As the son of the Dragon, Vlad Dracula was expected to become, by his adolescence, a warrior. Even though the first-born Mircea would be first in line to the throne of the principality, the father looked upon all of his sons — Mircea, Vlad and Radu (born in 1435) — as champee elite to the family name. They learned how to steady a bow, wield a blade and ride bareback before they reached the age of their scholastic studies. The art of fighting came foremost.
Dracula's birthplace (CORBIS)
Dracula's birthplace (CORBIS)
In chain mail made to fit their small bodies, with broadswords equally balanced, and on Arabian ponies, they dashed through the edelweiss-strewn forest beside Sighisoara clipping gnarled sycamores and poplars they pretended were oversized sultans. While Carpathian eagles looped overhead, watching curiously, and as woodpeckers careened out of the way, the Dragon watched his little Davids taking on the imaginary Goliaths. He timed their charges, graded their legionnaire skills.
The Dragon envisioned great things for his clan. But, if the sons of Dracul were to be real men, he told himself, they would need a dominion of their own. Being siblings of the Governor of Transylvania, mere puppets to Hungary, was not enough. His prospect, therefore, continued to be to take free-state Wallachia from the timid Danejsti who had virtually placed the welcome mat out for the Turks.
By 1435, the Dragon had convinced his old mentor, King Sigismund of Hungary, to lend him an army large enough to oust the thin-blooded cousin before Romania was lost forever. After a bitter siege on Wallachia's capital, Tirgoviste, the Dragon finally sat on the throne he had wanted for more than a decade.
Tirgoviste, located on the banks of the Dimbovita River, was an old city even when young Dracula followed his conqueror father there. A busy crossroads and commercial thoroughfare in the southern bottomlands of the Carpathians, it was comprised of hundreds of varieties of markets and merchants' stores, busy at all hours. Near the center of town rose the Byzantine eaves of the wealthy landowners who owned a division of fertile grape-producing fields surrounding the town.
The Byzantine battlements of the Prince's Palace, more a fortress, overlooked the roofs of the town and earned a panorama of the rolling landscape of trees, boulders, plains and a generosity of small lakes that provided citizens with mountain water and freshwater fish. The palace's central walls, four feet thick, had been erected by Mircea from the ruins of an early Roman outpost; at a far and high corner of town, they merged with the walls that surrounded Tirgoviste itself. Posh living quarters and the prince's low-beamed rectangular throne room were set back from the main gate across a courtyard and gardens guarded night and day by a legion of sentries posted along the walls and atop the main lookout, the Chindia Watchtower.
Dracula's early life at Tirgoviste consisted of more of the same as in Transylvania, physical and mental study. His mother, the devoutly religious Catholic Princess Cneajna, saw to her sons' religious upbringing, ensuring that they received ongoing commune with the monks from the nearby Church of the Holy Paraclete. Before the sun set, the boys' tutoring had also included, apart from combat skills, daily injections of geography, mathematics, science, language and the classical arts and philosophy.
Dracula and his older brother, Mircea, were the most rough-and-tumble of the Dragon's heirs; they often got into mischief with many of the scamps of the local boyars in Tirgoviste. In appearance, they greatly resembled their father with his dark features, aquiline nose and high cheekbones. Dracula, it was said, inherited his father's temper, combustive and fiery.
Their younger sibling, Radu, despite his warrior's training, spoke softly, moved quietly and tended to prefer the company of only certain boys. (Florescu and McNally hint at Radu's homosexuality.) Angelic faced, the image of his mother, he would, in time, be called Radu the Handsome. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire In later years, he and Dracula would become fierce rivals.
As for the Dragon, he had become a dignified Wallachian statesman. He ruled firmly, but fairly. However, he found himself stuck between his conscience and duty. Due to the trepidation of his predecessor, Danejsti, the forces of Turkish Sultan Murad II had gained such a foothold in Wallachia that they were in a position to ransack the principality at will. They were everywhere. Their caravans roamed the streets of Tirgoviste, Buzau and Bucharest; their cavalries paraded unchecked from the border of Turkish Bulgaria to the Carpathian Mountains, their scimitars at their sides gleaming in the sun; their foot soldiers camped openly on the Arges and Olt Rivers. In essence, Murad — not the Dragon — owned Wallachia. Attesting to that, consider that the latter was forced to pay the sultan 10,000 gold ducats annually to keep the major cities in his province free from savage attack.
Depending on the source, the Dragon's relationship with the Turks was either forced (because he hadn't the strength to fight back) or chosen (accepting neutrality as a small price to pay for Wallachian liberty). Knowing the character of the Dracul, one might assume he was merely waiting for a first chance to strike. When that opportunity came in 1442, however, he desisted a fight by refusing to join the famous, politically ambitious "White Knight" Jonas Hunyadi, Viceroy of Transylvania, who mustered a huge army to kick the Turks back to Bulgaria.
Some authors believe that the Dragon was being pessimistic, believing that Hunyadi hadn't a chance. Nevertheless, the White Knight, ahead of a force comprised mostly of royal troops loaned to him by the new Hungarian king, Ladislaus III, moved without the Wallachian prince's participation. After a bloody engagement near the Danube, the Turks under the command of Sihabeddin were chased south of the Danube.
Frustrated and angered by his army's setback, Sultan Murad called several top-ranking Europeans, including the Dragon, to Turkish Gallipoli for a parley. No one but the Dragon answered the summons. He took with him his two sons, 13-year-old Dracula and nine-year-old Radu, believing it to be strictly a call under truce. When he entered the sultan's salon, he and his sons were promptly arrested.
Held captive for days, the prince was finally released under conditions set forth by the Turkish court:
1. that he swear by both the Bible and the Koran to avoid the engendering of further hostilities;
2. that he deposit 10,000 ducats in the sultan's treasury; and,
3. insuring he is a man of his word, that he leave his two sons as hostages in Turkey for an indefinite period of time. The Dragon reluctantly consented.
It was not the first time that the Turks pressed into service youths wrested from European nobility. As a body, these captives were placed in what was called the Janissary Corps. The scholastic Turkey: A Country Study, explains: "Expeditions were regularly organized to collect a tribute of Christian boys from the Balkan provinces. Those taken became Muslims and underwent training that instilled in them a corporate identity. These 'slaves of the state' were...prepared for admission into the Ottoman ruling class...where they engaged in Islamic studies, learned Persian and Arabic, and received advanced mitary training."
Young Radu and Dracula were moved from Gallipoli to the center of the Turkish nation, the city of Adrianople. They were not treated as prisoners, per se, but were kept under constant surveillance and supervision. (After all, they were the sons of an important enemy and at many times were given access to government buildings and military unformation.) But, virtually, they were free to roam the day-lit streets when away from obligation, to partake of the Eastern way of life, to breathe in the atmosphere of the markets with their many spices and many new customs, to taste the indescribably aromatic dishes, even to court a girl if they wished — providing she was of honorable birth — under the silvery Byzantine moon.
Radu proved to require little, if any, observation; he fully accustomed himself to the laws, by-laws and culture of Turkey, which he saw as his "adopted" country.
Dracula, on the other hand, often displayed a belligerent and smothering attitude. A good pupil, and not outwardly hostile, he nevertheless liked to quarrel with superiors and bemoan his confinement. He fought for more personal liberty, insulted his bodyguards and a little too often (to suit his present patriarchs) belittled Asian customs.
The Turks were forced to take him to task — more precisely, to the whipping post — on quite a few occasions.
In 1445, European Christians attempted another crusade against the Ottomans. Again, their principle was Jonas Hunyadi, the White Knight, who rode towards Turkish districts with a legion armed for a long conflict. The Dragon, despite his promise to Sultan Murad — and most likely because he did not want to face a public chastisement like the one he had endured for his conscientious objection to the 1442 campaign — offered 4,000 cavalrymen under the leadership of his son, Mircea. He did refuse, however, to personally bear arms in the offensive, hoping the sultan would accept that decision as his intention of loyalty and, thus, refrain from harming his children.
*****
The sultan, upon hearing that Hunyadi was on the attack, had the Dracul's boys locked in the dungeon. There, they received daily floggings and endured long periods of hunger. Dracula's insolence harshened his treatment; he suffered various tortures to mind and body. Still, he was kept alive, probably due to the fact that the sultan figured he could still be employed as a bartering tool.
From a narrow window above his cell, Dracula witnessed the executions of less-fortunate prisoners taking place in the yard outside. Depending upon their crime, they were hanged, shot with arrows or spears, beheaded, crushed under wheels, or given over to a wild beast of prey. Many were impaled.
At first, the teenage boy may have been repulsed at the site of impalement. But, after a while, he certainly grew fascinated by it. Impalement, the most inhuman of punishments, involved piercing a body length-wise with a sharpened pole, the victim then left to die atop the raised pole. Death was excruciating and sometimes slow. Men were usually struck through the rectum, women through the vagina. Dracula watched the victims squirm, scream, hemorrhage, then die. He saw the crows pick at their carcasses that often remained under the hot Turkish sun until they were only blistered meat.
Dracula learned to detest his captives for their cruelty, yet wished that he would be given the chance to serve his captives likewise. Not knowing if and when he might be next, he imagined, if he survived, a day that he could inflict such torment on the Turks. Battered, starving, cut, singed and now having to view what the Turks did several times a week just beyond his windowsill, he probably went mad.
*****
Hunyadi's army had accrued a trio of victories in Turkish Bulgaria — at Peretz, Nis and Sofia — but when reaching the important shipping town of Varna on the Black Sea, it came face to face with an overpowering force under Murad. Hunyadi's troops were slaughtered, Hunyadi himself sent dashing on foot for his life. He and a very few of his soldiers, including the Dragon's son, Mircea, managed to reach Romania safely.
The White Knight, who valued his reputation (and who had set his sights on someday rising to the throne of Hungary), lost respect after the Varna fiasco. To compensate, he regrouped his forces, rebuilt a small army and attacked the Dragon's palace in Wallachia. By asserting his power this way, that is, by taking over Wallachia for his own, he could rebuild a new, first step to the political power he had lost.
The Dragon had been caught unaware. His castle walls were scaled after a brief siege. Fleeing into the hills, the forlorn prince, wife Cneajna and son Mircea could not evade their conquerors. Captured, they were quickly put to death. Mircea met the worst fate: He was buried alive.
*****
When the news of his family's massacre reached 17-year-old Dracula, he went berserk. Sultan Murad, realizing that the boy had suffered enough, released him from prison and offered him a command position in the cavalry. (Even though the captive had been an often-unwilling one, even unruly, the sultan had admired his gumption.) Dracula accepted the post.
The first evidence of Dracula's cunning, a shrewdness that would serve him throughout his life, becomes apparent at this point. By using one enemy against another, he was able to escape Turkey, gain the throne of Wallachia, and avenge his parents' and brother's murders.
He made a deal with the sultan. If the latter would supply him with an appropriate force to push Hunyadi out of Wallachia and set him, Dracula, on its throne, he would keep the principality open to Turkish commerce, its highways unblocked, and restore the per annum tribute of 10,000 ducats to Turkey. The sultan agreed.
A large force of tribal horsemen followed Dracula westward in 1448. They surprised a vanguard of Hunyadi's army at Kosovo Polje, Serbia, and in a nocturnal battle, utterly destroyed it. Reining north in pursuit of Hunyadi, Dracula's cavalry galloped with war whoops into Tirgoviste. But, much to Dracula's disappointment, he learned that his prey had flown.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire In all events, a Dracul had come home. He placed himself on the throne of embattled Wallachia, sought out any boyar who had sided with the ambitious White Knight against his father — there had been several — and made perfect example of them all.
There are stories that insist a faithful servant of the Dragon had recovered his master's prize sword from the field where he had been slain and presented it to the son and heir. Dracula. It was an elegant Toledo blade, etched with the Sign of the Dragon. Dracula would carry that sword with him the remainder of his life, going to his death wielding it. But, for now, as its first use, he blessed it in the blood of his father's killers.
The first of three separate Dracula reigns had begun. It was not to last long.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Ambassador Oshima 3.ao.0003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
Singapore as the focal point. Australian troops and modern airplanes were being sent. Branches of the Ministry of Economic War and Propaganda were established in Singapore, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire while health corps and transportation groups were organized from the British resident in the city, to serve behind the lines in the event of war. Yet, though British defense measures appeared to be approaching fulfillment, the available sea power in that area was still inadequate and provided the British with a source of constant concern.[1067]
However, with the arrival of Sir Alfred Duff-Cooper in October 1941 it was expected that the British defense organization would coordinate its activities.[1068] Since he was accompanied by a large staff, including Colonel Edmund Leo Hall-Patch, Sir David John Montague Douglas, Scott, Chambers, and Lieutenant Commander Neville, the British official's mission seemed to be associated with the administration of foreign affairs in the Far East. In a conference with United States and British officials including Major General Francis Stewart Gilderoy Piggott, British Military Attache in Tokyo, and Mr. Becker, a lawyer, the effectiveness of allied propaganda upon the Japanese and the Nanking governments was to be discussed with the aim of divorcing Japan from the Axis powers.[1069]
430. Japan Exchanges Merchandise with Spain
Toward the end of October as the need for maintaining the proper balance of trade became acute, Japan extended the rise of barter in its transactions, to Spain and Portugal. On October 15, 1941 Tokyo informed London that arrangement had been made for using the Asama Maru in the barter exchange of Japanese merchandise for Spanish quicksilver. Although the business transactions with both Spain and Portugal were concluded primarily between the Mitsui Trading Company and the Spanish Department of Commerce, since they concerned neutral countries within the British sphere of influence, the plans dealing with the transportation of this cargo by the Asama Maru were communicated to the British Ambassador Craigie in Tokyo.[1070]
431. Tokyo Arranges Disposal of Japanese Bonds
Next, in order to dispose of those Japanese bonds backed by foreign money and owned by Japanese residents in England, the Japanese Finance Ministry ordered that a list be drawn up and approved to facilitate either the redeeming or cancellation of those bonds. To deal with those bonds which were not disposed of in this manner Tokyo ordered its Embassy in England on October 16, 1941 to have the London Branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank cancel them. For the cancellation of other bonds in the future, Tokyo further suggested that a list be drawn up regarding the bonds on hand, that it be checked, and finally that one copy be submitted to the Finance Ministry in Japan.[1071]
[1067] Ibid.
[1068] III, 797.
[1069] Ibid.
[1070] III, 798.
[1071] III, 799.
[219] [220 blank]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
PART C—JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
(g) Japanese-German Relations
432. Hitler Stops German-Vichy Conversations
In a wire to Ambassador Oshima dated August 6, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda attempted to clarify rumors resulting from statements made by Ambassador Fernand de Brinon in Paris the previous day. The Foreign Minister relayed remarks accredited to Ambassador Brinon by the Spanish ambassador to Japan who had had confidential conversations with Mr. Brinon.
