Japan Right Now–And the USA
EDITORIAL, 13 Jun 2016
#432 | Johan Galtung
Except for a dark shadow, all is normal in the land of Japan.
The local levels function very well with diligent Japanese working together to lift them up. Except for those with nuclear power plants, particularly one of them, on the coast, hit by a tsunami. Except too for rural communities laid waste, people aging, leaving, empty villages, hit by having to import rice instead of cultivating it.
Ride the trains, walk the streets with the Japanese; as brisk and busy as ever. A little older, more canes, fewer bicycles, more cars, better streets and roads, cars run faster. In addition, a little fatter, sharing aging and putting on weight with developed societies all over.
Missing are older ladies on bikes navigating the narrow streets with elegance, skirting pedestrians by a centimeter or two–bikes ride on sidewalks in Japan not on the streets–heads high, unperturbed.
Not missing are school classes of lovely children following the teacher with a flag–the small girls being as sweet as anywhere in the world or more so. Judging by their faces the future looks bright.
Tokyo has modernized almost to the extreme. From a concoction of villages with scattered houses of all shapes and colors to a megalopolis of skyscrapers. Totally void of any charm, but mega-modern. We all pray they can stand an earthquake or two. There was a small one during the night; maybe just informing us all that “we are still here”.
Restaurants are filled to the brim, food as delicious as ever. Plus a more recent phenomenon: tables just for women, or having the room that evening, joking, laughing, self-assertive, accompanied by no males. Next, tables only for children; accompanied by no parents?
Ancient Japan shows up as temples and shrines and gardens, as beautiful, as spiritual as ever. It is all there, to our delight.
But under the shadow of the relation to the USA, occupied for 70 years, a colony, micro-managed in the smallest detail and spied upon.
The leading author and politician, governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, caused a major stir in 1989 with his book, The Japan That Can Say No. But very few say no. They do not say yes either, they may prefer not to know. Or deep down to suffer from a servility that may one day explode in a burst of anger and violent revolt. How come?
One interpretation: the USA-Japan war from 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor till the Instrument of Surrender 2 September 1945 ended with not only military but spiritual defeat. After the Meiji Restoration Japan had constructed a state Shintoism using Western Christian models with a divinity, the Sun Goddess, bestowing divinity on her offspring, the emperors. However, she was defeated by a Western rex gratia dei–emperors, presidents, PMs by the grace of God. Defeated by FDR-Truman by the grace of a US God that proved stronger than Amaterasu-o-mikami. That God resided in Washington DC, USA. The theory explains not only the submission, but also the strong desire to learn and internalize things American; to be one with those higher and victorious forces.
Another interpretation is more geo-political, realist. It would pick up how USA-FDR decided long before Pearl Harbor to defeat Japan, having watched Japan imposing itself on the Ching dynasty 1894-1905, Russia 1904-05, then growing economically and expanding territorially; very far from just being “opened up” by a Perry to trade with USA. This is the story of provocations, preparations for war and more importantly for occupation of Japan, showing how some were warned and some not–like the commander of the fleet in Pearl Harbor who was sacrificed with a fleet with the youngest ship being 27 years old and no aircraft carrier–to prove to the world that Japan had attacked.
The two theories do not exclude each other; in fact, they support each other. At the level of geo-politics, Japan fell into the well-prepared trap, was not only defeated but also genocided; at the spiritual level Japan underwent a conversion that made the defeat acceptable.
More than that, maybe even desirable. If the USA is really as so many Americans believe a chosen people directly under God, superior to Japan as proved by the war contest, by how that war came about, submission, even servility, under such power follows. Moreover, if USA is threatened by Satan’s forces–as it looks right now–it becomes not only a duty but also an honor to be called upon to share the burdens as “collective self-defense”, shoulder to shoulder, around the world.
The USA has become a Patron, a Lord, Japan a dependent vassal.
As such, the USA has not only the right but also the duty to impose itself on Japan, including micro-managing and spying. By doing so on Japan, not a small power itself by any means, USA confirms its divine status–the Americans call it “exceptionalism”–and Japan’s closeness to Higher Forces. Like Archangel Gabriel, who carries out the Father’s will–or like the Son called upon to “judge the living and the dead”? Under, yes, but to be under the Highest does not mean to be low.
