Captain Ed brought up a very good point on Saturday.
Actually, it was brought up for him by Shinzo Abe, a member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and who is thought to be in the running to be Japan’s future Prime Minister.
I pose this question to you:
Should Japan be released from a portion of the treaty signed on the deck of the Mighty Mo and allowed to form a true, functioning military?
I’m voting “Yes”.
With the Norks banging the war drum, a fully armed, manned, prepared and pissed off Japan might just be the water that will cool their fire.
America is not, and should not be “The World’s Policeman”. If we are going to call for a wholly self-sufficient Iraq, can we be non-hypocritical while denying Japan the right to Self Defense?
I know the UN would be against it, and that singular point is almost enough to nail it for me.
Please ponder and reply in the comments.
I’m with you, so far. I haven’t taken the time to read up on the Japanese (I think they call them defense forces right now). Time to hit the globalsecurity.org site, it’s usually fairly accurate.
I’ve always thought it would be a good idea. We let Germany have its military back, plus it would be a counterbalance to the N.Koreans and even China.
The Japanese are fully prepared to enter the world as a global military power the minute they decide to change their Constitution, which, as a free people (not our protectorate anymore), they are free to do.
Some have even rumored (Tom Clancy among them) that they have nuke weapons ready to assemble and mount on top of their real intercontinental ballistic missiles, which, unlike the Norks, actually work (the Japanese launch satellites into space frequently on a commercial basis).
I think that Clancy’s warning of revanchist Bushido causing a remilitarized Japan to go to war are specious (even though Debt of Honor was a great work of fiction).
I feel confident that Japan would make a fine addition to the RESPONSIBLE Nuclear Club.
Oh, yeah, the only thing the ChiComs hate more then us in the Japanese; likewise for the NKs. Heck, even the SKs aren’t all that fond of them.
Japan’s forces are called the “Jieitai” meaning “Self-defense Force”, as Steve pointed out. They are not called “military” but that is what they are. There is a very strong sanctimonious Left in Japan. The despairing screams from them at the name change would be audible on this side of the Pacific.
I think it’s time for the Japanese to grow up and call their military what it is. They would need to be diplomatic about it. Re-writing their school texts to accurately portray World War II events would help.
Their current Constitution (which, by the way, was written in English under MacArthur and translated amateurishly into very artificial-sounding Japanese) does not permit any “foreign dispatch” of forces, so their dispatch of troops to non-combat operations in Iraq was technically unconstitutional. They got around that by referring to it as an aid operation, and of course, everyone knew it was no invasion of Iraq.
Good god yes, they should be released from that treaty. With NK being a demented little underpants gnome, and China threatening anyone who looks at them odd, I’d love to see Japan with a healthy military.