of the same kind of jingoistic fanaticism that saw Japanese troops destroy Darwin, Australia, mount a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and torture prisoners of war throughout the Pacific from Philippines to Okinawa. I wonder what the victims of Japanese imperialism would have thought if they were alive today! Would they have supported the timid politicians that bow respectfully to the Japanese as they attempt to appease the whalers like Neville Chamberlain did with Adolf Hitler? Or would the victims of the Bataan death march, or the casualties along the Kododa Trail or the battle of the Coral Sea have applauded our efforts to defend the whales in the Southern Ocean from the ruthless harpoons of these Japanese poachers?I do not pretend to know what those brave defenders of freedom and democracy from the Great War in the Pacific would have thought but I am convinced that they would be more supportive of our active opposition on the high seas than they would of the so called diplomatic efforts that have achieved absolutely nothing in the last twenty-three years. They would certainly have understood our passion.Japanese imperialism has continued to flourish. The system just changed strategies. Instead o tanks and battleships, zeros and Kamikaze pilots, Japan switched to economic and ecological domination with far better results.Today Japan invades outside her borders with drift nets, long lines, and harpoons with destructive waves of nature destroying charges that have diminished the resources of the world's oceans. Because of the Japanese fisheries, the Bluefin tuna may be extinct within five years. Japanese fishing fleets are scouring the seas sucking life from beneath the waves to feed the insatiable appetite of one hundred million people demanding sushi and sashimi. Life in the sea cannot sustain the ever increasing exploitation of marine resources. There is simply not enough fish, whales, dolphins or any other form of life in the sea to feed the ever expanding populations of humanity.The oceans are dying and Japan is one of the nations leading this blind orgy of marine destruction. We are not just saving whales down here from Japanese harpoons. We are fighting a mentality that is intent upon escalating destruction to marine eco-systems. For if we cannot enforce a simple agreement to protect endangered whales in an established whale sanctuary, how can we ever hope to uphold and enforce any international conservation treaties and laws?The screams of harpooned whales herald the destruction of our oceans and if the oceans die - we die!It is as simple as that.Why are we down here defending whales? The answer is simply self defense. The tide of global marine destruction must be stopped.

What does the deliberate sinking of the Sea Shepherd ship Ady Gil have in common with the deliberate sinking of the Australian hospital ship Centaur in 1943?
...
Brisbane resident Barry McCosker, whose father and uncle were Centaur survivors, said he was "flabbergasted" that the Japanese still weren't taking responsibility in 2010. "They can't deny it was them," but he said. "I know we won't get any apology”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Ady Gil Captain Pete Bethune will most likely not receive an apology either for the destruction of his vessel. Japan refuses to cooperate with investigations by Australian and New Zealand maritime authorities.
Japan’s method of operations has not changed since 1943.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-100122-1.html

"There are some in the Australian government who argue that Japan does not recognize Australian authority and therefore nothing can be done. Australians should rejoice that representatives of their government in 1942 did not give in so easily when the Japanese refused to recognize the sovereignty of Australia. If they had, there would be Japanese whaling bases in Australia today."

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-081219-1.html

Whaling is “tradition” in Japan that began at the same time that torture for scientific research became a tradition. They began doing lethal so-called scientific research on human beings just before and during World War II and in 1946 with the help of General Douglas MacArthur they set up their Antarctic whaling fleets to begin their pogrom of cetacide in the Southern Oceans.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-091119-1.html

Our campaign logo has been modeled on the artwork that once adorned the fighter planes of the legendary Flying Tigers that fought the Japanese invaders of China during World War II.

http://www.seashepherd.org/matilda/background.html

The very idea of lethal research leaves a bad taste and conjures up memories of Dr. Mengle and the infamous medical research conducted on Jews and Gypsies in Germany or upon Chinese and Australians during World War II by the Japanese associates of the Nazi monsters who tortured, maimed, terrorized and killed so many millions.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-090203-1.html

The average soldier in the trenches in World War I or in the field in the Second World War were not professional soldiers - they were volunteers or they were drafted, they were amateurs.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-090217-1.html

"By being willing to open up an Australian port to a Japanese whaler to refuel, they have sent a signal of acceptance of the Japanese exploitation of whales in the Australian Antarctic Territory," said Captain Watson. "Imagine the port of Hobart being used by a Japanese submarine in World War II for refueling. Japan does not recognize the Australian claim to the Antarctic territory but then again, Japan did not recognize Australian sovereignty at all sixty years ago."

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-051223-1.html

During World War II, the Japanese had Tokyo Rose and the Germans had Lord Haha. Today, the Japanese are employing Glen Inwood, who we like to call Ginza Glen, as their chief propagandists to justify their cruelty and slaughter.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-070223-1.html

During World War II, the Japanese were masters at distorting the truth with their propaganda. Tokyo Rose spread information like a farmer spreads manure. The American, British and Australian people were demonized as barbarians and were enslaved, tortured and murdered. And as they murdered, raped and pillaged they spewed the nonsense that it was the Japanese who were being victimized by the rest of the world and were fighting a war of self defense when the reality was it was a war of imperialism.
Japan's horrific slaughter of the world's most gentle and intelligent creatures - the whales, is just another example of barbaric violence being deployed and justified in the name of Japanese honour and culture.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-070223-1.html

The title of the e-mail that I released was "Tora, Tora, Tora." And Campbell has interpreted this to mean that he believes Sea Shepherd intends to attack the Japanese. Yet, the title was posted to focus on the physical aggression of Japan in its unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor. We were warning of the possibility of a Japanese attack on Sea Shepherd. They have already attacked and physically assaulted Greenpeace activists.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-051224-1a.html

I do not believe that it is wrong to be emotional about the slaughter of a magnificent sentient being. This kind of attitude is what allowed for the atrocities against human beings in the second world war. When emotions are denied then all sorts of horrors become allowable.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-091210-2.html

"The West is trying to impose its unilateral standards on us. I regard this as cultural imperialism," said Masayuki Komatsu whose strident ultranationalist rhetoric echoes the anti-western slogans of Japanese fascists convicted of war crimes and executed after World War II.

http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e060725.html

Deceit from all layers of the Japanese Government has been part of policy ever since the end of the war. Rampant trade protection was hidden behind the guise of strict customs rules. Military atrocities during World War II were airbrushed from school history texts. Japan's racial and cultural homogeneity has been protected by anti-immigration policies.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/whale-watch/japan-must-stop-taking-the-minke/2008/01/20/1200764074897.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

"There are some in the Australian government who argue that Japan does not recognize Australian authority and therefore nothing can be done. Australians should rejoice that representatives of their government in 1942 did not give in so easily when the Japanese refused to recognize the sovereignty of Australia. If they had, there would be Japanese whaling bases in Australia today."

