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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Nationalism stokes island disputes around Asia

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) ? They are mere specks on the map. Many are uninhabited, and others sparsely so by fishermen and seasonal residents. Yet the disputed ownership of these tiny constellations of islands is inflaming nationalist fervor from the cold North Pacific to the tropical South China Sea.

In recent weeks, these long-simmering tensions have returned to a boil, with violent protests in Chinese cities, a provocative island junket by South Korea's lame-duck president, and Japan's government reportedly planning to buy disputed islands from their private owners.

The popular analysis is that the rising tensions are fueled by a regional power shift that has seen China become increasingly assertive with its neighbors in securing claims over potentially resource-rich waters to its south and east. But the growing acrimony may have at least as much to do with domestic political posturing.

"Wrapping yourself up in the national flag gives a very convenient exit for people with other agendas to justify their positions," says political scientist Koichi Nakano of Tokyo's Sophia University.

Nationalism has often been used by China's communist leaders to cover up domestic problems ? such as the economic slowdown the country is now facing, not to mention problems with a growing rich-poor divide and official corruption.

The same could be said, to an extent, in Japan and South Korea, where some politicians seem to be using the island disputes to further their agenda ahead of elections or to divert attention from thornier topics.

Few believe the diverse Asian actors in this rapidly developing drama will actually come to blows, but manipulation of popular opinion in island disputants like China, South Korea and the Philippines is raising the chances of violence by either accident or miscalculation. Such an outcome would seriously threaten the fragile tranquility that has helped catapult tens of millions of Asians from poverty to prosperity.

The disputed islands were on the agenda this week as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled across the region.

Meeting Monday with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, she urged members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to present a united front to China in dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea. She also discussed the issue with Chinese leaders during meetings in Beijing this week.

Preferred access to potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves and rich fishing grounds is helping to drive the disputes, along with an increasingly prosperous and militarily strong China that is beginning to challenge America's historic supremacy as a Pacific power.

"There is a big power shift in this region and that is encouraging the parties involved to make their case in order not to lose their ground," said security specialist Narushige Michishita of Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

But the nationalist card is also front and center as governments jockey for position.

"Nationalism is playing a very large role in all of these disputes," said international relations specialist George Tsai of Taipei's Chinese Culture University. "Whether it's China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines or Korea, all these countries are appealing to nationalist sentiments."

Right-wing politicians in Japan are using the issue to drum up nationalist support, and even mainstream politicians within the ruling party seem willing to let the issue grab headlines from issues like a tax hike and energy policy reforms that are being demanded after last year's nuclear disaster, Nakano says.

Similar motives can be seen in outgoing South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's visit to an island claimed by Seoul and Tokyo as he seeks to boost his legacy on what could become a key issue in his party's bid to maintain power in what will be a toughly fought election.

Last month lame duck Lee became the first Korean president to set foot on Dokdo island, which is called Takeshima by Japan. Korea and Japan have a bitter history ? marked by decades of harsh Japanese colonial rule on the Korean peninsula. Thumbing one's nose at Tokyo has long had substantial cache for millions of Koreans.

"I'm skeptical that this has anything to do with international relations," Nakano said. "It has more to do with domestic politics because internationally it doesn't make any sense."

In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III has been much more outspoken than predecessor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the need to defend the country's territorial claims, and has publicly appealed to the U.S. for help with China's challenge to disputed areas in the South China Sea.

Aquino wants international arbitrators to resolve the issues, a stance that has nettled China, which insists the best way of settling differences with Asian neighbors is through bilateral talks.

China has also been at loggerheads with Vietnam, particularly after Beijing's formal creation of a municipality headquartered on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, long a bone of contention between the two nations. China and Vietnam have a millennia-long history of fear and loathing, and China's establishment of a Paracels prefecture prompted anti-China demonstrations in Hanoi, where authorities are normally quick to squelch popular manifestations of anger.

Vietnam has also sparred with Taiwan over the South China Sea's Spratly Islands, claimed by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. On Tuesday, the Taiwanese Coast Guard held a live fire exercise on Taiping Island in the Spratly chain, partly in response to the Vietnamese occupation of other Spratly locations. Taiwanese legislators rushed to attend the exercises.

