And more. . .
We begin with the first of a series of stories prompted by a major cache of secret cables handed over to the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit:
Mossad contradicted Netanyahu on Iran nuclear programme
Spy Cables reveal Mossad concluded that Iran was not producing nuclear weapons, after PM sounded alarm at UN in 2012
Less than a month after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2012 warning to the UN General Assembly that Iran was 70 per cent of the way to completing its “plans to build a nuclear weapon”, Israel’s intelligence service believed that Iran was “not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons”.
A secret cable obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit reveals that Mossad sent a top-secret cable to South Africa on October 22, 2012 that laid out a “bottom line” assessment of Iran’s nuclear work.
It appears to contradict the picture painted by Netanyahu of Tehran racing towards acquisition of a nuclear bomb.
Another Al Jazeera story:
Israeli cable reveals S Africa missile theft cover-up
Leaked Mossad cable shows Israel obtained stolen missile plans, and South Africa asked for their return
Next, the first of two headlines about the cables from the Guardian:
Spy cables: MI6 intervened to halt South African firm’s deal with Iranian client
Furnace maker was ‘advised most strongly’ to end contract with company suspected of being involved in weapons manufacturing
The next Guardian headline:
CIA attempted to contact Hamas despite official US ban, spy cables reveal
Leaked files show US ‘desperate to make inroads’ into Gaza as well as Barack Obama’s alleged threat to Palestinians over statehood
While the Daily Dot points out a non-deletion:
Al Jazeera error puts North Korean spy’s life on the line
Newly leaked documents show the British government attempting to recruit a North Korean spy—but journalists have failed to properly redact the cables, potentially putting the life of the North Korean and his family in grave jeopardy.
Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news organization, published on Monday a leaked cable from the British Secret Intelligence Service outlining in great detail its attempt to bring a North Korean asset into a “long term clandestine relationship in return for payment.”
The four-page document was published with dozens of redactions, including the exact name of the North Korean individual in question.
However, the journalists left in key information. Dates and specific locations relating to where the North Korean individual met with British spies remains readable, vastly narrowing down the suspects North Korean authorities will no doubt be looking for.
Finally, a video summary for Al Jazeera America’s AJ+:
The Spy Cables – 4 Things We Learned From Leaked Documents
Program notes:
The Spy Cables are the largest release of intelligence documents since Edward Snowden’s and have been obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit. They show us how spies spy on one another and also occasionally help each other spy on mutual enemies. South Africa’s spy agency and MI6 have worked together to shift a North Korean spy’s allegiance. Also, find out who South Korea considers a dangerous individual – the answer might surprise you.
Here’s the masterpage for the Al Jazeera Investigative Unit leak cache stories.
From the New York Times, playing politics to the heights of absurdity:
Concerns Mount as Homeland Security Shutdown Looks Likely
The notion that Congress might actually shut down the Department of Homeland Security as part of a broader fight over President Obama’s immigration policies seemed laughable just a few weeks ago.
Literally.
A top Republican staff member laughed when asked if Republicans, who are usually security-minded, were prepared to shut down the agency in a political battle over Mr. Obama’s recent executive actions.
But now, with just days remaining until funding for the Homeland Security agency runs out on Friday, a shutdown of the department is looking increasingly likely.
And from CNN, the usually unmentioned:
DHS intelligence report warns of domestic right-wing terror threat
They’re carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police, have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority.
A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism.
Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.?
The Homeland Security report, produced in coordination with the FBI, counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the U.S. since 2010.
Network World covers a demand:
NSA director wants gov’t access to encrypted communications
It probably comes as no surprise that the director of the U.S. National Security Agency wants access to encrypted data on computers and other devices.
The U.S. should be able to craft a policy that allows the NSA and law enforcement agencies to read encrypted data when they need to, NSA director Michael Rogers said during an appearance at a cybersecurity policy event Monday.
Asked if the U.S. government should have backdoors to encrypted devices, Rogers said the U.S. government needs to develop a “framework.”