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-081219-1.html

Whaling is “tradition” in Japan that began at the same time that torture for scientific research became a tradition. They began doing lethal so-called scientific research on human beings just before and during World War II and in 1946 with the help of General Douglas MacArthur they set up their Antarctic whaling fleets to begin their pogrom of cetacide in the Southern Oceans.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-091119-1.html

Our campaign logo has been modeled on the artwork that once adorned the fighter planes of the legendary Flying Tigers that fought the Japanese invaders of China during World War II.

http://www.seashepherd.org/matilda/background.html

The very idea of lethal research leaves a bad taste and conjures up memories of Dr. Mengle and the infamous medical research conducted on Jews and Gypsies in Germany or upon Chinese and Australians during World War II by the Japanese associates of the Nazi monsters who tortured, maimed, terrorized and killed so many millions.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-090203-1.html

The average soldier in the trenches in World War I or in the field in the Second World War were not professional soldiers - they were volunteers or they were drafted, they were amateurs.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-090217-1.html

"By being willing to open up an Australian port to a Japanese whaler to refuel, they have sent a signal of acceptance of the Japanese exploitation of whales in the Australian Antarctic Territory," said Captain Watson. "Imagine the port of Hobart being used by a Japanese submarine in World War II for refueling. Japan does not recognize the Australian claim to the Antarctic territory but then again, Japan did not recognize Australian sovereignty at all sixty years ago."

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-051223-1.html

During World War II, the Japanese had Tokyo Rose and the Germans had Lord Haha. Today, the Japanese are employing Glen Inwood, who we like to call Ginza Glen, as their chief propagandists to justify their cruelty and slaughter.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-070223-1.html

During World War II, the Japanese were masters at distorting the truth with their propaganda. Tokyo Rose spread information like a farmer spreads manure. The American, British and Australian people were demonized as barbarians and were enslaved, tortured and murdered. And as they murdered, raped and pillaged they spewed the nonsense that it was the Japanese who were being victimized by the rest of the world and were fighting a war of self defense when the reality was it was a war of imperialism.
Japan's horrific slaughter of the world's most gentle and intelligent creatures - the whales, is just another example of barbaric violence being deployed and justified in the name of Japanese honour and culture.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-070223-1.html

The title of the e-mail that I released was "Tora, Tora, Tora." And Campbell has interpreted this to mean that he believes Sea Shepherd intends to attack the Japanese. Yet, the title was posted to focus on the physical aggression of Japan in its unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor. We were warning of the possibility of a Japanese attack on Sea Shepherd. They have already attacked and physically assaulted Greenpeace activists.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-051224-1a.html

I do not believe that it is wrong to be emotional about the slaughter of a magnificent sentient being. This kind of attitude is what allowed for the atrocities against human beings in the second world war. When emotions are denied then all sorts of horrors become allowable.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-091210-2.html

"The West is trying to impose its unilateral standards on us. I regard this as cultural imperialism," said Masayuki Komatsu whose strident ultranationalist rhetoric echoes the anti-western slogans of Japanese fascists convicted of war crimes and executed after World War II.

http://www.cdnn.info/news/eco/e060725.html

Deceit from all layers of the Japanese Government has been part of policy ever since the end of the war. Rampant trade protection was hidden behind the guise of strict customs rules. Military atrocities during World War II were airbrushed from school history texts. Japan's racial and cultural homogeneity has been protected by anti-immigration policies.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/whale-watch/japan-must-stop-taking-the-minke/2008/01/20/1200764074897.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

The last time a Kiwi was taken prisoner to Japan was in their great war of imperialism when they attempted to enslave both Australia and New Zealand. They have now returned to plunder Australian and New Zealand waters and once again they are arrogantly flaunting the law and taking prisoners.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-100215-4.html

Captain Peter Bethune continues to be held prisoner on the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru #2 and is being taken back to Japan. He will be the first New Zealand citizen since World War II to be transported as a prisoner from the Southern Ocean to Japan.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-100223-1.html

And it has become more than just the issue of whaling that keeps Japan hot tempered over the controversy. It is a letting-off of steam from Japan’s long held feelings of anger, humiliation, and loss of pride for the defeat of Japan by allied forces in 1945. What we are seeing now is the same die-hard stubbornness that had Japanese soldiers fighting on in Pacific islands, decades after the war was over.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-100224-1.html

This is like comparing a county jail cell to a Nazi concentration camp. I’m sure the German prison guards probably said, “what’s the fuss, you have people in prison also?”
...
The Nazi’s used Jewish slave girls for entertainment while murdering their parents and children. The sheer lack of empathy and incredible ignorance of the Japanese fishermen in Taiji is astounding. They seem to lack any sense of moral shame. Brothels beside gas chambers is very much like swim with dolphin pools alongside a cove running red with the blood of dolphins.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-100310-2.html

The Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 arrived in Tokyo today with the first New Zealand prisoner of war to be transported to Japan as a political prisoner since World War II.
As soon as his foot touched Japanese soil, Captain Bethune reestablished himself as a national hero in New Zealand and an international hero in Australia, France, Britain, the United States, and every other country whose citizens deplore the continued illegal whaling activities of the Japanese whaling fleet.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-100312-1.html

Opinion Polls on Whaling within Japan and why Anti-Whalers Lie About It

2011-09-18T02:45:00.005-04:00

A recent twitter by David in Tokyo brought a poll to my attention.
Another common theme in the anti-whaling movement is pretending, sometimes even manufacturing, that there is support for their cause within Japan. This recent poll provides an opportunity to review what Japanese really think about the issue and how anti-whaling propagandists have tried to spin this.

