First up, from the Los Angeles Times, piling on:
Britain, Belgium and Denmark to join U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq
The British Parliament voted Friday to join U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq against the extremist group Islamic State.
The motion approved by a vote of 524 to 43 does not allow Britain’s air force to also conduct operations in neighboring Syria, where the militants have seized large swaths of territory.
Prime Minister David Cameron made the case for military intervention to lawmakers, who were recalled to London during a recess for Friday’s vote.
More from the London Telegraph:
British air strikes on Iraq in hours after MPs vote for action
Bombing is backed by 524 to 43 MPs after David Cameron said the “psychopathic terrorists” must be destroyed
Air Strikes could begin within hours after MPs backed Government plans for a bombing campaign against “psycopathic” Isis terrorists in Iraq.
Six Tornados supported by a Voyager refuelling tanker have been at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in mid-August and could be ready to begin air strikes within hours.
Sources said the Tornados could quickly be fitted with Paveway IV guided bombs or Brimstone missiles to carry out strikes on Isil vehicles and convoys.
Another body for the huddle from CBC News:
Stephen Harper says Canada won’t ‘stand on the sidelines’ of ISIS fight
PM calls Islamic State a ‘direct threat to the security of this country’
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will not sit idly while Islamic State militants in the Middle East threaten to slaughter thousands of innocent people.
“We do not stand on the sidelines and watch. We do our part,” Harper said following a meeting with European Union leaders on Parliament Hill Friday.
“That’s always how this country has handled its international responsibilities, and as long as I’m prime minister that’s what we will continue to do.”
TheLocal.no adds another:
Norway commits military staff in fight against Isis
Norway’s government officially ruled to let five Norwegian officers be included in the US-led coalition’s fight against ISIS in Iraq, on Friday.
The five officers of the Norwegian military will be made available “for relevant headquarters planning and leading the international effort against ISIS in Iraq” for no more than twelve months, informed the Department of Defence.
Minister of Defence Ina Eriksen Søreide said to NTB: “It is important to show that the global society stands together in the fight against international terrorism, and that serious violations on human rights will not be tolerated. The government has decided that Norway will contribute with five officers, who will take part in the military planning and be able to contribute to a stronger basis for decision-making for an evaluation of possible further Norwegian military contributions.”
The Norwegian officers will first be sent to Tampa, Florida to begin their tasks as soon as possible.
RT has numbers for another:
Denmark to send F-16 jets to aid anti-ISIS strikes in Iraq
Denmark is to dispatch seven F-16 fighter jets to Iraq to aid in the struggle against Islamic State militants, Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt announced Friday.
The US filed a request with Denmark on Thursday to contribute to the international air campaign against Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS, or ISIL) in Iraq. Thorning-Schmidt said that the F-16s would be limited to flying in Iraq and would not be targeting any areas in neighboring Syria.
“I am very pleased that there now is a broad coalition, including countries in the region who want to… contribute,” she told a press conference. “The terror organization ISIS cannot be defeated with military means alone.”
Reuters has one reaction:
Wary of air strikes, Islamic State insurgents change tactics
Islamic State militants are changing tactics in the face of U.S. air strikes in northern Iraq, ditching conspicuous convoys in favor of motorcycles and planting their black flags on civilian homes, tribal sources and eyewitnesses say.
They reported fewer militant checkpoints to weed out “apostates” and less cell phone use since the air strikes intensified and more U.S. allies pledged to join the campaign that began in August, saying the militants had also split up to limit casualties.
A tribal sheikh from a village south of Kirkuk said Islamic State elements “abandoned one of their biggest headquarters in the village” when they heard the air strike campaign was likely to target their area.
Reuters has another:
U.S.-led strikes pressure al Qaeda’s Syria group to join with Islamic State
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, is facing mounting pressure from its own members to reconcile with its rival Islamic State and confront a common enemy after U.S.-led air strikes hit both groups this week.
But that move would require pledging loyalty to Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, which would effectively put an end to the Nusra Front, fighters in the group say.
Nusra, long one of the most effective forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was weakened this year by battles with Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter group that routinely employs ruthless methods such as beheadings and mass executions.
