Destroying the world

US bombing has been killing millions of people for 80 years.

During the Second World War the Allies threw  some 3.4 million tons of bombs on the Axis countries (Germany, Italy and Japan). At the same time Germany had made several intense aerial raids on the English cities, particularly London. It is estimated that about half of the bombs dumped in Germany and other cities dominated by the Axis powers were done by the US Air Force.

In Japan, in 1945, conventional bombing by the United States on Japanese territory reached 2 million tons. Several Japanese cities suffered much destruction (Tokyo and Yokohama, for example, were destroyed by 50%).

At the end of World War II the US dropped the only atomic bombs that were used in war situations, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with almost half a million dead and total destruction of these cities.

In the Korean War (1950-53) the United States dumped 4 million tons of bombs. The city of Pyongyang, the capital was destroyed by 70%.

In the Vietnam War (1955-1975) more than five million tons were thrown at the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese government (4 million in South Vietnam and 1 million in North Vietnam).

In the Cambodian War (1957-75) the United States dropped 500,000 tons of bombs against the Khmer Rouge movement and other revolutionary groups.

In Laos War (1963 to 1975) 2 million tons of bombs were thrown at Pathet Lao and Hochimin route (this makes Laos the country that suffered the largest bombardment per inhabitant in history).

In Afghanistan, the bombing began in 2002 and continues today. The novelty is that part of the bombings is made with drones and those who manage the drones do it from their confortable offices in the United States.

In 1991, 250,000 tons of bombs were dropped in Iraq. Since 2003, the United States have been continuously bombing Iraqi cities and targets to this day. Although the numbers are not available, it is known that in 2003 alone there were 41,000 aircraft sorties and 21,000 bombs were dropped.

In Libya and Somalia, elected targets were bombed during the last 25 years. In both Libya and Somalia, American aircraft made several thousand sort ies with tens of thousands of bombs against predefined targets.

In Syria, bombing began recently, but the US has been supporting rebel movements against the government of Damascus since 2011. For 3 years they are directly bombing Syrian territory and in recent months there has been an attack of 70 tomahawks missiles from one US ship in the Mediterranean Sea to a Syrian government air base.

The United States continues to bomb Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, and threatens to re-bomb Korea (North)

The United States threw more bombs and created more destruction in the last 80 years than ALL armies throughout the history of mankind.

It seems their role is to destroy the world and kill as many people as possible. This mission, which we would almost dare call genocide, has become the main strategic objective of US international politics.

Survival of an ancient culture: the selknam nation

The Selknam nation, also known as Ona, lived in the Strait of Magellan since ancient times. It had developed a way of life adapted to the harsh conditions of the cold waters of the south. They were hunters of guanacos, seals, seabirds and fishermen. When the states of Argentina and Chile expanded, the Selknam were displaced, assaulted, hunters were organized to eliminate them and seize their lands, and their culture was lost until almost disappeared. Within a few years, the once healthy Selknam communities were reduced to a few survivors. The states of Chile and Argentina have expanded their territories and the peoples of the south suffered this expansion. Anyway, not everything is lost, there are some survivors who try to recover some elements of culture, in particular the language. They deserve our support.

The Yagans: a recent genocide
Danilo Anton

The elimination of one of the most resilient cultures of America due to the Chilean-Argentine conquest and colonization of their territories.

The yagans or yamanes constituted one of the native peoples of America that lived in one of the most hostile environments of the continent where they were able to develop effective strategies that allowed them to effectively adapt.
They lived south of Tierra del Fuego, from the northern bank of the Beagle Channel to Cape Horn and Isla de los Estados.
It is a cold climate zone, with monthly temperatures varying between -2 and 9 degrees on average, with abundant precipitation in the form of rain or snow and frequent strong winds from the west. The water that can be more or less salty depending on the season, remaining cold all year round oscillating between 2 and 8 degrees above zero.

While weather conditions are uncomfortable, the presence of cold, oxygen-rich waters with abundant fish, invertebrates, mammals and seabirds provide an important source of food. In addition, on the protected slopes of the adjacent mountains there are trees of various species also adapted to the cold and windy character of the local climate. These are trees (generally of the genus Nothofagus), with capacity to live in a thin layer of soil, cold temperatures all year and very strong winds.
The yagans used this environment skillfully developing a fishing and harpoon culture that allowed them to feed themselves and obtain other raw materials to manufacture their clothing, tools and other needs for their subsistence. The yagans lived in houses built with structures of tree branches covered by leathers. Their clothes were made with leathers of sea lions or locally, of guanacos. The canoes were constructed with barks of trees and they covered the bottom with a layer of sand and pebbles where they kept a permanent fire.

The canoes were conducted by the women from behind and men did the harpooning (dolphins and whales) from the bow of the boat. When they harpooned a prey women dived into the water to pick them up.
According to the references of the first chroniclers the population of the yagans was originally of about 3,000 to 5,000 individuals.
The Chilean and Argentinean colonization of Yagan territory occurred late in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The impact of the arrival of the advanced creoles was lethal. Newcomers seized land and coastal areas, displacing, enslaving, and even killing those who resisted. 

The Chilean advance was brutal, a colonizing landowner, José Menéndez, created a kind of lordship in the South based on the exploitation of sheep wool and other local products not hesitating to execute the indigenous families as if they were hunting prey. The arrival of the Argentina colonists was similar. The yaganes were quickly eliminated in order to seize their lands, establish estates, and affirm the creole sovereignty of the Buenos Aires authorities. The yagans could not prevent that their places of habitation, fishinng and hunting were occupied by the newcomers. Massacres, diseases and acculturation eliminated without pause the vulnerable Yagan communities.

As it is pointed out, at present there is only one woman Yagan pure survivor. Her name is Cristina Calderón, and she lives in the  Villa Ukika in the vicinity of Puerto Williams (Navarino Island) on the southern shore of the Beagle Channel.
The Chilean-Argentine genocide of one of the most astonishing and resilient cultures in the Americas is almost over. The southern sovereignties of Argentina and Chile are finally consolidated.
There will be the habitual mention to be made of these ancient inhabitants in the tourist circuits and, perhaps, the sale of handicrafts, more or less related to the old cultures, that will be no more than a pale caricature of the intrepid, strenuous and old indomitable Nation of the yaganes at the southern tip of the American continent.
Danilo Antón