To reduce USA to a geo-political power-greedy state reduces Japan not only to a defeated outcast in this world, but to a Japan so stupid as to have fallen into the Pearl Harbor trap, and on top of that to be duped into de facto colonization and accepting it. There will be very strong forces of denial from the top of the major ministries (finance-foreign-defense), themselves conveyors of the US demands on Japan and the vehicles of their realization. A hard battle due to come.
However, demystification of USA-Japan relations is bound to come. But only from the source acceptable to “The Japan that Says Yes” (yes-yes-yes-yes–): from the USA itself. From a USA losing one war after the other since Korea 1953, a USA of war fatigue, for whatever reason. To a Japan deeply worried about Trump not only for pulling troops out leaving Self-defense to Japan itSelf, but for becoming Great alone, not bestowing indirect greatness on others. Making Japan ordinary.
We will see. Probably quite soon. And hopefully nonviolently.
______________________________________
Johan Galtung, a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, is founder of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment and rector of the TRANSCEND Peace University-TPU. He has published 164 books on peace and related issues, of which 41 have been translated into 35 languages, for a total of 135 book translations, including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
Tags: Development, Ecological Degradation, FDR, International Relations, USA
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 13 Jun 2016.
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I feel honored to have learned of Dr. Johan Galtung by reading his article, “Japan Right Now – And The USA.” As a peace activist for many years, a filmmaker for quite a few years and a human being for many more years I find this article brilliant. Dr. Galtung has provided a pinpoint analysis of Japan-US relations that no popular historians and few intellectuals have ever considered. Bravo! While I am new to Dr. Galtung, I have not read more of his books or writings, but I am curious to know his perception of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution as a document-in-action for peace?
I am currently working with Women;’s International League for Peace and Freedom to bring a version of Article 9 as an amendment to the U.S. constitution. My recent film, “Article 9 Comes to America,” is available for Transcend Media Setrvice and Dr. Galtung to view if so desired. Many thanks for your very important work. Sincerely, David Rothauser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f_18mLjSRc
Galtung recently said at a conference I attended, that Art 9. of the Japanese constitution is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and if it were up to him, this article should be awarded the Noobel Peace Prize afterall the EU also got it.
Charting a Peaceful Course
The East and South China Sea Peace Initiatives and the fisheries agreements that followed serve as proof of the ROC’s role as a regional peacemaker.Taiwan, with its heavy reliance on international trade, is a key advocate of peace and cooperation.
By acting in line with the principles of viable diplomacy, the nation has clearly demonstrated how dialogue and mutual respect can help secure regional stability and prosperity.
this course of action has led to not only peaceful development in the East and South China Seas, but also improved relations across the Taiwan Strait and with nation around the world.
LOL. Away a few weeks, and voila! Galtung again only regurgling boilerplate conspiracy idiocy.
LOL @ you. Have you ever been in Japan Krogh? Have you been working and living in Japan like Prof. Galtung? Have you married into Japan and do you have Japanese children? Are you Japanese at heart? If not; just shut up and come back when you have anything of substance to say. Galtung is
deldano
Yes I have. And is that material to the fact that Galrung is promoting yet more of his conspiracy idiocy?
yawwwwn
Is JG claming that the US knew about Pearl Harbor beforehand?
No. He is not saying that. BUT Galtung is obviously making a well known point among historians of the pacific theatre: FDR knew that a japanese attack would come. When and how maybe not! But that it would happen: the U.S. administration knew. How? By deliberately provokiing it. How: Read all about it in Charles A. Beard’s “President Roosevelt and the Coming of War, 1941” published if my memory is correct in 1948.
Mr Deldano
That may be so, but in that case JG’s wording is suspiciously misleading. In terms of the “warning” and that the commander in PH was “sacrificed”.
Nevertheless I would very much like JG to elaborate his choice of words and hints.
Read all about the US provocations of Japan here: thank google for little mercies: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/05/17/pearl-harbor-an-exchange/
There is even more by a whole bunch of other thinkers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor_advance-knowledge_conspiracy_theory
Google is quite a wonderous tool for anyone who wishes to find out about narratives on specific issues. Quite obviously, some on here rely on Galtung to do their research in their stead.
This is what Wikipedia claims:
“Several writers, including journalist Robert Stinnett,retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert A Theobald, and Harry Elmer Barnes have argued various parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may even have let it happen or encouraged it in order to force America into the European theatre of World War II via a Japanese–American war started at “the back door”. Evidence supporting this view is taken from quotations and source documents from the time and the release of newer materials. However, the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy is considered to be a fringe theory and is rejected by most mainstream historians.”