Germany, in exchange for granting Tripoli to France, had demanded the leasing of the Bizerte harbor, according to the reported remarks of the French Ambassador. France refused to grant them. In conversations between Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Vice-Premier Jean Francois Darlan conducted at Berchtesgaden as a prelude to a separate German-French peace, Hitler had shown disappointment and had ordered Ambassador Otto Heinrich Abetz in Paris to discontinue conversations with the Vichy government.[1072]
A meeting between Hitler and Vice-Premier Darlan had occurred on May 11, 1941, at which time Hitler declared that the time had come for France and Germany to draw more closely together. As a token of his good will, the Fuehrer offered, in exchange for certain concessions, the repatriation of 100,000 French war prisoners, officers and non-coms, who had also served in World War I.
In deference to French military pride, Hitler offered Darlan the right to organize a skeleton air force; in deference to prostrate French finances, he agreed to review the arrangement whereby Vichy paid $8,000,000 a day for the upkeep of the army of occupation. In practice, Hitler did send home the veteran prisoners; a few French army planes were reconditioned and placed in service, but the sum extracted for the army in France remained unchanged. For his part Hitler demanded access to military supplies in the colonies, assistance to Nazi bases, and employment of the fleet by the French for convoying food ships and other patrol duties. The last condition was, of course, designed to bring the French Fleet into conflict with the British. The Nazi demands, it will be seen, corresponded closely to, and exceeded somewhat, those accepted by Pierre Laval at Montoire. Should the Vichy government refuse these reasonable terms, Vice-Premier Darlan was warned, Hitler could not answer for the consequences.[1073]
433. Foreign Minister Toyoda Reviews Japan's Policies
After a conference with the military leaders of Japan, Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda on July 31, 1941 dispatched the Imperial government's policy regarding the Russo-German war to the Japanese Ambassadors in Berlin, Rome, and Washington. The broad outlines of Japan's future policy were decided in a Cabinet meeting on July 2, the Foreign Minister wired, and every effort was now being expended to bring about its materialization.[1074]
Despite the fact that German diplomatic officials in Tokyo understood Japan's position, the Nazi government had not been sufficiently informed, Foreign Minister Toyoda continued. After having devoted the greater part of its energies for four years to bring a conclusion to the China incident, Japan found itself with large forces still fighting on the China mainland and new difficulties arising in the north and south. Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by the United States and England, had become so strained that Japan was forced to secure the raw materials from the South Seas. This situation had resulted
[1072] III, 800.
[1073] "How War Came," by Forrest Davis and Earnst K. Lindley, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1942; pp. 222-223.
[1074] III, 801.
[221]
in the decision to obtain military bases in French Indo-China. Meanwhile the Russo-German war offered an opportunity to settle the northern question after preparations had been completed.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that Japanese advances to the south obviously had given England, Russia, and the United States a set-back in the Pacific, thus helping Germany.
German annoyance at Japan's negotiations with the United States was realized in the Home Office; however, two of the primary objectives of Japan were to prevent the United States from entering the war "at any cost" and to settle the Chinese incident. Having assumed that there was complete trust between Germany and Japan, Foreign Minister Toyoda said that the discussions with the United States were begun at a time which seemed opportune to Japan. He referred to the fact that Germany initiated the war with the Soviet Union at an undesirable moment for Japan.
Pointing to the promulgation of an Imperial rescript as proof of Japan's determination to effect the success of the objectives of the Tripartite Pact, Foreign Minister Toyoda reiterated that each country must have a certain flexibility in its conduct if these aims were to be accomplished. He explained that real cooperation did not necessarily mean complete symmetry of action but rather a trust in each other, thereby enabling both Japan and Germany to strive toward the common goal, each using its own discretion within the bounds of good judgment.[1075]
434. Ambassador Oshima Correlates German-Russian Battle Reports
Rumors that the German army was not succeeding in its drive against Russia prompted Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima on August 6, 1941 to correlate public statements from both belligerents in an attempt to clarify the situation. From these reports he surmised that Russian forces had been irreparably damaged with casualties mounting to 3,500,000. Transfers of troops from Siberia and other sections of the U.S.S.R. to revitalize the Red Army were deemed ineffective.
Only Russia's southern Ukrainian forces retained any degree of striking power, according to Ambassador Oshima; Germany was now attacking in this sector as well as cleaning up the area south of Kiev. He commended the excellent strategy of the German army in cautiously encircling the stubborn Soviet troops with minimum losses.[1076]
435. The Foreign Minister Explains That Communication Difficulties Impede the Expression of Tokyo's War Aims
Recently-appointed Foreign Minister Admiral Teijiro Toyoda replied on August 7, 1941 to Ambassador Oshima's request for clarification of Japanese policy particularly in regard to the Russo-German conflict.[1077] He pointed out that the Foreign Office in Tokyo was experiencing unusual communications difficulties in disseminating European and American intelligence. Therefore, the Home Office was finding it increasingly burdensome to keep its field units informed of the national policy at all times.
The Foreign Minister attempted to convey the beliefs of his office regarding future German plans. He acknowledged the possibilities of a German invasion of England and recognized the fact that, although the Axis seemed bent on an early termination of the war, Germany was preparing for a prolonged conflict. In the light of current British defense preparations and morale, the eventuality of a long war seemed probable.
Concerning the Russo-German war, the Japanese Foreign Office expressed the belief that the Russian people were convinced that Germany was waging a racial war against them. In view of the Russians' deep rooted communistic conviction and traditional affinity for the soil, they
[1075] III, 802-804.
[1076] III, 805.
[1077] II, 600.
[222]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
would meet the invading armies with unyielding resistance. Japan could not overlook the difficulties of administering such territories when conquered, territories vast in their geography, intense and severe in their climate, and poorly supplied with transportation facilities.
In addition, with the German army progressing at its present slow pace, Tokyo also realized that Commissar Joseph Stalin would be able to retreat to the Ural Mountains, thereby temporarily frustrating the German plan to bring chaos to the Red Regime. Therefore, according to Tokyo, unless the German army were to exhibit a more "blitzlike" advance, the Stalin power would continue to be a dominating influence in the Far East and a menace to Japan.[1078]
436. Ambassador Oshima Again Urges Active Support of Tripartite Pact
Ambassador Oshima on August 9, 1941 directed a dispatch to the Foreign Minister, reiterating his former pleas for active support for the Tripartite Pact. He explained that despite Tokyo's numerous statements advising Germany that the Japanese were conducting their policies in accord with the aims and spirit of the Pact, unless the plans, by which this support was to materialize were forcefully executed in the near future, Japan might give an impression of disinterest. The full fruits of cooperation would not be garnered through individual efforts. Stressing that it was not his intention that Japan should court Germany and Italy, he continued that they should cooperate with a view toward future benefits for the Empire.[1079] Ambassador Oshima explained that Hitler had already offered his support to Japan should a clash occur between that country and the United States.[1080]
437. Ambassador Oshima Reveals German Organization for the Occupation of Russia Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
On the same day Ambassador Oshima acknowledged that Germany had not devised a course of action beyond the annihilation of the Russian field forces. Germany, however, had set up a governing organization under the head of Dr. Alfred Rosenburg to administer the conquered territories. The proposed policy of destroying Communism at its source coincided unalterably with the intention of the Japanese government, Ambassador Oshima pointed out; and it was only fair, in fact essential, that Japan now cooperate closely and unconditionally with the Axis to insure harmony in the future. As soon as the Japanese Empire had determined its aims and policies, Ambassador Oshima suggested that Japan and Germany negotiate for the settlement of jurisdictional disputes which might arise upon the partitioning of Russian territory.[1081] Ambassador Oshima had previously revealed that Germany planned to take direct control of affairs in conquered Russia for a ten-year period after the occupation, occupying all the area up to the Ural Mountains. Dr. Rosenberg, German-appointed Minister of State for the occupied territory, would establish his office in Moscow.
According to Germany's postwar plan the three Baltic countries and a part of White Russia were to be united to form a Baltic district, and an enlarged Ukraine and the Caucasus would form two other political areas. Finland would receive the Kola peninsula and the Karelian area, while Rumania would recover Bessarabia and Bukovina. Hungary would receive a small area in exchange for the cession of a portion to Slovakia. No change in the former German policy toward Poland was expected.[1082]
438. Rumors of Japanese Representations to U.S.S.R. Reach Germany
A few days later the German Minister at Hsinking was reportedly under the impression that Japan had made representations to the Soviet Union. Although it appeared that Japanese
[1078] III, 806.
[1079] III, 807.
[1080] III, 808.
[1081] III, 809.
[1082] III, 810.
[223]
Home Affairs Department had revealed such information to the Nichi-Nichi main office, but had killed the story immediately, the German official still had had time to intercept it.
439. Ambassador Oshima's Resignation Is Refused
Despite Ambassador Oshima's persistent requests to return to Japan, the Home Office insisted that he remain in Berlin. In a secret dispatch on August 12, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda re-emphasized the fact that although the Ambassador's point of view was understood, his presence in Berlin remained a necessity.[1084]
440. The German Army Progresses Against Russia
Ambassador Heinrich D. Stahmer informed the Japanese Ambassador that the German army by August 14 had completely encircled Leningrad and had occupied the northeast area. In the south, Odessa had been invested. The Dnepropetrovsk power plant, largest in Soviet Russia, was to be the next objective of the advancing forces. Ambassador Stahmer divulged the encouraging information to Ambassador Oshima that German losses in the six weeks of war had been unbelievably small with a total dead of only 30,000. Since the Japanese Ambassador had recently concluded a tour of the battlefield, he was convinced that these figures were reasonably accurate.
Russian and British air attacks on Berlin, Ambassador Stahmer declared, were attempting to prove that Germany did not have aerial supremacy. This was only a political move, unrelated to actual conditions. He cautioned Japan to be wary of Russian-British propaganda.[1085]
441. Germany Advises Evacuation of Consular Officials From Occupied Territories
On instruction from the German government all Consular officials in the occupied areas of France, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, and Norway were to close their offices by September 1, 1941 and to evacuate the areas. Ambassador Oshima notified the Home Office on August 12 that Minister Paul Schmidt, German Chief of Protocol, had confided to him that this order was not to be applied to Japan.[1086]
On August 16, 1941 Ambassador Oshima reported to Tokyo that he had recently dispatched Consul Shigero Imai to Brussels to bring the Imperial portraits, then in possession of the Antwerp Consulate, to the Berlin office.[1087]
Further arrangements were made on August 23, 1941 for the evacuation of Japanese officials from occupied areas.[1088]
That Japan had instigated a license system applying to foreigners leaving that country was wired to Ambassador Oshima. He was instructed to determine the extent of such restrictions in Germany and other countries to which he was accredited. Since Japan's license system would not effect members of Foreign Embassies, Ministries, Consulates and their families unless such a system were manifested against Japan in other countries, the Ambassador was directed to discover the extent and application of the restrictions.[1089]
442. Manchukuoan-German Trade Retarded by War
As the Russo-German war progressed, increased restrictions upon Japanese-German trade were being felt, but it was difficult for Japanese officials to explain the seriousness of the situation to their Axis partners. One instance of restricted trade to Germany was the forced discontinuance of the Manchukuoan supply of soy beans. It was feared that the mere excuse of a Russo-
[1084] III, 812.
[1085] III, 813.
[1086] III, 814.
[1087] III, 815.
[1088] III, 816.
[1089] III, 817.
[224]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
German war would seem a feeble pretext to German authorities considering the fact that Germany would probably counter with the argument that Manchukuo need not be concerned with the problem of overland transportation. By August 12, 1941 Japanese spokesman had agreed that they should attempt to convince Germany that since Japan was adopting emergency measures in the North in order to assist Germany, and since there was a limited supply of soy beans for domestic consumption in Manchukuo already, it would be impossible to live up to the May agreement in regard to shipments to Germany.[1090]
By October 8, 1941 considerable Manchurian merchandise amounting to $215,000 which was en route to Germany through Russia had been confiscated. Since Germany would probably never receive the shipments and could not be expected to pay for them, Japan found itself in the position of settling the deal with Manchuria. In an attempt to avoid paying the retail price for the shipments which it had transhipped to Germany, Japan consulted with Ambassador Oshima and Minister Umetsu.[1091]
443. Japan Learns of German Undercover Activities in China
On the other hand, German progress in China did not seem to be suffering since, with the freezing of assets in Tientsin, German firms were reported to be secretly purchasing United States and British real estate. This was distressing Japanese authorities, and it was advised that Japan seek the German government's cooperation either through the German Ambassador or through Dr. Helmut Wohlthat.[1092] Thus, Consul Makoto Okuma on August 18, 1941,[1093] inquired of German authorities regarding the rumored encroachment on Japanese rights in the Tientsin area. In response, German spokesmen declared that they had been giving ample support to Japan's policy of freezing British and American assets. Stating that they had no specific knowledge of any German-Allied dealings, they agreed that should the Japanese submit concrete evidence, such practice would be dealt with properly. In the instance of the German firm of Meruchaasu which was under suspicion, it was revealed that they had already issued a warning.
When Consul Okuma inquired about German-Jewish activities he was reassured that not one of the German firms in this area was Jewish, even though the Jews in that area were socially respected.[1094]
444. Japan Cultivates the Interest of the German People
Despite these somewhat strained relations between merchants in China, the general attitude toward Japan in Germany gradually became one of increasing interest. According to Ambassador Oshima the sudden surge of interest in Japan was giving rise to a demand for materials in the form of German language publications propagandizing Japan. He reported that distribution of effective information concerning Japan was being disseminated through libraries, universities, publishers, government offices, and through the party and picked individuals. The material was nonetheless proving insufficient, and he urged the publication of new and supplementary volumes. Currently popular editions were Nippon, Contemporary Japan, The East Asia Economic and the Japan Trade Monthly.[1095]
445. Ambassador Oshima Admonishes Tokyo for Lack of Decisive Attitude
Ambassador Oshima was becoming increasingly aroused that no definite instructions in regard to Japan's policy in the Russo-German conflict had been forthcoming from Tokyo. On
[1090] III, 818.
[1091] III, 819.
[1092] III, 820.
[1093] III, 821.
[1094] Ibid.
[1096] III, 822.
[225]
August 20, 1941 he transmitted a caustic reminder that no word except an account of Foreign Minister Toyoda's conferences with Ambassadors Constantin Smetanin and Eugene Ott on July 9 had been forthcoming and that it was impossible to know the real intention of the Home Office merely on the basis of such conversations. He also took this opportunity to request immediate information on Japanese-American relations, revealing that the government had become quite perturbed over the existing circumstances.[1096]
In a severe rebuke for the government's failure to inform its field representatives of the current situation, Ambassador Oshima telegraphed that he could not conclude that Foreign Minister Toyoda either feared that secrecy would not be maintained or that the government had not as yet decided upon a definite policy. Should Tokyo be withholding information for security reasons, Ambassador Oshima declared that every Japanese representative at the risk of his life would maintain secrecy. Should the second reason prevail, Ambassador Oshima urged that, regardless of the inconclusiveness of the information, he be told even what Mr. Toyoda himself was considering.[1097]
446. Ambassador Oshima Objects to Japan's Use of Russian News Releases
Ambassador Oshima also complained bitterly of Japan's objective broadcasts of Russo-German frontline activities, stating that Tokyo, on two occasions, August 9 and 10, 1941, had broadcast Tass reports to the effect that Russian planes had raided Berlin on August 7 and 8. Ambassador Oshima pointed out that actually only an air raid alarm had been sounded and that no great damage, such as was reported, had been inflicted.
