4th Global Alliance Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace Communique

I am writing this on an airplane heading to Los Angeles from Costa Rica. We had our most successful Global Alliance summit ever and "We made a history today" as Dot Maver of the Peace Academy, USA said.

I am more than grateful to Rita Marie of the Rasur Foundation and all her amazing volunteer team and the Global Alliance summit members who made it all possible. My heart is filled with love and gratitude as I write this and the energy of love and gratitude will go a long way in helping me in my work to form a Ministry of Peace for Japan.

Thank you All!!

Below is the communique that was released on the final day.

COMMUNIQUÉ (PDF 279 KB)
September 21, 2009

4th Global Alliance Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace
San Jose, Costa Rica, Sept. 17-21, 2009

The 4th Global Alliance (GA) Summit was a resounding success with 200 participants attending from more than 40 countries, enhanced by a live streaming video link to the world. The Summit was inspired by Costa Rica's declaration, earlier this month, of a Minister of Justice and Peace, making it the third country in the world to have such a Ministry. The President of Costa Rica, Dr. Oscar Arias, addressed the opening of the Summit, and told us that:

“The task is only just starting; the creation of a Ministry for Peace…is not the final achievement, merely the making of a road to achieve sustainable order that would allow resolution of human conflicts without violence.”

The mission of the GA is to support the establishment of Ministries and Departments of Peace in all nations. The Summit, in order to prepare itself to work with governments to build national infrastructures for peace, heard from experts in the fields of : Unarmed Civilian Peace Services and Youth Engagement in Peacebuilding; Academies for Peace, Restorative Justice Practices; Peace Economics; Innovation in the Use of Media; Nuclear and General Disarmament; Civil Society and Government Cooperation; and, Networking with the UN and Business.

The GA also established strategic direction and an action plan for its next phase and formed a dynamic Leadership Council, with membership from 6 continents, to carry its mission forward, partner with other international sister organizations and plan its next Summit.

Rita Marie Johnson of the Rasur Foundation in Costa Rica, Summit convener, summed up the achievement of the Summit, stating, “The GA members embodied peace as they took a quantum leap toward national peace infrastructures by presenting a detailed picture of hope for the world. We know what to do and we will do it – together in the name of peace.”

The Summit concluded with a determination to witness the formation of at least 2 more Ministries or Departments of Peace by the time of the next Summit to be held in 2011.

Contact: Milena Sanabria, Vice Minister of Justice and Peace

Email: milesanabria@gmail.com

www.gasummit.org

Be Peace Foundation Course in Costa Rica

I have just finished taking part in the Be Peace Foundation Course which took place from Sep 13 to the 17th in Costa Rica at the Rasur Foundation. The Be Peace Course is a combination of Heart Math principles and NVC (Non Violent Communication)

Check out photos from the event by clicking here. You can see how relaxed and happy everyone looks. It was an amazing course and I hope every child and adult will be able to take this course.

From tomorrow, the 4th Global Alliance Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace will start. Currently delegations are arriving from all over the world....

On Sept 20, Sun, at 2:00-3:30 pm Costa Rica time, I am speaking about the role of the media in the peace movement. My talk is titled Be The MEDIA.

My talk will be streamed live so please spread the word and watch me online at http://www.gasummit.org. Please send your comments by e-mail, twitter, etc. For anyone living or visiting Japan, I would be so happy to connect with you!

Go Charlie, Go!

Charlie Sheen has produced an open letter to President Obama, a fictional 20 minute interview with the President, as well as a YouTube video. Here is the story:

Reported by Charlie Sheen
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with our 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, while he was out promoting his health care reform initiative. I requested 30 minutes given the scope and detail of my inquiry; they said I could have 20. Twenty minutes, 1200 seconds, not a lot of time to question the President about one of the most important events in our nation’s history. The following is a transcript of our remarkable discussion.

You can read the rest on the Prison Planet website.

Check him out on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyKR2-A0KPU

Today, I am having an event with Yu Tanaka, one of the most famous and popular environmental lecturers and speakers in Japan. He is rare person here in Japan who also supports the 911 truth movement. He understood the attacks on September 11 were a hoax after seeing the films 911 Plane Site and Loose Change. People like him who talk about 911 truth publicly is still rare in Japan.

Date & Time: Sep 11, 2009 6:30 open, 7:00pm starts 9:00pm ends
Place: LOFT PLUS ONE in Shinjuku, Kabukicho
Charge: 2500yen

I will be the first person speaking so do not be late if you are coming...

♪ International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense and for the End of the Arms Race ♪ - 21 min 30 sec - 5 MB

I had the privilege to translate and interpret for the Japanese delegates who participated in an International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense and for the End of the Arms Race held in Seoul, Korea. It was three full days of conferences and visits to military sites. I have learned A LOT. Seeing is believing.

The Asia Pacific Missile Defense budget is now eating up most of the money of the local defense programs. North Korea's satellite launch was used as a way to stifle our voices of concern but we have not been stopped.