And possibly another from the China Post:
IS jihadists execute female rights activist in Iraq’s Mosul
The jihadists who rule Iraq’s northern city of Mosul have executed a female rights activist who criticized the Islamic State (IS) group on social media, several sources said Thursday.
According to rights groups and residents, Samira Saleh al-Nuaimi was executed on Monday. A source at Mosul morgue confirmed to AFP that her body was brought in earlier this week.
“I have also had contact with the morgue and sadly I can confirm that she is dead,” Hana Edward, a prominent Iraqi rights activist who knew Nuaimi, told AFP.
From TheLocal.fr, alerting:
France slaps travel warnings on 40 countries
Following the beheading of a French hostage, authorities have expanded to 40 countries the list of places where French visitors should use “utmost vigilance”. Some on the list may surprise you.
With France carrying out air strikes against Isis in Iraq and one of its nationals beheaded at the hands of jihadists, French authorities have added new countries to a warning list for its citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expanded the list from 31 to 40 countries on Thursday, warning French people to use their “utmost vigilance” if they visit these places.
Discouragement from Homeland Security News Wire:
New DOJ pilot program aims to deter Americans from joining terrorist groups
Boston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis will host the Justice Department’s (DOJ) pilot program aimed at deterring Americans from joining terrorists groups, particularly those fighting in Syria and Iraq under the Islamic State (IS) and Somalia under al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab. The program will rely on prevention and intervention initiatives.
Boston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis will host the Justice Department’s (DOJ) pilot program aimed at deterring Americans from joining terrorists groups, particularly those fighting in Syria and Iraq under the Islamic State (IS) and Somalia under al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab. The program will rely on prevention and intervention initiatives, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz said on Tuesday. Boston was chosen “for the strength of our existing relationships, community engagement and community oriented policing programs,” Ortiz added.
Reuters has numbers:
Nine Japanese said to have joined Islamic State
Nine Japanese nationals have joined Islamic State, Japan’s former air force chief, Toshio Tamogami, quoted a senior Israeli government official as saying, but the government’s top spokesman said on Friday it had not confirmed the information.
Tamogami, now a senior official of a tiny new political party, said on his blog that Nissim Ben Shitrit, the director-general of Israel’s foreign ministry, told him this month that nine Japanese had taken part in Islamic State.
Asked about the possible participation of Japanese citizens in the militant group, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference, “The government has not confirmed such information.”
The Mainichi debunks:
FBI: About 12 Americans fighting in Syria, not 100
The U.S. believes there are about 12 Americans fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria, not more than 100, as has been cited for months.
That’s not to say there is no concern about these other 88 or so Americans who officials say have been killed, arrested, traveled or attempted to travel to join the fight. But the U.S. only knows of about 12 who are currently in Syria fighting, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday.
The 100 figure, however, had taken on an urban legend status over the past few months as the Obama administration made its case to the American public for military action in Iraq and Syria. It’s unclear what significance the discrepancy has as far as Americans’ support for the U.S. military action, which so far has been strong.
And from the London Daily Mail, adding fool to the fire:
Hero company CEO, who works part time as a cop, shot Muslim convert employee, 30, as he BEHEADED female co-worker and stabbed another after trying to convince colleagues to join Islam
Alton Nolen, 30, had just been fired when he drove up to Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma and ‘attacked the first two people he saw’
He beheaded Colleen Hufford, 54, and stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, before Mark Vaughan, an off-duty officer and the company’s former owner, shot him
Nolen and Johnson are both being treated in hospital
Co-workers revealed that Nolen, who has an extensive rap sheet, had recently converted to Islam and had tried to get them to convert as well
He has a Jesus tattoo on his chest and a Muslim greeting inked on his abdomen, court records show
In 2010, after he eluded cops and sparked a massive overnight manhunt, he was ordered to take an anger management course
911 call reveals the chaos inside the entrance to the building after the suspect entered and attacked at random before he was gunned down
FBI now investigating whether conversion to Islam linked to attack
Süddeutsche Zeitung has a blast from the hitherto secret past
The Aborted Origins Of The First Hunt For Osama Bin Laden
Some of the drones the United States used to hunt for Osama bin Laden were once piloted out of Ramstein Air Base in Germany, apparently without the knowledge of officials in Berlin.