Mr Deldano
Nobody doubts that advance-knowledge conspiracy theories exists. Among a plethora of other conspriacy theories. My questions is if JG subscribe to these.
Could I ask JG to explain?
You can ask whatever you like, I just believe and hope Galtung has better things to do than to answer comment sections replete with lazy diatribes. The point here is that you should look into the matter yourself and study the matter in minute detail yourself instead of hanging onto Johan Galtung’s views like your life depended on it. I for one am quite positively intrigued to have found out now, that none other than Gore Vidal had the exact same view as Galtung eventhough Ian Buruma whom I equally greatly admire for his scholarly intellect and acumen simply disagrees. This is history and the study of it. I have ordered Robert Stinnett’s “Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor, Simon and Schuster, 1999.” I would recommend you do the same. I’ll see where the chips fall as I keep this issue on my intellectual radar.
Mr Deldano
I’m, fully aware of anmd have read Stinnett’s book and also his subsequent refusal to release the documents he (allergedly) based it on.
As I have mentioned before I’m disinclined to accept JG’s infallibility and I would very much like to learn about his argument for proposing (or at least suggesting) the advance-knowledge conspiracy theories.
I know Japan. I think JG’s points and descriptions of Japan in general are accurate and valid, but I also believe that those that relate to the US (or Japan-US relations, as for the Korean-US relations are colored by JG antipathy towards the US. And hence that some of his analysis, projections and prognosis suffer.
You may disagree, but so far I have seen no real argument to counter my impression.
Best Regards/Paul
Substance over ad hoiminem imputations Reimer. Are you familiar with that school of academic discipline? You know more about Stinnett than I do at this point in time. Why is that not surprising. Your expertise seems to be branding views that differ from schoolbook information as negatively deviant. Be that as it may, while I await my own copy of Stinnett, here is what Galtung is referring to, the content of Stinnett’s book.
“Day of Deceit” provides compelling evidence that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt deliberately provoked Japan to attack the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor so that America could enter the war on the allied side. Stinnett, a distinguished World War II navy veteran who researched his subject for over sixteen years, provides the following evidence:
1. A naval intelligence officer named Arthur McCollum developed an eight-point plan to provoke Japanese hostilities. This plan reached Roosevelt who implemented all eight points.
2. Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese navy broke radio silence on multiple occasions prior to December 7, 1941.
3. More than 94% of all secret Japanese naval messages (including some with direct reference to the impending attack on Pearl Harbor) were successfully decoded by American intelligence units prior to December 7, 1941
4. Roosevelt implemented a change of naval command that placed proponents of the eight-point-provocation plan in key positions of power. However, the newly promoted commander of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Kimmel was consistently denied access to vital decoded translations of Japanese naval communications.
5. Naval Intelligence and the FBI successfully monitored the communication of Japanese intelligence agents in Hawaii for months. These communications, which included a bombing grid map of Pearl Harbor, revealed Japan’s intent.
6. Much of the information successfully collected and analyzed by American Intelligence organizations prior to December 7, 1941 was reinforced by information from British and Dutch intelligence.
7. A sophisticated radio tracking system spanning from Alaska to Indonesia enabled America to track Japanese commercial and military shipping patterns. These patterns, including the movement of carrier groups and recall of worldwide merchant ships pointed to an obvious prelude to hostilities several months before December 7th.
8. Most of the critical U.S. Pacific Fleet components such as heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers were not in Pearl Harbor during the bombing. In fact the only ships that were sunk were WW I relics.
9. Much of the documented information was censored or withheld from the public for decades and continues to be to this day.
10. In early 1941 Roosevelt divided the U.S. Navy into an Atlantic and Pacific command and ordered fleet construction, which included one hundred aircraft carriers to be completed by 1943. This indicates that the losses at Pearl Harbor would not interfere with America’s larger war aims and with war production that supported those aims.
Mr Deldano
I hope that you can accept that differing views is not the same as “branding views that differ from schoolbook information as negatively deviant”
My point is that Stinnett has some points, but also that his theories are in general refuted and that the bombshell material and sources he promised to publish, never materialized. This is not imho me branding anything or anybody, but in line with an accepted scholarly approach.
I agree that an attack on the US as such was not fully unexpected, but the line that PH (and the men there) was “sacrificed” as JG seen to propose (hence my question to him) is based on a un-academic theory. The fact that the base components and carrier group escaped is not due to American cunning or pre-knowledge. It was due to Japanese decisions where Yamamoto ended up supporting Nagato when he refused the follow-up attacks. A decision Yamamoto later regretted deeply.