Stressing the fact that Japan would certainly be equally outraged should Germany deign to broadcast as facts the Chungking government reports, he suggested that Japan attempt to control future broadcasts. He further pointed out that since the German Foreign Office was constructing a large receiving station by which it would be able to listen minutely to broadcasts from the whole world, it would now be most important that Japan exercise caution in her transmissions.[1098]
The Ambassador continued to emphasize the ill will and confused feelings which such a policy of broadcasting would invoke throughout the Empire. This kind of reporting not only would cause misunderstanding among German officials and among Japanese living outside of Berlin, but there was a danger that it would injure the veracity of Japanese overseas broadcasts. Therefore, he urged that the Foreign Office consult with the broadcasting department and take suitable steps regarding the regulating of broadcasting reports originating in Russia.[1099]
447. Foreign Minister Toyoda Upholds Japan's Methods
In rebuke, on August 22, 1941, Foreign Minister Toyoda reminded Mr. Oshima that the Japanese government had been following a policy of handling worldwide broadcasts objectively and impartially in the hope of fostering confidence. He stressed the point that from the very fact that German broadcasts had been so severely regulated, their China and South Seas propaganda power had become worthless.
He also countered that such examples as the Ambassador had pointed out were extremely rare and challenged him to listen over a period of several days to verify this. Substantiating evidence for the report of a Russian raid on Berlin had been garnered from Domei dispatches and had originated in London and Vichy, the Foreign Minister revealed. Again he emphasized
[1096] III, 823.
[1097] III, 824.
[1098] III, 825.
[1099] III, 826.
[226]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
the fact that the Japanese broadcasting companies, working in unison with all government branches, were completely supporting their Foreign Office policy of upholding the Tripartite agreement.[1100]
448. Ambassador Oshima Confers with Field Marshal Keitel
By August 25, 1941, according to Ambassador Oshima who had been gathering battle reports from various sources[1101] including the German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, with whom he talked on August 23 at General Headquarters,[1102] German strategy was meeting with unprecedented success. In a lengthy six part dispatch transmitted on August 25, 1941, Ambassador Oshima attempted to convey to his Home Office the current trend of Russo-German hostilities, as related to him by the Field Marshal. Accordingly, he revealed that Russian casualties were estimated to be about five million, with a definitely known total of 1,250,000 prisoners and twice that many dead. Only the equivalent of about 60 divisions of the 260 which had appeared on battlefields remained, and these seemed to be haphazardly slapped together, resulting in low military efficiency. It had been estimated that the armed strength of the Soviet Union had fallen to one third of its original strength. The shortage of equipment and officer material was apparent. In some cases sergeants commanded battalions and in others a lieutenant would be in charge of a regiment.
Judging from the population it would be possible to organize about 20 more divisions, but in so doing they would practically exhaust the source of supply. Female battalions had already made an appearance. Although the Russian forces were still rich in manpower, they no longer were equipped or trained to fight with any degree of efficiency.[1103]
On the other hand, in regard to German losses, the Field Marshal stated that casualties were less than 160,000, the dead to date reaching 40,000. War reports from the southern front showed Odessa completely encircled while Dnepropetrovsk, located in a field warfare area and very strongly fortified, was being subjected to artillery fire before German forces would make any direct in-fighting attempt.
It was pointed out that in order to avoid the damage resulting from suburban warfare, Kiev was being subjected to destruction by artillery fire, to be followed up by infantry attacks.
Sudden and rapid developments in the Ukraine sector had enabled the German army to annihilate the greater part of Marshal Semyon Mikhailovich Budenny's forces, Field Marshal Keitel revealed. Because of the speed with which this advance had been conducted, all grains and other goods were left intact. From this point the German forces were scheduled to push on across the Dnieper River to Harikohu and Donbasu.[1104]
Along the northern front the Leningrad-Moscow railroad had already been cut at Chudovo and the German army had laid siege to the outlying districts of Leningrad from which is was reported that Marshall Kliment Voroshilov had fled. In Estonia, Revel remained the only unconquered area. Here again the German forces were avoiding rushing tactics and were concentrating on heavy artillery fire, the Field Marshal explained. The Finnish forces in cooperation with the Germans had advanced to the area between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. For the purpose of seizing the Murmansk area, General Eduard Dietl, famed for his defense of Narvik, was reportedly arriving from Norway with his forces via the sea.[1105]
German divisions on the central front had been diverted to both the southern and northern theaters, the latter group reaching a point southeast of Leningrad, and joining forces with the troops in that area.
[1100] III, 827.
[1101] III, 828.
[1102] III, 829.
[1103] III, 830.
[1104] III, 831. (The Kana word Harikohu is believed by United States translators to be Kharkov; and the Kana word Donbasu, to be Rostov.)
[1105] Ibid.
[227]
449. Field Marshal Keitel Explains German's War Aims
Explaining the aims of the German forces, Field Marshal Keitel told Ambassador Oshima that they were preparing to launch the second phase of the war soon. The goal of this phase included the capture of the entire region from Rostov to Moscow and the industrial area around Leningrad. These campaigns should be concluded by early November at which time the Russian field forces would have been destroyed. The Caucasus area was to be seized, but this action might not be initiated until December. No prediction about forces to be sent to the Urals could be made until the completion of the second phase. The Field Marshal blamed any delays on weather conditions and the stubborn resistance of the Russian masses.[1106]
450. Nationalist Chinese in Germany Present a Problem to the Axis
On September 2, 1941, Ambassador Oshima reported that a problem had arisen in connection with Chinese Nationalists in Berlin. Although Li Sheng-Wei had been appointed as Nanking Ambassador to Germany, he was experiencing transportation difficulties and would not be on hand to control the situation in Germany for some time. As a means of meeting the existing emergency Ambassador Oshima suggested that Nanking appoint an honorary consul in Berlin, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire which appointment would be approved by Tokyo, to deal with these "depraved anti-Japanese rascals".
Ambassador Oshima declared that the plan to establish an honorary consul had been thoroughly approved by the German government. If Nanking wished, Berlin had offered to select several "New Order" advocates to collaborate with Nanking representatives for the improvement of Japanese-Chinese-German relations. Ambassador Oshima requested the Foreign Minister's approval.[1107]
451. Japanese-German Trade Continues Despite Difficulties of War
Japan and Germany continued to rely upon each other for transportation facilities as, according to a September 1 dispatch, German and Italian Ambassadors in Tokyo requested that Japanese ships be made available for transporting Axis documents from Tokyo to South America. Japan had been in agreement provided that Italian airplanes flying between Italy and Rio de Janeiro and Santiago be made available for the transportation of Japanese documents which were secret or confidential in nature.[1108]
Tokyo wired that Ambassador Oshima urge the German Ministry of Finance in Berlin to approve Japan's request to draw from German peso funds in Argentina the equivalent of 7,000,000 yen to apply against Japanese purchases of cowhide. As compensation, Foreign Minister Toyoda explained, Japan was offering petroleum and other goods as well as foreign money. Although the details of the negotiations had been communicated to the German government via its representatives in Tokyo, by September 2, 1941, no action had been forthcoming and two of Japan's ships were already in South American waters prepared to load the cargo.[1109]
In the meantime, the Japanese embassy in Berlin was experiencing difficulties in distinguishing between official and civilian, urgent and non-urgent goods. Twenty-seven thousand tons of freight which was destined for Japan had accumulated, and although instructions from Tokyo stipulated that the goods be divided into four categories with the number of tons in each, Ambassador Oshima was at loss to cope with the matter and requested that hereafter more explicit arrangements be completed in Tokyo.[1110]
[1106] Ibid.
[1107] III, 832.
[1108] III, 833.
[1109] III, 834.
[1110] III, 835.
Singapore as the focal point. Australian troops and modern airplanes were being sent. Branches of the Ministry of Economic War and Propaganda were established in Singapore, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire while health corps and transportation groups were organized from the British resident in the city, to serve behind the lines in the event of war. Yet, though British defense measures appeared to be approaching fulfillment, the available sea power in that area was still inadequate and provided the British with a source of constant concern.[1067]
However, with the arrival of Sir Alfred Duff-Cooper in October 1941 it was expected that the British defense organization would coordinate its activities.[1068] Since he was accompanied by a large staff, including Colonel Edmund Leo Hall-Patch, Sir David John Montague Douglas, Scott, Chambers, and Lieutenant Commander Neville, the British official's mission seemed to be associated with the administration of foreign affairs in the Far East. In a conference with United States and British officials including Major General Francis Stewart Gilderoy Piggott, British Military Attache in Tokyo, and Mr. Becker, a lawyer, the effectiveness of allied propaganda upon the Japanese and the Nanking governments was to be discussed with the aim of divorcing Japan from the Axis powers.[1069]
430. Japan Exchanges Merchandise with Spain
Toward the end of October as the need for maintaining the proper balance of trade became acute, Japan extended the rise of barter in its transactions, to Spain and Portugal. On October 15, 1941 Tokyo informed London that arrangement had been made for using the Asama Maru in the barter exchange of Japanese merchandise for Spanish quicksilver. Although the business transactions with both Spain and Portugal were concluded primarily between the Mitsui Trading Company and the Spanish Department of Commerce, since they concerned neutral countries within the British sphere of influence, the plans dealing with the transportation of this cargo by the Asama Maru were communicated to the British Ambassador Craigie in Tokyo.[1070]
431. Tokyo Arranges Disposal of Japanese Bonds
Next, in order to dispose of those Japanese bonds backed by foreign money and owned by Japanese residents in England, the Japanese Finance Ministry ordered that a list be drawn up and approved to facilitate either the redeeming or cancellation of those bonds. To deal with those bonds which were not disposed of in this manner Tokyo ordered its Embassy in England on October 16, 1941 to have the London Branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank cancel them. For the cancellation of other bonds in the future, Tokyo further suggested that a list be drawn up regarding the bonds on hand, that it be checked, and finally that one copy be submitted to the Finance Ministry in Japan.[1071]
[1067] Ibid.
[1068] III, 797.
[1069] Ibid.
[1070] III, 798.
[1071] III, 799.
[219] [220 blank]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
PART C—JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
(g) Japanese-German Relations
432. Hitler Stops German-Vichy Conversations
In a wire to Ambassador Oshima dated August 6, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda attempted to clarify rumors resulting from statements made by Ambassador Fernand de Brinon in Paris the previous day. The Foreign Minister relayed remarks accredited to Ambassador Brinon by the Spanish ambassador to Japan who had had confidential conversations with Mr. Brinon.
Germany, in exchange for granting Tripoli to France, had demanded the leasing of the Bizerte harbor, according to the reported remarks of the French Ambassador. France refused to grant them. In conversations between Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Vice-Premier Jean Francois Darlan conducted at Berchtesgaden as a prelude to a separate German-French peace, Hitler had shown disappointment and had ordered Ambassador Otto Heinrich Abetz in Paris to discontinue conversations with the Vichy government.[1072]
A meeting between Hitler and Vice-Premier Darlan had occurred on May 11, 1941, at which time Hitler declared that the time had come for France and Germany to draw more closely together. As a token of his good will, the Fuehrer offered, in exchange for certain concessions, the repatriation of 100,000 French war prisoners, officers and non-coms, who had also served in World War I.
In deference to French military pride, Hitler offered Darlan the right to organize a skeleton air force; in deference to prostrate French finances, he agreed to review the arrangement whereby Vichy paid $8,000,000 a day for the upkeep of the army of occupation. In practice, Hitler did send home the veteran prisoners; a few French army planes were reconditioned and placed in service, but the sum extracted for the army in France remained unchanged. For his part Hitler demanded access to military supplies in the colonies, assistance to Nazi bases, and employment of the fleet by the French for convoying food ships and other patrol duties. The last condition was, of course, designed to bring the French Fleet into conflict with the British. The Nazi demands, it will be seen, corresponded closely to, and exceeded somewhat, those accepted by Pierre Laval at Montoire. Should the Vichy government refuse these reasonable terms, Vice-Premier Darlan was warned, Hitler could not answer for the consequences.[1073]
433. Foreign Minister Toyoda Reviews Japan's Policies
After a conference with the military leaders of Japan, Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda on July 31, 1941 dispatched the Imperial government's policy regarding the Russo-German war to the Japanese Ambassadors in Berlin, Rome, and Washington. The broad outlines of Japan's future policy were decided in a Cabinet meeting on July 2, the Foreign Minister wired, and every effort was now being expended to bring about its materialization.[1074]
Despite the fact that German diplomatic officials in Tokyo understood Japan's position, the Nazi government had not been sufficiently informed, Foreign Minister Toyoda continued. After having devoted the greater part of its energies for four years to bring a conclusion to the China incident, Japan found itself with large forces still fighting on the China mainland and new difficulties arising in the north and south. Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by the United States and England, had become so strained that Japan was forced to secure the raw materials from the South Seas. This situation had resulted
[1072] III, 800.
[1073] "How War Came," by Forrest Davis and Earnst K. Lindley, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1942; pp. 222-223.
[1074] III, 801.
[221]
in the decision to obtain military bases in French Indo-China. Meanwhile the Russo-German war offered an opportunity to settle the northern question after preparations had been completed.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that Japanese advances to the south obviously had given England, Russia, and the United States a set-back in the Pacific, thus helping Germany.
German annoyance at Japan's negotiations with the United States was realized in the Home Office; however, two of the primary objectives of Japan were to prevent the United States from entering the war "at any cost" and to settle the Chinese incident. Having assumed that there was complete trust between Germany and Japan, Foreign Minister Toyoda said that the discussions with the United States were begun at a time which seemed opportune to Japan. He referred to the fact that Germany initiated the war with the Soviet Union at an undesirable moment for Japan.
Pointing to the promulgation of an Imperial rescript as proof of Japan's determination to effect the success of the objectives of the Tripartite Pact, Foreign Minister Toyoda reiterated that each country must have a certain flexibility in its conduct if these aims were to be accomplished. He explained that real cooperation did not necessarily mean complete symmetry of action but rather a trust in each other, thereby enabling both Japan and Germany to strive toward the common goal, each using its own discretion within the bounds of good judgment.[1075]
434. Ambassador Oshima Correlates German-Russian Battle Reports
Rumors that the German army was not succeeding in its drive against Russia prompted Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima on August 6, 1941 to correlate public statements from both belligerents in an attempt to clarify the situation. From these reports he surmised that Russian forces had been irreparably damaged with casualties mounting to 3,500,000. Transfers of troops from Siberia and other sections of the U.S.S.R. to revitalize the Red Army were deemed ineffective.
