observe all men, thyself most
Speaking of honesty, which we all justifiably hold in such high esteem:
Quote:
Japan Wants To Rewrite World War II
by James Dunnigan
August 22, 2010
[...]
World War II, which killed over a hundred million people, had a profound effect on the nations where it was fought. Japan (which began invading in 1937) and Germany (1939) were the two main aggressors, and after the war, the Germans and Japanese had a different reaction to their bad behavior during the war. The Germans (most of them) were remorseful and guilt ridden.
The Japanese immediately tried to rewrite history, and are still at it. Within days of Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, coded messages went out from Tokyo to Japanese diplomats around the world, ordering them to start a campaign portraying Japan as a victim in the war, and to play down Japanese atrocities and play up Japanese civilian losses in the recent atomic bomb attacks. These particular messages were not decrypted by the United States until years after the war. That's because the war was over, there were other priorities (like cracking Russian codes) and the Japanese the messages were recorded and filed away. By the time the Japanese messages were deciphered, the Cold War had begun, and Japan was needed as an ally against the communist menace. Those decrypted messages were kept secret for decades, along with most of the details of how Allied code breakers had read most of the enemies (and some friends) secret messages throughout the war.
What was not so secret were Japanese efforts to ignore the war and portray themselves as victims. Many Japanese opposed rewriting history, which was often quite blatant. This meddling with historical facts regularly caused problems with neighbors, especially China. But the Japanese were insistent on evading responsibility. They still are, and many Japanese really believe it.
[...]
Japan Wants To Rewrite World War 2 - Strategy Page - 8.22.2010.
Japanese War Crimes - wikipedia
Casualties in Asia Pacific - Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
The common wisdom seems to be that the only way forward is for the mainland commies to just get over it and/or stop cynically trying use the 18 or 25 million or whatever Chinese civilians killed during WW2 as a bargaining point. Since Japan has forgiven the US for incinerating hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and the US has managed to let go of the whole Pearl Harbour thing, maybe the commies should put their historical grievances aside. After all, being responsible for the deaths of millions of Chinese civilians is actually something they have in common with Japan. As a common saying in Asia goes, "The strong man folds his arms." Otherwise I guess it'll be, "Kill chinks, kill chinks, kill more chinks!".:rolleyes:
A new definition of military success for Taiwan
Unifying China remains a national objective for PRC, so an article from Taiwan on the balance between PRC & RoC is welcome, if only as an update. IIRC the defence of Taiwan has appeared here before sometime ago.
Link:http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit...2/2003555383/1
all the noose that's fit to print
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill Moore
While important, in the end it appears to be same as it ever was.
Well then, enjoy.:)
When China Rules the World
http://www.ted.com/playlists/73/the_...wer_shift.htmlAn interesting presentation on TED by the man who wrote, "When China Rules the World."
It is the third talk on global power shifts. A couple of key points I don't think many will refute.
Westerners tend to look at the world through western eyes, and incorrectly believe that when China modernizes will become like the West. The fact is the State of China is seen as more legitimate than any government in the West. The people view the State as the representative and protector of China's great culture.
The West hasn't had to learn about the rest of the world due to its power, if it didn't get its way it could always employ force, while most countries in the world couldn't do this. When China and East Asia surpasss the West as the geopolitical center of world power Europe will be lost, they're walking blind into the future now and have no idea how much the world is changing around them.
The first presentation by Paddy Ashdown was equally interesting. It is now projected that China will surpass the U.S. as the world's largest economy by 2020. Seems our rebalance strategy is a step in the right direction to me if we want to maintain secure access to the world's largest market.