For starters, the most recent poll.

This poll, conducted by an independent institute at behest of the Associated Press, covers a very wide range of topics ranging from social to political. However, we'll stick to the whaling questions.

Favor/Oppose whale hunting (COMMERCIAL)
Favor: 52%
Don't Care: 35%
Opposed: 13%

Interested in eating whale meat:
Very: 12%
Moderately: 21%
A Little: 26%
Not at all: 41%

My only complaint is that the poll is ridiculously skewed to the Tokyo area. A third of respondents from Greater Tokyo. Next highest is the Osaka region with almost half of that -- 18%

Suggests 2 things to me...
1. The results for eating reflect the demographics they polled. Namely, urbanites in Tokyo that don't eat much whale. There is only 1% from the entire prefecture of Wakayama. Only 3% from Northern Kyushu -- half it's true representation of the country's population.
Not that the numbers would be significantly different... but food consumption varies by region and the poll reflects this.

2. Keeping what I said in #1 in mind, the poll also reflects something else that will come up several more times. Namely, while many Japanese aren't interested in eating whale meat, they recognize it's a right for their fellow citizens in other parts of the country to do so and are in favor of supporting them to exercise those rights.

Whaling favored is 52% vs. 13%
Eating whale is 33% vs. 41%
... even though more people aren't very interested in eating whale, a clear majority exists with a dominating trend to politically support it.

Anti-whalers often attempt to co-opt ALL of those "don't care" votes to their side. That's not only disingenuous, but just plain inaccurate. Typically "don't care" votes can be interpreted as supporting the status quo. The status quo in Japan is that cetaceans are a perfectly acceptable form of food.
In general these "don't cares" are normal for this issue, however. It's not a central issue in Japan and most Japanese think it's not worth their time to get into. They have better things to worry about. Japanese haven't been brought up with the belief that you must rebel against society in order to be relevant.

Let's move on to another poll.
This is an impromptu poll done by the preeminent streaming video website in Japan, niconico. It was conducted shortly after SS' 2010 PR stunt when they staged a collision and then abandoned a perfectly good vessel in the Southern Ocean to leak and pollute the environment.
As such it's not an academic poll, but it had a much larger responding audience (over 90,000 people polled), much more in-depth questions with age breakdowns, and you can see that the same trends I previously mentioned exist.
It's worth noting the entrepreneur who runs niconico and its polls is avidly anti-whaling. However, he has also stated that propaganda like The Cove and SSCS are not constructive and he doesn't support them.

http://blog.nicovideo.jp/niconews/2010/01/006118.html
Video
Q1. Did the news about Ady Gil (AG) and Shonan-maru 2 (SM2) collision interest you?
    - 60.7% interested
    - 23.0% neither for nor against
    - 16.3% not interested

    Men
    - 65.5% interested
    - 19.3% neither for nor against
    - 15.2% not interested

    Women
    - 55.7% interested
    - 26.8% neither for nor against
    - 17.5% not interested

    Age (bar graph, exact % not given)
    - 60% +       50yr+
    - 60% +        40-50
    - 60%+        30-40 **highest interest
    - 50%+        20-30
    - 40%+        10-20 **least interest

Q2. Whose story do you trust?
    - 55.5%        Japanese Government
    - 25.9%        Don't know
    - 17.3%        Don't care
    - 1.3%        SS

    Men
    - 61.3%        Japanese Government
    - 21.7%        Don't know
    - 15.5%        Don't care
    - 1.4%        SS

    Women
    - 49.4%        Japanese Government
    - 30.2%        Don't know
    - 19.2%        Don't care
    - 1.1%        SS

    Age (bar graph again)
    - 55%+        50yr+
    - ~60%        40-50
    - ~60%        30-40
    - 40%+        20-30
    - ~30%        10-20


Q3. Does SS make sense?
    - 83.8%        incomprehensible
    - 10.8%        don't care
    - 5.5%        make sense

    Men
    - 84%        incomprehensible
    - 10.0%        don't care
    - 6.0%        make sense

    Women
    - 83.5%        incomprehensible
    - 11.5%        don't care
    - 5.0%        make sense

    Age (bar graph again)
    Useless to read...
    30-40yr old think SS is most incomprehensible (again)
    10-20yr old think SS makes most sense (again)
    However, all are above 70% think SS is absurd.

Q4. Should Japan continue to defend whaling or shift to anti-whaling?
    - 67.0%        defend whaling
    - 23.9%        don't care
    - 9.1%        shift to anti-whaling

    Men
    - 72.5%        defend whaling
    - 19.4%        don't care
    - 8.1%        shift to anti-whaling

    Women
    - 61.4%        defend whaling
    - 28.5%        don't care
    - 10.1%        shift to anti-whaling

    Age (bar graph again)
    30-40yr old think ~70% defend whaling (highest)
    10-20yr old think ~45% defend whaling (lowest) and ~15% shift to anti-whaling (highest)

Q5. Have you ate whale?
    - 75.2%        yes
    - 24.8%        no

    Men
    - 78.4%        yes
    - 21.6%        no

    Women
    - 71.9%        yes
    - 28.1%        no

    Age (bar graph again)
    40-50yr old are over 85% ate whale meat (highest)
    10-20yr old are ~50% ate whale meat (lowest)

This poll blows some of the anti-whaling myths away.

1. The oft-repeated lie that "only 5% of Japanese eat whale meat."
The poll demonstrates over 75% of Japanese eat whale, and even more than 50% of those under 20.

2. "There is widespread anti-whaling support amongst the youth in Japan."
While the under-20 bracket shows the most support for anti-whaling, 15% can in no way be construed as support when 45% fully support whaling and the rest don't care.