It was known that the data for all drone attacks flowed through Ramstein, but according to both internal documents and U.S. officers, the drone pilots themselves were located there for at least part of the time (pictured: ground control station in New Mexico).
In the summer of 2000, (more than a year before the Sep. 11 attacks) a team from the U.S. Air Force 32nd Expeditionary Air Intelligence Squadron in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate began a remote-controlled drone hunt for Osama bin Laden. At the time, the CIA and the National Security Council were developing various plans to capture or kill bin Laden. The idea of armed drones was discussed, although at the time this was thoroughly new ground and the military was skeptical of their use.
TheLocal.dk covers a military hack attack:
Danish defence secrets obtained by foreign spies
Denmark’s largest weapons company and up to four other defence targets were successfully hacked over a period of four years, and signs point to China.
The Danish defence industry was the target of successful hacks by a foreign state, mostly likely China, DR reports. The news comes just days after DR revealed that sensitive Danish business information was obtained by state-sponsored hackers in 2012.
The defence hack was targeted at the Danish contributions to the American F35 Joint Strike Fighter jet programme.
Deutsche Welle ponders a visit:
Could Snowden come to Berlin?
German opposition members appealed to the country’s highest court to allow former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden to testify at a parliamentary inquiry in Berlin
A German parliamentary inquiry looking into US National Security Agency (NSA) spying in Germany initially decided it would not invite whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked the documents revelaing the US intelligence agency’s massive spy programs, to testify in Berlin.
The Green and Left opposition parties on Friday requested that the German Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal institution, to rule on whether Snowden should testify in front of the inquiry committee in Berlin to provide a “global overview of the technical conditions of mass surveillance,” according to Greens lawmaker Konstantin von Notz.
Although the German government appears not to want to risk harming its relationship with the US by allowing Snowden to speak in Berlin, inquiry committee members from Germany’s governing parties have said they also want to hear from Snowden. They, however, want to do it via video link or in Russia, where Snowden currently lives in exile, rather than in the German capital.
From the Birmingham News, a very, very curious story:
Huntsville schools say call from NSA led to monitoring students online
A secret program to monitor students’ online activities began quietly in Huntsville schools, following a phone call from the NSA, school officials say.
Huntsville schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski says the system began monitoring social media sites 18 months ago, after the National Security Agency tipped the school district to a student making violent threats on Facebook.
The NSA, a U.S. agency responsible for foreign intelligence, this week said it has no record of a call to Huntsville and does not make calls to school systems.
Regardless of how the program started, Huntsville City Schools began scanning Facebook and other sites for signs of gang activity, watching for photos of guns, photos of gang signs and threats of violence.
After the jump, apology rejected in Ferguson, military arrests in Mexico, Argentine tax cheats pursued by drones, Shellshock implacability, a horrendous online vulnerability revealed, Down Under spook spoofing Pakistan expands its nuclear horizons, censoring soaps in Thailand, An Internet purge in China, Hong Kong protests end in clash and Hillary’s chickens come home to roost, illustrative imprisonment in China, a Sino/Indian border spat, Nazi-ness in Japan, and an attack of liberal newspaper. . .
The Christian Science Monitor covers a rejection:
Ferguson tensions flare after police chief tries to join protesters
Jackson’s attempt to join the protesters Thursday night – a number of whom who were calling for his resignation – backfired. At least one person was arrested after a scuffle started just yards behind the marching police chief, and several others were taken into custody.
After issuing an apparently heartfelt, if belated, apology for his leadership missteps after the death of Michael Brown, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson briefly joined protesters late Thursday evening as they marched outside the police station.
That the man who helmed a strong-arm crackdown on angry residents after Brown’s death on Aug. 9 would join those residents in a moment of solidarity could have been a major moment in what’s become a prolonged standoff between a white police force and a majority black city. However, Jackson’s attempt to join the protesters – a number of whom who were calling for his resignation – backfired.
