09-10-2006, 11:23 PM | #11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 5,996
|
Quote:
I'm not entirely sure why we are still in South Korea. We can't do squat with 30,000 troops to stop an invasion from the North. In fact, a stupid mistake by a North Korean on the border there that kills an American could get us involved in something we don't really want to be involved in. According to Jane (the leading defense analysis group), North Korea would capture Seoul in less than 3 days if they wanted to take it. We would be powerless to stop the onslaught of the North Korean army with our 30,000 troops. Our thousands of missiles in the area would help slow them, but we don't need 30,000 people to operate those. |
|
09-11-2006, 12:00 AM | #12 | |
Charon
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the heart of darkness (Provo)
Posts: 9,564
|
Quote:
The Japanese have been in denial about their history ever since the end of WWII. Things have started to change in the last 10-15 years, but their distorted view of history is quite shocking. The textbooks used in Japanese schools have traditionally said very little about Japanese occupations and most omitted Pearl Harbor altogether. Each time a new Japanese textbook comes out, the Chinese go nuts with indignation over the whitewashed history. I was at the Peace Park in Hiroshima five years ago and there is a section on the events leading up to WWII. There was a very short statement on the occupation of China and it said something to the effect of "Some claim that as many as 300,000 civilians were killed but others put the number at 30,000". Iris Chang convincingly demonstrates that the 300,000 number is probably conservative. 30,000 is just outrageous. At a park that was so completely anti-war and dedicated to the ideal of "we must not repeat history", the irony of this distorted figure and the distorted history really struck me. Another thing that is quite common in Japan is the firm belief that FDR was told well in advance of specific details (including the date) of the Pearl Harbor invasion and purposefully did nothing to stop it, in order to rally the American public behind the war on Japan. I used to hear this all the time, even from LDS members in Japan. It was as if this fact (purported fact, that is) would somehow mitigate the harsh reality that they started the war. Interesting to see some parallels between this conspiracy theory and the 9/11 conspiracy theory.
__________________
"... the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
|
09-11-2006, 04:52 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 10,665
|
Quote:
__________________
Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
|
Bookmarks |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|