3. "The only Japanese who support whaling are old generations that are dying out."
The poll is very clear and consistent in what age bracket supports whaling the most. The 30yr old age bracket.
In fact, it's easy to look at this data and describe how the hate rhetoric and racism of the anti-whaling movement makes this so. As one looks at the data from teenagers to twenty year olds to the hardline pro-whaling 30 year olds, support for whaling consistently goes up and opposition to whaling consistently goes down.
It's worth noting half of the 30yr old age bracket did not eat whale in school lunches. This suggests that these opinions aren't based just on exposure to whale cuisine, but as part of the maturing process and exposure to anti-whaling rhetoric.
Make no mistake, ecoterrorist groups like SSCS ensure that whaling will continue for decades to come.

Once again, the "don't care" strain of thought also comes through loud and clear.
For example, while only about 50% of the citizenry trust their Government and are skeptical of their story in the immediate aftermath -- a mere 1% of people think SSCS has any credibility.

This was another impromptu poll that asks if "The Cove" is racist.

- 44.6% it is racist
- 15.6% it's not racist
- 29% don't know
- 7.6% it's just propaganda
- 3.2% don't care

Yet another impromptu poll. This time by Yahoo News in light of Iceland's intention to resume Commercial Whaling. It was conducted in 2006 and asks if Japanese would like to resume full-on commercial whaling and received 21,221 respondents.

89.54% Yes, Japan should resume full commercial whaling
10.46% No, Japan should not resume full commercial whaling

If you know of any other polls, whose exact questions and results are given, please feel free to share them.

It's pretty clear that while whale cuisine is specific to limited regions throughout Japan, the legal right to whale and use resources conservatively and in accordance with domestic and international law has wide-reaching support all around Japan.
Anti-whalers often try to claim that whaling isn't Culture because it's not practiced by every region in Japan. But Japanese already know this to be the case, and all indications are that they support these legal and perfectly logical rights.
For instance, both of the major parties (conservative LDP and liberal DPJ) support whaling. Even the Communist Party in Japan supports whaling. I've never heard of a political party in Japan that doesn't support whaling, which is surprising for a country with such a fractured political landscape with room for a large number of niche parties.
That's probably because there is simply ZERO popular support for anti-whaling.

Which brings us to the issue of why and how these anti-whaling companies manufacture imaginary support. In order to keep getting donations, they rely on selling people this lie that there is growing support in Japan for their cause. Fortunately for their checking accounts -- and unfortunately for society at large -- convincing the Animal Rights crowd of anything is not difficult. They're a very gullible bunch.
Below are is a website which claims to be ran by Japanese, but when researched is in fact not Japanese at all.
http://suigin-iranai.jp/

http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/suigin-iranai.jp

As you can see the server is in Germany and the registrant is one M. Bailey in Hawaii.
This isn't the only website like this either. Most of them have a very slick appearance (corporate big-money backing) with mediocre entries in Japanese (non-native speakers) and focus almost exclusively on propaganda and lies related to mercury.

Domain Information:
[Domain Name] SUIGIN-IRANAI.JP

[Registrant] bailey

[Created on] 2009/12/17
[Expires on] 2011/12/31
[Status] Active
[Last Updated] 2011/04/08 16:28:07 (JST)

Contact Information:
[Name] bailey
[Email]
[Web Page]
[Postal code] 96816
[Postal Address] honolulu

Suigin-Iranai.jp Server Details
IP address:
80.67.24.211
Server Location:
Germany
ISP:
DomainFactory GmbH

Another example of anti-whalers manufacturing non-existent support happened in 2010 when the Hollywood Actress and Cove personality, Hayden Panettiere made a trip to Japan to drum up local support.
Original advertising set the goal at 2,000 participants from within the greater Osaka area. The goal was to take an aerial photo of the crowd making a design of a whale and scuba diver.
Mind, according to Wikipedia there are 22,732,176 people in the Kansai Region with Osaka at it's heart and all within a few hours by train. So it shouldn't have been difficult to get 2,000 people to come out and see a Hollywood Actress -- especially if there was any support for their cause.

In the end they only got 20. They had to get passerbys to help them take the aerial photograph.
But the revealing part is in the fact that they did not tell those passerbys for what cause they were doing it.
They lied to them. Proving that even they know there is ZERO support for anti-whaling in Japan. In no small part due to the strong racist sentiments that dominate the movement and are not only tolerated, but often encouraged.
Many of these passerbys, who had helped out of the kindness of their hearts, were not pleased when they discovered they had been duped to support a bigoted movement.
Read the explanation for yourself from a "Taiji Dolphin Action Group" coordinator.

You'll also notice not a single person in this Taiji Dolphin Action Group is Japanese or lives in Taiji.
It's a bit like the quip about the Holy Roman Empire. Not much of an Empire. Not Roman in any sense of the word. And sure as hell not Holy.
A name like "Taiji Dolphin Action Group" implies that there's a group of people in Japan doing something. But the reality is that they have zero local support. They don't actually do much of anything -- except breed ill will like we see here. And they're not even much of a group; having been co-opted by larger Corporations ran by magnates like Watson, O'Barry, and Ady Gil now.

One has to ask, why does the Anti-Whaling movement rely on deception, misinformation, and outright lying so much?
Not just about the facts surrounding whaling, but about people and societies as well.
Their cause can't be very just if these are the kind of things they lower themselves to.

Countries' Eating Habits

2011-09-18T00:29:00.005-04:00

A staple topic amongst anti-whaling hate mongers is to criticize the eating habits of other cultures.

Now, unfortunately in this instance, the perpetrator is from America. Another fine instance of why people don't like rude entitled Americans that think everyone should speak English and bow down to crypto-racist ideologies like Manifest Destiny (which runs through the American Environmentalist crowd).

So let's do a quick review here. I've included some other common countries in the Cultural Imperialist movement just to demonstrate that this trend is hardly restricted to the Land of the Free.

