Vitaly Podvitsky, Global Times
By Pat Elder, Military Poisons, August 8, 2024
In addition to addressing PFAS contamination, my friends in Tokushima, Japan have asked that I also prepare a presentation on the current state of affairs between the U.S. and Japan. This is my report.
The United States has announced it will upgrade U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) to a joint force headquarters (JFHQ) with expanded operational responsibilities. The new command will report to the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). The revamped structure will assume the control of about 55,000 personnel stationed in Japan from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command some 6,200 kilometers away in Honolulu, Hawaii. The move is intended to streamline communications between the US and Japan, especially during a crisis involving China.
US “Defense” Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “This will be the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation,” although Japan will continue to play a subservient role.
The Americans are facing serious supply-chain obstacles in military armaments, having difficulty keeping up with the demand from Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza and its military campaigns in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. The US has also been unable to meet Ukraine’s insatiable demand for weapons. The US-sponsored wars are supported by the American public, although that support may be waning, especially in the Republican-controlled US Senate.
This is the stuff that keeps American war planners in the East Asian region awake at night.
It therefore becomes incumbent on the Americans to prevail on the Japanese to substantially increase their involvement in the purchase, production and deployment of American weapon systems. This is why the so-called 2+2 communique announced on July 28 in Tokyo stressed the importance of a resurgent, militaristic Japan.
The US and Japan announced plans to advance missile production capacity to address supply chain deficiencies and to cooperate on new Patriot missile systems to assist in defending Japan from potential threats from China and North Korea. US bellicosity is ratcheting up tensions while the American propensity to defend Japan is compromised.
In 2020 the US and Japan announced a deal worth $23.1 Billion for the purchase of 105 advanced fifth generation F-35 fighter jets. This comes to 3,395,700,000,000 (3.3957 trillion Yen). This totals 33.34 billion Yen per plane, but who is counting?
Perhaps more people here – I’m in Nagoya as I write – will begin counting the Yen after the Japanese Nikkei stock index closed with its largest single-day point drop in history on August 5. Investing in weapon’s systems does not assist in the recovery and growth of the Japanese economy like investments in education and infrastructure tend to do.
The historically weak yen presents a formidable challenge in procuring the American-made equipment. We also have the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in September, although few in the party seem to link rabid militarization to sluggish Japanese economic performance and deteriorating standards of living in this great nation.
The United States enthusiastically welcomed Japan’s commitment to substantially increase its war-making budget. Much of the 3.3957 trillion Yen is lining the pockets of wealthy defense contractors like Lockheed Martin in communities like Fort Worth, Texas. The Americans in Texas and in communities across the country can count on lots of brand new four-bedroom homes with swimming pools in the back yard, paid for by Japanese taxpayers.
Joint Statement of the Security Consultative Committee (“2+2”) July 28, 2024
We’ll examine sections of the July 28 Security Consultative Committee (“2+2”)
Since shortly after the smoke cleared from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese nation has questioned the deterrent policy of the US regarding the use of nuclear weapons. It appears we are now witnessing the acquiescence of Japan in this regard. The Japanese people are half willing, half aware, or uninterested. Many just don’t have access to alternative views and news.
The American and Japanese ministers support the use of nuclear weapons in the joint statement . The Japanese signed off on this statement:
“Given the increasingly severe security environment caused by recent moves of regional actors, the United States restated its unwavering commitment to the defense of Japan under Article V of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear.”
The US often refers to a “rule-based international order.” The primary rule is backed by the threat to use nuclear weaponry again. The world once looked to the Japanese as a model for nuclear restraint.
The compelling displays of anti-nuclear sentiments in Hiroshima and Nagasaki every August are undone by this bellicosity. Are the Hibakusha silenced? Will the screaming, nuclear-capable F-35’s on the ready at Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station near Hiroshima soon be fitted with the frightening and “scalable” B-61 nuclear bombs? Will Japanese islands like Ishigaki just 260 kilometers from Taiwan and 500 kilometers from Chinese coast soon be armed with nuclear missiles? Have the Japanese finally become tolerant of the bomb?
In March 2024 Beijing announced a huge 7.2% increase in its defense budget. China’s military is a third of the size of the American military, but the Chinese are rapidly catching up.
Does it ever occur to American and Japanese war planners that the best way to defuse dangerous situations depends on dialogue and cooperation rather than nearly sole reliance on expanded militaries and saber rattling?
We see this reality playing out in tense situations worldwide. For instance, the US announced in July 2023 that it will begin the process of deploying long-range missiles in Germany. Predictably, just two weeks later, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, then Russia would station similar missiles in striking distance of western Europe.
From the 2+2:
“The Ministers concurred that the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others. They said the PRC “employs political, economic, and military coercion of countries, companies, and civil society, as well as facilitates its military modernization through the diversion of technology to achieve these objectives.”
This is the height of hypocrisy! The U.S. does the same.
