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太田述正コラム#4571(2011.2.20)
<皆さんとディスカッション(続x1112)>

<太田>(ツイッターより)

 北アフリカで先の大戦中ロンメルの軍団が英軍とトブルク、エルアラメイン、そしてチュニジアの戦いを行った
http://bit.ly/eGHMYh
が、今次革命では、この逆にチュニジア、エジプト、リビアと事態が進行しているな。

 (コラム#4366に関し)「言」が比較的まともでも、「行」において、やるべきこと(広報宣伝を含む外交)をやらず、やってはいけないこと(情報が盗まれ続けること)をやる。
 これを口舌の徒、職務怠慢、無能という。
 我が外務省の伝統に乾杯!

<太田>

 TAさんが提供された兵頭二十八論考と北村淳論考(『正論』2011.3)、読みました。

 まず、前者ですが、「「米国のゲイツ国防長官が、1月に・・・海兵隊用の目玉装備であった新型水陸両用車「EFV」・・・推定調達単価は、M1重戦車の2倍以上・・・を、事実上キャンセルした。同時に長官は、強襲揚陸母艦上から運用できるF-35戦闘機の垂直着艦バージョン「B型」の開発も、こんご数年にわたって停止させてしまうことを決めた。・・・
 ・・・1950年9月の仁川上陸作戦を最後に、海兵隊が敵軍の守る海岸を水陸両用車で強襲して占領するような作戦は、皆無となった。というのも、海から敵地へ侵入したいのなら、船舶上から輸送用のヘリコプターで、歩兵や装甲車を運んだ方がよくなったからだ。」

 彼が海兵隊の米国における大きな政治力にも言及していることを含め、かねてより私が言ってきていることと同じ趣旨の話であり、大いに同感です。
 ただ、「船舶上から輸送用のヘリコプターで、歩兵や装甲車を運」ぶだけならば、そのための専用部隊たる海兵隊などという代物がもはや必要でない・・陸軍で十分・・ことは明白なんだけど、そこまで彼が踏み込んでいないことはもどかしく感じました。

 次に、北村淳論考の方ですが、これは、長文であるにもかかわらず、米国防省の日米安保の意義に関する一般公衆用対外広報文をそのまま書き写したような感じの、在日海兵隊だけでなく、在日米陸海空軍にもあてはまるところの、限りなく無内容なものであって、大変申し訳ないが、読むに耐えませんでした。
 紹介すべき箇所は一つもなく、コメントするまでもないでしょう。