From Nextgov, a prognostication desideratum:
Spy Research Agency Is Building Psychic Machines to Predict Hacks
Imagine if IBM’s Watson — the “Jeopardy!” champion supercomputer — could answer not only trivia questions and forecast the weather, but also predict data breaches days before they occur.
That is the ambitious, long-term goal of a contest being held by the U.S. intelligence community.
Academics and industry scientists are teaming up to build software that can analyze publicly available data and a specific organization’s network activity to find patterns suggesting the likelihood of an imminent hack.
The dream of the future: A White House supercomputer spitting out forecasts on the probability that, say, China will try to intercept situation room video that day, or that Russia will eavesdrop on Secretary of State John Kerry’s phone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
From the New York Times, documenting:
Document Reveals Growth of Cyberwarfare Between the U.S. and Iran
The document, which was written in April 2013 for Gen. Keith B. Alexander, then the director of the National Security Agency, described how Iranian officials had discovered new evidence the year before that the United States was preparing computer surveillance or cyberattacks on their networks.
It detailed how the United States and Britain had worked together to contain the damage from “Iran’s discovery of computer network exploitation tools” — the building blocks of cyberweapons. That was more than two years after the Stuxnet worm attack by the United States and Israel severely damaged the computer networks at Tehran’s nuclear enrichment plant.
And from the Washington Post, they want in on the action:
CIA looks to expand its cyber espionage capabilities
CIA Director John O. Brennan is planning a major expansion of the agency’s cyber espionage capabilities as part of a broad restructuring of an intelligence service long defined by its human spy work, current and former U.S. officials said.
The proposed shift reflects a determination that the CIA’s approach to conventional espionage is increasingly outmoded amid the exploding use of smartphones, social media and other technologies.
U.S. officials said Brennan’s plans call for increased use of cyber capabilities in almost every category of operations — whether identifying foreign officials to recruit as CIA informants, confirming the identities of targets of drone strikes or penetrating Internet-savvy adversaries such as the Islamic State.
From the McClatchy Washington Bureau, what else to expect?:
Rejection of NSA whistleblower’s retaliation claim draws criticism
Thomas Drake became a symbol of the dangers whistleblowers face when they help journalists and Congress investigate wrongdoing at intelligence agencies. He claims he was subjected to a decade of retaliation by the National Security Agency that culminated in his being charged with espionage.
But when the Pentagon Inspector General’s Office opened an inquiry into the former senior NSA official’s allegations of retaliation in 2012, it looked at only two of the 10 years detailed in his account, according to a recently released Pentagon summary of the probe, before finding no evidence of retaliation. That finding ended Drake’s four-year effort to return to government service.
Whistleblower advocates say Drake’s experience, spelled out in a document McClatchy obtained this month through the Freedom of Information Act, underscores the problem that intelligence and defense workers face in bringing malfeasance to the surface. The agencies that are supposed to crack down on retaliation are not up to the task, especially when the alleged wrongdoing involves classified information, they charge.
From the Independent, debunking the justification for the new state security regime Down Under:
Tony Abbott admits there were 18 warning calls before Sydney attack
A national security hotline received 18 calls about “self-styled” cleric Man Haron Monis just days before he took 18 people hostage at a café in Sydney, a report into the siege has revealed.
The calls between 9 and 12 December last year all concerned material on his Facebook page.
Just three days later he was shot dead by police after a 17-hour siege which left two hostages dead along with Monis himself.
It was later revealed that the Iranian-born attacker, who had long been known to security services, was out on bail at the time of the attack.
And from VICE News, a failure to communicate North of the Border:
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service Refused to Tell Us How Much It Spent on an Unconstitutional Snooping Campaign
“We neither confirm nor deny that the records you requested exist. We are, however, advising you, as required by paragraph 10(1)(b) of the Act, that such records, if they existed, could reasonably be expected to be exempted.”
Translation: We’re not telling.
In January, VICE filed an Access to Information (ATI) request, asking for a slew of financial reports from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The specific documents we’re after are invoices for thousands, if not millions of payments made from various law enforcement bodies to Canada’s telecommunications companies.