Only Russia's southern Ukrainian forces retained any degree of striking power, according to Ambassador Oshima; Germany was now attacking in this sector as well as cleaning up the area south of Kiev. He commended the excellent strategy of the German army in cautiously encircling the stubborn Soviet troops with minimum losses.[1076]
435. The Foreign Minister Explains That Communication Difficulties Impede the Expression of Tokyo's War Aims
Recently-appointed Foreign Minister Admiral Teijiro Toyoda replied on August 7, 1941 to Ambassador Oshima's request for clarification of Japanese policy particularly in regard to the Russo-German conflict.[1077] He pointed out that the Foreign Office in Tokyo was experiencing unusual communications difficulties in disseminating European and American intelligence. Therefore, the Home Office was finding it increasingly burdensome to keep its field units informed of the national policy at all times.
The Foreign Minister attempted to convey the beliefs of his office regarding future German plans. He acknowledged the possibilities of a German invasion of England and recognized the fact that, although the Axis seemed bent on an early termination of the war, Germany was preparing for a prolonged conflict. In the light of current British defense preparations and morale, the eventuality of a long war seemed probable.
Concerning the Russo-German war, the Japanese Foreign Office expressed the belief that the Russian people were convinced that Germany was waging a racial war against them. In view of the Russians' deep rooted communistic conviction and traditional affinity for the soil, they
[1075] III, 802-804.
[1076] III, 805.
[1077] II, 600.
[222]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
would meet the invading armies with unyielding resistance. Japan could not overlook the difficulties of administering such territories when conquered, territories vast in their geography, intense and severe in their climate, and poorly supplied with transportation facilities.
In addition, with the German army progressing at its present slow pace, Tokyo also realized that Commissar Joseph Stalin would be able to retreat to the Ural Mountains, thereby temporarily frustrating the German plan to bring chaos to the Red Regime. Therefore, according to Tokyo, unless the German army were to exhibit a more "blitzlike" advance, the Stalin power would continue to be a dominating influence in the Far East and a menace to Japan.[1078]
436. Ambassador Oshima Again Urges Active Support of Tripartite Pact
Ambassador Oshima on August 9, 1941 directed a dispatch to the Foreign Minister, reiterating his former pleas for active support for the Tripartite Pact. He explained that despite Tokyo's numerous statements advising Germany that the Japanese were conducting their policies in accord with the aims and spirit of the Pact, unless the plans, by which this support was to materialize were forcefully executed in the near future, Japan might give an impression of disinterest. The full fruits of cooperation would not be garnered through individual efforts. Stressing that it was not his intention that Japan should court Germany and Italy, he continued that they should cooperate with a view toward future benefits for the Empire.[1079] Ambassador Oshima explained that Hitler had already offered his support to Japan should a clash occur between that country and the United States.[1080]
437. Ambassador Oshima Reveals German Organization for the Occupation of Russia Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
On the same day Ambassador Oshima acknowledged that Germany had not devised a course of action beyond the annihilation of the Russian field forces. Germany, however, had set up a governing organization under the head of Dr. Alfred Rosenburg to administer the conquered territories. The proposed policy of destroying Communism at its source coincided unalterably with the intention of the Japanese government, Ambassador Oshima pointed out; and it was only fair, in fact essential, that Japan now cooperate closely and unconditionally with the Axis to insure harmony in the future. As soon as the Japanese Empire had determined its aims and policies, Ambassador Oshima suggested that Japan and Germany negotiate for the settlement of jurisdictional disputes which might arise upon the partitioning of Russian territory.[1081] Ambassador Oshima had previously revealed that Germany planned to take direct control of affairs in conquered Russia for a ten-year period after the occupation, occupying all the area up to the Ural Mountains. Dr. Rosenberg, German-appointed Minister of State for the occupied territory, would establish his office in Moscow.
According to Germany's postwar plan the three Baltic countries and a part of White Russia were to be united to form a Baltic district, and an enlarged Ukraine and the Caucasus would form two other political areas. Finland would receive the Kola peninsula and the Karelian area, while Rumania would recover Bessarabia and Bukovina. Hungary would receive a small area in exchange for the cession of a portion to Slovakia. No change in the former German policy toward Poland was expected.[1082]
438. Rumors of Japanese Representations to U.S.S.R. Reach Germany
A few days later the German Minister at Hsinking was reportedly under the impression that Japan had made representations to the Soviet Union. Although it appeared that Japanese
[1078] III, 806.
[1079] III, 807.
[1080] III, 808.
[1081] III, 809.
[1082] III, 810.
[223]
Home Affairs Department had revealed such information to the Nichi-Nichi main office, but had killed the story immediately, the German official still had had time to intercept it.
439. Ambassador Oshima's Resignation Is Refused
Despite Ambassador Oshima's persistent requests to return to Japan, the Home Office insisted that he remain in Berlin. In a secret dispatch on August 12, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda re-emphasized the fact that although the Ambassador's point of view was understood, his presence in Berlin remained a necessity.[1084]
440. The German Army Progresses Against Russia
Ambassador Heinrich D. Stahmer informed the Japanese Ambassador that the German army by August 14 had completely encircled Leningrad and had occupied the northeast area. In the south, Odessa had been invested. The Dnepropetrovsk power plant, largest in Soviet Russia, was to be the next objective of the advancing forces. Ambassador Stahmer divulged the encouraging information to Ambassador Oshima that German losses in the six weeks of war had been unbelievably small with a total dead of only 30,000. Since the Japanese Ambassador had recently concluded a tour of the battlefield, he was convinced that these figures were reasonably accurate.
Russian and British air attacks on Berlin, Ambassador Stahmer declared, were attempting to prove that Germany did not have aerial supremacy. This was only a political move, unrelated to actual conditions. He cautioned Japan to be wary of Russian-British propaganda.[1085]
441. Germany Advises Evacuation of Consular Officials From Occupied Territories
On instruction from the German government all Consular officials in the occupied areas of France, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, and Norway were to close their offices by September 1, 1941 and to evacuate the areas. Ambassador Oshima notified the Home Office on August 12 that Minister Paul Schmidt, German Chief of Protocol, had confided to him that this order was not to be applied to Japan.[1086]
On August 16, 1941 Ambassador Oshima reported to Tokyo that he had recently dispatched Consul Shigero Imai to Brussels to bring the Imperial portraits, then in possession of the Antwerp Consulate, to the Berlin office.[1087]
Further arrangements were made on August 23, 1941 for the evacuation of Japanese officials from occupied areas.[1088]
That Japan had instigated a license system applying to foreigners leaving that country was wired to Ambassador Oshima. He was instructed to determine the extent of such restrictions in Germany and other countries to which he was accredited. Since Japan's license system would not effect members of Foreign Embassies, Ministries, Consulates and their families unless such a system were manifested against Japan in other countries, the Ambassador was directed to discover the extent and application of the restrictions.[1089]
442. Manchukuoan-German Trade Retarded by War
As the Russo-German war progressed, increased restrictions upon Japanese-German trade were being felt, but it was difficult for Japanese officials to explain the seriousness of the situation to their Axis partners. One instance of restricted trade to Germany was the forced discontinuance of the Manchukuoan supply of soy beans. It was feared that the mere excuse of a Russo-
[1084] III, 812.
[1085] III, 813.
[1086] III, 814.
[1087] III, 815.
[1088] III, 816.
[1089] III, 817.
[224]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
German war would seem a feeble pretext to German authorities considering the fact that Germany would probably counter with the argument that Manchukuo need not be concerned with the problem of overland transportation. By August 12, 1941 Japanese spokesman had agreed that they should attempt to convince Germany that since Japan was adopting emergency measures in the North in order to assist Germany, and since there was a limited supply of soy beans for domestic consumption in Manchukuo already, it would be impossible to live up to the May agreement in regard to shipments to Germany.[1090]
By October 8, 1941 considerable Manchurian merchandise amounting to $215,000 which was en route to Germany through Russia had been confiscated. Since Germany would probably never receive the shipments and could not be expected to pay for them, Japan found itself in the position of settling the deal with Manchuria. In an attempt to avoid paying the retail price for the shipments which it had transhipped to Germany, Japan consulted with Ambassador Oshima and Minister Umetsu.[1091]
443. Japan Learns of German Undercover Activities in China
On the other hand, German progress in China did not seem to be suffering since, with the freezing of assets in Tientsin, German firms were reported to be secretly purchasing United States and British real estate. This was distressing Japanese authorities, and it was advised that Japan seek the German government's cooperation either through the German Ambassador or through Dr. Helmut Wohlthat.[1092] Thus, Consul Makoto Okuma on August 18, 1941,[1093] inquired of German authorities regarding the rumored encroachment on Japanese rights in the Tientsin area. In response, German spokesmen declared that they had been giving ample support to Japan's policy of freezing British and American assets. Stating that they had no specific knowledge of any German-Allied dealings, they agreed that should the Japanese submit concrete evidence, such practice would be dealt with properly. In the instance of the German firm of Meruchaasu which was under suspicion, it was revealed that they had already issued a warning.
When Consul Okuma inquired about German-Jewish activities he was reassured that not one of the German firms in this area was Jewish, even though the Jews in that area were socially respected.[1094]
444. Japan Cultivates the Interest of the German People
Despite these somewhat strained relations between merchants in China, the general attitude toward Japan in Germany gradually became one of increasing interest. According to Ambassador Oshima the sudden surge of interest in Japan was giving rise to a demand for materials in the form of German language publications propagandizing Japan. He reported that distribution of effective information concerning Japan was being disseminated through libraries, universities, publishers, government offices, and through the party and picked individuals. The material was nonetheless proving insufficient, and he urged the publication of new and supplementary volumes. Currently popular editions were Nippon, Contemporary Japan, The East Asia Economic and the Japan Trade Monthly.[1095]
445. Ambassador Oshima Admonishes Tokyo for Lack of Decisive Attitude
Ambassador Oshima was becoming increasingly aroused that no definite instructions in regard to Japan's policy in the Russo-German conflict had been forthcoming from Tokyo. On
[1090] III, 818.
[1091] III, 819.
[1092] III, 820.
[1093] III, 821.
[1094] Ibid.
[1096] III, 822.
[225]
August 20, 1941 he transmitted a caustic reminder that no word except an account of Foreign Minister Toyoda's conferences with Ambassadors Constantin Smetanin and Eugene Ott on July 9 had been forthcoming and that it was impossible to know the real intention of the Home Office merely on the basis of such conversations. He also took this opportunity to request immediate information on Japanese-American relations, revealing that the government had become quite perturbed over the existing circumstances.[1096]
In a severe rebuke for the government's failure to inform its field representatives of the current situation, Ambassador Oshima telegraphed that he could not conclude that Foreign Minister Toyoda either feared that secrecy would not be maintained or that the government had not as yet decided upon a definite policy. Should Tokyo be withholding information for security reasons, Ambassador Oshima declared that every Japanese representative at the risk of his life would maintain secrecy. Should the second reason prevail, Ambassador Oshima urged that, regardless of the inconclusiveness of the information, he be told even what Mr. Toyoda himself was considering.[1097]
446. Ambassador Oshima Objects to Japan's Use of Russian News Releases
Ambassador Oshima also complained bitterly of Japan's objective broadcasts of Russo-German frontline activities, stating that Tokyo, on two occasions, August 9 and 10, 1941, had broadcast Tass reports to the effect that Russian planes had raided Berlin on August 7 and 8. Ambassador Oshima pointed out that actually only an air raid alarm had been sounded and that no great damage, such as was reported, had been inflicted.
Stressing the fact that Japan would certainly be equally outraged should Germany deign to broadcast as facts the Chungking government reports, he suggested that Japan attempt to control future broadcasts. He further pointed out that since the German Foreign Office was constructing a large receiving station by which it would be able to listen minutely to broadcasts from the whole world, it would now be most important that Japan exercise caution in her transmissions.[1098]
The Ambassador continued to emphasize the ill will and confused feelings which such a policy of broadcasting would invoke throughout the Empire. This kind of reporting not only would cause misunderstanding among German officials and among Japanese living outside of Berlin, but there was a danger that it would injure the veracity of Japanese overseas broadcasts. Therefore, he urged that the Foreign Office consult with the broadcasting department and take suitable steps regarding the regulating of broadcasting reports originating in Russia.[1099]
447. Foreign Minister Toyoda Upholds Japan's Methods
In rebuke, on August 22, 1941, Foreign Minister Toyoda reminded Mr. Oshima that the Japanese government had been following a policy of handling worldwide broadcasts objectively and impartially in the hope of fostering confidence. He stressed the point that from the very fact that German broadcasts had been so severely regulated, their China and South Seas propaganda power had become worthless.
He also countered that such examples as the Ambassador had pointed out were extremely rare and challenged him to listen over a period of several days to verify this. Substantiating evidence for the report of a Russian raid on Berlin had been garnered from Domei dispatches and had originated in London and Vichy, the Foreign Minister revealed. Again he emphasized
[1096] III, 823.
[1097] III, 824.
[1098] III, 825.
[1099] III, 826.
[226]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
the fact that the Japanese broadcasting companies, working in unison with all government branches, were completely supporting their Foreign Office policy of upholding the Tripartite agreement.[1100]
448. Ambassador Oshima Confers with Field Marshal Keitel
By August 25, 1941, according to Ambassador Oshima who had been gathering battle reports from various sources[1101] including the German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, with whom he talked on August 23 at General Headquarters,[1102] German strategy was meeting with unprecedented success. In a lengthy six part dispatch transmitted on August 25, 1941, Ambassador Oshima attempted to convey to his Home Office the current trend of Russo-German hostilities, as related to him by the Field Marshal. Accordingly, he revealed that Russian casualties were estimated to be about five million, with a definitely known total of 1,250,000 prisoners and twice that many dead. Only the equivalent of about 60 divisions of the 260 which had appeared on battlefields remained, and these seemed to be haphazardly slapped together, resulting in low military efficiency. It had been estimated that the armed strength of the Soviet Union had fallen to one third of its original strength. The shortage of equipment and officer material was apparent. In some cases sergeants commanded battalions and in others a lieutenant would be in charge of a regiment.
Judging from the population it would be possible to organize about 20 more divisions, but in so doing they would practically exhaust the source of supply. Female battalions had already made an appearance. Although the Russian forces were still rich in manpower, they no longer were equipped or trained to fight with any degree of efficiency.[1103]
On the other hand, in regard to German losses, the Field Marshal stated that casualties were less than 160,000, the dead to date reaching 40,000. War reports from the southern front showed Odessa completely encircled while Dnepropetrovsk, located in a field warfare area and very strongly fortified, was being subjected to artillery fire before German forces would make any direct in-fighting attempt.
It was pointed out that in order to avoid the damage resulting from suburban warfare, Kiev was being subjected to destruction by artillery fire, to be followed up by infantry attacks.