At least one person was arrested after a scuffle started just yards behind the marching police chief, and several others were taken into custody following at least two other angry confrontations, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Much blazing gun blowback, this time South of the Border with Reuters:
Eight Mexican military detained over alleged gang shootout
Mexico has detained eight military personnel involved in an alleged shootout in June that killed 22 suspected gang members, the defense ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The confrontation took place on June 30 in Tlatlaya on the southern fringes of the State of Mexico, which borders Guerrero and Michoacan, states plagued by gang violence. At the time, authorities said the dead – 21 men and one woman – were suspected gang members, who fired on soldiers first.
Last week, Mexico’s attorney general said it was investigating the case after an alleged witness to the shootout said in a magazine article that the 22 people were executed after surrendering to the army.
Eyes in the sky from CBS News:
Argentine tax evaders beware: The government is using a drone to spot you.
The Buenos Aires province’s tax agency said Wednesday that it has used drones to identify some 200 mansions and about 100 swimming pools that haven’t been declared by their owners.
The tax agency says the unmanned aircraft flew over an exclusive neighborhood near the city of Buenos Aires and took images of luxury houses standing on lots registered as being empty.
Owners of the properties have been told to get their papers in order and get ready to pay hefty fines on a total tax evasion estimated at $2 million.
The Toronto Globe and Mail covers Shellshock implacability:
Hackers exploit Shellshock bug as fixes prove ineffective
Hackers may have started to try to take advantage of the Shellshock bug, the major computer security flaw whose existence was made public this week.
AusCERT, Australia’s Computer Emergency Response Team, reported in a bulletin released Thursday that it had “received reports that this vulnerability is currently being exploited in the wild. Administrators should patch vulnerable systems as soon as possible.”
Several computer security firms said an initial patch for the issue was incomplete.
From SecurityWeek, a horrendous vulnerability revealed:
Malvertising Could Replace Exploit Kits: Researchers
In a paper presented on Thursday at the Virus Bulletin conference in Seattle, Bromium researchers analyzed malvertising attacks and the reasons for which they’ve become a preferred method of malware distribution for many cybercriminal groups.
Over the past months, there have been numerous reports from security companies on successful malvertising campaigns. Through malicious advertisements distributed via popular ad networks, cybercriminals reached the visitors of several high-profile websites such as Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo, Java.com, DeviantArt and many others.
“Drive-by download” is one of the most efficient malware distribution methods. In these operations, the attacker uses spam or compromised sites to redirect victims to a page hosting an exploit kit. The exploit kit then leverages vulnerabilities in the software running on the victim’s machine to serve malware.
Malvertising However, Bromium researchers Rahul Kashyap and Vadim Kotov have pointed out in their paper that using ad networks to redirect potential victims to the exploit kit is much more efficient because the attackers can reach millions of people with a minimum of effort.
Down Under spook spoofing from News Corp Australia:
#HeyASIO: Twitter hits back at new terror laws in Australia
A MOVE to grant Australia’s security agency broad new powers has not scared the internet, with Twitter users mocking the changes mercilessly.
Last night, the Senate passed new laws to grant the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) power to, essentially, monitor the entire country’s internet usage with only one warrant.
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman and barrister Greg Barns has slammed the laws, saying the spy agency could do “an enormous amount under one warrant”.
The internet has hit back in its own way, with the hashtag #HeyASIO trending in Australia.
Pakistan expands its nuclear horizons, via the Times of India:
Pakistan is building smaller nukes, but they just might be more dangerous
Pakistan is likely working to create tactical nuclear weapons, which are smaller warheads built for use on battlefields rather than cities or infrastructure. These weapons are diminutive enough to be launched from warships or submarines, which makes them easier to use on short notice than traditional nuclear weapons.
Developing tactical nuclear weapons calls for miniaturization of current weaponry (the “Davy Crockett,” developed by the US in the ‘50s, was designed to launch from a simple tripod). But as The Washington Post reports, analysts are divided on whether Pakistan will be able to make warheads tiny enough for sea-launching.
There’s less uncertainty about the military advantage gained with such weapons. A warhead-toting navy would allow Pakistan to stay nuclear-capable regardless of what happens to its homeland, where its nuclear infrastructure is spread out.