Just north of Taiwan, China and Japan remain immersed in their long-running battle over what the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands and the Chinese call Diaoyutai. Located roughly equidistant from Chinese and Japanese territory, the Japanese-controlled islands surged to prominence earlier this year when Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo's strongly nationalistic governor, proposed purchasing and developing them. Japan's central government stepped in, and on Wednesday Japanese media reported it had agreed to buy several islands from their private Japanese owners ? a move that Japanese experts say is an attempt to sideline Ishihara and his nationalistic agenda.

Thousands took to the streets in Chinese cities last month to protest Japan's claims, with demonstrators burning flags and vandalizing Japanese restaurants and cars.

Japan's Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada maintained Thursday that the flare up had not hurt official relations between the countries and emotions on both sides were being fanned by activists.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Talmadge and Malcolm Foster in Tokyo, Chris Brummit in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-06-Asia-Territorial%20Turmoil/id-4a7f9efb5f8f42e2a22bc28ea07909b9

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CONVENTION WATCH: Going gray, courting unions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? Convention Watch shows you the 2012 political conventions through the eyes of Associated Press journalists. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.

___

GOING GRAY

Amid the nods to America's red, white and blue, attention at the Democratic National Convention has been paid to gray ? as in the noticeable change in 51-year-old President Barack Obama's hair since taking office.

Obama has chalked it up to genetics over stress. But Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak told delegates Tuesday that it's a testament to his toughness.

"President Obama has earned every gray hair on his head, fighting for the middle class and every American," Rybak said.

? Brian Bakst ? Twitter http://twitter.com/Stowydad

___

BIDEN AND LABOR

President Barack Obama is staying home for Michelle Obama's convention speech. Vice President Joe Biden is not.

Biden arrived at the Democratic convention hall Tuesday night and made small talk with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in the luxury boxes. Other leaders of organized labor were there as well, posing for pictures with Biden before Mrs. Obama addressed the delegates in the hall and millions watching on television. The president said he would watch Mrs. Obama from the White House.

Labor leaders were frustrated with the choice of Charlotte, N.C., as the convention's host city. There is not a single unionized hotel in the city and North Carolina has the lowest percentage of unionized workers. Some labor groups stayed away and threatened to stay on the sidelines.

Biden, who is the administration's ambassador to labor groups, was dispatched to calm those frustrations as the convention got under way. He spent Monday in Detroit rallying workers on Labor Day and planned to continue a pro-union message in his campaign speeches.

Biden and Obama are set to accept the Democrats' nomination on Thursday.

? Philip Elliott ? Twitter http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

___

SECOND LADY

Jill Biden is on the floor of the Democrats' convention.

Vice President Job Biden's wife is meeting with delegates in the aisles as the convention gets under way. Supporters are tripping over themselves to shake hands with Mrs. Biden, a professor who has made community colleges her issue. She and her husband arrived at the Charlotte, N.C., convention hall Tuesday ahead of Michelle Obama's speech.

The vice president and President Barack Obama are set to speak on Thursday.

Philip Elliott ? Twitter http://twitter.com/philip_elliott

___

CARTER ON OBAMA

Former President Jimmy Carter delivered a 4-minute video address to the Democratic convention, saying Obama offered a "clear choice" for voters. As Carter's image beamed into the arena, Republican Mitt Romney's campaign issued a news release declaring, "Welcome Back, Carter!"

Republicans have tried to tie Obama to Carter, comparing the current unemployment rate of 8.3 percent to the economic "malaise" of the late 1970s. A Romney spokesman said by choosing Carter to appear on the opening night of the convention, Obama "chose a fitting surrogate."

In the video address, Carter credited Obama with helping middle-class families, saying he "always put the interests of middle-class Americans above those who often, with the larger wallets, have an ever louder voice."

? Ken Thomas: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

___

CHAIRMAN NOT AMUSED

A gauzy video tribute to former Sen. Ted Kennedy included some vintage footage of the Massachusetts Democrat debating Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during their 1994 Senate race.