October 27 addition:
     Convicted felon, Pete Bethune, provides another fine example, as he promotes a racist slogan of "Save a Whale, Harpoon a fat JAP". This is an interesting modification of another common racist slogan in the ANZAC lowlands, adding the word "fat". Amazingly, not only are they racist, but completely unaware of eating habits in their own country and Japan.[ /end addition]

Obesity Rates as per Nation Master
# 1          United States:     30.6%
# 2        Mexico:    24.2%
# 3        United Kingdom:    23%
# 4        Slovakia:    22.4%
# 5        Greece:    21.9%
# 6        Australia:    21.7%
# 7        New Zealand:    20.9%
# 8        Hungary:    18.8%
# 9        Luxembourg:    18.4%
# 10        Czech Republic:    14.8%
# 11        Canada:    14.3%
# 12        Spain:    13.1%
# 13        Ireland:    13%
# 14        Germany:    12.9%
= 15        Portugal:    12.8%
= 15        Finland:    12.8%
# 17        Iceland:    12.4%
# 18        Turkey:    12%
# 19        Belgium:    11.7%
# 20        Netherlands:    10%
# 21        Sweden:    9.7%
# 22        Denmark:    9.5%
# 23        France:    9.4%
# 24        Austria:    9.1%
# 25        Italy:    8.5%
# 26        Norway:    8.3%
# 27        Switzerland:    7.7%
= 28         Korea    3.2%
= 28        Japan:    3.2%

Meat Consumption Per Capita
#1 Denmark       145.9kg per person
#2 New Zealand   142.1kg per person
#5 USA       124.8kg per person
#8 Spain       118.6kg per person
#12 Canada       108.1kg per person
#13 Ireland       106.3kg per person
#14 France       101.1kg per person
#18 Argentina   97.6kg per person
#21 Austria       94.1kg per person
#22 Portugal   91.1kg per person
#24 Italy       90.4kg per person
#25 Netherlands   89.3kg per person
#30 Belgium       86.1kg per person
#33 Brazil       82.4kg per person
#34 Germany       82.1kg per person
#35 UK       79.6kg per person
...
...
#85 Japan       43.9kg per person

The citizens in Leilani's country of America consume 2.84 times more meat than Japanese.
The rate of obesity in America is almost 10 times higher than Japan.
And she has the gall to criticize the eating habits of another culture? She should be taking notes and then a flight back home to confront people here about such issues.

And just for the icing on the cake...

Life Expectancy by Country

Monaco

89.73

2011 est.



5	Japan	82.25	2011 est.

Singapore

82.14

2011 est.


8	Hong Kong	82.04	2011 est.


9	Australia	81.81	2011 est.


10	Italy	81.77	2011 est.

Canada

81.38

2011 est.


13	France	81.19	2011 est.


14	Spain	81.17	2011 est.


15	Switzerland	81.07	2011 est.


16	Sweden	81.07	2011 est.


17	Israel	80.96	2011 est.

New Zealand

80.59

2011 est.

Germany

80.07

2011 est.


28	United Kingdom	80.05	2011 est.

Greece

79.92

2011 est.

Austria

79.78

2011 est.

Netherlands

79.68

2011 est.

Belgium

79.51

2011 est.

European Union

78.82

2010 est.

Portugal

78.54

2011 est.


50	United States	78.37	2011 est.

Chile

77.70

2011 est.


68	Argentina	76.95	2011 est.

Mexico

76.47

2011 est.


73	Uruguay	76.21	2011 est.

124

Brazil

72.53

2011 est.

127

Peru

72.47

2011 est.


145	Iraq	70.55	2011 est.

Paulrus or Paulba?

2011-04-14T00:52:00.002-04:00

It's time to solve this age-old debate.
Is he more like a walrus or Jabba the Hutt?

Sea-going mouth-breathing tub-of-lard attention whore whose tragically not photogenic at all.

...or...

Corrupt morbidly obese slug who can't retain an interpreter for more than a month.
Misogynistic womanizing cult leader of an extortion ring which depends on senseless violence.
Closest friends include a giant sized rat and a mindless eunuch whose head has been swapped for a conveniently placed buttocks complete with tail.

Tragedy, Disaster, and Unrelenting Hatred

2011-03-12T04:16:00.003-05:00

I had originally intended to write a long detailed post on Butyric Acid this week, but current events have taken over.
While most people's thoughts are with everyone in Japan, the deceased, the homeless, people who've just witnessed their entire life erode away before them... while most people can empathize on some level, even if it's just through CNN or BBC... there are some who think this is some sort of "karma".
Anti-whalers never cease to amaze me in how low they will sink. How utterly and completely their hate engulfs them. But even this is a new and terrible low.

What follows are a few screenshots taken in about 5 minutes from Facebook.
Japanese posters have already made an even more comprehensive compilation from twitter.

If you're wondering how I got some of these, try searching yourself.
What I captured here is a very small sample, as the screenshots show, for the most part I can only grab statements made in the last 2 or 3 hours.

Addendum March 13:
Japan Probe has more examples interspersed with statements about Pearl Harbor. There is no limit to this stuff.
Japan Probe has also put up a poem by Paul Watson, titled Tsunami, about "The seas fearful wrath".

Tsunami
Neptune’s voice rolled like thunder thru the sky
Angrily he smote the deep seabed floor
From the shore echoed mankind’s mournful cry
The sea rose up and struck fast for the shore
From out of the East with the rising sun
The seas fearful wrath burst upon the land
With little time to prepare or to run
Against a power no human can stand

The Legality of Whaling, Part II: Research

2011-03-04T03:14:00.000-05:00

When you get down to it, the idea that "Research is Illegal" is based on
1. Opinion and bias. People want to believe it is illegal, so they assume there is no research.
However, documentation with the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) Scientific Committee puts that to rest.

IWC's Scientific Committee has reviewed both of ICR's research programs, JARPA and JARPN, several times. Never has the scientific validity of their research been brought into question by this group of scientists from around the world.
IWC Scientific Committee Review of JARPA 1997
IWC Scientific Committee Review of JARPA 2006
IWC Scientific Committee Review of JARPN 2007
IWC Scientific Committee Review of JARPN 2009

Much ado has been made about big-name scientists claiming that Japan is not doing research.
However, most of these scientists are outside of their fields and when confronted with their many misconceptions were soundly put in their place. Thankfully, the full exchange has been preserved by the University of Alberta.