Jesus said that we should not point to a speck in the eye of our adversary when we have a plank in our own. I mention Jesus because most American military officers claim to follow his teachings which center around nonviolence. Would Jesus launch a nuclear missile? Would he fix a single bullet to a gun with the intention of killing someone? These are pertinent questions for American military commanders.
Could we perhaps disarm and talk to the Chinese and North Koreans or are our hearts too hardened?
The 2+2 Ministers “reiterated their strong opposition to the PRC’s intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea, including through actions that seek to undermine Japan’s longstanding and peaceful administration of the Senkaku Islands, as well as escalatory behavior around the Southwest Islands.”
The Chinese have learned to deal with the devil. They point to the re-written and largely forgotten history of the demise of Chiang Kai Shek and the illegal settlement of Taiwan in the first place. They rightfully point to threatening US behavior in Korea, Vietnam, and throughout the region for the last 80 years.
The United States has threatened to use nuclear weapons in the dispute over the Senkaku Islands, just 172 kilometers from Ishigaki Island.
The ministers shared their continuing concerns “regarding the PRC’s ongoing and rapid expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal, which continues without any transparency regarding its intent and which the PRC refuses to acknowledge, despite publicly available evidence.”
Does the US acknowledge the scale and the location of its own ship, submarine, missile, and air bomber-based nuclear arsenal in the region?
The Ministers say they encourage issues involving the Tawain Straits to be resolved peacefully while the US heavily arms Taiwan.
The ministers expressed serious concerns “about the dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms as well as the PRC’s human rights issues, including in Xinjiang and Tibet.”
Seriously? This is outrageous considering the current human rights abuses fostered and tolerated worldwide by the US in places like Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
Consider these 55 nations and the corresponding dates when the US intervened by force. It is important for nations hosting US forces to know this frightening and egregious behavior.
The 2+2 Ministers “strongly condemned North Korea’s continued conduct of reckless ballistic missile launches, alarming in number, in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) and at the cost of the welfare of people in North Korea.”
We must stop for a moment and see the world from the perspective of the North Koreans. It is their perception of feeling threatened that causes them to act this way. North Korean actions are indefensible, although understandable. Stop the arms buildup and the threatening joint exercises near North Korean shores and watch the situation de-escalate.
Also, how can the US point to the UN with a straight face when the US has failed to ratify these treaties:
Additional Protocol I on the Geneva Convention
Arms Trade Treaty
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM),
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict
Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
Mine Ban Treaty
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
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Back to the 2+2. “The Ministers strongly condemned Russia’s brutal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable war against Ukraine.”
How can the US claim Russia’s special military action in Ukraine was unprovoked? When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990’s the US gave Russia assurances that it would not expand NATO. NATO has expanded to the Russian border while the screaming American F-35’s patrol nearby. Russia has legitimate security claims! It will never forget the loss of 20 million during World War II.
The Ministers say they are “committed to strengthening bilateral coordination on cross-domain operations, including cyber, space, and electromagnetic warfare (EW), recognizing the importance of all these domains to future concepts of deterrence and response capabilities.”
Let us come to understanding this. Japan and the US want the Chinese and the North Koreans to understand that they are developing ways to shut down the Chinese and North Korean electrical grids and turn off its computers, using a host of methods, including the weaponization of space. How do you think these adversaries will respond?
“The Ministers renewed their commitment to further advance the Alliance’s partnerships with Australia, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines.”
The Japanese and American ministers haven’t embraced the lessons of history, especially those many learned during the years leading up to World War I when a single assassination resulted in global warfare. It could happen again.
Let us also begin to comprehend the environmental damage and resulting threats to human health posed by US forces after military actions have concluded or when bases are abandoned and left for host countries to clean up – if that is possible.
The 2 + 2 Ministers say they “underline the importance of accelerating bilateral work toward the total return of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma as early as practicable including the construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility at Henoko as the only solution that avoids the continued use of MCAS Futenma.”
Another solution would be for the US to leave Okinawa for good, apologize for its criminal behavior, and pay reparations. Futenma is terribly contaminated with PFAS and a host of other deadly contaminants. Will the Japanese government pretend this is not the case?
The Ministers “discussed enhancing bilateral environmental cooperation, including on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) issues, in compliance with the Status of Forces Agreement and related arrangements.” The Status of Forces Agreements the US has executed with Japan and other severely contaminated nations are one-sided documents that favor the US. They fail to consider the highly carcinogenic “forever chemicals.”
So, my colleagues in Tokushima, there are many other sobering realities regarding the US military’s occupation of Japan. The Japanese nation must awake from its slumber before a great catastrophe engulfs them and the entire world.
Notes:
US Department of Defense
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3852169/joint-statement-of-the-security-consultative-committee-22/
indo-pacific ukraine response artificial intelligence science technology engineering space freedom edge exercises japan
AP News
https://apnews.com/article/japan-us-military-command-missile-china-4e97f4cb01cfef7b6db8fb1a5df771e4
Evergreen State College
https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/wp-content/uploads/sites/358/2019/11/InterventionsList2019.pdf
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/pressite_000001_00457.html