Sudden and rapid developments in the Ukraine sector had enabled the German army to annihilate the greater part of Marshal Semyon Mikhailovich Budenny's forces, Field Marshal Keitel revealed. Because of the speed with which this advance had been conducted, all grains and other goods were left intact. From this point the German forces were scheduled to push on across the Dnieper River to Harikohu and Donbasu.[1104]
Along the northern front the Leningrad-Moscow railroad had already been cut at Chudovo and the German army had laid siege to the outlying districts of Leningrad from which is was reported that Marshall Kliment Voroshilov had fled. In Estonia, Revel remained the only unconquered area. Here again the German forces were avoiding rushing tactics and were concentrating on heavy artillery fire, the Field Marshal explained. The Finnish forces in cooperation with the Germans had advanced to the area between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. For the purpose of seizing the Murmansk area, General Eduard Dietl, famed for his defense of Narvik, was reportedly arriving from Norway with his forces via the sea.[1105]
German divisions on the central front had been diverted to both the southern and northern theaters, the latter group reaching a point southeast of Leningrad, and joining forces with the troops in that area.
[1100] III, 827.
[1101] III, 828.
[1102] III, 829.
[1103] III, 830.
[1104] III, 831. (The Kana word Harikohu is believed by United States translators to be Kharkov; and the Kana word Donbasu, to be Rostov.)
[1105] Ibid.
[227]
449. Field Marshal Keitel Explains German's War Aims
Explaining the aims of the German forces, Field Marshal Keitel told Ambassador Oshima that they were preparing to launch the second phase of the war soon. The goal of this phase included the capture of the entire region from Rostov to Moscow and the industrial area around Leningrad. These campaigns should be concluded by early November at which time the Russian field forces would have been destroyed. The Caucasus area was to be seized, but this action might not be initiated until December. No prediction about forces to be sent to the Urals could be made until the completion of the second phase. The Field Marshal blamed any delays on weather conditions and the stubborn resistance of the Russian masses.[1106]
450. Nationalist Chinese in Germany Present a Problem to the Axis
On September 2, 1941, Ambassador Oshima reported that a problem had arisen in connection with Chinese Nationalists in Berlin. Although Li Sheng-Wei had been appointed as Nanking Ambassador to Germany, he was experiencing transportation difficulties and would not be on hand to control the situation in Germany for some time. As a means of meeting the existing emergency Ambassador Oshima suggested that Nanking appoint an honorary consul in Berlin, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire which appointment would be approved by Tokyo, to deal with these "depraved anti-Japanese rascals".
Ambassador Oshima declared that the plan to establish an honorary consul had been thoroughly approved by the German government. If Nanking wished, Berlin had offered to select several "New Order" advocates to collaborate with Nanking representatives for the improvement of Japanese-Chinese-German relations. Ambassador Oshima requested the Foreign Minister's approval.[1107]
451. Japanese-German Trade Continues Despite Difficulties of War
Japan and Germany continued to rely upon each other for transportation facilities as, according to a September 1 dispatch, German and Italian Ambassadors in Tokyo requested that Japanese ships be made available for transporting Axis documents from Tokyo to South America. Japan had been in agreement provided that Italian airplanes flying between Italy and Rio de Janeiro and Santiago be made available for the transportation of Japanese documents which were secret or confidential in nature.[1108]
Tokyo wired that Ambassador Oshima urge the German Ministry of Finance in Berlin to approve Japan's request to draw from German peso funds in Argentina the equivalent of 7,000,000 yen to apply against Japanese purchases of cowhide. As compensation, Foreign Minister Toyoda explained, Japan was offering petroleum and other goods as well as foreign money. Although the details of the negotiations had been communicated to the German government via its representatives in Tokyo, by September 2, 1941, no action had been forthcoming and two of Japan's ships were already in South American waters prepared to load the cargo.[1109]
In the meantime, the Japanese embassy in Berlin was experiencing difficulties in distinguishing between official and civilian, urgent and non-urgent goods. Twenty-seven thousand tons of freight which was destined for Japan had accumulated, and although instructions from Tokyo stipulated that the goods be divided into four categories with the number of tons in each, Ambassador Oshima was at loss to cope with the matter and requested that hereafter more explicit arrangements be completed in Tokyo.[1110]
[1106] Ibid.
[1107] III, 832.
[1108] III, 833.
[1109] III, 834.
[1110] III, 835.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
vegetarian 8.veg.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . Soon, plywood might go vegetarian.
The ubiquitous building material owes its strength to multiple wood sheets with their grains at right angles and tenacious glue between the layers. Now, researchers are proposing that plywood be manufactured using glue made with soy flour rather than with powdered cattle-blood protein, as is done conventionally. The vegetable-containing adhesive might reduce the wood's cost and alleviate health concerns among mill workers.
A leading incentive for finding such an alternative is workers' fears of breathing in cattle-blood dust and disease agents it might carry, says Mila P. Hojilla-Evangelista of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Peoria, Ill. Furthermore, there are few suppliers of the blood protein, which helps make the glue sticky and durable.
In work funded by the United Soybean Board, Hojilla-Evangelista and her colleagues developed and tested several glue formulations that use different amounts of soy ingredients from a variety of suppliers. Three glues that contain soy flour—a combination of soy protein and starch—have properties comparable to those made with the blood protein, says Hojilla-Evangelista. In tests, the soy-containing glues were at least as strong as the conventional glue and had comparable water resistance, she says.
The ubiquitous building material owes its strength to multiple wood sheets with their grains at right angles and tenacious glue between the layers. Now, researchers are proposing that plywood be manufactured using glue made with soy flour rather than with powdered cattle-blood protein, as is done conventionally. The vegetable-containing adhesive might reduce the wood's cost and alleviate health concerns among mill workers.
A leading incentive for finding such an alternative is workers' fears of breathing in cattle-blood dust and disease agents it might carry, says Mila P. Hojilla-Evangelista of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Peoria, Ill. Furthermore, there are few suppliers of the blood protein, which helps make the glue sticky and durable.
In work funded by the United Soybean Board, Hojilla-Evangelista and her colleagues developed and tested several glue formulations that use different amounts of soy ingredients from a variety of suppliers. Three glues that contain soy flour—a combination of soy protein and starch—have properties comparable to those made with the blood protein, says Hojilla-Evangelista. In tests, the soy-containing glues were at least as strong as the conventional glue and had comparable water resistance, she says.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
astrocytes 5.ast.002003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes are finally getting their chance to shine.
Two groups of researchers — one at MIT, the other at Harvard — have shown that astrocytes get the blood pumping to parts of the brain that are thinking hard. These cells may use blood flow and other tricks to rev up communication between neurons or slow it down, and may even play a role in storing information. The findings indicate that astrocytes are not just supporting actors for neurons; they deserve recognition as true costars.
“Astrocytes are typically forgotten,” says Venkatesh Murthy, leader of the Harvard group, but they “are right in the thick of things.”
Neurons have typically gotten the most attention from researchers because they are the brain cells that do all the thinking. But neurons cohabit the brain with a class of cells called glia, which means “glue” in Greek. Glia outnumber neurons in the human brain by a factor of 10 to one, and astrocytes are the most abundant type of glial cell.
The view of astrocytes has changed slowly over the past decade. Astrocytes were once thought to do little more than hold the brain together and they were largely ignored. In recent years, though, scientists have learned that the star-shaped cells have a hand in guiding connections between neurons and controlling levels of chemical messengers in the brain. But those activities were viewed mainly as supporting roles. Now their central function in controlling blood flow indicates that astrocytes deserve higher billing. Without astrocytes, in fact, one of the most powerful tools of neuroscience — functional MRI — would not be possible.
Functional MRIs rely on the premise that blood flow is coordinated with neuron activity, but the mechanism that links blood flow to activity has been a mystery.
access
Enlargemagnify
MORE THAN SUPPORTCells in the brain called astrocytes have been considered just support cells for neurons. They may actually do much more, regulating blood flow in the brain.Nancy Kedersha/Science Photo Library
Some scientists suspected that astrocytes may play a role in blood flow because the cells have “end feet” that nestle up against synapses — the places where neurons connect — and other end feet that wrap around capillaries. But no one had proven that astrocytes could actually influence blood flow in living animals.
Working with ferrets, Mriganka Sur and colleagues at MIT used an advanced microscopy technique to measure the response of astrocytes to visual stimuli. The group reported its findings June 20 in Science. Neurons in the visual cortex of ferrets, cats, monkeys, humans and other higher mammals are arranged in columns of cells that respond to objects oriented in the same direction. For instance, one column would respond to the vertical edges of a building, while another close-by column would be stimulated by horizontal lines. Columns tuned to every possible orientation of a line are situated close to each other in what neuroscientists call pinwheel centers.
Sur’s postdoctoral researchers James Schummers and Hongbo Yu used fluorescent dyes to show when neurons and astrocytes become active. Neurons respond in split seconds to visual cues flashed into the eyes of anesthetized animals. About three to four seconds after neurons begin firing, calcium levels in the astrocytes begin to rise, a cue that the cell is active and sending signals. Blood flow through capillaries increases following the rise in calcium.
Murthy and his colleagues got similar results with neurons and astrocytes in the odor-sensing centers in the olfactory bulbs of mice. That study appeared June 26 in Neuron.
An astrocyte listens in to the chemical conversation between neurons, soaking up neurotransmitters such as glutamate, the researchers showed. Astrocytes actually use two pathways to respond to glutamate: The cells have receptors for glutamate on the end that nestles next to the synapse, and the cells can also take up the neurotransmitter in another way, the researchers found.
The glia are not just passively eavesdropping. They also regulate levels of neurotransmitters in the synapse, send signals to capillaries to increase blood flow to oxygen-hungry neurons and participate in gathering information, says Frank Kirchhoff, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany. The two studies demonstrate that astrocytes are involved in signaling in the brain, he says.
Astrocytes not only listen in on neuronal conversations and report to the blood vessels, they also talk back to the neurons, the research demonstrates. Blocking the ability of the astrocyte to respond to glutamate caused neurons to get even more excited.
“That is direct evidence that an astrocyte is not just a pretty face sitting around soaking up [neurotransmitters], but that it also plays a role in computation,” Sur says.
Each astrocyte seems to be intimately associated with a single neuron or a small number of neurons, Sur says. That was a surprise because previous research on slices of brain suggested that astrocytes work together in vast networks. Sur doesn’t rule out the possibility that astrocytes coordinate with each other, but he speculates that they usually act locally — chatting with nearby neuron partners and blood cells within a 10- to 20-micrometer area. Performing similar experiments in wakeful animals might help answer the question, Kirchhoff suggests, because anesthetics may dampen the glial cells’ responses.
Astrocytes are pickier about responding to visual signals than neurons are, the MIT group found. The cells seem to have higher standards than neurons for the amount of stimulus they consider exciting. The researchers don’t yet know whether astrocytes slow blood flow to calm over-excited neurons, or if increasing the blood supply allows neurons to work harder. And the code of calcium signaling within the astrocytes also needs to be worked out, Kirchhoff says.
Some diseases may be caused or complicated by defects in astrocyte function, Murthy says. His team is exploring whether the astrocytes’ ability to control blood flow breaks down with age. The new discoveries will probably force researchers to rethink brain networks to include astrocytes, Sur adds.
“It’s not often that a whole new function for a class of cells is revealed,” Sur says. “It’s like when we first began to understand synaptic transmission 50 years ago. The whole field is open.”
Two groups of researchers — one at MIT, the other at Harvard — have shown that astrocytes get the blood pumping to parts of the brain that are thinking hard. These cells may use blood flow and other tricks to rev up communication between neurons or slow it down, and may even play a role in storing information. The findings indicate that astrocytes are not just supporting actors for neurons; they deserve recognition as true costars.
“Astrocytes are typically forgotten,” says Venkatesh Murthy, leader of the Harvard group, but they “are right in the thick of things.”
Neurons have typically gotten the most attention from researchers because they are the brain cells that do all the thinking. But neurons cohabit the brain with a class of cells called glia, which means “glue” in Greek. Glia outnumber neurons in the human brain by a factor of 10 to one, and astrocytes are the most abundant type of glial cell.
The view of astrocytes has changed slowly over the past decade. Astrocytes were once thought to do little more than hold the brain together and they were largely ignored. In recent years, though, scientists have learned that the star-shaped cells have a hand in guiding connections between neurons and controlling levels of chemical messengers in the brain. But those activities were viewed mainly as supporting roles. Now their central function in controlling blood flow indicates that astrocytes deserve higher billing. Without astrocytes, in fact, one of the most powerful tools of neuroscience — functional MRI — would not be possible.
Functional MRIs rely on the premise that blood flow is coordinated with neuron activity, but the mechanism that links blood flow to activity has been a mystery.
access
Enlargemagnify
MORE THAN SUPPORTCells in the brain called astrocytes have been considered just support cells for neurons. They may actually do much more, regulating blood flow in the brain.Nancy Kedersha/Science Photo Library
Some scientists suspected that astrocytes may play a role in blood flow because the cells have “end feet” that nestle up against synapses — the places where neurons connect — and other end feet that wrap around capillaries. But no one had proven that astrocytes could actually influence blood flow in living animals.
Working with ferrets, Mriganka Sur and colleagues at MIT used an advanced microscopy technique to measure the response of astrocytes to visual stimuli. The group reported its findings June 20 in Science. Neurons in the visual cortex of ferrets, cats, monkeys, humans and other higher mammals are arranged in columns of cells that respond to objects oriented in the same direction. For instance, one column would respond to the vertical edges of a building, while another close-by column would be stimulated by horizontal lines. Columns tuned to every possible orientation of a line are situated close to each other in what neuroscientists call pinwheel centers.
Sur’s postdoctoral researchers James Schummers and Hongbo Yu used fluorescent dyes to show when neurons and astrocytes become active. Neurons respond in split seconds to visual cues flashed into the eyes of anesthetized animals. About three to four seconds after neurons begin firing, calcium levels in the astrocytes begin to rise, a cue that the cell is active and sending signals. Blood flow through capillaries increases following the rise in calcium.
Murthy and his colleagues got similar results with neurons and astrocytes in the odor-sensing centers in the olfactory bulbs of mice. That study appeared June 26 in Neuron.
An astrocyte listens in to the chemical conversation between neurons, soaking up neurotransmitters such as glutamate, the researchers showed. Astrocytes actually use two pathways to respond to glutamate: The cells have receptors for glutamate on the end that nestles next to the synapse, and the cells can also take up the neurotransmitter in another way, the researchers found.
The glia are not just passively eavesdropping. They also regulate levels of neurotransmitters in the synapse, send signals to capillaries to increase blood flow to oxygen-hungry neurons and participate in gathering information, says Frank Kirchhoff, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany. The two studies demonstrate that astrocytes are involved in signaling in the brain, he says.
Astrocytes not only listen in on neuronal conversations and report to the blood vessels, they also talk back to the neurons, the research demonstrates. Blocking the ability of the astrocyte to respond to glutamate caused neurons to get even more excited.
“That is direct evidence that an astrocyte is not just a pretty face sitting around soaking up [neurotransmitters], but that it also plays a role in computation,” Sur says.