Historians have long debated whether President Roosevelt had advance knowledge of Japan’s December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Using documents pried loose through the Freedom of Information Act during 17 years of research, Stinnett provides overwhelming evidence that FDR and his top advisers knew that Japanese warships were heading toward Hawaii. The heart of his argument is even more inflammatory: Stinnett argues that FDR, who desired to sway public opinion in support of U.S. entry into WWII, instigated a policy intended to provoke a Japanese attack. The plan was outlined in a U.S. Naval Intelligence secret strategy memo of October 1940; Roosevelt immediately began implementing its eight steps (which included deploying U.S. warships in Japanese territorial waters and imposing a total embargo intended to strangle Japan’s economy), all of which, according to Stinnett, climaxed in the Japanese attack. Stinnett, a decorated naval veteran of WWII who served under then Lt. George Bush, substantiates his charges with a wealth of persuasive documents, including many government and military memos and transcripts. Demolishing the myth that the Japanese fleet maintained strict radio silence, he shows that several Japanese naval broadcasts, intercepted by American cryptographers in the 10 days before December 7, confirmed that Japan intended to start the war at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett convincingly demonstrates that the U.S. top brass in Hawaii–Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Husband Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter Short–were kept out of the intelligence loop on orders from Washington and were then scapegoated for allegedly failing to anticipate the Japanese attack (in May 1999, the U.S. Senate cleared their names). Kimmel moved his fleet into the North Pacific, actively searching for the suspected Japanese staging area, but naval headquarters ordered him to turn back. Stinnett’s meticulously researched book raises deeply troubling ethical issues. While he believes the deceit built into FDR’s strategy was heinous, he nevertheless writes: “I sympathize with the agonizing dilemma faced by President Roosevelt. He was forced to find circuitous means to persuade an isolationist America to join in a fight for freedom.” This, however, is an expression of understanding, not of absolution. If Stinnett is right, FDR has a lot to answer for–namely, the lives of those Americans who perished at Pearl Harbor. Stinnett establishes almost beyond question that the U.S. Navy could have at least anticipated the attack. The evidence that FDR himself deliberately provoked the attack is circumstantial, but convincing enough to make Stinnett’s bombshell of a book the subject of impassioned debate in the months to come. (Dec.)Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
True or false: “More than 94% of all secret Japanese naval messages (including some with direct reference to the impending attack on Pearl Harbor) were successfully decoded by American intelligence units prior to December 7, 1941.” THAT is the question here! Nothing else.
Nopes. JN25 – the main naval code – was changed before Pearl Harbour, and only broken in 1942.
Did ypu really believe Galtung’s conspiracy idiocy?
Source it. You are a nobody with nothing to your credibility. And you are as tactless as you are rude. Coming on here pretending the anonymity of internet posts means you are owed anything. Just source your stuff if you want to be taken seriously at all. Or shut up. We read Galtung because we know what we are getting. Galtung has consistency and credibility and academic solidity. 150+ books. Theory. Methodology. History. Analysis. Sociology. Law. Mathematics. Philosophy. Administration. Substance. Years and years of consistency. You don’t get it do you? 60 years of consistency.
deldano
“Source it.”
Very short form:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Magic/JN-25/JN-25.1.html
If you want the detailed story, read Budiansky’s “Battle of the wits” or Sexton’s “Signals Intelligence in World War 2”.
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“You are a nobody with nothing to your credibility. And you are as tactless as you are rude.”
Coming from a person with zero critical sense and screaming and insulting people for disagreing with you? Get over yourself.
—
“Coming on here pretending the anonymity of internet posts means you are owed anything.”
I’m not anonymousl I’ve posted my mail address and brighter people than you have found my open social profiles and other information.
—
” Just source your stuff if you want to be taken seriously at all. Or shut up. We read Galtung because we know what we are getting. Galtung has consistency and credibility and academic solidity. 150+ books. Theory. Methodology. History. Analysis. Sociology. Law. Mathematics. Philosophy. Administration. Substance. Years and years of consistency. You don’t get it do you? 60 years of consistency.”
Oh the fallacy of “authority”. Galtung is flawless because he has published books? What and idiotic claim. I’ve shown Galtung’s lies, manipulation and tendency to promote crappy conspiracy stuff when he runs out of arguments. You don’t like it. Why should I care?