For a decade, up until a surprise 2014 Supreme Court ruling, Canada’s investigators made informal requests to the country’s cellphone and internet providers for their customers’ personal information. They never had to go to a judge to make those requests. As an incentive, police paid nominal amounts of money per request—$1.50 here, $10 there—that they wouldn’t normally pay for requests authorized by a warrant.
After the jump, when your cell phone battery gives you away, more adware snooping enablement malfunctions, a bankster’s secrecy apologia, corporate espionage in the Indian oil biz, Obama’s promised Border Patrol reforms unfulfilled, Russian accusations of Western dominance aspirations, the Hitler-posing Pegida xenophobe reclaims his role, on to the Mideastern battlefield and a French carrier dispatched, signs that ISIS has deep roots, and the movement’s new English language schools, the emerging narrative on Libya, an embargo-busting Russian missile offering to Iran, the ISIS threat to Pakistan, a school assassination plotter nabbed, Myanmar captures rebel army bases, Japan’s Shnzo Abe makes a provocative insular move and South Korea responds, Japan plans more military attache deployments abroad, and a crown prince issue historical advice. . .
From Wired threat level, a case of battery snooping:
Spies Can Track You Just by Watching Your Phone’s Power Use
Smartphone users might balk at letting a random app like Candy Crush or Shazam track their every move via GPS. But researchers have found that Android phones reveal information about your location to every app on your device through a different, unlikely data leak: the phone’s power consumption.
Researchers at Stanford University and Israel’s defense research group Rafael have created a technique they call PowerSpy, which they say can gather information about an Android phone’s geolocation merely by tracking its power use over time. That data, unlike GPS or Wi-Fi location tracking, is freely available to any installed app without a requirement to ask the user’s permission. That means it could represent a new method of stealthily determining a user’s movements with as much as 90 percent accuracy—though for now the method only really works when trying to differentiate between a certain number of pre-measured routes.
Spies might trick a surveillance target into downloading a specific app that uses the PowerSpy technique, or less malicious app makers could use its location tracking for advertising purposes, says Yan Michalevski, one of the Stanford researchers. “You could install an application like Angry Birds that communicates over the network but doesn’t ask for any location permissions,” says Michalevski. “It gathers information and sends it back to me to track you in real time, to understand what routes you’ve taken when you drove your car or to know exactly where you are on the route. And it does it all just by reading power consumption.”
More adware snooping enablement malfunctions, via Network World:
‘Secure’ advertising tool PrivDog compromises HTTPS security
New cases of insecure HTTPS traffic interception are coming to light as researchers probe software programs for implementations that could enable malicious attacks. The latest software to open a man-in-the-middle hole on users’ PCs is a new version of PrivDog, an advertising product with ties to security vendor Comodo.
Over the weekend, a user reported on Hacker News that his system failed an online test designed to detect a man-in-the-middle vulnerability introduced by Superfish, a program preloaded on some Lenovo consumer laptops.
However, his system did not have Superfish installed. Instead, the problem was tracked down to another advertising-related application called PrivDog, which was built with the involvement of Comodo’s CEO, Melih Abdulhayoglu. New PrivDog releases are announced on the Comodo community forum by people tagged as Comodo staff.
From CBC News, a bankster’s secrecy apologia:
HSBC apologizes as CEO’s private bank accounts revealed
Bank has disappointing earnings as it deals with scandal over private Swiss accounts
HSBC executives were offering apologies today for providing tax avoidance advice after it was revealed the bank’s CEO had a Swiss private bank account and kept money in a private bank in Panama.
The scandal over CEO Stuart Gulliver’s finances was broken Sunday by the Guardian newspaper in the wake of revelations that HSBC coached its clients on how to hide their wealth using Swiss bank accounts.
The Centre for Investigative Journalism and CBC were among the media outlets revealing last month that the British bank helped hundreds of people, including wealthy Canadians, hide Swiss accounts from authorities to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes.