From Al Jazeera English, Thais wide shut:
Thailand PM bemoans ‘divisive’ soap operas
New prime minister slams TV soaps and threatens he will write them himself if their scripts do not improve
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has criticised television soap operas for promoting violence and divisions in society, and says he will write them himself if he has to.
Prayuth, who is also army chief, staged a coup on May 22, overthrowing an elected government after six months of at times violent anti-government protests.
“I have ordered that scripts be written, including plays on reconciliation, on tourism and on Thai culture”, he told reporters on Friday. “They are writing plots at the moment and if they can’t finish it I will write it myself”, he said of a team of government-appointed writers.
An Internet purge in China from the South China Morning Post:
Chinese internet regulator sacked and expelled from party over graft
Gao Jianyun was official in high-level taskforce chaired by President Xi Jinping
A senior internet regulator has been dismissed and expelled from the Communist Party for corruption, the party’s anti-graft watchdog announced on its website.
Gao Jianyun – an assistant bureau-level official of a taskforce under the newly established central leading group for internet security and informatisation – sought and accepted huge bribes among other serious disciplinary violations, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said.
The leading group, set up in February, is a top party panel on internet security and technology. It is headed by President Xi Jinping , with Premier Li Keqiang and senior official Liu Yunshan as its deputy heads. The taskforce is operated by the State Internet Information Office, where Gao was deputy chief.
Hong Kong protests end in clash, arrests, via Deutsche Welle:
Hong Kong student protest ends with police clashes
Police have arrested a protest leader and used force to disperse students near Hong Kong’s government headquarters. Protesters want China to reverse a new law that gives Beijing more power over Hong Kong elections.
Roughly 1,000 student protesters gathered outside Hong Kong’s government headquarters on Friday, marking the final day of week-long demonstrations against the Chinese government.
Last month, China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress, announced that a new “ broadly representative committee,” comprising roughly 1,200 people, would nominate candidates for Hong Kong’s next chief executive in the 2017 election. The move was seen as a reversal of China’s promise that the elections, the first since the 1997 handover, would be decided by universal suffrage.
Five days of demonstrations against the new law culminated on Friday with violence when some 100 participants attempted to storm the building, prompting police to respond with pepper spray. Protest leader Joshua Wong, 17, was arrested by authorities soon after the incident.
From People’s Daily, a quite plausible story, given the intensive State Department push under Hillary Clinton to teach organizing tech in other countries:
US-China confrontation disastrous for HK
US consulate personnel in Hong Kong were revealed to have held meetings with student representatives who led the class boycott campaign. This news stirred up Hong Kong society, sparking heated discussion.
Some students kicked off a week-long boycott of classes from September 22. The Hong Kong opposition camp now is busy with preparations to launch the “Occupy Central” protest during the National Day holidays. Behind the scenes is external support from the US and the West, as has been proven by the latest media exposures.
Western support serves as an anchor to the pan-democracy camp. They are emboldened by Western champion, misperceiving what they are doing as a moral cause and misjudging the risks that “Occupy Central” could bring.
Nikkei Asian Review covers illustrative imprisonment in China:
Life sentence for Uighur scholar highlights China’s hard line
A Chinese court in the far western region of Xinjiang sentenced a respected Uighur economist to life in prison for separatism, a punishment many have criticized as disproportionate.
Xi Jinping’s government appears to be making an example of the moderate Ilham Tohti as a warning that any criticism of its policy toward ethnic minorities will be dealt with harshly.
The ruling, handed down Tuesday by the Urumqi People’s Intermediate Court in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, has created an uproar at home and abroad because Tohti is known to oppose violence and Xinjiang’s independence, and has called for reconciliation between the mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, the Han — the dominant ethnic group in China — and other groups.
And the first of two headlines from Want China Times on a Sino/Indian border spat:
Modi using Tibet against China in border dispute: Duowei
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has made Tibet a major stumbling block for border relations between China and India, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news website.