Finally, there is the occasional deliberate misinformation that is put out by Marine Biologists. A prime example is Dr. Gales' allegation that ICR is engaging in "bizarre", "esoteric" research aimed at cross-breeding whales.
Dr. Gales greatly hurts his own reputation. Either he has a very poor understanding of science and is incompetent, or he is displaying that he has no sense of objectivity or professionalism. No matter how you slice it, it's a very dirty and dishonest thing to do.
The research Dr. Gale was referring to has nothing to do with cross-breeding animals. Female eggs from cows are known to be capable of adapting to host other species' dna, which could be used for a wide range of applications. Anything from cloning, to curing diseases by replicating tissue, to artificial insemination.

If perfected, such a technology would have broad applications, from the development of customized tissue cell lines for transplants in humans to new ways to propagate valuable farm animals, or rare and endangered species.

Dr. Gales seems to think this research is only strange when done by Japanese. That is very telling.
With these sorts of deceptive, deceitful, and cunning tactics used by the likes of Australian Propagandists abusing their qualifications, it is no wonder such a misconception about Japan's Legitimate Research Whaling exists.

2. Refusal to accept Article VIII of ICRW, which is the international agreement that forms the basis of IWC. To join IWC, every country must sign and agree to ICRW -- which sets the rules, procedures, funding, purpose, etc. of how IWC works.
Article VIII is very specific when it comes to research whaling and requiring the member nation to not waste the whale. One can immediately see Japan is acting legally.

Article VIII

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Convention any Contracting Government may grant to any of its nationals a special permit authorizing that national to kill, take and treat whales for purposes of scientific research subject to such restrictions as to number and subject to such other conditions as the Contracting Government thinks fit, and the killing, taking, and treating of whales in accordance with the provisions of this Article shall be exempt from the operation of this Convention. Each Contracting Government shall report at once to the Commission all such authorizations which it has granted. Each Contracting Government may at any time revoke any such special permit which it has granted.
Any whales taken under these special permits shall so far as practicable be processed and the proceeds shall be dealt with in accordance with directions issued by the Government by which the permit was granted.
Each Contracting Government shall transmit to such body as may be designated by the Commission, in so far as practicable, and at intervals of not more than one year, scientific information available to that Government with respect to whales and whaling, including the results of research conducted pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article and to Article IV.
Recognizing that continuous collection and analysis of biological data in connection with the operations of factory ships and land stations are indispensable to sound and constructive management of the whale fisheries, the Contracting Governments will take all practicable measures to obtain such data.

This is not a loophole anymore than the establishment of a Legislature is a loophole in the US Constitution. This Article is an original part of the founding document for IWC and Japan has implemented it as intended.

The real issue is that anti-whalers don't want Japan, or anyone else, to do research. The excuse for passing the 10-year temporary moratorium was that there was not enough research on abundance estimates for all whales. Japan has undertaken to do research that will more than satisfy any doubts.
According to the Revised Management Plan (RMP), which was devised by the Scientific Committee after the moratorium was passed, all data must be updated within 5 years.

It has strict minimum data requirements and takes scientific uncertainty into account. Regular (5-6 years) abundance estimates are required.

- Dr. Greg Donovan, head of IWC's Scientific Committee

3. Claims that ICR's goals do not require lethal research. Often times people, and a few scientists who've never put their reputation on the line to prove it, have claimed that ICR could get the same data by collecting whale farts, measuring size, etc.
However, these all have major logistical issues which have never been attempted. And even if they were, would still represent a dropoff in the quality of data. Scientists can definitively determine a whale's age by counting the layers of wax in their ears like the rings on a tree. The proposed alternative, going by the whale's size, can barely be called a scientific guess.
Ergo, the logistical issues would equate to less quantity of data, and the methodology itself to a dropoff in the quality of data. No self-respecting scientist would sacrifice qualitative and quantitative results just because a few people have culture-based emotional issues.
Australia has been the only country to even propose attempting these non-lethal substitutes to research whales. Going by their original statements, they believed it would prove lethal research to be unneeded. However, it has proved the exact opposite. They failed to get any whale farts, and even the satellite trackers replicated some of the same difficulties ICR had years previously in attempts to use satellite tagging.
Australia's research program failed to replicate a single piece of data from ICR's Lethal Research.
Not only that, they failed to match the quantity or quality of data from ICR's extensive Non-Lethal Research. And this was with the Australian research missions costing almost twice as much as JARPA.

Comparison of Australia's research (AWE) to JARPA 04/05 (chosen because it researched the same sector) and JARPA 09/10 (chosen as most recent expedition with cruise report)
In both cases, JARPA produced far more results than AWE.