Each astrocyte seems to be intimately associated with a single neuron or a small number of neurons, Sur says. That was a surprise because previous research on slices of brain suggested that astrocytes work together in vast networks. Sur doesn’t rule out the possibility that astrocytes coordinate with each other, but he speculates that they usually act locally — chatting with nearby neuron partners and blood cells within a 10- to 20-micrometer area. Performing similar experiments in wakeful animals might help answer the question, Kirchhoff suggests, because anesthetics may dampen the glial cells’ responses.
Astrocytes are pickier about responding to visual signals than neurons are, the MIT group found. The cells seem to have higher standards than neurons for the amount of stimulus they consider exciting. The researchers don’t yet know whether astrocytes slow blood flow to calm over-excited neurons, or if increasing the blood supply allows neurons to work harder. And the code of calcium signaling within the astrocytes also needs to be worked out, Kirchhoff says.
Some diseases may be caused or complicated by defects in astrocyte function, Murthy says. His team is exploring whether the astrocytes’ ability to control blood flow breaks down with age. The new discoveries will probably force researchers to rethink brain networks to include astrocytes, Sur adds.
“It’s not often that a whole new function for a class of cells is revealed,” Sur says. “It’s like when we first began to understand synaptic transmission 50 years ago. The whole field is open.”
Monday, May 4, 2009
grime 1.gri.0003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Children attending day care at an early age are more likely to breathe easy later, according to a new study of wheezing among children in Manchester, England.
Babies who began day care when they were 6 to 12 months old were about half as likely as those who did not attend day care to develop a “wheeze” by age 5, a possible indicator of asthma, scientists report in the September Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“I think it strengthens the case that day care may be protective against asthma,” comments Anne Wright, an expert in epidemiology of childhood asthma at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.
But the findings are still too preliminary to serve as parenting advice, cautions study coauthor Angela Simpson, a respiratory physician at the University of Manchester. “We’re not trying to tell parents what to do with their children based on this,” she says. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
The results could reinforce an idea called the “hygiene hypothesis,” which suggests that rises in childhood allergy and asthma rates in developed countries such as the United Kingdom are partly due to excessive hygiene. With less exposure to environmental bacteria and viruses, the theory goes, infants’ immune systems learn to attack the wrong targets, triggering allergic reactions and sometimes asthma.
The study only shows the connection between attending day care and wheezing rates without proving why the nursery reduces the chance of developing wheezing. But Wright says that in light of previous research, “to me it seems to have something to do with microbial exposure.”
Previous studies have shown that exposure to day care lowers children’s chances of developing allergies. But results for wheezing and asthma, which can be triggered by allergies, had been inconsistent.
In the new study, children who did not attend day care had otherwise healthy lung function, Wright notes, suggesting that the wheezing is indeed due to an immune response rather than a problem with the children’s airways.
But, Simpson adds: “This doesn’t tell us what within the nursery is the protective factor. We assume that it’s the bacteria in the nursery, but it might be something else.”
The study only shows the connection between attending day care and wheezing rates without proving why the nursery reduces the chance of developing wheezing. But Wright says that in light of previous research, “to me it seems to have something to do with microbial exposure.”
Simpson and her colleagues tracked the respiratory and allergy health of 952 children, recording parent-reported incidents of wheezing and performing lung function tests. Children who entered day care before 6 months of age actually had a higher chance of developing a temporary wheeze early in life, but were still less likely to have a lasting wheeze by age five than kids who never attended day care.
“Because of our genetic makeup, some children will benefit more from going to nursery than others,” Simpson notes. Finding the genetic factors that influence which children will get a health benefit from early exposure to a nursery will be the next step in their research, she says.
Babies who began day care when they were 6 to 12 months old were about half as likely as those who did not attend day care to develop a “wheeze” by age 5, a possible indicator of asthma, scientists report in the September Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“I think it strengthens the case that day care may be protective against asthma,” comments Anne Wright, an expert in epidemiology of childhood asthma at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.
But the findings are still too preliminary to serve as parenting advice, cautions study coauthor Angela Simpson, a respiratory physician at the University of Manchester. “We’re not trying to tell parents what to do with their children based on this,” she says. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
The results could reinforce an idea called the “hygiene hypothesis,” which suggests that rises in childhood allergy and asthma rates in developed countries such as the United Kingdom are partly due to excessive hygiene. With less exposure to environmental bacteria and viruses, the theory goes, infants’ immune systems learn to attack the wrong targets, triggering allergic reactions and sometimes asthma.
The study only shows the connection between attending day care and wheezing rates without proving why the nursery reduces the chance of developing wheezing. But Wright says that in light of previous research, “to me it seems to have something to do with microbial exposure.”
Previous studies have shown that exposure to day care lowers children’s chances of developing allergies. But results for wheezing and asthma, which can be triggered by allergies, had been inconsistent.
In the new study, children who did not attend day care had otherwise healthy lung function, Wright notes, suggesting that the wheezing is indeed due to an immune response rather than a problem with the children’s airways.
But, Simpson adds: “This doesn’t tell us what within the nursery is the protective factor. We assume that it’s the bacteria in the nursery, but it might be something else.”
The study only shows the connection between attending day care and wheezing rates without proving why the nursery reduces the chance of developing wheezing. But Wright says that in light of previous research, “to me it seems to have something to do with microbial exposure.”
Simpson and her colleagues tracked the respiratory and allergy health of 952 children, recording parent-reported incidents of wheezing and performing lung function tests. Children who entered day care before 6 months of age actually had a higher chance of developing a temporary wheeze early in life, but were still less likely to have a lasting wheeze by age five than kids who never attended day care.
“Because of our genetic makeup, some children will benefit more from going to nursery than others,” Simpson notes. Finding the genetic factors that influence which children will get a health benefit from early exposure to a nursery will be the next step in their research, she says.
Friday, May 1, 2009
transplants 7.tra.1123 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A person who receives a heart transplant from someone of the same gender is more likely to survive the subsequent few years than someone getting a new heart from a donor of the opposite sex, researchers reported November 12 at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting.
“This was something that was speculated” based on smaller studies from single institutions, says surgeon Eric Weiss of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. With the new findings, he says, “we basically supported the hypothesis.”
To do so, he and his colleagues tapped into a nationwide database of every adult heart transplant in the United States from 1998 to 2007—18,240 recipients. The researchers were able to track heart recipients’ progress for 3.4 years on average, with data for some people stretching out over 10 years.
One-fourth of heart recipients died during the study. The records show that people who got a heart from a donor of the opposite sex were 15 percent more likely to die during the study period than people who got a gender-matched heart. The female donor/male recipient combination yielded the greatest risk, a 23 percent increase of death.
Sex-mismatched recipients were also more likely to develop transplant immune rejection during the first year. Female recipients getting gender-mismatched hearts had the highest rejection rates.
In rejection, the recipient’s immune system identifies the new organ as foreign and attacks it. The greatest risk of transplant rejection occurs during the first year after the transplant, although the danger never goes away fully, Weiss says.
Both risks — of death or immune rejection — remained about the same at the three-year and five-year points after transplant, Weiss says.
The authors accounted for differences between donors and recipients, other than gender, that might influence how well a transplant progresses. These differences included age, race, diabetes status, kidney function, immunological match and recipient frailty.
“This is evidence that these investigators identified a signal where gender mismatch was in fact a concern,” says Clyde Yancy, a transplant cardiologist at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.
The biological reasoning behind the seeming risk of a gender-mismatched donor heart — and particularly for women receiving one — might rest with the Y chromosome, which only men have, Weiss says.
But the full explanation probably goes deeper, says Yancy. “A woman’s immune system is sensitized to a larger array of common antigens in the donor pool after pregnancy,” he says. That may include antigens — any compounds that elicit an immune reaction — found on the Y chromosome, he says, and could account for the higher rejection rate in women seen here and in smaller studies.
At present, transplant teams do their best to match donors and recipients by body size and blood type. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Moving beyond current methods and even beyond gender, Yancy says these findings also add credence to the argument that transplant centers need to develop a rapid system for identifying better immune matches between donors and recipients.
The usefulness of sex-based matching would come up only if there were more than one heart available, Yancy says. And he cautions that any benefit of gender matching might be lost if it means waiting for a matched heart and delaying a transplant.
Weiss says he and his colleagues are interested in developing a formula that would clarify for doctors how to match up the best possible donors with recipients, also assuming more than one heart is available. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN-ESQUIRE.US
For the time being, Weiss says patients “are still much better off receiving an organ than trying to live with end-stage heart failure, whether [the heart] is from a male or female.”
“This was something that was speculated” based on smaller studies from single institutions, says surgeon Eric Weiss of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. With the new findings, he says, “we basically supported the hypothesis.”
To do so, he and his colleagues tapped into a nationwide database of every adult heart transplant in the United States from 1998 to 2007—18,240 recipients. The researchers were able to track heart recipients’ progress for 3.4 years on average, with data for some people stretching out over 10 years.
One-fourth of heart recipients died during the study. The records show that people who got a heart from a donor of the opposite sex were 15 percent more likely to die during the study period than people who got a gender-matched heart. The female donor/male recipient combination yielded the greatest risk, a 23 percent increase of death.
Sex-mismatched recipients were also more likely to develop transplant immune rejection during the first year. Female recipients getting gender-mismatched hearts had the highest rejection rates.
In rejection, the recipient’s immune system identifies the new organ as foreign and attacks it. The greatest risk of transplant rejection occurs during the first year after the transplant, although the danger never goes away fully, Weiss says.
Both risks — of death or immune rejection — remained about the same at the three-year and five-year points after transplant, Weiss says.
The authors accounted for differences between donors and recipients, other than gender, that might influence how well a transplant progresses. These differences included age, race, diabetes status, kidney function, immunological match and recipient frailty.
“This is evidence that these investigators identified a signal where gender mismatch was in fact a concern,” says Clyde Yancy, a transplant cardiologist at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.
The biological reasoning behind the seeming risk of a gender-mismatched donor heart — and particularly for women receiving one — might rest with the Y chromosome, which only men have, Weiss says.
But the full explanation probably goes deeper, says Yancy. “A woman’s immune system is sensitized to a larger array of common antigens in the donor pool after pregnancy,” he says. That may include antigens — any compounds that elicit an immune reaction — found on the Y chromosome, he says, and could account for the higher rejection rate in women seen here and in smaller studies.
At present, transplant teams do their best to match donors and recipients by body size and blood type. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Moving beyond current methods and even beyond gender, Yancy says these findings also add credence to the argument that transplant centers need to develop a rapid system for identifying better immune matches between donors and recipients.
The usefulness of sex-based matching would come up only if there were more than one heart available, Yancy says. And he cautions that any benefit of gender matching might be lost if it means waiting for a matched heart and delaying a transplant.
Weiss says he and his colleagues are interested in developing a formula that would clarify for doctors how to match up the best possible donors with recipients, also assuming more than one heart is available. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN-ESQUIRE.US
For the time being, Weiss says patients “are still much better off receiving an organ than trying to live with end-stage heart failure, whether [the heart] is from a male or female.”
Thursday, April 30, 2009
gut 0.gut.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Serotonin produced in the gut may have a major role in bone formation. Too much of the gut-derived hormone in mice leads to weak bones, while too little causes bones to be too dense, a new study shows. The results, published in the Nov. 28 Cell, may lead to new treatments for bone diseases, such as osteoporosis.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The finding that serotonin may regulate bone mass is “a fabulous discovery,” comments Matthew Warman, a physician researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston who studies bone diseases. “It was completely unexpected that a gut hormone would have such a strong effect on bone mass.”
Serotonin is known for its role inside the human brain: The small hormone regulates mood, learning and sleep. But 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut and never crosses the blood-brain barrier. This massive supply of serotonin regulates the day-to-day operations of the gut, including the rhythmic contractions that move food through the digestive tract. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US But this new research shows that gut-derived serotonin may have an important job after it leaves the gut — building bones.
The link between serotonin and bone density came from studying Lrp5, a gene that regulates bone formation. Rare mutations in the Lrp5 gene can cause it to make Lrp5 protein that is either more or less active than normal. People with mutations in Lrp5 that cause the protein to be less active suffer from bone-weakening osteoporosis, while people with mutations that increase Lrp5 protein activity have high bone mass syndrome. To study how Lrp5 might be regulating bone density in humans, the researchers turned to mice, whose bones are affected by Lrp5 mutations in the same way as humans.
The scientists found that in mice, the Lrp5 gene regulates yet another gene that in turn controls serotonin production in the gut. This finding hinted at a connection among Lrp5, its associated bone diseases and serotonin produced in the gut.
To test the link between Lrp5 and serotonin in the gut, the researchers gave mice mutations that caused reduced Lrp5 protein activity. These mice had much higher levels of gut-derived serotonin than did mice without the mutation. The same was true of three human patients who had osteoporosis caused by the mutations in the Lrp5 gene: The patients had three to five times more gut-derived serotonin than control subjects.
The opposite was also true: Mice with mutations that cause an increase in Lrp5 protein activity, which causes dense bones, had lower levels of gut-derived serotonin. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US What’s more, two human patients with high bone mass syndrome caused by similar mutations showed 50 percent less gut-derived serotonin than control subjects.
Not only did researchers correlate serotonin levels with bone mass, they also changed the density of the mice’s bones by tinkering with serotonin levels in the gut. The mice were fed a diet low in tryptophan — a serotonin precursor found in turkey — as a way to lower the levels of gut-derived serotonin. On this low-tryptophan diet, mice with the mutation that would have caused weak bones instead had normal bone density. Mutated mice who received a drug that prevents serotonin synthesis in the gut showed the same healthy bones as the mice on the low-tryptophan diet.
Coauthor Patricia Ducy of Columbia University said that the link between the gut and bone was a surprise. “We were not looking into this direction when we started our work, but the results we obtained in vivo in mice were compelling and we listened to them.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The new connection between bone and gut-derived serotonin will likely spur many new types of experiments on bone formation. “It’s what you’d call a landmark study,” researcher Bjorn Olsen of Harvard Medical School in Boston says. “It opens new doors.”
The finding that serotonin may regulate bone mass is “a fabulous discovery,” comments Matthew Warman, a physician researcher at Children’s Hospital Boston who studies bone diseases. “It was completely unexpected that a gut hormone would have such a strong effect on bone mass.”
Serotonin is known for its role inside the human brain: The small hormone regulates mood, learning and sleep. But 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut and never crosses the blood-brain barrier. This massive supply of serotonin regulates the day-to-day operations of the gut, including the rhythmic contractions that move food through the digestive tract. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US But this new research shows that gut-derived serotonin may have an important job after it leaves the gut — building bones.
The link between serotonin and bone density came from studying Lrp5, a gene that regulates bone formation. Rare mutations in the Lrp5 gene can cause it to make Lrp5 protein that is either more or less active than normal. People with mutations in Lrp5 that cause the protein to be less active suffer from bone-weakening osteoporosis, while people with mutations that increase Lrp5 protein activity have high bone mass syndrome. To study how Lrp5 might be regulating bone density in humans, the researchers turned to mice, whose bones are affected by Lrp5 mutations in the same way as humans.