The bank released a statement saying Gulliver had paid tax to the U.K. on his worldwide income since returning to the U.K. to live. He previously was based in Hong Kong and paid Hong Kong taxes, the bank said.
Corporate espionage in the Indian oil biz, via Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Indian oil industry embroiled in corporate espionage probe
A scandal is brewing in India’s oil and gas sector after allegations that classified documents from the oil ministry were sold to industry insiders in the private sector
A major controversy is brewing in India after allegations surfaced that confidential documents were sold by bureaucrats in India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to industry insiders.
Reliance Industries, one of the country’s largest companies, is among firms that have come under the spotlight in what insiders admit is a well-known practice. Indian police have arrested senior executives from top energy firms including Reliance Industries along with consultants and staff at the powerful oil ministry in connection with the scam.
The initial charge reports say policy papers and suggestions for the budget due on Feb 28 were sold for significant cash premiums. The Indian government has promised a full investigation.
From the Los Angeles Times, Obama’s promised Border Patrol reforms unfulfilled:
Border Patrol sees little reform on agents’ use of force
Nearly a year after the Obama administration vowed to crack down on Border Patrol agents who use excessive force, no shooting cases have been resolved, no agents have been disciplined, a review panel has yet to issue recommendations, and the top two jobs in internal affairs are vacant.
The response suggests the difficulties of reforming the nation’s largest federal law enforcement force despite complaints in Congress and from advocacy groups that Border Patrol agents have shot and killed two dozen people on the Southwest border in the last five years but have faced no criminal prosecutions or disciplinary actions.
Administration officials insist they are moving as quickly as possible in a thicket of federal bureaucracy, union rules and an internal culture that closes ranks around its paramilitary force.
Russian accusations of Western dominance aspirations, via Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Russia accuses Western powers of trying to dominate world
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday (Feb 23) accused Western powers of trying to dominate and impose their ideology on the rest of world, while the United States and European delegations slammed Moscow for supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov was speaking at a special meeting of the UN Security Council organised by China, which holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation body this month, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
Without accusing specific countries, Lavrov complained about what he said was rampant violation of key principles of the UN Charter, specifically the “independence and sovereign equality of states, the non-interference in their internal affairs.” He cited Western interventions in Syria, Libya and Iraq.
From the Guardian, the Hitler-posing Pegida xenophobe reclaims his role:
Pegida head Lutz Bachmann reinstated after furore over Hitler moustache photo
The leader of Germany’s anti-Islamisation movement resigned in January after the image – which he now says was doctored – went viral
Lutz Bachmann has been reinstated as the head of Germany’s anti-Islamisation movement Pegida, a month after resigning over a photo showing him posing with a Hitler moustache.
The group confirmed on its Facebook page that the 42-year-old had been re-elected as chairman on Sunday by the six other members of the organisation’s leadership committee.
The Sächsische Zeitung reported last week that the Hitler moustache on the now infamous photo had been added after the photo was taken – though Bachmann did not mention this when the photo went viral.
On to the Mideastern battlefield and a French carrier dispatched, via Deutsche Welle:
France deploys aircraft carrier to Persian Gulf in fight against ‘IS’
France has bolstered its contribution to the fight against “Islamic State.” Its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will now operate from the Persian Gulf, allowing more combat jets to fight alongside the US-coalition.
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was deployed to the Persian Gulf on Monday as part of French efforts against the terror group “Islamic State.”
“The integration of the Charles de Gaulle in the operation…begins this morning,” a member of Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s staff told reporters.
France has provided air support to the US-led coalition’s operations against “IS” in Iraq since mid-September. It has six Mirage fighter jets currently operating from Jordan, as well as aircraft based in the United Arab Emirates.
From the Japan Times, signs that ISIS has deep roots:
Islamic State group has near-impregnable base, mass appeal: author
The Islamic State group has learned from the mistakes of past jihadi movements and established a near-impregnable base of support within Iraq and Syria with spectacular appeal to many of the world’s Sunni Muslims, a new book has warned.
