Welcome! Now that you’ve put down your precious dollars at my Patreon and learned what this website is about, it’s time to figure out where everything is. Let’s start with the front page.
On the main left columns, I’ll be posting all my new, rare, and unreleased stories, in all categories of interest (there’s a dropdown menu at the bottom of the site listing them). Below these will be four lead stories and then links to the Cherokee Files and my new archives, followed by an “In Focus” section where I will be posting important feature stories and interviews. These will be followed by posts relevant to my first book, Spies for Hire, and the privatization of U.S. intellligence. The right column (which, as you can see, appears on this page, too) includes my welcome remarks, followed by links to stories about the DMZ itself (rarely followed in the American press); “Important Reads” about U.S. foreign and military policy in Asia and the impact on the region of militarism; and a list of my most important interviews, past and present. More links will be posted soon.
For a full view of the site, go to the top line to the right of the “Start Here” category, where you will find links to my book-in-progress and the key themes of my journalism over the past 45 years. Keep in mind that I will be constantly adding material, including photographs, documents, and interviews, to these stories and posts: this website will be in a constant state of reinvention.
At the top, “What is the DMZ Empire?” explains my vision of the U.S. military empire in East Asia, which is contingent on a Korea permanently divided at the DMZ (and U.S. control over the islands of Okinawa). This is also the working title of my next book. Next, “Who was Shinzo Abe,” delves into the history of the U.S. relationship with Japan’s right-wing ruling party, the CIA-backed LDP, as exemplified by the assassinated Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister and America’s most loyal servant in postwar Asia. Place your cursor on the section head, and out pops more tales of Japan, including a story of my life growing up in Tokyo and a collection of posts and historical articles about the 2011 earthquake, tidal wave, and nuclear disaster in Fukushima that spelled the end of Japan’s last progressive government.
“Gwangju 5.18” takes you to my most important stories about the famous 1980 uprising in South Korea. It became a turning point in U.S.-Korean relations when the Carter administration decided that U.S. national security interests outweighed the democratic aspirations of the Korean people and cooperated with the martial law army of Chun Doo Hwan to put down the revolt. My stories on Gwangju, found on the dropdown menu, are the basis for my first archive, “The Cherokee Files,” where you can read and download the 4,000 declassified U.S. government documents I obtained in the 1990s about the U.S. role in South Korea in the critical years of 1979 and 1980. This has been the most popular part of my site (formerly known as Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears) and has for the last few years drawn some 150 to 200 users a day, many of whom download the PDFs of key documents. It will be loaded with fresh, unseen documents on a regular basis (those stories will appear on the news page under the CHEROKEE FILES category).
“Oligarchy of Spies” refers to my finding in 2016 that five military contractors hold a monopoly the U.S. intelligence business, controlling over 80 percent of the contractors employed by the so-called “Intelligence Community.” The dropdown menu lists other stories over the years on this theme, which will be expanded as interest from readers grows. Next, the “Music” section is devoted to my writings on folk, rock & roll, and traditional American music, and the many essays I’ve written on Bob Dylan, who has inspired my work since I was a teenager in Japan in the 1960s.
In the “Solidarity” section, which will also be an archive, you will find stories, posts, pamphlets, and graphics about the antiwar, peace, and labor movement that I’ve been part of from the late 1960s until today. The dropdown menu also includes stories about my own role in solidarity movements, from South Korea in the 1980s to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and will include links to organizations critical to the struggle against militarism such as Women Cross DMZ. Finally, the “Books” section and dropdown menu includes links to my two published books and will be filled out with posts about new and classic works on Korea, Japan, and the Pacific Rim.
Now to the all-important second line. “About” tells my story and explains more about what I hope to accomplish with this website and my Patreon. “Cover Photo” explains the making of the amazing picture from the Korean Revolution of 1960 that changed my life and defines my website; the dropdown includes more detail of that revolt, which threw out the aging dictator Syngman Rhee and ushered in a short but vibrant democracy movement in South Korea. Next comes “Archives,” where you can link to the two archives on the site from the Gwangju era and the newer one based on material for my upcoming book, DMZ Empire. Finally, you will find my “Anthology,” which will be a collection of my best writing and journalism from the late 1970s to today.
Finally, at the bottom of the page you will find the “Most Popular” stories on the site over the past month, and two important dropdown menus. With “Select Month,” you can find stories posted on this site, formerly known as “Money Doesn’t Talk, It Swears,” dating back to my first posts at the creation at the site in May 2006. With “Category,” you can look up stories by subject. And then there’s the boxes, which also appear at the top, where you can become a supporter through your Patreon subscription and make a one-time donation to my work, as some people prefer.
A note on comments: I encourage discussion, debate, and honest deliberation, and will keep them open for all stories on the news page. As you can see, there are already quite a few comments from the last years I was publishing here, and I’ve found many of them to be valuable in my ongoing formulation of American policies in Korea and Japan, what happened in Gwangju, the extent of privatization in intelligence, etc. So, please, comment away, but keep them civil and on topic. I will reserve the right to knock anyone off who doesn’t treat this site or its subscribers with respect.
So, please enjoy! And know this: I thank you for your subscription and patronage with all my heart!