Could it be you have had a problem with authority per se all your life?
Just an inkling…
deldano
Authority without evidence, yes.
lol but you obviously do kroghly you do.
On a civil note: Thanks for the sources. That’s more like it.
Not exactly my school of thought, but quite good summary of what we’re on about here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p8z1A3TsxU
Now back to our hostilities:
I’ll just say this. If you travel a lot and are a dilligent political analyst with a bias against structural violence and direct violence, you will find one variable recurring everywhere. Ethiopia is not involved in Honduras’ politics and is not involved in Taiwan’s politics. But the U.S is in all 3. lol… Galtung is on to something and you don’t seem to be able to add one and one together.
Go figure.
Galtung’s authority shines through the accuracy of his massive contributions to the social sciences. Whether you like it or not. Let’s try: Who would you suggest one reads instead of Galtung on geopoltiics and international conflicts? I’ll take note.
deldano
I have travelled extensively and I still find lots of Galtung’s analysis and prognosis to be complete nonsense.
Galtung is a bright and learned man, but even bright an learned men can end up as prisonors of their own ideas. Scholars are in fact wrong very often, and that is certainly not a problem – the only problem is when thet fall for their own inability to confront themselves.
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/scientists-wrong-time-thats-fantastic/
Galtung is trapped in is hate of the US. This leads him to promote -as I have shown again and again – idiotic conspiracy theories and his ofte-repeated lie about the “37 countries, xx millions” that has been shown to be pure bunk.
Wise men learn from their mistakes, invite disagreement and admit when they are wrong.
Not all scholars, learned men and prolific authors are wise.
Regarding some of the commentators’ question about Japan’s Pearl Harbor Attack, I am writing this comment to add some information. Let the TMS readers, including the commentators, judge the information.
I am not sure whether FDR knew the exact date of the Pearl Harbor Attack in many weeks or many months in advance. However, it seemed that he knew it one or two days in advance.
Years ago, I read an article in a magazine (= I do not remember the name of the magazine, and this magazine is not available any more) published by the Asahi Shimbun Corporation. Let me summarize the article, based on my memory and my understanding of the article, as follows:
————
Fifteen secret telexes were sent to the Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C., one by one from Japan over the course of a few weeks before the Pearl Harbor Attack. It seemed that the US military intelligence also secretly read all of them. If the US intelligence staff successfully read 14 telexes out of the 15 telexes, it was obvious for them that the Japan would attack the Pearl Harbor on December 8 (December 7 in the US time), 1941.
The 15th telex, the final one, arrived at the Japanese Embassy on “Saturday, December 6 (US time), 1941”. It was this telex that the Japanese Embassy staff should have translated into English to inform Japan’s declaration of war against the United States, and they should have brought it to the US Government on that day without delay. However, the Embassy staff went out to attend a diplomatic party, held in Washington D.C. in the evening of December 6, 1941.
[My comment, based on the assumption that the information contained in the above-mentioned article was genuine: Why did these Japanese diplomats not translate the 15th telex into English immediately to bring it to the US Government during the day time on that day? It is still a “mystery”. According to the above-mentioned article, these diplomats were strictly instructed that the “Declaration of the War” should be informed to the United States JUST BEFORE the Pearl Harbor Attack, BUT NOT during or after the Attack. That means that “Saturday, December 6, 1941” was probably the most critical day for these Japanese diplomats. They were aware of that. What were they doing during the day time on that day? Were these diplomats practicing the spirit of “¡Hasta mañana!” on the day before Japan’s Pearl Harbor Attack? Who said that Japanese people are diligent? Look at these Japanese elite diplomats. They were probably not aware that their seemingly negligent act as such changed the course of history.]
Next morning, Sunday December 7, 1941, some Japanese diplomats of the Embassy went to the Embassy office to translate the 15th telex into English in order to prepare “Japan’s Declaration of War against the United States”. By that time, however, Japan’s Pearl Harbor Attack was going on. Surprisingly, none of these Japanese diplomats were able to use a typewriter! (It was Sunday, so an American typist, working at the Embassy, was off-duty.) These Japanese diplomats struggled to type the Declaration, and they brought it to Haru, the-then US Secretary of State. By then, Haru had already been informed from Hawaii of Japan’s attack. In other words, he received the “Declaration of War against the United States by Japan” just after the Attack. The rest was history.