*This comparison does not include any lethal research*

Government expenses:
- AWE : $6.09m
- 04/05 JARPA: $5.37m ($3.60m if don't count the travel time between Japan... which Australia obviously doesn't have to deal with)
- 09/10 JARPA: No Data
Biopsies
- AWE : 64 humpbacks, 1 fin (including duplicates because they doubled back and tagged the same humpbacks twice -- they also concentrated all around Balleny islands, making it not representative of the entire sector)
- 2004/05 JARPA: 38 humps, 2 fins, 1 right
- 2009/10 JARPA: 84 humps, 1 fin, 1 right
- Sighting Survey
- AWE: Did not follow track lines and doubled back rendering the results useless, nonetheless still covered just 5,800nm (including doubling back)
- JARPA 04/05: Covered 18,712 nautical miles using the same procedure suggested by IWC for SOWER
- JARPA 09/10: Same procedure; covered 8,232nm. Areas V West and Area III East were not possible due to interference.
Sighting counts:
- AWE: 222 minkes in 128 schools, 276 humps in 129 schools, 59 fins in 29 schools, 5 sperm in 5 schools, 1 bottlenose in 1 school, 8 sei in 6 schools, 1 orca, 16 hourglass dolphins in 3 schools, 4 unidentified beaked whales (note that the abnormal #s of minkes and humps is attributed to doubling back and focusing on the Balleny islands)
- JARPA 04/05: 4400 minkes in 1711 schools, 381 humps in 224 schools, 118 sperm in 115 schools, 126 fins in 53 schools, 83 bottlenose in 47 schools
- JARPA 09/10: 2242 minkes in 986 schools, 40 blues in 24 schools, 189 fins in 56 schools, 2 Seis in 1 school, 88 "like" minke in 46 schools, 1187 humps in 603 schools, 2 rights in 2 schools, 189 unidentified baleen in 87 schools, 130 sperm in 127 schools, 48 bottlenose in 30 schools
Photo ID:
- AWE: 61 humps
- JARPA 04/05: 62 humps, 3 right, 5 blue
- JARPA 09/10: 110 humps, 2 rights, 8 blue
Oceanographic survey
- AWE: 10x CTD
- 04/05 JARPA: 12x XBT, 62x CTD, 100x XCTD,
- 09/10 JARPA: 57x TDR [continuous]
EPCS survey
- AWE: None
- 04/05 JARPA: 2 EPCS surveys of 90 days and 93 days covering 11,488nm.
- 09/10 JARPA: None
Hydro-acoustic survey:
- AWE: Yes, 111 sonobuoys for 100 nm -- results inconclusive yet but ICR is apparently interested in this as a similar goal in 04/05 didn't yield much to aid sighting surveys
- 04/05 JARPA: Yes, EK500 for 11488.2 nm
- 09/10 JARPA: None
Marine debris survey:
- AWE: None
- 04/05 JARPA: used ARGO profiling floats that render high-quality upper and middle layer of the ocean simultaneously. In coordination with Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC)
- 09/10 JARPA: same as 04/05
Satellite tagging:
- AWE: 30 humps, 9 were able to transmit, only one worked continuously (84 days) but never left the Southern Ocean
- JARPA 04/05: None.
- JARPA 09/10: None.
- (** ICR has used trackers in the past in JARPN but -- like AWE here -- had difficulty keeping them up. Comments from ICR indicate that until a more reliable and less cost-prohibitive means is figured out they're laying off this area for now)
Recording of Humpback songs:
- AWE: Of course
- JARPA 04/05: None
- JARPA 09/10: None

Again, this included no lethal research, because the Australian mission could not replicate a single piece of data which ICR got using lethal means.

It is very unpopular to discuss the extensive Non-Lethal Research ICR does as it undermines the "under guise of research" propaganda.

Racism, Bigotry, and Prejudice within the Anti-Whaling and Animal Rights movements

2011-02-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

The truth is, so-called "environmental" NGOs encourage this behavior. Hatred like this can be very contagious and there's a market for creating a black and white world where people pay to feel like they are on the "white" side. By perpetuating racism like this, NGOs can bring in a lot of donations and volunteers.

Especially the kind of groups that believe Violence is an appropriate solution, such as Sea Shepherd.

I call this the Cycle of Hate.

Foment Racism --> Get $$$ --> Use $$$ to assault your target --> get in the media --> use media to foment racism --> rinse, wash, repeat.

It's very sad that many English-speaking media sources are willing to play along with this.

Particularly those media in Australia should be ashamed of themselves. By now they should know that Paul Watson is a compulsive liar who uses Australian Nationalism and WWII rhetoric to incite racism, yet they continue to publish his statements entirely unchecked.

Some points:

- It seems most of these people are more obsessed with WWII than whales.

- I don't think anyone who wants to drop nuclear warheads can call themselves an Environmentalist. They don't care about the environment at all, and such comments hint at baser motivations.

- Any Japanese who comments on this issue on Facebook are immediately derided. Today they are usually just deleted immediately. But here you can see some examples, where they are told to learn their history, to apologize for WWII, have their eyes mocked, have their accent (especially confusing 'l' and 'r') mocked, one is called "rin tin tin" implying she is a dog, and they hunt down the personal information and home address of another.

This entry may be periodically updated. As it stands now (25Feb2011) there are some 300 more images, taken almost exclusively from Sea Shepherd's cove guardian facebook page, which I have yet to upload. That page, all on its own, serves as a daily source of hatred, bigotry, and racism.

Furthermore, the images I have added today are only about 2/3rds of the ones I have uploaded. In other words, there is a near limitless amount of this bigoted filth.

To start, a short video synopsis with catchy music.

This should suffice for the "too long, didn't read" crowd:

The Legality of Whaling, Part I: Australia's Imperialist and Illegitimate Territorial Claims

2011-02-25T19:10:00.000-05:00

The Antarctic Treaty (ATS), which governs Nation State's claims in Antarctica, was originally signed in 1959 by 12 countries including United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Russia among others. It has since been adopted by 47 different countries including most major players in International Politics, such as China.

The treaty allows member nations to enter or reserve claims to land in Antarctica. However, many of these claims are overlapping and the treaty effectively acts as a gentleman's agreement to not pursue these claims. It has been quipped in the past that the Antarctic Treaty effectively puts territorial claims "on ice".
Key to this concept is Article IV of the original treaty:

Article IV
[territorial claims]
1. Nothing contained in the present Treaty shall be interpreted as:
(a) a renunciation by any Contracting Party of previously asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica;
(b) a renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Party of any basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica which it may have whether as a result of its activities or those of its nationals in Antarctica, or otherwise;
(c) prejudicing the position of any Contracting Party as regards its recognition or nonrecognition of any other State's right of or claim or basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.
2. No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica. No new claim, or enlargement of an existing claim, to territorial sovereignty shall be asserted while the present Treaty is in force.

While item 1 of Article IV makes it clear that countries may lay claim to Antarctica when they ratify it, item 2 expressly forbids them from acting on those claims. Item 2 also forbids them from making any new claims or enlarging an existing claim. So whatever was claimed when said country ratified the treaty cannot be changed.

