Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009

By TOM PLATE

It was just this side of comical. The leader of the new ruling party of Japan barely finishes acknowledging his Democratic Party of Japan's landslide win and a public relations disaster strikes. The result: an ignominious international climb-down.

What happened was not an ideal opening act for the next prime minister of the troubled country that boasts the world's second largest economy, after that of its ally, the United States. It might even have been called a really bad start. So let's see what went on.

 

Before the election, a Japanese magazine published an essay by Yukio Hatoyama, the soon-to-be prime minister of Japan and leader of the Democratic Party of Japan. It thoughtfully challenged some of the operational tenets of the "American century" (the previous one). "My Political Philosophy," decried the cold inhuman edges of globalization, raised (as have some in the Chinese elite and other global voices) doubts about the future global centrality of the dollar, called for a greater sense of shared opportunity among the nations of East Asia (and the world) and wondered how long Uncle Sam could remain the Big Global Bopper.

Had Hatoyama not been who he was (the next leader of Japan), and Nathan Gardels not been who he was (a whip-smart Los Angeles-based public intellectual and media entrepreneur whose Global Viewpoint Network has 35 million readers through many of the world's top newspapers), these not unreasonable thoughts, written in Japanese, would have remained in Japan.

Instead, Gardels arranged for an English translation and had his syndicate do its global information-technology distribution thing. Before long, the essay (or excerpts of it) appeared in important papers around the world.

Well, the shame, the disgrace! A Japanese leader should actually proffer an original thought or two — indeed, ideas that might not automatically reek of U.S. political orthodoxy! By midweek, Hatoyama was on the trans-Pacific horn, more or less bowing and scraping to U.S. President Barack Obama (who probably had to suppress a chuckle), and disclaiming any intent to question the fundamentals of the U.S.-Japan alliance. "The Japan-U.S. alliance is the axis of Japan's foreign policies," the impending new prime minister declaimed.

That's comforting, but first things first: Hatoyama shouldn't have apologized for anything! The fact is that many of us Americans have similar concerns about the brutality of unregulated globalization, about gross value systems that are entirely materialistic, about poor people with no health insurance, housing or prospects.

What's more, Hatoyama's essay was anything but bomb-throwing- revolutionary. It was, in fact, a polite and mild restatement of traditional Japanese values in an age when free-market fundamentalism have been uprooting social economies like suicide bombers have been terrorizing Western cafes. "Globalism," he wrote, "has progressed without any regard for noneconomic values."

He's right, and it should come as no global shock that a thoughtful Japanese leader would want to point this out. For a long time, Japan has been perhaps the most socialist of all capitalist societies. The hard work and aggressiveness were all present in that society; but so were deep social values that (for example) were reluctant to treat workers as easily disposable economic factors (i.e., laid-off or fired labor and who cares?) or to regard titanic and insulting income gaps between the elite and the common man as natural, desirable or ethical.

What's more, if the U.S. establishment is going to seize up into a paroxysm of paranoia every time someone suggests that the 21st century will not prove as American as the 20th century, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had better legalize medicinal marijuana for the elite's nerves quickly. As the well-traveled Gardels puts it, "Only Americans with an outdated sense of U.S. supremacy, or with vested special interests, could quarrel with the obvious."

And it is a plain fact that Japan's current dilemma, wrote Hatoyama, is to be "caught between the U.S., which is fighting to retain its position as the world's dominant power, and China, which is seeking ways to become dominant."

The China question does hover over Japan. It is quite true that the recent election was not a plebiscite about China i

@ gf0012-aust > Subs on exercise aren't "tested" like some idiotic version of mech wars.

Actually they do, in the free engagement practice session of RIMPAC, where the enemy fleet comprising of attack subs and a few surface destroyers take on the coalition carrier group team to simulate naval battle.

This is where U-209 was found to be the most difficult sub to detect of all by defenders. In one specific case, there was a U-209 and an Oyashio class only 1 km distance apart, with U-209 was observing the Oyashio sub but the Oyashio sub was totally unaware of U-209's presense, until U-209 decided to disengage and went into high throttle. This is why the US Navy and JMSDF suddenly started showing an interest in German sub tech, as U-2XX series were the quietest-running subs they ever encountered.

Slowman, you are really really really making a fool of yourself at this point. 

 

Just shut up kid, you aren't funny and you sure as hell aren't insightful. 

 

 

@ gf0012-aust > they don't.

They do, complete with independent scorers onboard to keep track of who killed who.

good god kid.  white force are there for a reason.  its not a competition of platforms 

@ gf0012-aust > > I worked on sig management for 209's

That's odd since Austrialia is not a U-209 user, nor are Brtain and the US, other countries where you might have sought employment.

    and yet you aren't aware that australia was given all the data on the 209 and its successors when we wanted to make it a maxi fleet sub.  eg we got all the data on the 209's for assessment.  you also seem to be completely oblivious that we work with the sth koreans.  you seem to be completely oblivious that we work with HDW/Kockums and a raft of other UDT players who are wanting to flog their next platform for the 2020-2025 project.  You seem to be completely oblivious that we all share data because we need to make sure that we know who'd who when we wander around in shared waters.  You seem to be completely unaware that we exchange data because it's essential for some of the firing and control systems so that we don't do a blue on blue.

seriously, you are a first class troll. 

Here is something for Maruben.

 

F-2's primary duty is to engage Korean Airforce's fighters over Takeshima during Takeshima Invasion(Aka The Grand Naval Showdown).

 

A Sankei article on development failure of F-2 and how "evil" Americans "used" them to both screw up F-2 program and "steal" valuable material and AESA module tech that was later used on F-22 and F-35 < link >

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"While it maybe unsuitable for attack missions, F2 can still freely dance without a bomb load and has been deployed at Misawa base as an intercepter. However, the brave warriors of sky cries out&<2300;F2 is inferior to Korean F15K. We have lost air-dominance over Takeshima&<2301;about its combat capability."

 

Still not convinced that JASDF sees Korea(as in South, not North) as its primary adversary in that JASDF offer's rant???? The same goes true for Korea, where Japan, not North Korea, is seen as their no. 1 security threat for their navy and air force.

 

Sorry, broken font. I will try again.

 

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""While it maybe unsuitable for attack missions, F2 can still freely dance without a bomb load and has been deployed at Misawa base as an intercepter. However, the brave warriors of sky cries out�uF2 is inferior to Korean F15K. We have lost air-dominance over Takeshima�vin its combat capability."