Posted on 04/05/2014 11:02:40 AM PDT by mojito
TOKYO When President Bill Clinton signed a 1994 agreement promising to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine if it gave up its nuclear weapons, there was little thought then of how that obscure diplomatic pact called the Budapest Memorandum might affect the long-running defense partnership between the United States and Japan.
But now, as American officials have distanced themselves from the Budapest Memorandum in light of Russias takeover of Crimea, calling promises made in Budapest nonbinding, the United States is being forced at the same time to make reassurances in Asia. Japanese officials, a senior American military official said, keep asking, Are you going to do the same thing to us when something happens?
For Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who arrived in Tokyo on Saturday for two days of talks with Japans leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Americas longstanding promise to protect Japan against hostile nations read China and North Korea has suddenly come under the microscope. The American response to the Russian takeover of Crimea, which President Obama has condemned while at the same time ruling out American military action, has caused deep concern among already skittish Japanese officials.
[....]
One Japanese official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, We are just looking for a commitment from the American side.
Obama administration officials say they stand by the American commitment to protect Japan, while refraining from explicitly stating that the United States would intervene militarily in the Senkakus dispute.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
F22s would have been a better aircraft but we did not want our allies to have any and we don’t have enough. F35 is single engined and can’t carry a large payload. Japan is an island nation so they need a bird with a long reach.
They can make their own stuff. It just cost them more because they can’t export arms to bring their development costs down.
I’m pretty sure Japan already have nukes or can make them in a jiffy. They have the expertise, the fuel and the delivery systems.
Japan is like the Israel of the Far East.
Israel has only ever stomped Arabs. Japan needs to be the Japan of the Far East - the Japan that came close to conquering China before it got sidetracked into that blind alley that began with Pearl Harbor. Is the Japan that gave Uncle Sam a run for his money, for the first year or so after Pearl Harbor, more than a historical relic? We may get to find out if, in the wake of an American decision to sit out the Senkaku dispute, Japan does abrogate the treaty that binds the US to Japan's defense.
We cut off their livelihood so they went after the fleet.
Always wondered why they went after the battleships at Pearl when they knew carriers were the future.
They weren't aware that the Enterprise and the Lexington had departed Pearl on December 4 & 5 respectively to ferry aircraft to Wake Island and Midway, respectively.
Ssratoga had just completed a re-fit at the Puget Sound shipyard and was on her way to San Diego.
Those were the only three carriers in the Pacific Fleet at the time.
If you look at all their practicing and equipment it was for battleships not the carriers.
Our flattops did not have armored flight decks and they used armor piercing bombs (modified shells)
(I was at Pearl when they were filming the movie Pearl Harbor. In the movie they blew up three destroyers which were actually Japanese destroyers that were at Pearl on a port call.)
The demise of the United States of America evidenced in its failure to honor treaties.
Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Easter Europe - all are on their own... twisting in the wind. Good luck guys...
Not just eastern, but also western Europe. That’s what Zero was trying to get across to our former NATO allies with his insistence on that nuclear war “game” — “you’re on your own, and this is what will happen to you if you defy my Russian master.” His ongoing project of leaving the US with a massively cut gay military and no allies approaches fruition. And the next president will have another 9/11 to deal with. It’s the same thing that Clinton did to GW.
Japan kicked Russki ass in 1905....led to the chain of events that ultimately led to the downfall of the Czar.
"Son....you're on your own."
I'd love to know what security assurances The Ukraine was given to talk them into giving up their nukes.
No country will ever trust the US again, thanks to the usurping kenyan muzzie.
Clinton signed it, 'nuff said.
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