============
Satoshi Ashikaga
“Fifteen secret telexes were sent to the Japanese Embassy in Washington D.C., one by one from Japan over the course of a few weeks before the Pearl Harbor Attack. It seemed that the US military intelligence also secretly read all of them. If the US intelligence staff successfully read 14 telexes out of the 15 telexes, it was obvious for them that the Japan would attack the Pearl Harbor on December 8 (December 7 in the US time), 1941.”
Why? Firstly the Japanese diplomtic cipher was exactly that. A diplomtic – not a military – cipher. The Japanese navy didn’t use Purple – they used (for the most secure purposes) JN-25, updated ti JN-25b *before* Pearl Harbour. JN-25b was only broken in May 1942.
The Japanese were not stupid. Even though the may have considered Purple safe (some strech as they were warned by the German’s in early 1941), they would never send detailed operational information on a diplomatic cipher. The Embassy had no need whatsoever to know the actual target of any impending attack.
Secondly the set of telegrams themselves do not include a formal mandate for Declaration of War. They contain an directive to break of negotiations and the rationale for doing so. The actual Declaration of War came on a public announcement in the name of the Emperor *after* the attack.
Dear Thomas,
Thank you for spending your precious time and energy to respond to the summary of the article.
Three points:
First:
Imagine that you are the owner of a shop. The name of this shop is, say, “Thomas Meat Shop”. One of the customers visits your restaurant almost every day and complains that the food of your shop is terrible and that the customers coming to your shop are stupid. But this customer comes to your shop almost every day, sometimes more than once. What do you think of this customer, Thomas?
Second:
As mentioned, it was an article in a magazine, published by Asashi Shimbun. If you would like to argue about the information in that article, contact Asahi Shimbun and they will tell you the exact title of the article and the name of the magazine. Then, you can discuss it with the authors (a team of the journalist) about it. I am not the author. Argue with the authors if you would like. For instance, you say, “Even though the may have considered Purple safe (some strech as they were warned by the German’s in early 1941), they would never send detailed operational information on a diplomatic cipher. The Embassy had no need whatsoever to know the actual target of any impending attack.” But did you actually read the telex? The authors conducted some research, including checking some documents in relevant archives, in preparation for the article. You can tell them that you know better than them. What research did you conduct when you wrote these words, Thomas? Did you really check the pertinent facts? If you would like to discuss the article, you should ask the authors about their research for the article.
Third:
It seems that you visit the TMS website almost every day or every few hours a day. Are you unemployed or don’t you have a regular job? Like many other people, I am also busy. I do not have time to check someone’s comment(s), posted on the TMS website so frequently. Time is not only money. Time is Life. You seem to spend a substantial amount of your time for commenting on the Editorial and other people’s comments. That is the way you spend your (precious) time.
How many “days” did you live so far? (Calculate the length of time you have lived so far in days, not in years.) How many days do you think you will live more? Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you will live more as you estimate. While you are spending your time as such, your days are clicking. This day, today, will never come again. This moment will never come again. You prove by yourself the value of the time in your life by how you spend your time and for what purpose you spend this moment of your life.
You can ridicule or write whatever as you like after reading this. Respond as you like. You spend your time as you like. By doing so, you are demonstrating by yourself what kind of person you really are. Meanwhile the time of your life for today is passing. Someone said on the verge of his death,”I knew that the final day of my life would come. But I did not know that today is the day.” On the last day of your life you might remember these words as cited. Till then, how would you spend your time, Thomas? You know your age.
It is your time, your life. I have no time for you any more. I stop writing now. Spend your time in accordance with the “value of your life”. Good luck for the rest of your life, Thomas.
Yours sincerely,
Satoshi Ashikaga
Shit hit the fan again I see. Criticise anything the USA does or have done, and oh boy…
As for the article itself, I’m seeing clear similarities to how Norway are acting. Showing some independent thought would be nice, without doing whatever the USA wants us to do every single time. Like when we joined the war on Afghanistan, to paraphrase from a recent report about it, to please the US and show that we were a good [sic] ally.
I would hope that if any of you have a friend who is planning to murder somebody, that you don’t come along with him/her yourself to be a “good friend”.
Per-Stian
“Shit hit the fan again I see. Criticise anything the USA does or have done, and oh boy…”
Criticise *anything* Galtung writes and the shit indeed hits the fan….