 それでは、記事の紹介です。

 本日は、中東革命がらみのみです。

 バーレーン情勢、二転三転したけれど、今のところ反体制派にとって好転している。↓

 ・・・two protesters were killed in the first two days, both shot in the back by the police・・・
 The government eased off on Wednesday, and then cracked down again on Thursday, attacking the protesters without warning at 3 a.m. as thousands slept in the square beneath a towering monument with a pearl on top. At least five people were killed, though exact figures have not been verified. At least 25 people are still missing from that night, including children.
 On Friday night, thousands rallied outside the main hospital, insisting they would avenge those killed and wounded by marching to the square, despite the cordon of police officers blocking every road. ・・・
 The protesters set off from the hospital grounds with a mix of fear and determination. When they approached the phalanx of the police, officers opened fire and blanketed the neighborhood with tear gas.・・・
 And then, the fight for the square was over. ・・・
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20protests.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
 <皇太子が対話を呼びかけたのに対し、反体制派は、まず真珠広場等からの軍の撤退をと要求した。↓>
 ・・・Bahrain's crown prince is holding initial talks with opposition parties.
 They include the main Shia opposition parties in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state, our correspondent Caroline Hawley reports from Manama.
 Earlier, reports said that the main Shia opposition bloc, Wefaq, had rejected an offer from the king to hold talks aimed at ending days of unrest. They demanded the withdrawal of the military from the streets before talks could begin.・・・
 The crown prince - who controls the armed forces - ordered the army off the streets.・・・
  <軍は撤退したけど、警察は残った。↓>
 Following the army's withdrawal on Saturday, heavily armed riot police fired volleys of tear gas and shotgun rounds as anti-government protesters arrived at the square from all directions.
 <突然、警察も撤退した。↓>
 As the protesters stood firm, police then pulled out, leaving the square to the jubilant crowd. They waved flags and carried banners into the square in a show of defiance to the authorities.
 The crowds now appear determined to stay in the square, setting up a makeshift hospital and erecting tents.・・・
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12514849
 <これは、オバマがバーレーンの国王に電話をかけた結果だったらしい。↓>
 ・・・The order to withdraw troops came after a curt phone call on Friday night from Barack Obama to King Hamad al-Khalifa, in which the US president urged him to show restraint. ・・・
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/19/bahrain-protesters-reclaim-city-centre-manama
 <この国王は、文字通りの米国のポチとして知られている人物だ。↓>
 ・・・The U.S. has sought to significantly enhance cooperation with Bahrain on everything from energy security to counter-proliferation activities in recent years. Unlike his neighbors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Bahrain's King Khalifa has shown little reluctance to back U.S. foreign-policy goals.・・・
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703803904576152590925013876.html?mod=WSJAsia_LEFTTopStories#printMode
 <米国のバーレーンの軍・警察に対する援助はこのところうなぎ登りだった。↓>
 ・・・ United States security assistance to Bahrain increased to $20.8 million in 2010 from $5.3 million in 2008. Last year about $1.1 million of the aid went for counterterrorism assistance, including aid to the police and military forces that are battling the protesters. ・・・
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20protests.html?hp=&pagewanted=print 前掲
 <NYタイムスの論説委員(op-ed columnist)のNICHOLAS D. KRISTOFが、タハリール広場から今度は真珠広場に取材現場を移して決死の報道を続けていることには頭が下がる。 日本の「戦場」記者はどこに隠れている?↓
 一日前のこの悲愴な怒りに満ちた彼の文章を見よ。↓>
 ・・・we should signal more clearly that we align ourselves with the 21st-century aspirations for freedom of Bahrainis rather than the brutality of their medieval monarch. I’m not just deeply “concerned” by what I’ve seen here. I’m outraged.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/opinion/19kristof.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
 <そして、本日の、反体制派の勇気を称え、喜びを噛み締める彼の文章も見よ。↓>
 Pro-democracy protesters have retaken the Pearl Roundabout – the local version of Tahrir Square – from the government. ・・・
 ・・・Finally, I just have to say: These Bahraini democracy activists are unbelievably courageous. I’ve been taken aback by their determination and bravery. They faced down tanks and soldiers, withstood beatings and bullets, and if they achieve democracy – boy, they deserve it.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/delirious-joy-in-bahrain/?ref=opinion
 <BBCとNYタイムスは、反体制派の最新動向についての報道ぶりが微妙に異なる。
 ボクとしては、BBCの方に旗を揚げたい。
 つまり、王室廃止を反体制派の主流は目ざしていないと見る。↓>
 ・・・There is also a striking uniformity in what the people gathered there say they want. There is little appetite for the abolition of the monarchy; they want, instead, its reform.
 "The monarchy has to reform or be thrown away," opposition leader Ebrahim Sherrif told me earlier in the day. Mr Sherrif will play a major role in the negotiations with the government that will now begin.・・・
 "We'd like to see a UK- or Spanish-style constitutional monarchy. A republic does not solve the problem - we had republics in Tunisia and Egypt and they were the first to be overthrown," he said. ・・・
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12515906
 ・・・The withdrawal of forces from Pearl Square had been the opposition’s precondition for negotiations, but by Saturday the line appeared to have shifted. A movement that began as a call for immediate democratic reform seemed set on nothing less than the removal of the king, or at least, his uncle, the prime minister.
 The most common chants heard in the square, where protesters appeared to be setting up a permanent encampment on Saturday night, were “Death to Khalifa!” and “The people want the government to fall.”・・・
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20protests.html?hp=&pagewanted=print 前掲

 <バーレーンじゃ国王らの対処ぶりが二転三転したのに対し、リビアじゃカダフィの対処ぶりは武力一点張りだ。
 既に100名を超える死者が出てそうだ。↓>
  Libyan forces opened fire on mourners leaving a funeral for protesters Saturday in the flashpoint city of Benghazi, and a medical official said 15 people were killed, with bodies piling up in a hospital and doctors collapsing in grief at the sight of dead relatives.
 The deaths pushed the overall estimated death toll to 99 in five days of unprecedented protests against the 42-year reign of Moammar Gadhafi.・・・
 <ベンガジを始め、東部を中心に、首都トリポリ以外のリビア全土で騒擾が続いており、多くの都市で警察が反体制派に寝返っている、との情報もある。↓>
  ・・・police in Benghazi initially followed orders to act against the protest but later joined with them because they belong to the same tribe and saw the foreign mercenaries taking part in the killings.
 A similar scenario took place in other eastern cities, including Beyda, which once housed Libya's parliament before Gadhafi's military coup in September 1969 toppled the monarchy.
 Protests spread to outside the southern city of Zentan and west to Mesrata, the third-biggest city in Libya. ・・・
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021900435_pf.html
 <それでも、カダフィ体制がホントに倒れるようなことがあるのか、疑問の声が投げかけられている。↓>
 ・・・One of the region’s wealthier countries, Libya has been spared the economic grievances that offered a cadence to protests against President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. Nor does Colonel Qaddafi seem to generate the loathing that President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali did in Tunisia. Though his rule has proven idiosyncratic and eccentric, he has a luxury not afforded neighboring Egypt: vast oil revenues and a small population.
 But political grievances in places like Benghazi have deepened with the crackdown. Some accuse the state of deploying special forces and foreign mercenaries unable to speak Arabic to crush the protests, and the bloodshed — much of it inflicted on funeral marches — seems to have struck a chord of anger. ・・・
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/world/middleeast/20mideast-protests.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
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太田述正コラム#4572(2011.2.20)
<映画評論21:ブレイブハート(その2)>

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