The authors of “ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror,” published this month in the U.S., spoke to dozens of fighters and members of the group to understand its allure and how it justifies its brutal tactics.
In a telephone interview one of the authors, Syrian-born journalist Hassan Hassan, said it was vital to understand that some of the group’s core religious beliefs were widely shared.
“It presents itself as an apocalyptic movement, talking about the end of days, the return of the ‘caliphate’ and its eventual domination of the world,” said Hassan, who lives in Abu Dhabi where he works as a researcher for a think tank.
“These beliefs are not on the margins — they are absolutely mainstream. They are preached by mosques across the world, particularly in the Middle East.
From the Independent, schooling the children of anglophone recruits:
Isis opens two English-language schools targeting children of foreign fighters as British terror police travel to Turkey
The Isis militant group has reportedly opened its first two English-language schools in the so-called “capital” of its territories, in what appears to be a direct attempt to cater to the families of foreign fighters.
Amid ongoing concerns that three British schoolgirls have been lured online to travel to Syria and join the self-proclaimed “Islamic State”, activists in the militant-controlled city of Raqqa drew attention to a flier for the “attention [of] English speaking muhajiroon”.
The flier, emblazoned with the logo of Isis, claims that “by the grace of Allah we have opened schools for English speaking children”.
It provides contact details and lesson times for two separate facilities, one for boys and one for girls, which appear to have been set up on the grounds of a pre-existing school.
The emerging narrative on Libya, via MintPress News:
The Dissociation Game: Understanding The Evolving Narrative On Libya
The United States and the United Nations are dragging their heels on categorizing Libya as a failed state, largely because of their roles in its downfall. Meanwhile, the media isolates ongoing violence from the historical framework of NATO intervention.
The Arab Spring, which has given rise to perpetually mutating violence across the Middle East and North Africa, was hailed by mainstream media as an exercise in freedom and revolution.
As Western democracy was juxtaposed against longstanding regimes, a significant trend that featured strongly in the aftermath of the NATO invasion of Libya was based upon dissociation. The ensuing violence following the country’s destruction was discussed in isolation from — rather than as a continuation of — what NATO started through its regime-change agenda.
As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) gains a stronghold in Libya, political rhetoric — most notably among countries which participated in the 2011 NATO war that ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi — seems geared toward intervention. Rumors of ISIS in Libya have been spreading since last summer; however, the bombing of the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli in January and the recent mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, have provided evidence of the organization’s infiltration of the country.
Yet since 2011, mainstream media has persistently distanced itself from the false sequence it created following the initial protests against Gadhafi, the NATO invasion of Libya, and the chaotic aftermath. The tactic is to isolate recent atrocities from the historical framework – a strategy that fits with imperialist dictates on Libya.
From Deutsche Welle, an embargo-buster:
Russia offers Iran modern missiles despite UN embargo
Russia’s main defense contractor Rostec has offered Iran its latest Antey-2500 anti-aircraft missiles. A 2010 UN resolution bans the delivery of such missile systems to Iran.
Sergei Chemezov, head of the Rostec corporation which manages Russia’s defense industry, said Moscow has offered to supply Iran with Antey-2500 missiles.
“We have offered them the Antey-2500,” Chemezov was quoted on Monday as saying by RIA-Novosti news agency. He said Tehran was considering the proposal.
The Antey-2500 is an upgraded version of the S-300 air defense system that Russia agreed to deliver to Iran in a 2007 contract. Moscow signed the deal worth $800 million (705 million euros) but was strongly criticized by the United States and Israel for doing so. A 2007 UN Security Council resolution imposed an arms embargo.
From the Express Tribune, the ISIS threat to Pakistan:
Islamic State poses serious threat to Pakistan: FO
Days after the interior minister denied the presence of Islamic State (IS) in South Asia, particularly Pakistan, the Foreign Office said the militant group poses a threat to the country.
“The government is on alert to the IS threat in the region,” Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in Islamabad at Parliament on Monday.
The foreign secretary further said the government has directed all concerned authorities to ensure that no organisation or individual remain in contact with IS in the country.