This has three significant consequences for Australia.
- First, this treaty states that no other country needs to respect any claims Australia has made in Antarctica. In fact, only 4 countries recognize Australia's territorial claim: New Zealand, France, Norway, United Kingdom. Each of these 4 countries have their own claim which, in turn, Australia recognizes.
- Second, it forbids Australia from taking any action which may be construed as an attempt to enforce or legitmize their claims.
- Third, it forbids Australia from enlarging their claims.

When it comes to the whaling issue, Australia has violated every single one of these.

- First, Australia has perpetuated the myth that they have a legitimate claim which shall be recognized by Japan.

- Second, the HSUS court case against Kyodo Senpaku on whaling is a clear attempt to legitimize their claim. In fact, the implementation thus far for Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act suggests it was passed solely as an attempt to legislate against Foreign Nationals in International Waters. This can be seen by the fact that the Judge found them guilty for doing Non-Lethal research on Humpback whales:

Allsop said that while no humpback whales had been killed by the whaling firm, there was evidence that biopsy samples were taken from humpbacks using a crossbow.

"I am satisfied that this non-lethal method of sampling amounted to injuring, interfering with and treating a cetacean within the definition of the EPBC Act," he said.

Just last year, Australian Scientists set out to do the exact same research on humpbacks, taking 65 biopsies -- JARPA took 86 in the same period. Not only have they not been taken to court, but the Australia Government funded what their own courts has said is an illegal attack on whales. It appears that Australia believes it has the ability to legislate domestic law against Japanese citizens in International Waters.
While Australians are claiming Japanese do not respect their ~~territorial~~ illegitimate claims, it is actually Australians who do not respect the Sovereignty of Japan. I suspect this pattern of illogical and unreasonable double standards plays out across much of Australia's foreign policy in Asia.

- Third, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which Australia claims Japan is operating in is an enlargement of their original claim. This EEZ was not claimed by the Australian Government until 29 July 1994, more than 3 decades after entering into a Treaty which forbids the "enlargement" of their existing claims.

USA doesn't recognize Australia's claims.(emphasis mine)

The United States recalls the principles and objectives shared by the Antarctic Treaty and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention), and the importance of the Antarctic system and the Convention working in harmony and thereby ensuring the continuing peaceful cooperation, security and stability in the Antarctic area. The United States wishes to inform you that, recalling Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty, the United States does not recognize any State's claim to territory in Antarctica and consequently does not recognize any State's rights over the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas beyond and adjacent to the continent of Antarctica. The United States acknowledges with appreciation Australia's request to the Commission that it not take any action on that portion of its submission relating to areas of the seabed and subsoil adjacent to Antarctica.

Almost the exact same statement from:
Japan, Russia, Netherlands, Germany, India

In other words, Australia was forced, by worldwide opinion and with the legal backing of ATS Article IV, to withdraw their submission related to their illegitimate claims in Antarctica.

China and Russia don't even respect the semi-valid Australian claims to Antarctic territory (which is part of the ATS, as opposed the newly claimed 200m EEZ which is not part of ATS and therefore a violation of the treaty):

Countries such as the former Soviet Union, and now China and India, have not sought permission from Canberra to build their bases in the Australian Antarctic Territory.

New Zealand is looking at Australia's actions as an example of what NOT to do (emphasis mine):

The Australian legislation and the HSI case have put the Australian government in a fairly difficult position, fenced between the demands of the domestic constituency for enforcement of the injunction and the need to maintain international cooperation in Antarctica. Australia resolved this tension by dispatching the customs vessel Oceanic Viking to observe the Japanese whalers.

Although it may seem attractive to some for New Zealand to claim an EEZ and arrest Japanese whalers, this is not an action that is necessary or desirable at this stage. New Zealand maintains its claim to sovereignty by enacting legislation consistent with New Zealand sovereignty over the Ross Dependency, but by not pursuing its rights as vigorously as Australia has, it has taken a more conciliatory approach to the various positions of countries in the ATS. The Japanese whaling issue is a serious problem, and it is likely that the vessels will return to the waters of the Ross Dependency in the next whaling seasons. However, the path to resolving this dispute must be through international diplomacy rather than through individual state action that risks destabilising the ATS as collateral damage."

In essence, it is not just Japan who doesn't recognize these illegitimate territorial claims. With the exception of 4 countries, who only recognize Australia's claims in exchange for their own bogus claims being recognized, the entire world does not recognize the ~~Australian~~ fake Antarctic Territory.
One has to wonder if all the Nationalist furor and rhetoric which the Australian government, and various ~~environmentalists~~ frauds, stir up on this issue is about whales. Or if it's about finding a justification to enforce their Imperialist claims to the pristine Southern Ocean and it's rich resources?

Translating Stupid

2011-02-25T17:32:00.001-05:00

Recently, I've been having a hard time figuring out some of the comments made by Animal Rights proponents.
While they often insult anyone who speaks English as a second language, usually as a way of intimidating them into shutting up, their own statements are utter nonsense.

Take this example.

What in the world is Shelly Pardy attempting to say here? God only knows. But the next time somebody complains about the education system in America, I know what I'll be thinking about in the back of my mind.

Thankfully, I had the brilliant idea to try Google Translate. After all, I hear it works wonders for writing protest letters to Japanese embassies. I wasn't let down. These are my results.

In The Beginning, there were trolls...

2011-02-25T17:31:00.001-05:00

This first post is reserved as a permanently public record for those comments which are excessively abusive, obviously trolling, and generally irrelevant without contributing anything to the discussion.

February 27th additions

Andy Worrell
You're like a kid with Asperger's syndrome. Get help.

Andy Worrell It wasn't an insult, but as per my comment, your one track mind took it as one. I am seriously concerned for your mental health. Help is available, Neill. Ask your physician for a referral.

Ella Shapiro whomever wrote this blog seems to have an obsession. wow. who the hell has that kind of time to document all those posts?

productions3 said...: The weaboos believe Japan is right and the Moon is flat. This is bias and opinion.; March 23, 2011 2:44 AM