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“As for the article itself, I’m seeing clear similarities to how Norway are acting. Showing some independent thought would be nice, without doing whatever the USA wants us to do every single time. Like when we joined the war on Afghanistan, to paraphrase from a recent report about it, to please the US and show that we were a good [sic] ally.”
Valid point, but hardly one that rationalizes Galtung’s lies and inane conspiracy theories…
Galtung’s problem is – still – that his valid points drown in his own nonsense. If he took to understanding the dynamics af Asia for instance without his blind “Silk Road!” and “37 countries.. ” blah blah every time, he would be able to find the much more nuanced picture.
Why the Chinese economy is much more likely to crash than the US’ is, why old friends of the may be more likely to align themselves with China, whereas old enemies – such as Iran and Vietnam – are more likely to move closer the US and so on.
The world is – still – much, much more complicated than Galtung seems to think.
Ok. Krogh. So your point is: “Galtung is smart but not wise.” Good. Thank you. Point well taken. Now sit down and get with the program. We come here to read what he has to share. For what it is worth. Not to agree nor to disagree or to throw a tantrum everytime he drops a gem about the emperor’s size. Contrary to you I think very few of us readers come here to pontificate on whether or not he is wise or THE most errorless peer in the field. That is YOUR concern and you are waging that battle bigly. At the end of the day… tt is quite entertaining to me really… keep on keeping on.
deldano
“Ok. Krogh. So your point is: “Galtung is smart but not wise.” Good. Thank you. Point well taken.”
You are welcome.
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“Now sit down and get with the program. We come here to read what he has to share. For what it is worth. Not to agree nor to disagree or to throw a tantrum everytime he drops a gem about the emperor’s size.”
So you don’t care if Galtung is right or wrong? OK then. That’ll explain a lot.
—
“Contrary to you I think very few of us readers come here to pontificate on whether or not he is wise or THE most errorless peer in the field. That is YOUR concern and you are waging that battle bigly. At the end of the day… tt is quite entertaining to me really… keep on keeping on.”
You are welcome again. One og the nuggets I’ve just seen now is this one about the Zika virus:
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/06/who-owns-the-zika-virus/
The idiocy of that – yet another conspiracy lie – is profound, but yet nobody in the site has the guts to point it out.
Serious question deldano. D ever ask yourself why Transcend is hosting lies like that? Why is Galtung permitting himself to be associated with that kind of stuff?
You really don’t care, do you?
Satoshi Ashikaga
“Imagine that you are the owner of a shop. The name of this shop is, say, “Thomas Meat Shop”. One of the customers visits your restaurant almost every day and complains that the food of your shop is terrible and that the customers coming to your shop are stupid. But this customer comes to your shop almost every day, sometimes more than once. What do you think of this customer, Thomas?”
Knowing that even the best restaurateur in the world is prone to make mistakes, I would start wondering why the other regulars are scared so witless that they either posses no ideas of their own, or a simply too awed to even think of criticizing me when I make errors.
—
“As mentioned, it was an article in a magazine, published by Asashi Shimbun. If you would like to argue about the information in that article, contact Asahi Shimbun and they will tell you the exact title of the article and the name of the magazine.”
I rest my case. Really.
—
“For instance, you say, “Even though the may have considered Purple safe (some strech as they were warned by the German’s in early 1941), they would never send detailed operational information on a diplomatic cipher. The Embassy had no need whatsoever to know the actual target of any impending attack.” But did you actually read the telex? The authors conducted some research, including checking some documents in relevant archives, in preparation for the article. You can tell them that you know better than them. What research did you conduct when you wrote these words, Thomas? Did you really check the pertinent facts? If you would like to discuss the article, you should ask the authors about their research for the article.”
Yes, I did. Read the telex. Did you? Could you state the parts that made you believe Pearl Harbour was mentioned? Line number…?
—
“It seems that you visit the TMS website almost every day or every few hours a day.”
No, only when I follow a thread. Most days I don’t. I’ve spent a couple of weeks travelling where TMS never came to my mind. How many hours do you need to write a few lines? I need minutes. Not hours.
—
“You can ridicule or write whatever as you like after reading this. ”
Thank you.
—
“It is your time, your life. I have no time for you any more. I stop writing now. Spend your time in accordance with the “value of your life”. Good luck for the rest of your life, Thomas.”
And same to you. Of course I won’t stop commenting on lies and conspiracy theories. Both are plagues and – in effect – weapons of war. And the tools of totalitarians.
And must of course be exposed as such. Even when you don’t like it.