A school assassination plotter nabbed, via the Express Tribune:
Main executor of Peshawar school attack captured: ISPR
One of the main executors of the December 16 Peshawar school attack, Taj Muhammad alias Rizwan, was arrested in an inteliigence-based operation on Monday.
According to the ISPR, Taj Muhammad was the commander of one of the two groups that attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar, in which over 150 people, including 133 students, were killed. The other group was being led by Atique-ur-Rehman alias Usman who was already apprehended by the security forces.
The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
From SINA English, Myanmar victories claimed:
Myanmar gov’t forces claims capture of some Kokang army bases
Myanmar government forces had claimed capture of some military bases of the Kokang ethnic army in five engagements over the weekend after air strikes, an official report said on Monday.
Some bases of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army on hills in the vicinity of the 18th mile junction on the Laukkai- Kongyan road have been occupied by the government forces after fighting on Saturday and Sunday, said the report.
During the battle, four government soldiers were killed with 21 others injured, while the Kokang army left three bodies and some small arms and ammunition.
On to Japan and a provocative move, via the Asahi Shimbun:
Abe dispatches envoy to Takeshima Day ceremony, drawing backlash from Seoul
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government sent a ministerial aid to Shimane Prefecture’s 10th annual Takeshima Day ceremony on Feb. 22, drawing a backlash from South Korea, which controls the islets that the prefecture lays claim to.
During the ceremony here, Yohei Matsumoto, a Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary, said that the government will try to find a peaceful resolution to the territorial dispute over the Takeshima islets, located in the Sea of Japan.
“With a firm determination to protect our country’s territorial land, water and airspace, we will make all-out efforts to bring about a cool-headed and peaceful solution to the problem,” Matsumoto said.
About 500 people attended the ceremony held under tight security as Japanese right-wing activists staged a demonstration with 110 sound trucks, twice as many as last year, around the venue.
And from NHK WORLD, the response:
S.Korea summons Japanese envoy on Takeshima
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry has summoned a Japanese envoy to lodge a protest over the attendance by a Japanese Cabinet vice minister at an annual ceremony for the Takeshima Islands.
South Korea controls the islands in the Sea of Japan. Japan claims them.
The Japanese government sent Cabinet Office Parliamentary Vice-Minister Yohei Matsumoto to the ceremony in western Japan on Sunday.
Lee San-deok of the South Korean Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Kenji Kanasugi, an envoy at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Lee heads the ministry’s Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau.
Another expansive move, via the Japan Times:
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Japan looks to boost defense attaches after hostage crisis reveals major weakness
The Abe administration wants to strengthen Japan’s intelligence-gathering capabilities in the Middle East after the recent hostage disaster revealed its shortcomings in gaining information through military channels.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he intends to deploy more Self-Defense Forces personnel at Japanese embassies in the region, noting it is difficult for officials outside the military to obtain intelligence provided by foreign armed forces.
To make the defense attache system effective, experts point to the need to bolster training for would-be attaches and say the government should come up with a deployment plan based on a long-term policy.
And from the Guardian, a crown prince issue historical advice:
Japanese crown prince says country must not rewrite history of WW2
Naruhito makes rare statement on importance of ‘correctly’ remembering Japan’s role in war as right wing attempts to downplay issue of sex slaves
Japan’s crown prince has warned of the need to remember the second world war “correctly”, in a rare foray into an ideological debate as nationalist politicians seek to downplay the country’s historic crimes.
In an unusual intervention in the discussion, Naruhito’s mild-mannered broadside was being interpreted in some circles as a rebuke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key figure in the right wing drive to minimise the institutionalised system of wartime sex slavery.
“Today when memories of war are set to fade, I reckon it is important to look back (at) our past with modesty and pass down correctly the miserable experience and the historic path Japan took from the generation who know the war to the generation who don’t,” Naruhito said.
The comments, released Monday on the prince’s 55th birthday come as Abe’s controversial views on history roil relations with China and South Korea, and cause unease in Washington.
