BarkellWH -> RE: I Demand A New Cabbage ( Anglow Warning) (Oct. 29 2022 16:06:52)
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That’s interesting, though unsurprising, about Japanese weapons shopping. Germany is an arms manufacturer but there is a similar sort of shredding of the post-war determination to avoid anything that smells of militarism. Interesting piece by Habermas. Thanks for posting. I don't find it surprising that both Japan and Germany are shedding their post-war pacifism. It has been nearly 78 years since the end of the war. Aside from the generation in both countries that fought in and experienced the war, we now have--what?--the third post-war generation? The memories of Nazism and Japanese militarism are becoming ancient history, much as the Vietnam War has become for large swaths of the US population. Germany has atoned for its aggression and wartime atrocities many times over. I don't think you can expect generation after generation to feel the same guilt that the immediate post-war generations felt. And in my opinion (You may disagree with me, Stephen.) the Japanese haven't come close to the Germans in atoning for the aggression and atrocities they inflicted on Asia. And I'm not just referring to those who ritually visit the Yasukuni Shrine each year. Many consider Japan to have been the victim in the war! So there's that element. Consider the situation both countries find themselves confronting. As has often been said, Putin's war on Ukraine is the first war on European soil since World War II. He has made no secret of wanting to reconstitute a Greater Russia that, geographically, resembles the old Soviet Union. If he succeeds in Ukraine, what next? Likely Moldova, which is not a member of NATO. But the Baltic States no doubt are tempting, and they are NATO members. Japan faces both China and North Korea. Japan administers the Senkaku Islands, which China claims (and calls the Diaoyu Islands) in the East China Sea. North Korea is an obvious threat, lobbing missiles that at times actually fly over Japanese territory. That is a rough neighborhood in which to maintain the level of pacifism of post-war Japan. Both Germany and Japan have heretofore depended on the US defense umbrella for their security. Unfortunately, although I would like to think the US defense umbrella remains in place as solid as ever, if I were responsible for the defense portfolios in Germany and Japan, I would not be so sure. Remember Trump calling NATO obsolete? And Trump's erratic and foolish so-called "summits" with Kim Jong Un were not thought through and well-prepared. The result was to confirm that all an adversary, whether Kim, Putin, or Xi, had to do was flatter Trump to gain his gushing admiration. While Trump is thankfully gone, given the political situation in the United States, he, or someone like him, may well become president in the future. At any rate, while I think it is clearly in the US interest to maintain our alliances, I also think it is in our interest, as well as that of Germany and Japan, that they move toward a more assertive defense posture. Bill
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