North Korea’s recent test firing of a missile over northern Japan has officials in Tokyo rethinking the country’s long tradition of pacifism.
Some Japanese leaders say it's time for a new approach to national defense, one that can include limited pre-emptive strike capabilities and the purchase of additional missiles.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the government considered developing a pre-emptive strike policy earlier this year. But facing no immediate threats, the taboo debate quickly faded amid several domestic government scandals.
Then on Tuesday, North Korea fired a missile over Japan -- and reignited Tokyo's conversation about defense.
"Should we possess pre-emptive strike capability?" the liberal-leaning Mainichi newspaper asked Wednesday, the day after the missile test. "But isn't it too reckless to jump to discuss a 'get them before they get you' approach?"
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Update: Japan Debates Pre-emtive Strike, Defense Boost Amid North Korea Threat (RCD/AP)
WNU Editor: Not going to happen (i.e. Japan launching a preemptive strike). But as to the Japanese debate on increasing the defence budget and the capabilities of the Japanese military .... the critics and opponents have been "neutered" by North Korea's belligerent actions.
6 comments:
Agreed. The Japanese won't get into this fight unless north Korea credibly and repeatedly targets/threatens them. It will take a few more missiles in their direction to get things going.
No
I would like to see some Japanese activists get roughed-up.
The ones that drag out the Nagasaki pictures and plaster them all over a pedestrian underpass.
"R. J. Rummel estimates the civilian victims of Japanese democide at 5,424,000. Detailed by country: China 3,695,000; Indochina 457,000; Korea 378,000; Indonesia 375,000; Malaya-Singapore 283,000; Philippines 119,000, Burma 60,000 and Pacific Islands 57,000."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Japanese_war_crimes
Maybe if they become ever more strident about their opposition, they'll be 'educated.'
"No" - Lapides
Is that a:
- 'HELL NO!"
- Knee-Jerk No
- Some other kind of no?
What do you think of "Six Day War - 1967 Arab-Israeli War"?
Was that mucho, mucho bad IMnotHO?
Japan should be a normal country and have a normal defence policy. If they didn't have the US backing them they would have been forced to do this before now.
"Japan should be a normal country and have a normal defence policy. If they didn't have the US backing them they would have been forced to do this before now. "
Agreed
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