Thursday, October 22, 2009
First the UK, Now Japan?
News here of a chill in US-Japan relations. The new government in Japan is predictably moving away from the US (they campaigned just so), and public dust-ups are beginning to occur. The relationship with Japan is a critical one, and our senior officials and diplomats are going to have to play this one with some skill (i.e, not like they've managed the relationship with the British). The Japanese government's idea to create an EU-like "Asian Community" is rightfully seen by other nations in the region as a ploy to elbow the US out. It's time for some of that vaunted "Hope and Change" magic to be devoted to the US-Japan relationship. Or is it already?
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3 comments:
I know it's not popular and I'm sure I'm missing some of the finer points but we should consider pulling back a bit. Japan's lesson from WWII was that war was not necessary to achieve "The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere". Economies are interdependent and war on that scale is no longer tenable. Let's pull out. Let the Japanese and Koreans defend themselves from whomever. They're wealthy countries, they can afford it. We can't.
Greg--I think you have an honorable, supportable, and rational position, one that is shared by many. It is however, a very different policy than the one in place now and since the end of WWII. I would prefer that such a policy--if adopted--were to come about as the result of deliberation within the US foreign policy community and a cold, hard assessment of our national interests, rather than backing into it as the result of fumbled diplomacy.
What is it exactly about the record of the Obama administration thusfar that gives you any hope of an intelligent foreign policy or othewise move on their part?
Learn to speak fluent Spanish, we are headed for banana republic status.
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