A Tuesday editorial from Duowei said Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent visit to New Delhi was far from a complete success given his failure to make inroads to address tensions between the two countries over the disputed India-controlled border region of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as a part of southern Tibet, as well as the protests against Chinese rule in Tibet that took place during Xi’s meeting with Modi.
Though Xi celebrated Modi’s 64th birthday and signed a slate of agreements during his visit, he was unable to get India to acknowledge Beijing’s one-China policy, with India’s minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj saying rather that China should reaffirm the “one-India policy.”
Want China Times again, with a stand-down:
India-China border standoff may end on Saturday
The standoff between the Indian and Chinese military near Chumar, a border control facility in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, has nearly come to an end.
After a high-level meeting between the two militaries at the border at Spanggur Gap, the People’s Liberation Army agreed to stop constructing a road from Chepzi, which is also in the Jammu and Kashmir state to Chumar while India will destroy an observation lookout in Tible that allows them to monitor Chinese troops’ movements in Chinese territory.
Dalbir Singh Suhag, chief of staff of the Indian Army, postponed a visit to Bhutan scheduled for Tuesday due to the standoff. India had previously deployed 2,000 soldiers to Chumar and destroyed a section of the freeway that China had built while 800 PLA soldiers were stationed at an area three kilometers from the border, reports Duowei News, a Chinese-language media outlet based in New York.
And resolution, via Want China Times:
PLA radar technology could nullify US stealth jets, claims Global Times
Developments in China’s anti-stealth technology could soon render the stealth capabilities of America’s F-22 fighter jets and Europe’s Neuron unmanned combat air vehicles obsolete, claims Huanqiu, the website of China’s nationalistic Global Times tabloid.
On display at the 9th China International Defence Electronics Exhibition in Beijing in May was China’s DWLOO2 passive radar, which is said to have a range of 500 kilometers and can cover the entire air space with zero “blind spots.” The radar will be mainly be used for air defense and coastal surveillance in complex electromagnetic environments, with the ability to detect, locate and track air, sea, and ground radiation within its coverage, the report said.
Perhaps even more impressive is that developments in Chinese anti-stealth technology mean that passive radars can track all types of aircraft through low-frequency radio waves without the pilots knowing they are being observed or targeted, which is different to conventional radars that send out high-frequency signals. This means the Chinese military can track aircraft through signals from power sources such as transmitters used for television, FM radio and cell phones.
On to Japan, first with Nazi-ness from the Independent:
Japan’s cabinet rocked by new claims of links to neo-Nazis who target the ethnic Korean population
Japan’s government is weathering accusations of links to far-right groups that promote racism and hate speech.
Several members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet, including the Police Minister, have been forced to deny their neo-Nazi links after photographs surfaced of them posing with far-right figures.
In the latest episode, Eriko Yamatani, head of the National Public Safety Commission, rejected claims that she had a 15-year association with the former leader of an ultra-right group that spouts crude racism against Koreans.
The group, Zaitokukai, wants Japan to expel its ethnic Korean population. It has 12,000 members, many of whom descend on Korean communities in Japanese cities, screaming slogans such as “cockroaches” and “kill, kill Koreans”.
Our final item, via Al Jazeera English, kicking ‘em whilst they’re down:
Japanese right targets liberal media
A campaign of intimidation has been launched against Japan’s major liberal and moderate media outlets
At the top of the hit list was NHK, the Japanese national broadcaster. Prime Minister Abe had long been dissatisfied with NHK’s coverage of controversial issues.
In a murky incident in early 2001, NHK produced a documentary about an NGO-sponsored event examining the brutality of the wartime Japanese Imperial Army against the “comfort women” – the predominantly but not exclusively Asian women who were compelled, tricked, or otherwise induced into working in “comfort stations” where they provided sexual services for the troops.
As many as 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forced into brothels for use by Japanese soldiers in territories occupied by Japan during World War II, according to many mainstream historians.
Shortly before the documentary was to go on air, the senior management of NHK quite unusually demanded that major cuts be made to the programme. Years later, it emerged in the course of a lawsuit that Abe – who was then serving as deputy chief cabinet secretary – had personally intervened and ordered NHK executives to alter the documentary before it was broadcast.
