american hypocrisy about war-crimes

aug 5th, 2006

i think the japanese have a perfect right to do whatever they want at yakusuni.

i am also glad the indian judge, radhabinod pal, was the only one who stood up and challenged the white guys' self-righteous war crimes assertions.

chinese, with their ongoing genocide in tibet, are the worst human-rights offendors on earth now. so they are in no position to whine about japan. but the japanese, being polite, have been easy prey for chinese extortion on this count. whenever the chinese want money, they screech "rape of nanking", and the japanese hand over another $1 billion or so.

and americans really shouldn't moralize. after all they have never atoned for:

a) the bombs in hiroshima and nagasaki. they keep arguing that it was strategically and even morally necessary. i have listened to long arguments about it, and at the end of it concluded that it was a war-crime and an example of state-sponsored terrorism. the intent was simply to terrorize the civilian population of japan. (india are familiar with the same from musharraf -- state-sponsored terrorism that america turns a blind eye to).

b) slavery. even now, the confederate flag flies in state, if i am not mistaken, in various state capitols such as georgia, north carolina, mississippi, etc. aren't americans ashamed of this symbol of hatred? why don't they ban the confederate flag outright?

c) genocide. the massacres of the native american, the wiping out of the american buffalo in an effort to starve them, the deliberate spreading of diseases among them, then the forced marches that killed many and confined the survivors to barren reservations, and today the alcoholic stupor in which the few broken remnants of the once-great native nations of the iroquois, sioux, etc. live

fix these, boys, and then preach at others. i find nothing particularly tainted about japan's past. at any rate, no more tainted than america's (including vietnam, cambodia, nicaragua and other recent exploits).

i am in general a supporter of the us, so i hate it when revisionists start pontificating. don't be moralizers, boys, be moral, for a change. ask others to do as you do, not as you preach.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/opinion/05bass.html?_r=1&oref=slogin