The scientists found that in mice, the Lrp5 gene regulates yet another gene that in turn controls serotonin production in the gut. This finding hinted at a connection among Lrp5, its associated bone diseases and serotonin produced in the gut.
To test the link between Lrp5 and serotonin in the gut, the researchers gave mice mutations that caused reduced Lrp5 protein activity. These mice had much higher levels of gut-derived serotonin than did mice without the mutation. The same was true of three human patients who had osteoporosis caused by the mutations in the Lrp5 gene: The patients had three to five times more gut-derived serotonin than control subjects.
The opposite was also true: Mice with mutations that cause an increase in Lrp5 protein activity, which causes dense bones, had lower levels of gut-derived serotonin. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US What’s more, two human patients with high bone mass syndrome caused by similar mutations showed 50 percent less gut-derived serotonin than control subjects.
Not only did researchers correlate serotonin levels with bone mass, they also changed the density of the mice’s bones by tinkering with serotonin levels in the gut. The mice were fed a diet low in tryptophan — a serotonin precursor found in turkey — as a way to lower the levels of gut-derived serotonin. On this low-tryptophan diet, mice with the mutation that would have caused weak bones instead had normal bone density. Mutated mice who received a drug that prevents serotonin synthesis in the gut showed the same healthy bones as the mice on the low-tryptophan diet.
Coauthor Patricia Ducy of Columbia University said that the link between the gut and bone was a surprise. “We were not looking into this direction when we started our work, but the results we obtained in vivo in mice were compelling and we listened to them.” Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
The new connection between bone and gut-derived serotonin will likely spur many new types of experiments on bone formation. “It’s what you’d call a landmark study,” researcher Bjorn Olsen of Harvard Medical School in Boston says. “It opens new doors.”
Monday, April 13, 2009
trillion 7.tri.11234 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire On December 18, a National Research Council panel told the Environmental Protection Agency that sufficient data exist to begin assessing the potential health risks posed by phthalates, among the most ubiquitous pollutants on the planet. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET At the same time, the NRC panel strongly recommended that the agency adopt a “paradigm shift” in the way it assesses the chemicals’ toxicity to humans.
Instead of evaluating each phthalate compound individually, EPA should begin assessing risks from likely combos of these and related chemicals — even if each chemical works differently, according to the panel’s new report.
Phthalates are a widely used family of plasticizers and solvents. Owing to the chemicals’ presence in plastics, cosmetics, personal care products and even medicines, residues of these chemicals show up in everyone throughout the developed world. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET
For more than a decade, studies in rodents have been demonstrating that exposures to phthalates early in life can perturb — in some cases derail — development of an animal’s reproductive organs (SN: 9/2/00, p. 152). Males are most sensitive, largely because these chemicals act as anti-androgens. That is, the chemicals lower concentrations of testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. Especially concerning: In females, phthalates can cross the placenta and pollute the womb.
The NRC panel advocated that EPA assess cumulative risks from all phthalates and other anti-androgenic compounds together — even if the way each pollutant depresses testosterone action or availability results from differing modes of action.
Whether these pollutants pose serious risks to people remains an open question, acknowledged several authors of the NRC report, who took part in a teleconference for the report’s release.
EPA didn’t ask NRC to assess phthalates’ toxicity to humans, notes Deborah Cory-Slechta of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. Instead, EPA asked her panel to evaluate whether sufficient data exist to conduct a human risk assessment. And if so, how should the risks be evaluated: on the basis of single compounds considered separately, as a group evaluated together, or as a group assessed along with additional anti-androgenic agents.
Cory-Slechta says her panel found that there are plenty of data for EPA “to go ahead and do it [a human risk assessment].” But the panel also recommended that when EPA does such an assessment, it should take a sharply different tack from its normal approach. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
To Shanna Swan, a phthalate researcher at the University of Rochester, the recommended change in how to calculate the risk of these chemicals “is a big deal. Cumulative risk assessment is the way it must be done,” she says, “given the dose additivity of these chemicals and the multiplicity of our exposures.”
Most people regularly encounter many phthalates, and as a class these compounds tend to have similar impacts. So, even if each of five phthalates had no apparent effects at a particular dose when delivered individually, coincident exposure to the mix might easily prove to compound the toxicity, the new report explained.
Indeed, published data show that “phthalates can work together at quite low doses,” noted NRC panel member Andreas Kortenkamp of the University of London School of Pharmacy in England. “So if combination effects were not taken into consideration at this level, we would underestimate possible risks.” In fact, he said, his committee’s new paradigm for considering phthalate toxicity cumulatively must inevitably result in findings of higher risks than would have been calculated by assessing each chemical in isolation.
In the new report, NRC concluded that a lifelong testosterone shortfall triggered by phthalate exposures can cause “the variety of effects observed” in animals — including infertility, reduced sperm production, undescended testes, penile birth defects and other reproductive-tract malformations — “if it occurs at times that are critical for male reproductive development.” The most sensitive exposure period: time in the womb.
Indeed, concentrations of phthalates measured in amniotic fluid in the human womb can be “in the range of levels in rat amniotic fluid that gives rise to adverse effects in the offspring,” Kortenkamp said.
However, links to human effects have been quite limited, observes panel member Paul Foster of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. One exception: a study of infant boys linking phthalate exposure in the womb to a feminization of the anogenital distance — the span separating the gonads and anus (SN: 6/4/05, p. 355).
In rodents, this distance is demonstrably longer in males. In fact, researchers depend on this sex-linked distance to visually determine the gender of young rodents.
Follow-up studies are needed with more subjects to test the validity of those preliminary data, Foster says. That said, this phthalates toxicologist points out that the general processes by which these chemicals interfere with sexual differentiation “are common to all mammals. And so, having seen them in rats, one would not expect them not to occur in humans — providing, of course, the exposure was high enough.”
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Comments 2
* I neglected to mention that the cumulative neuro-toxic effects of pesticides, and other related chemicals, are also probably behind the rise in various learning deficits and spectrum disorders in children. If this continues, the planet will truly be unfit for rational intelligent life, if this hasn't already happened.
James Boettcher James Boettcher
Dec. 20, 2008 at 2:24am
* Endocrine disruptors (ED) are chemicals that interfere with the normal function of the endocrine system. Some of these chemicals have structural similarities to hormones and can bind to receptor cells where a hormone would normally bind.
As might be expected, the effect on the target cell is different with the ED attached. Sometimes the target cell “turns on” and performs its regular function, but there is no “off” to its activity and there is too much chemical or change that results. Sometimes, the target cell can not “turn on” because of the ED and the result is that there will be too little of a chemical or change when required.
Chemicals that act like hormones in the system but interrupt normal activity are called “hormone mimics”. A class of hormone mimics that act like the reproductive hormones (which include estrogen) are called “environmental estrogens” (EE).
The number of pollutants that are classified as EDs or EEs is large and growing.
Suspected EDs are found in pesticides (agriculture, home, pet (flea collars, etc.), detergents, birth control pills, plastics (PVCs), PCBs, dioxins (including Agent Orange), oil refining, auto and truck exhaust, cigarette smoke, coal burning power plant emissions. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The list is quite long and the effects of very small levels of EDs, in the parts per trillion range, are unknown, but their effects are cumulative.
In her 1996 book 'Our Stolen Future', Dr. Theo Colborn brought world-wide attention to scientific discoveries about endocrine disruption and the fact that common contaminants can interfere with the natural signals controlling development of the fetus.
The original work was done in the 80's. More than 20 years later and the EPA is still stone-walling this information.
Note that in 2007, an attempt to honor Rachael Carson for her work on pesticides was blocked by Republicans in Congress and their friends in the Chemical Lobby.
The politicization of the EPA, and indeed the total lack of Science within the current administration is an obvious fact. Let's hope the new President, and a Science friendly cabinet, will put an end to this nonsense for good.
Instead of evaluating each phthalate compound individually, EPA should begin assessing risks from likely combos of these and related chemicals — even if each chemical works differently, according to the panel’s new report.
Phthalates are a widely used family of plasticizers and solvents. Owing to the chemicals’ presence in plastics, cosmetics, personal care products and even medicines, residues of these chemicals show up in everyone throughout the developed world. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET
For more than a decade, studies in rodents have been demonstrating that exposures to phthalates early in life can perturb — in some cases derail — development of an animal’s reproductive organs (SN: 9/2/00, p. 152). Males are most sensitive, largely because these chemicals act as anti-androgens. That is, the chemicals lower concentrations of testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. Especially concerning: In females, phthalates can cross the placenta and pollute the womb.
The NRC panel advocated that EPA assess cumulative risks from all phthalates and other anti-androgenic compounds together — even if the way each pollutant depresses testosterone action or availability results from differing modes of action.
Whether these pollutants pose serious risks to people remains an open question, acknowledged several authors of the NRC report, who took part in a teleconference for the report’s release.
EPA didn’t ask NRC to assess phthalates’ toxicity to humans, notes Deborah Cory-Slechta of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. Instead, EPA asked her panel to evaluate whether sufficient data exist to conduct a human risk assessment. And if so, how should the risks be evaluated: on the basis of single compounds considered separately, as a group evaluated together, or as a group assessed along with additional anti-androgenic agents.
Cory-Slechta says her panel found that there are plenty of data for EPA “to go ahead and do it [a human risk assessment].” But the panel also recommended that when EPA does such an assessment, it should take a sharply different tack from its normal approach. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
To Shanna Swan, a phthalate researcher at the University of Rochester, the recommended change in how to calculate the risk of these chemicals “is a big deal. Cumulative risk assessment is the way it must be done,” she says, “given the dose additivity of these chemicals and the multiplicity of our exposures.”
Most people regularly encounter many phthalates, and as a class these compounds tend to have similar impacts. So, even if each of five phthalates had no apparent effects at a particular dose when delivered individually, coincident exposure to the mix might easily prove to compound the toxicity, the new report explained.
Indeed, published data show that “phthalates can work together at quite low doses,” noted NRC panel member Andreas Kortenkamp of the University of London School of Pharmacy in England. “So if combination effects were not taken into consideration at this level, we would underestimate possible risks.” In fact, he said, his committee’s new paradigm for considering phthalate toxicity cumulatively must inevitably result in findings of higher risks than would have been calculated by assessing each chemical in isolation.
In the new report, NRC concluded that a lifelong testosterone shortfall triggered by phthalate exposures can cause “the variety of effects observed” in animals — including infertility, reduced sperm production, undescended testes, penile birth defects and other reproductive-tract malformations — “if it occurs at times that are critical for male reproductive development.” The most sensitive exposure period: time in the womb.
Indeed, concentrations of phthalates measured in amniotic fluid in the human womb can be “in the range of levels in rat amniotic fluid that gives rise to adverse effects in the offspring,” Kortenkamp said.
However, links to human effects have been quite limited, observes panel member Paul Foster of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. One exception: a study of infant boys linking phthalate exposure in the womb to a feminization of the anogenital distance — the span separating the gonads and anus (SN: 6/4/05, p. 355).
In rodents, this distance is demonstrably longer in males. In fact, researchers depend on this sex-linked distance to visually determine the gender of young rodents.
Follow-up studies are needed with more subjects to test the validity of those preliminary data, Foster says. That said, this phthalates toxicologist points out that the general processes by which these chemicals interfere with sexual differentiation “are common to all mammals. And so, having seen them in rats, one would not expect them not to occur in humans — providing, of course, the exposure was high enough.”
* |
* Comment
Found in: Body & Brain, Environment and Science & Society
Share & Save
* slashdot slashdot
* digg digg
* facebook facebook
* yahoo yahoo
* del.icio.us del.icio.us
* reddit reddit
* google google
* technorati technorati
Comments 2
* I neglected to mention that the cumulative neuro-toxic effects of pesticides, and other related chemicals, are also probably behind the rise in various learning deficits and spectrum disorders in children. If this continues, the planet will truly be unfit for rational intelligent life, if this hasn't already happened.
James Boettcher James Boettcher
Dec. 20, 2008 at 2:24am
* Endocrine disruptors (ED) are chemicals that interfere with the normal function of the endocrine system. Some of these chemicals have structural similarities to hormones and can bind to receptor cells where a hormone would normally bind.
As might be expected, the effect on the target cell is different with the ED attached. Sometimes the target cell “turns on” and performs its regular function, but there is no “off” to its activity and there is too much chemical or change that results. Sometimes, the target cell can not “turn on” because of the ED and the result is that there will be too little of a chemical or change when required.
Chemicals that act like hormones in the system but interrupt normal activity are called “hormone mimics”. A class of hormone mimics that act like the reproductive hormones (which include estrogen) are called “environmental estrogens” (EE).
The number of pollutants that are classified as EDs or EEs is large and growing.
Suspected EDs are found in pesticides (agriculture, home, pet (flea collars, etc.), detergents, birth control pills, plastics (PVCs), PCBs, dioxins (including Agent Orange), oil refining, auto and truck exhaust, cigarette smoke, coal burning power plant emissions. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The list is quite long and the effects of very small levels of EDs, in the parts per trillion range, are unknown, but their effects are cumulative.
In her 1996 book 'Our Stolen Future', Dr. Theo Colborn brought world-wide attention to scientific discoveries about endocrine disruption and the fact that common contaminants can interfere with the natural signals controlling development of the fetus.
The original work was done in the 80's. More than 20 years later and the EPA is still stone-walling this information.
Note that in 2007, an attempt to honor Rachael Carson for her work on pesticides was blocked by Republicans in Congress and their friends in the Chemical Lobby.
The politicization of the EPA, and indeed the total lack of Science within the current administration is an obvious fact. Let's hope the new President, and a Science friendly cabinet, will put an end to this nonsense for good.
Friday, April 10, 2009
prostate 9.pro.001001 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
t’s the medical equivalent of a buy one, get one free offer — for men at least. Take cholesterol-lowering drugs for your heart, and slow the growth of prostate tumors, too. Lower cholesterol levels limit the growth of blood vessels inside prostate tumors, scientists report.
In a new study, researchers implanted mice with human prostate cancer tumors and fed the mice either a high-cholesterol or a no-cholesterol diet. Half the mice on each diet received the cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
Two weeks after implantation, the prostate tumors were largest in mice on the high-cholesterol diet without Zetia and smallest in mice on the no-cholesterol diet with the drug, Keith Solomon of Children’s Hospital Boston at Harvard Medical School and colleagues report in the March issue of The American Journal of Pathology. And as expected, when cholesterol levels were measured, the mice on high-cholesterol diets not receiving the drug had the highest levels, while those on no-cholesterol diets with the drug had the lowest.
Scientists found that as well as being smaller, tumors from the Zetia-treated mice also had dramatically fewer blood vessels. “It was a complete surprise,” Solomon says. “I just noticed that some of the tumors seemed bloodier than others. It was a basic bench-top observation.”
Limited blood vessel development starves the tumor of the blood and oxygen it needs to thrive, slowing the progression of prostate cancer, the researchers suggest.
