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It's worth noting that U.S. military bases are in Japan and supported by the Japanese government because Japan is constitutionally barred from creating a military force significant enough to hedge against China and Russia. Japan likely preferred the bases be located in Okinawa because during the cold war they were a primary nuclear target, among other factors.
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Apr 1, 2015 08:59
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Rent-A-Cop posted:That's not really true. Japan can have a "self-defense force" which is a military in all but name. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is one of the more powerful navies in the world and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force can give anyone in Asia a run for their money. Both rock top of the line US hardware along with some impressive domestic systems. They are both a supplement to the U.S. military presence in Japan and lack the ability to project credible force against Say, China in the south China sea. Suggestions that the Self Defense Force should develop offensive capacity like fleet aircraft carriers that could credibly project force are considered pretty radical.
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Apr 1, 2015 10:16
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Chomskyan posted:Yes, they buckled under pressure from the U.S., but that doesn't change the way the public voted. There's no need to posit some insidious US influence here-- Japan's government has every reason to keep the bases right where they are, electoral promises or no. Chomskyan posted:The actions of Japan's military government during World War II completely justifies crimes and ongoing injustices committed against Japanese civilians. The treaty which allows the US to use these bases in Japan was last amended in 1960, and allows for either country to unilaterally withdraw with a 1 year notice period.
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Apr 3, 2015 00:09
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Considering China is building artificial islands to house military bases in the Spratleys , I think the value of US military bases in the west pacific is pretty obvious. quote:The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan have competing claims in the area. JeffersonClay fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Apr 10, 2015 |
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Apr 10, 2015 03:54
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Finding out the Japanese didn't discover some secret biological super weapon isn't without value in 1945, in terms of eliminating unknown unknowns.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:44
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SedanChair posted:Ah yes the creeping CHINESE MILITARY THREAT China is actually behaving remarkably aggressively in the South China Sea and not just Japan, but also the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand benefit from US military presence there due to our mutual defense treaties.
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Apr 10, 2015 08:30
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Eustachy posted:Can anybody tell me or better yet show me an article about why people think it was some uniquely unconscionable war crime that the USA dropped nuclear bombs on Japan? As if the many dozens of other times we flattened whole cities and wiped out thousands of people were A-OK. Does it really make a difference if somebody got vaporized in a nuclear blast or if they got spontaneously immolated in a firestorm? It wasn't considered particularly heinous in 1945. The association between maximum evil and the use of nuclear weapons is a product of the Cold War and thermonuclear stockpiles that if used would poison the earth and lead to extinction. Working backwards, Hiroshima and Nagasaki must have also been particularly evil, despite the fact that massive use of conventional weapons created as much or more suffering to civilian populations in the war.
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Apr 11, 2015 05:31
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