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A L S O+T O D A Y
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T A B L E+T A L K What pisses you off the most about the U.S.? Foreigners and citizens vent in the International Issues area of Table Talk
R E C E N T L Y Outlaw nation? Verdict on Starr's witness The unhappiest allies Finally, the Flynt Report The bombing begins - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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THE EMPIRES STRIKE BACK | PAGE 1, 2
Meanwhile, there are signs that Japan -- facing the missile-rattling North Koreans a day's sail away, and a muscular Chinese military buildup only 500 miles from its southernmost islands -- is likely to take even more, albeit cautious, steps toward a military role commensurate with its economic muscle. "There's no question that Japan is beginning to realize inch by inch how dangerous that part of the world is and is preparing to do a little more," said Ayoko Doi, editor of the U.S.-based Japan Digest and a former correspondent for Japan Times. "But it's still at a stage where the politicians in the Diet debate whether it's constitutional or not to supply water to U.S. warships going to conflicts in Korea," Doi chuckled. "That would be aiding a war effort." Doi humorously recounted the worried conversations between Japanese naval commanders and Tokyo officials even as they pursued the spy ships across the sea toward North Korea last week. "There was a debate while the chase was going on, between the destroyers and Tokyo, of whether to shoot at the rudder to incapacitate the ships or not," she said. "The Navy guy said we have only 5-inch guns, and if we use them, it will blow up the whole stern and sink the ships and people will die and we can't do that. So they didn't, they just fired warning shots, and when they came to the end of the Japan air self-defense zone, they said, that's it." The Japanese government, which usually downplays North Korea's constant provocations -- from dumping amphetamines on Tokyo's black market to flinging a ballistic missile over the country last summer -- no doubt made a big deal of the spy ship intrusion on purpose, to tilt a just-opened parliamentary debate over Japan's military profile, including the question of whether to embrace a theater missile defense system and extend its operational zone to Taiwan. Reflecting Japanese restiveness, just last week Tokyo's outgoing ambassador to the United States warned the U.S. to reduce its criticism of Japan, or risk reviving militant nationalist sentiment at a time when many people still wave the Rising Sun flag and sing the wartime national anthem. "I'm not worried about a problem yet," warned Kunihiko Saito, "but I don't think we should forget that only 50 or 60 years ago we made some big mistakes, and one of the reasons was excessive nationalism." As German pilots flew their maiden missions toward Kosovo with the setting sun on their backs Thursday, however, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder issued an appropriately somber statement. "The government did not take the decision lightly," he said. "After all, this is the first time since World War II that German soldiers have been deployed in combat.'' The threshold had been crossed.
Jeff Stein writes on national security affairs from Washington. |
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