Republicans didn't find it very funny.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus took to Twitter just minutes after the video ended to rip Democrats for including the clip, which includes a couple of classic Kennedy lines from the race with Romney, including, "I am pro-choice. Mitt Romney is multiple choice."

"Classless Dems use tribute video of deceased Ted Kennedy to attack Mitt Romney," Priebus tweeted.

? Henry C. Jackson ? Twitter http://twitter.com/hjacksonap

___

REID: FACT CHECK

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid again challenged Mitt Romney on taxes Tuesday, saying: "When you look at the one tax return he has released, it's obvious why there's been only one." Reid went on to say, "We can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns like his father did."

But Reid did not repeat earlier accusations that over the past 10 years, that there had been some years in which Romney had no tax liability ? a claim Romney has said is false.

"Mitt Romney says we should take his word that he paid his fair share," Reid said. "His word? His word? Trust comes from transparency, and Mitt Romney comes up short on both."

? Tom Raum ? http://twitter.com/tomraum

___

KENNEDY REDUX

Just as the Republicans brought out the words and images of their deceased icon, Ronald Reagan, at their convention last week, the Democrats on Tuesday unspooled video of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., but with an extra little twist: They showed the liberal standard-bearer debating Mitt Romney in 1994.

The montage of footage depicted Kennedy on the attack, thundering against Romney on the issues and calling him someone who changes his mind far too often. Then the video zoomed forward 14 years, showing Kennedy in the final presidential political season of his life endorsing Barack Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

It was yet another example of an event unique to the era of video mashup ? an orchestrated political appearance and endorsement by an icon who has passed on. And by couching the politics ? Kennedy explicitly opposing Romney and supporting Obama ? in a music-backed tribute video, they adeptly juxtaposed partisanship and high nostalgia.

Kennedy died in 2009, eight months after Barack Obama took office. He was introduced by his great-nephew, Joe Kennedy III, a candidate for the U.S. House from Massachusetts.

? Ted Anthony ? Twitter http://twitter.com/anthontyed

___

CARTER'S WORDS

"He has done it all in the face of bitter, unyielding, in fact unprecedented partisan opposition." ? former President Jimmy Carter, enumerating at the Democratic National Convention (on video, not in person) what he calls Barack Obama's victories in the past four years.

___

8 WOMEN OUT FRONT

The women's vote is crucial to Barack Obama's hopes in 2012. So the party created an image designed to appeal to female voters early in its convention Tuesday night: eight women running for re-election or election to Congress standing shoulder to shoulder across the stage.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led them, and each said a few words about topics including equal pay for equal work, women's health, violence against women, women in uniform, and "the power of moms in the economy."

? Connie Cass ?Twitter http://twitter.com/ConnieCass

___

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Forget Passwords: How Playing Games Can Make Computers More Secure

security,privacy,identity,Stanford,Northwestern,SRI SECURITY HERO: To test a new computer security concept, researchers devised a computer game requiring players to tap buttons on a keyboard as large black dots descending down their screen cross a horizontal line--very similar in concept to the video game Guitar Hero. Image: Courtesy of Stanford University, Northwestern University and SRI International

It seems like something out of a Robert Ludlum spy novel. Someone tries to coerce you into revealing your computer security passwords. You might be tempted to give in, but it is impossible for you to reveal your authentication credentials. You do not actually know them because they are safely buried deep within your subconscious.

Sounds a bit extreme just to make sure no one can log on to your laptop or smartphone, but a team of researchers from Stanford and Northwestern universities as well as SRI International is nonetheless experimenting at the computer-, cognitive- and neuroscience intersection to combat identity theft and shore up cyber security?by taking advantage of the human brain?s innate abilities to learn and recognize patterns.

The researchers are studying ways to covertly create and store secret data within the brain's corticostriatal memory system, which is responsible for reminding us how to do things (pdf). When a person needs to access a computer, network or some other secure system, they would use special authentication software designed to tease out that secret data.

