日军遗弃化学武器综考——兼评“5.15”判决书

日军在侵华战争期间违背国际公约进行化学战,战败之际又秘密按埋和丢弃化学武器以掩盖其罪行,在没有向中国方面提供任何资料的情况下,将大量化学武器遗弃在中国。这些遗弃的化学武器战后使众多中国人惨遭伤害,身心备受摧残。同时也造成环境的污染,潜在的危险性日益加重。根据《禁止化学武器条约》的规定,日本有责任销毁这些遗弃的化学武器。近年来,部分中国受害向日本政府提起索赔诉讼,要求日本政府道歉和赔偿,对促进日本社会关于战争历史问题的正确认识有积极的意义。今年5月15日日本地方法庭宣判,承认原告被化学武器伤害的事实,但日本政府不能承担法律责任,驳回原告的诉讼请求。这一判决是毫无道理的,是在寻找种种遁词为日本政府推卸责任。     

Nuclear Weapons: The Global and Popular Context of Policy

Book reviewed:
Lawrence S. Wittner. Toward Nuclear Abolition: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement , 1971 to the Present . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. 491 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $75.00 (cloth), $32.95 (paper).     

日本在中国的化学战及战后遗弃化学武器问题

20 0 3年 8月 4日 ,黑龙江省齐齐哈尔市发生了中国居民被日本军队遗弃在中国的化学武器伤害的事件 ,引起了人们对日本的化学战以及遗弃化学武器问题的关注。第二次世界大战期间日本违反国际公约在中国战场上使用化学武器这一历史事实 ,在战后被有意地掩盖 ,已经逃避了国际审判。而在战争结束之际 ,日本军队将化学武器遗弃在中国境内 ,继续危害中国的居民与环境。根据新的禁止化学武器公约对有关国家规定的销毁处理义务 ,日本的责任是明确的。所以对日本化学战的责任的追究和对遗弃化学武器的处理 ,都是需要解决的战后遗留问题。而齐齐哈尔市…     

This is not a Monument: Rhetorical Destruction and the Social Context of Cultural Resource Management

Abstract

Cultural resource management is often seen as a matter of identifying and valuing historic buildings, monuments and landscapes, and protecting their special interest through a suite of suitable heritage legislation and policy. However, unexpected damage and loss of heritage assets occur with regularity despite clear identification of their importance and the existence of suitable heritage legislation. While this problem is frequently seen as exceptional, this paper argues that it is not helpful to see these cases as such. Instead, it is argued that such cases highlight the social context within which cultural resource management takes places and, in particular, the rhetoric that is employed within the context of competing discourses.     

National Factor Markets and the Macroeconomic Context for Environmental Destruction in the Brazilian Amazon

This paper discusses Amazonian agricultural development with emphasis on the interrelations between regional conditions and the economic context represented by the national economy. The extreme abundance of land relative to complementary factors, together with the position of the region as a price taker in both factor and output markets, create the conditions for environmentally destructive expansion of cultivation at the extensive margin. It is argued that policies to promote a more ecologically sensitive pattern of development must take into account these links with the larger Brazilian economy and society as well as conditions within the region itself.     

The Third Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention and beyond: key themes and the prospects of incremental change

States parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will convene for the Third Review Conference of the treaty in April 2013. With the destruction of chemical weapon stockpiles more than 75 per cent complete and ongoing changes in the scientific, industrial and security environment in which the CWC operates, some have argued that major adaptations in the implementation of the treaty are required. However, on the basis of regular participant observation at CWC meetings of states parties and extensive document analysis this article argues that changes in treaty implementation will be only of an incremental nature with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) taking on new tasks in the areas of chemical terrorism and safety and security, alongside traditional core areas of activity in CWC implementation such as verification of chemical weapon disarmament, non‐proliferation or, rather, non‐acquisition of chemical weapons, protection and assistance against the threat or use of chemical weapons, and international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry. Taking into account the evolution of these areas of concern in combination with the consensus‐based institutional culture of the OPCW supports the expectation of only incremental changes being adopted at the Third CWC Review Conference. These expectations tie in with the findings of organizational analyses in other political contexts, which highlight the path dependency of many institutions once they are created.     

The Age of Clay: The Social Dynamics of House Destruction

This study provides some fresh insight into Neolithic domestic architecture through the analysis of architectural technology and the control over the practice of house construction and destruction. Examined on a regional or local level, architecture of the Neolithic is often presented as a fairly homogenous social practice over the large area of Southeast Europe. In viewing the Neolithic houses as homogenous and uncontroversial material culture, archaeologists have overlooked not only the possible variation and multimeaning of the Neolithic houses but also their striking and extensive means of destruction. The role of house conflagration, a practice that lasted during the entire Neolithic of Southeast Europe, has not been addressed in archaeological investigations. Indeed the phenomenon of burned houses has been treated as a series of lucky accidents during the Neolithic, which are primarily responsible for the preservation of Neolithic sites. Contrary this view, I argue that it is unlikely that the houses were burned as a result of a series of accidents or for any structural and technological reasons but rather that they were destroyed by deliberate burning and most likely for reasons of a symbolic nature. The causes for the practice of house firing and house abandonment as observed through the architectural evidence at the site of Opovo are believed to have been related to the need for house replacement and securing its postutilitarian visibility in order to show social and material continuity of the Neolithic society. In my view, a struggle for social and material continuity might have been a leading mobilizing force in creating and maintaining social practices and beliefs in the Neolithic society.     

The Civilisation Cards: US Army Style.

Abstract

The term ‘heritage crime’ has been recently brought into the spotlight by English Heritage — the organization tasked with protecting England’s heritage assets — and is attracting an increasing amount of attention from individuals and organizations from a range of disciplines. Heritage crime includes recognized crime types (such as arson, criminal damage, theft, and graffiti) but arguably has a greater impact on the country’s legacy for future generations because of the types of sites affected. This paper presents an initial examination of our understanding of heritage crime, and limitations to that knowledge. The paper contributes an initial typology to facilitate future interdisciplinary discussions of the problems facing heritage assets, and presents a possible route for expanding our ability to tackle this problem. Whilst this is an initial foray into the world of heritage crime, it is hoped that this paper will act as a stimulus for further discussion and action.     

The Changing Regime: Forest Property and Reformasi in Indonesia

This article explores the dominant explanations of the failure of forest management in Indonesia within the public discourse of the late New Order period. Drawing on a review of salient literature and relevant case studies, the major part of the article discusses the underlying historical, institutional and political causes of the failure of the state property regime. By taking a narrow view of the issues, public discourse during the New Order (1966–98) avoided discussion of the structure of property relations and the power relations that supported them. However, the forest fires of 1997–8 and the ensuing ecological crisis have revealed that the forest policy that allocated property rights over vast areas of the nation’s forests to well-connected conglomerates and politico-business families was inequitable and lacked legitimacy. While new legislative initiatives open up possibilities for co-management, the reforms so far barely engage with the underlying structure of property rights. These issues will need to be more thoroughly addressed if Indonesia is to tackle the bitter legacy of the Suharto period.