Prostate cancer has been linked to cholesterol before. A 2006 study reported that people who took statins, another cholesterol-lowering drug, were less likely to have advanced prostate cancer that spread to other organs, says epidemiologist Elizabeth Platz of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, a coauthor of the statin study. But the new work is the first study that “tries to determine the mechanism” of the link between cholesterol and prostate cancer, Platz says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Slowing the growth of prostate tumors would improve quality of life for men with prostate cancer, Solomon says. Many prostate cancers are relatively slow-growing anyway, but limiting tumor growth even more with a low-cholesterol diet and Zetia could lower the risk of impotence and incontinence, which often come with prostate surgery. But first work is needed to determine that Zetia has the same effect on prostate tumors in people as it did in the mice in the study, the researchers say. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Lowering cholesterol could impact blood vessel development in other types of tumors in a similar way, the researchers speculate. But the prostate produces more cholesterol than most other organs — and seems to accumulate it too. “It could be that prostate tumors have a different interaction with cholesterol than other types of tumors,” Platz notes. “The prostate seems to be particularly susceptible to choleste
In a new study, researchers implanted mice with human prostate cancer tumors and fed the mice either a high-cholesterol or a no-cholesterol diet. Half the mice on each diet received the cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
Two weeks after implantation, the prostate tumors were largest in mice on the high-cholesterol diet without Zetia and smallest in mice on the no-cholesterol diet with the drug, Keith Solomon of Children’s Hospital Boston at Harvard Medical School and colleagues report in the March issue of The American Journal of Pathology. And as expected, when cholesterol levels were measured, the mice on high-cholesterol diets not receiving the drug had the highest levels, while those on no-cholesterol diets with the drug had the lowest.
Scientists found that as well as being smaller, tumors from the Zetia-treated mice also had dramatically fewer blood vessels. “It was a complete surprise,” Solomon says. “I just noticed that some of the tumors seemed bloodier than others. It was a basic bench-top observation.”
Limited blood vessel development starves the tumor of the blood and oxygen it needs to thrive, slowing the progression of prostate cancer, the researchers suggest.
Prostate cancer has been linked to cholesterol before. A 2006 study reported that people who took statins, another cholesterol-lowering drug, were less likely to have advanced prostate cancer that spread to other organs, says epidemiologist Elizabeth Platz of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, a coauthor of the statin study. But the new work is the first study that “tries to determine the mechanism” of the link between cholesterol and prostate cancer, Platz says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Slowing the growth of prostate tumors would improve quality of life for men with prostate cancer, Solomon says. Many prostate cancers are relatively slow-growing anyway, but limiting tumor growth even more with a low-cholesterol diet and Zetia could lower the risk of impotence and incontinence, which often come with prostate surgery. But first work is needed to determine that Zetia has the same effect on prostate tumors in people as it did in the mice in the study, the researchers say. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Lowering cholesterol could impact blood vessel development in other types of tumors in a similar way, the researchers speculate. But the prostate produces more cholesterol than most other organs — and seems to accumulate it too. “It could be that prostate tumors have a different interaction with cholesterol than other types of tumors,” Platz notes. “The prostate seems to be particularly susceptible to choleste
Saturday, January 10, 2009
moth 2.mot.2 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. A gray moth with orange highlights called Bertholdia trigona “goes berserk,” making lots of noise above the range of human hearing when a hunting bat approaches, says William Conner of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Bats rely on their natural sonar to locate flying moths in the dark, but in a lab setup, the bats rarely managed to nab a loud moth.
When researchers disabled the moth’s noisemaking organs, though, bats caught the moths in midair with ease, Conner reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Conner says the work is “the first example of any prey item that jams biological sonar.”
Conference attendee David Yager of the University of Maryland in College Park says Conner’s experimental paradigm is “very strong, and I do think he has documented jamming by a species of moth.”
Insect-hunting bats and their moth prey have become a classic in the study of evolutionary arms races, Conner says. “This is warfare … The first counter-adaptation is that the insects developed ears.”
Biologists have debated the possibility that moths could also evolve sounds that sabotage bat sonar. “It’s a sexy idea,” Conner said. “There was some tantalizing neurophysiological work.” But to collect behavioral evidence to demonstrate jamming, he said, takes the right moth. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Tiger moths, a group of some 11,000 species, have been intriguing candidates because they present a puzzle in battlefield behavior. As other moth species silently flee when they hear the sonar pings of an incoming bat, tiger moths generally click back. As Conner puts it, “Why would you do that to a bigger, more dangerous predator that’s going to eat you?”
Jamming isn’t the only possible explanation for moth noises, he said. An explosive clicking sound coming back out of the night might startle a bat just a split-second long enough for the moth to get away. Or the moth clicks might work like an acoustic version of the brilliant colors on poison dart frogs, a handy code that helps predators learn and remember that these tidbits are not good to eat.
But three out of four bats in the tests readily ate the moths when the researchers silenced the moth’s sound, so Conner ruled out the possibility that the noise in this species functions mainly as a Mr. Yuk warning.
“Bill's lab has clearly shown that different species use clicking differently. There's no single answer to its function,” Yager says. “One of the future challenges will be to discover what ecological and behavioral forces drive one species toward jamming and another toward startle.”
In terms of sound, most tiger moths in North America “crackle a little bit but it’s not very impressive,” Conner says. In contrast B. trigona gives a steady, broad-band sound that “fills up all bandwidth, all the time.”
He first realized these moths made so much noise when he encountered them in the Amazon in 1992, and the possibility that the noise was a sonar jam had been in the back of his mind since, he says. Last summer, one of Conner’s students, Aaron Cochran, collected the moths in Arizona, the northern tip of their range, so that the researchers could test them with live, big brown bats.
Conner’s research group studies the war between bats and moths by tethering a moth in a large cage and seeing if one of the lab’s resident big brown bats can catch it. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
When researchers disabled the moth’s noisemaking organs, though, bats caught the moths in midair with ease, Conner reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Conner says the work is “the first example of any prey item that jams biological sonar.”
Conference attendee David Yager of the University of Maryland in College Park says Conner’s experimental paradigm is “very strong, and I do think he has documented jamming by a species of moth.”
Insect-hunting bats and their moth prey have become a classic in the study of evolutionary arms races, Conner says. “This is warfare … The first counter-adaptation is that the insects developed ears.”
Biologists have debated the possibility that moths could also evolve sounds that sabotage bat sonar. “It’s a sexy idea,” Conner said. “There was some tantalizing neurophysiological work.” But to collect behavioral evidence to demonstrate jamming, he said, takes the right moth. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz
Tiger moths, a group of some 11,000 species, have been intriguing candidates because they present a puzzle in battlefield behavior. As other moth species silently flee when they hear the sonar pings of an incoming bat, tiger moths generally click back. As Conner puts it, “Why would you do that to a bigger, more dangerous predator that’s going to eat you?”
Jamming isn’t the only possible explanation for moth noises, he said. An explosive clicking sound coming back out of the night might startle a bat just a split-second long enough for the moth to get away. Or the moth clicks might work like an acoustic version of the brilliant colors on poison dart frogs, a handy code that helps predators learn and remember that these tidbits are not good to eat.
But three out of four bats in the tests readily ate the moths when the researchers silenced the moth’s sound, so Conner ruled out the possibility that the noise in this species functions mainly as a Mr. Yuk warning.
“Bill's lab has clearly shown that different species use clicking differently. There's no single answer to its function,” Yager says. “One of the future challenges will be to discover what ecological and behavioral forces drive one species toward jamming and another toward startle.”
In terms of sound, most tiger moths in North America “crackle a little bit but it’s not very impressive,” Conner says. In contrast B. trigona gives a steady, broad-band sound that “fills up all bandwidth, all the time.”
He first realized these moths made so much noise when he encountered them in the Amazon in 1992, and the possibility that the noise was a sonar jam had been in the back of his mind since, he says. Last summer, one of Conner’s students, Aaron Cochran, collected the moths in Arizona, the northern tip of their range, so that the researchers could test them with live, big brown bats.
Conner’s research group studies the war between bats and moths by tethering a moth in a large cage and seeing if one of the lab’s resident big brown bats can catch it. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
Monday, January 5, 2009
viagra 7.via.0003004 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift. http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.sampa.com/louis-j-sheehan-esquire/blog
Four blue pills. Viagra. http://www.bebo.com/LouisS205
"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.
For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.
In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," said one longtime agency operative and veteran of several Afghanistan tours. Like other field officers interviewed for this article, he spoke on the condition of anonymity when describing tactics and operations that are largely classified.
Officials say these inducements are necessary in Afghanistan, a country where warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their cooperation, and where, for some, switching sides can be as easy as changing tunics. If the Americans don't offer incentives, there are others who will, including Taliban commanders, drug dealers and even Iranian agents in the region.
The usual bribes of choice -- cash and weapons -- aren't always the best options, Afghanistan veterans say. Guns too often fall into the wrong hands, they say, and showy gifts such as money, jewelry and cars tend to draw unwanted attention.
"If you give an asset $1,000, he'll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone," said Jamie Smith, a veteran of CIA covert operations in Afghanistan and now chief executive of SCG International, a private security and intelligence company. "Even if he doesn't get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it."
The key, Smith said, is to find a way to meet the informant's personal needs in a way that keeps him firmly on your side but leaves little or no visible trace.
"You're trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century," Smith said, "so you look for those common things in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere."
Among the world's intelligence agencies, there's a long tradition of using sex as a motivator. Robert Baer, a retired CIA officer and author of several books on intelligence, noted that the Soviet spy service was notorious for using attractive women as bait when seeking to turn foreign diplomats into informants.
"The KGB has always used 'honey traps,' and it works," Baer said. For American officers, a more common practice was to offer medical care for potential informants and their loved ones, he said. "I remember one guy we offered an option on a heart bypass," Baer said.
For some U.S. operatives in Afghanistan, Western drugs such as Viagra were just part of a long list of enticements available for use in special cases. Two veteran officers familiar with such practices said Viagra was offered rarely, and only to older tribal officials for whom the drug would hold special appeal. While such sexual performance drugs are generally unavailable in the remote areas where the agency's teams operated, they have been sold in some Kabul street markets since at least 2003 and were known by reputation elsewhere.
"You didn't hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones," said one retired operative familiar with the drug's use in Afghanistan. Afghan tribal leaders often had four wives -- the maximum number allowed by the Koran -- and aging village patriarchs were easily sold on the utility of a pill that could "put them back in an authoritative position," the official said. http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.sampa.com/louis-j-sheehan-esquire/blog
Both officials who described the use of Viagra declined to discuss details such as dates and locations, citing both safety and classification concerns.
The CIA declined to comment on methods used in clandestine operations. One senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the agency's work in Afghanistan said the clandestine teams were trained to be "resourceful and agile" and to use tactics "consistent with the laws of our country."
"They learn the landscape, get to know the players, and adjust to the operating environment, no matter where it is," the official said. "They think out of the box, take risks, and do what's necessary to get the job done."
Not everyone in Afghanistan's hinterlands had heard of the drug, leading to some awkward encounters when Americans delicately attempted to explain its effects, taking care not to offend their hosts' religious sensitivities.
Such was the case with the 60-year-old chieftain who received the four pills from a U.S. operative. According to the retired operative who was there, the man was a clan leader in southern Afghanistan who had been wary of Americans -- neither supportive nor actively opposed. The man had extensive knowledge of the region and his village controlled key passages through the area. U.S. forces needed his cooperation and worked hard to win it, the retired operative said.
After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the man's loyalty. A discussion of the man's family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.
Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.
"He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, 'You are a great man.' "
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
Four blue pills. Viagra. http://www.bebo.com/LouisS205
"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.
For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.
In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," said one longtime agency operative and veteran of several Afghanistan tours. Like other field officers interviewed for this article, he spoke on the condition of anonymity when describing tactics and operations that are largely classified.
Officials say these inducements are necessary in Afghanistan, a country where warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their cooperation, and where, for some, switching sides can be as easy as changing tunics. If the Americans don't offer incentives, there are others who will, including Taliban commanders, drug dealers and even Iranian agents in the region.
The usual bribes of choice -- cash and weapons -- aren't always the best options, Afghanistan veterans say. Guns too often fall into the wrong hands, they say, and showy gifts such as money, jewelry and cars tend to draw unwanted attention.
"If you give an asset $1,000, he'll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone," said Jamie Smith, a veteran of CIA covert operations in Afghanistan and now chief executive of SCG International, a private security and intelligence company. "Even if he doesn't get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it."
The key, Smith said, is to find a way to meet the informant's personal needs in a way that keeps him firmly on your side but leaves little or no visible trace.
"You're trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century," Smith said, "so you look for those common things in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere."
Among the world's intelligence agencies, there's a long tradition of using sex as a motivator. Robert Baer, a retired CIA officer and author of several books on intelligence, noted that the Soviet spy service was notorious for using attractive women as bait when seeking to turn foreign diplomats into informants.
"The KGB has always used 'honey traps,' and it works," Baer said. For American officers, a more common practice was to offer medical care for potential informants and their loved ones, he said. "I remember one guy we offered an option on a heart bypass," Baer said.
For some U.S. operatives in Afghanistan, Western drugs such as Viagra were just part of a long list of enticements available for use in special cases. Two veteran officers familiar with such practices said Viagra was offered rarely, and only to older tribal officials for whom the drug would hold special appeal. While such sexual performance drugs are generally unavailable in the remote areas where the agency's teams operated, they have been sold in some Kabul street markets since at least 2003 and were known by reputation elsewhere.
"You didn't hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones," said one retired operative familiar with the drug's use in Afghanistan. Afghan tribal leaders often had four wives -- the maximum number allowed by the Koran -- and aging village patriarchs were easily sold on the utility of a pill that could "put them back in an authoritative position," the official said. http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.sampa.com/louis-j-sheehan-esquire/blog
Both officials who described the use of Viagra declined to discuss details such as dates and locations, citing both safety and classification concerns.
The CIA declined to comment on methods used in clandestine operations. One senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the agency's work in Afghanistan said the clandestine teams were trained to be "resourceful and agile" and to use tactics "consistent with the laws of our country."
"They learn the landscape, get to know the players, and adjust to the operating environment, no matter where it is," the official said. "They think out of the box, take risks, and do what's necessary to get the job done."
Not everyone in Afghanistan's hinterlands had heard of the drug, leading to some awkward encounters when Americans delicately attempted to explain its effects, taking care not to offend their hosts' religious sensitivities.
Such was the case with the 60-year-old chieftain who received the four pills from a U.S. operative. According to the retired operative who was there, the man was a clan leader in southern Afghanistan who had been wary of Americans -- neither supportive nor actively opposed. The man had extensive knowledge of the region and his village controlled key passages through the area. U.S. forces needed his cooperation and worked hard to win it, the retired operative said.
After a long conversation through an interpreter, the retired operator began to probe for ways to win the man's loyalty. A discussion of the man's family and many wives provided inspiration. Once it was established that the man was in good health, the pills were offered and accepted.
Four days later, when the Americans returned, the gift had worked its magic, the operative recalled.
"He came up to us beaming," the official said. "He said, 'You are a great man.' "
"And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
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