I am learning many new things from Bruce Gagnnon who is the head of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He once was a US soldier in the Air Force during the Vietnam war. The anti-war peace movement during that time had a big effect on him while he was inside the base. He heard the voices of the demonstrators outside of the base and began to change. His story of transformation is both beautiful and inspirational.

Listen to what he has to say in today's podcast.

Bruce Gagnnon and Lotus, delegates from the USA

Korean Delegates

In the Bus visiting the Demarcation line between South and North Korea

North Korea from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

Young Korean couple at the DMZ

With Nepali delegate on the Freedom Bridge

Bruce and the Korean organizer

Messages for peace at the DMZ

Imjingak, 7km from the Demarcation Line

Taking photos from only within the yellow line were permitted. How strange!

Bruce and myself

Two New Groups for 911 Truth Launched

I have been busy writing and translating a chapter for the new book written by  Mr. Yukihisa Fujita, who questioned the official US government's version of what happened on Sept. 11th, 2001 in NY at Japan's  Diet (the equivalent of the US Senate) last year in January.  Since then, there have been many new groups that have launched websites that question the official 911 story. Recently two new groups were launched that I feel the public needs to be made aware of.

One was initiated by a group of politicians, including Mr. Fujita, called Political Leaders for 911 Truth. Check out their website:
http://pl911truth.com

Another was started by religious leaders including Dr. David Ray Griffin, and is called Religious Leaders for 911 Truth.  Their website URL is:
http://rl911truth.org

There are so many groups now in the world working for 911 truth and I really hope that President Obama will make an initiative to launch a new completely independent commission to investigate what really happened on Sept. 11th, 2001. The War on Terror still continues today. Innocent people are still getting killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all the family victims of 911 and the War on Terror should know the truth.

The book by Mr. Fujita is titled 'Questioning 9.11 Truth at Japan's Diet - Can Obama Really Change the US? It is published by Clubhouse and is available in Japan for 1500yen. ISBN978-4-906496-43-3. The Japanese title is: 「9.11テロ疑惑国会追及ーーオバマ米国は変われるか」

It should be at bookstores in late March and there will be a publishing party held on April 8th, which I intend to attend.

There will be another event on this topic at which Mr. Fujita will speak on April 24 at Naked Loft in Tokyo. The charge will be 1000 yen at the door.

♪ Anastasia Inspires A New Way Of Life ♪ - 30 min 31 sec - 7.1 MB

I met Dr. Leonid Sharashkin on Feb 11th and 12th, 2009 during his first speaking tour in Japan. I happened to be giving a talk in Okayama on Feb 11th when he was giving a talk in Kagawa. As the cities are only an hour away from each other across the Setonaikai sea, I decided to go and meet him.

He is an amazing young man. You can watch a 40 minute interview he did with the Conscious Media Network here:
http://www.consciousmedianetwork.com/members/lsharashkin.htm

I am very happy I went to see him and also met with an amazing Japanese women who organized the tour and events for this marvelous man. The Book Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars series are bestsellers and I hope to be able to help with the publishing of the Japanese version soon.

Please click the title of this blog to listen to my interview with the editor of English version of the Ringing Cedars books, Dr. Leonid Sharashkin.

Who Wants Peace In The Middle East?

If you missed seeing this story that was recently broadcast on 60 Minutes in the US, I highly recommend you take the time to watch the YouTube movie below.

I believe that CBS broadcasting of this kind of program that openly discloses the Jew's settlements would have been impossible under Bush's regime. I wonder how many Americans have actually seen this?

It is important for us all to understand the root cause of Israel-Palestinian conflict!

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=KG6sAjgVoj4

Here are some excerpts from the program:

(CBS) Getting a peace deal in the Middle East is such a priority to President Obama that his first foreign calls on his first day in office were to Arab and Israeli leaders. And on day two, the president made former Senator George Mitchell his special envoy for Middle East peace. Mr. Obama wants to shore up the ceasefire in Gaza, but a lasting peace really depends on the West Bank where Palestinians had hoped to create their state. The problem is, even before Israel invaded Gaza, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians had concluded that peace between them was no longer possible, that history had passed it by. For peace to have a chance, Israel would have to withdraw from the West Bank, which would then become the Palestinian state.

It's known as the "two-state" solution. But, while negotiations have been going on for 15 years, hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers have moved in to occupy the West Bank. Palestinians say they can't have a state with Israeli settlers all over it, which the settlers say is precisely the idea...

"While my heart still wants to believe that the two-state solution is possible, my brain keeps telling me the opposite because of what I see in terms of the building of settlements. So, these settlers are destroying the potential peace for both people that would have been created if we had a two-state solution," Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, once a former candidate for Palestinian president, told Simon...

Daniella Weiss moved from Israel to the West Bank 33 years ago. She has been the mayor of a large settlement.

"I think that settlements prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in the land of Israel. This is the goal. And this is the reality," Weiss told 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon...