8/12/2007
Japan, the military demon awakening
Despite all its claims of being a peaceful nation, the Japanese have been quietly and steadily reviving their militarism and are eager to tell the world that the old Japan, military supremacy, is back on its feet. The Japanese military build up is anything but small. Its armed forces are probably bigger than the Chinese in financial terms or at least not too far off. It could even take on the two Koreans combined if necessary, and China, with the Americans behind them. That is how powerful the so called Japanese Self Defence Force is.
And like Taiwan, they are slowly changing all the names from a Self Defence Force that cannot be deployed to conduct wars outside Japan, to a normal, and a military machine to wage wars against other nations. Its constitutions too have been amended. And the regular visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and the drumming up of military sentiments and past glories, including rewriting history books, revealed the real intention of the Japanese.
Iraq was a stepping stone to test the water. And with the Americans controlling the agenda, the world kept quiet and allowed Japanese troops to be deployed outside Japan. Now that the taboo is over, the next and more aggressive posturing will be Afghanistan. The Americans are goading the Japanese to go along as a warring partner after Europe have given up on them. Now it is left only for one war mongering nation to join hands with another war mongering nation to prove how capable they are in the conduct of war.
Afghanistan is the new battle ground for imperialist forces to quell the resistance. Afghanistan will be the new burial site for young Americans and Japanese soldiers. Japan will see their first war casualties after the Second World War in Afghanistan. Two eager beavers who see military supremacy as the absolute goals for their nation, and for the egos of their political leaders.
When the rest of Europe and Asia were devoting their resources and energy in the peaceful pursuit of trade and industry, America and Japan are making plans for more wars.
Rice and the Japanese Sushi are in serious discussion on how many Japanese troops should be deployed in Afghanistan. Did the world see another Hitler and Hirohito in the making?
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8 comments:
Pardon my foolishness, but i dont think a stronger (military wise) Japan is not necessarily bad. It can actually serve as a counterweight to China in North East Asia.
Also consider the following:
1. Japan's Armed Forces is voluntary - means it should not get too large
2. Japan is experiencing an aging population - means even if they conscript the wont have too large an army, and think about all the angry parents if anyone kid suffered.
3. The JASDF has no bomber fleet as of today. Building or purchasing one will need to pass through parliament and will take 10s of years to equip.
4. The JMSDF is severely lacking in refueling and blue water operation facilities. If they were to fight a War again, they will be devasted the same way as it happened in WW2 - destroyed by air strikes.
5. JGSDF has no long range missiles for pre-emptive aggression.
To address all these shortcomings will take many decades even with political will.
The only thing to worry is the visiting of Yasukuni and the rewriting of history books. By visiting Yasukuni, Japan shows that she is not remorseful over the deaths of many innocent civilans caused by her agression and bad treatment.
And by rewriting history books, it will cause a bigger rift between future generations of Japan and the World. Omitting that enormous chunk may also allow ultra militaristic nationalist personel to sway the masses to wage war again, thereby erasing the meaning of studying history in the first place, that is, not to repeat the mistakes of past people.
Oh, and for the USA, president Bush tenure will end 2008. And with the change of presidents comes a change in policy, so don't worry about imperialism in the USA.
Remember that the stock market just crashed. They will be busy with domestic affairs rather than over Iraq or Afghanistan.
'A stronger Japan is not necessarily bad. It can actually serve as a counterweight to China.'
That has been and always will be the ultimate aim of the Americans as a way to counter the rise of China, whoever is in office.
But the Americans have the habit of helping allies that eventually turned against them even using the weapons they supplied, especially in the Middle East. Obviously the Americans never learned their lessons when the Japanese launched their attack on Pearl Harbour while negotiations were still going on in America.
But right now it is a case of 'whoever is an enemy of my enemy is my friend'. So Japan and Taiwan are in that category. There is more to it than what Japan is trying to do.
why corroborate the view of a need of a counterweight to China? and especially with one that is Japan. one who was the aggressor that brought the last world war to this part of the world. and up to now, have never totally repented for their atrocities.
knowing Japan, they will never stop at just having a run-of-the-mill military structure. who is to decide if they should get too large or not, esp that america need them this time round.
Nuke the motherfuckers again.
Apparently, they didn't get the message the first time ;-)
To anons, don't you think that a rising China will also strengthen its military presence? With the US out of the picture for the moment in Asia, China has a free hand in policy making and alliances. And I dont think gunboat diplomacy is impossible. Without another strong force in this region, we can be subjected to pressure and without alternatives.
I think for Singapore the pressure comes not from China but from somewhere nearer. History shows that China was more a victim of gunboat diplomacy than an aggressor. The Americans just need another bogeyman after the cold war.
if you have been bitten tattered by a dog, do you believe that same dog let loose freely once again will not attack you anymore but others?
the americans would love to unleash this mad dog to create havoc in east asia and let the asians kill each other in the process. and this dog thinks that it can still do it.
this dog does not know that in ww2, all the asian countries were practically unarmed and disorganised. they were either colonies or semi colonies without any armed forces or war industries to support and defend themselves.
today almost everyone is heavily armed. they think they can run wild? the two koreas will be enough to strangle them to death.
let's see whether this dog is still suffering from insanity and rabie.
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