To test this concept, the researchers devised a computer game requiring players to tap buttons on a keyboard as large black dots descending down their screen cross a horizontal line?very similar in concept to the video game Guitar Hero. During an initial training session lasting from 30 minutes to an hour, the dots fall at different speeds and in various locations, forming patterns that repeat until participants become adept at hitting the appropriate buttons at the right time. In effect, users' corticostriatal memory becomes adept at repeating a particular pattern over time, such as dialing a phone number or typing a word on a keyboard without looking at one's fingers.

Brain training
The researchers refer to this as "serial interception sequence learning" training, during which a person unwittingly learns a specific sequence of keystrokes that can later be used to confirm that person's identity. To log on to, for example, a Web site, the user would play the game the same each time that pattern of dots appears, proving his identity and allowing him access.

"While the planted secret can be used for authentication, the participant cannot be coerced into revealing it since he or she has no conscious knowledge of it," according to the researchers in a study they presented August 8 at the USENIX Security Symposium in Bellevue, Wash. (pdf) As currently conceived, the implicit learning approach being studied might protect against someone either forcing or tricking you to reveal a password, says lead author Hristo Bojinov, a Stanford University Ph.D. computer science candidate. Such coercion could take the form of physical or verbal threats demanding your password or other security credentials, or it could be a seemingly legitimate phone call or e-mail designed to coax out this information.

The researchers say they have tested their approach on 370 players so far and continue to add new participants to their study. The test currently requires at least 30 minutes of training to get reliable results. "It is unlikely that training time can be shrunk much because this type of brain memory takes time to get trained," Bojinov says. "It may be possible to reduce the authentication time [that follows training], but it is yet to be seen how much."

Gaming the system
Whether this approach is practical depends upon the system being defended. It is unlikely, for example, that Yahoo or Google would implement this approach to security for their free e-mail services. Would someone want to play a game for several minutes every time they want to log onto their e-mail? A government facility housing nuclear weapons, however, could better justify the time commitment required to log in using the sequence learning method, particularly if users log in once each day and such an approach promises to improve security, says Nicolas Christin, associate director?of Carnegie Mellon University's Information Networking Institute.

This implicit learning approach would not necessarily be effective against network hacks. Just as hackers can break into databases where passwords are stored, they could likewise steal information about a user's authentication pattern created during the training process. "Somewhere, the authentication sequence has to be stored so it can be verified, and that may be vulnerable to attack as well," Christin says.

Bojinov responds that the technique he and his colleagues are developing specifically targets the problem of coercion. "Most likely this mechanism will be used in conjunction with others," he says, adding that he and his colleagues are now planning to design a similar game for mobile device security that would create patterns using a broader number of actions, such as rotating or moving their gadgets in addition to pressing buttons on the keypad.

Password persistence
Despite years of predictions that passwords would eventually be phased out in favor of more secure approaches to authentication, they persist because "they are, to date, one of the better?or less bad?compromises between security and usability," Christin says. "They are cheap to implement, work pretty much in any situation, and everybody knows and understands them."

Yet as the number of passwords multiplies, the security technique become less effective because they strain the user's ability to remember them all, particularly if managing a plethora of passwords requires a user to request password resets to replace those that have been forgotten. Hackers have come to rely on password-reset features to hijack people's e-mail and other online services, locking those users out of their own accounts in the process. Scientific American described this process?which was at the heart of the recent cyber attack against Wired journalist Mat Honan?in a 2008 article written by computer security consultant Herbert Thompson.

Although the approach proposed by Bojinov and his colleagues requires a lot more work to be practical, it represents a welcome shift in how researchers approach security. The method that Bojinov and his colleagues pose turns the problem of usable security technology on its head, Christin says. "We may see more and more research in the space of understanding how certain human aptitudes can be used to improve security," he adds.

The most important thing to take from the research of Bojinov and his colleagues is not that this particular mechanism is the right one for embedding secrets or not, "but rather that the researchers are exploring neuro- and cognitive science as a means of engineering computer security interfaces," agrees Stefan Savage, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

"They have found a way to shove a piece of information into your brain without your knowledge and then take it out," Savage says. "They have turned you into a DRAM, only you have no knowledge of what is stored there. This is Jason Bourne stuff."

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f829ae380cc09d1e683940e34ae65a77

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Will South China Sea Disputes Lead to War? (Voice Of America)

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