One point that was a bit out of sync with the otherwise high tone of the piece was the specific mention of one current U.S. presidential candidate as a bogeyman for future troubles (and very early in that selection process as well!). The current U.S. President and his foreign policy team would seem a better target for today's issues. Following that, the most likely next U.S. President in fact oversaw a series of debacles in the Middle East and North Africa that show she learned nothing from the mistakes of George W. Bush other than that she lies more effectively. That is what I'd be worrying about, not the vastly more unlikely event of a Trump presidency.
I think it is futile and counter-productive to expect to convince the U.S. to resurrect 70 year old enmities relative to Japan. Japan has paid its price in domestic changes as well as in absorbing two atomic bombings, in most American's eyes. Japan's offers of reparations to Mao's China in the 1950's were rebuffed by Mao, with the thinking that seizure of Japan's vast assets in China without negotiation was more valuable. The same targeted benefits profile can be seen in the deaf-ears reactions of many in Korea to successive apologies by Japan to Korea: many in Korea seem to prefer the domestic political leverage of an anti-Japan position. As a rational person as well, one must look at the differences in the world of 70 years ago vs. today: the world was brutal 70 years ago when a zillion things were considered "normal" and "tolerable" that would never be accepted today. Don't try to place 2015 sensibilities selectively on the 1930's. Finally, if the ROK chooses by its own will to become part of China's sphere of influence and forget what China did to Korea during the1950-53 Korean War, it does not mean that Japan must do the same. In that event the US, hopefully under a wise President, will allow Korea to go its own way.
I think it is futile and counter-productive to expect to convince the U.S. to resurrect 70 year old enmities relative to Japan. Japan has paid its price in domestic changes as well as in absorbing two atomic bombings, in most American's eyes. Japan's offers of reparations to Mao's China in the 1950's were rebuffed by Mao, with the thinking that seizure of Japan's vast assets in China without negotiation was more valuable. The same targeted benefits profile can be seen in the deaf-ears reactions of many in Korea to successive apologies by Japan to Korea: many in Korea seem to prefer the domestic political leverage of an anti-Japan position. As a rational person as well, one must look at the differences in the world of 70 years ago vs. today: the world was brutal 70 years ago when a zillion things were considered "normal" and "tolerable" that would never be accepted today. Don't try to place 2015 sensibilities selectively on the 1930's. Finally, if the ROK chooses by its own will to become part of China's sphere of influence and forget what China did to Korea during the1950-53 Korean War, it does not mean that Japan must do the same. In that event the US, hopefully under a wise President, will allow Korea to go its own way.
Michael Bobkoski
AIRTEC SYSTEM
Email: m.bobko@airtecsys.com
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