I'm sure the happenings in the Far East are not going to make front page news; events there are very alarming, with all the saber rattling.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160321_16/
Ping
Not surprising given that PM Abe is the near mirror opposite of ObaMao. Japan has been a loyal and steadfast ally since World War II and understands better than we do that China hegemony in Asia means second class status for them.
Looks like Trump has influenced another issue even before he wins. He’s been calling them out on this for months in his speeches.
Understand Trump expressed the opinion that any NATO member country where solders are posted needs to pay for our services or we need to get out. Think this position has been adopted by Washington in the past but seems like no one has ever taken any action in this regard. Wonder how the stance by Japan plays into this.
The troubles we face are a metaphor of "neutral" European attitudes towards a belligerent Germany in 1940. All had an army, navy and air force (except for Switzerland, which had no navy). European "intel" showed they had several weeks to prepare for invasion.
Denmark lost 16 soldiers killed, and surrendered in just three hours! Norway was, regretfully, a battleground for the entire war. Finland played both sides, but still faced starvation, deprivations, and lost hundreds of thousands dead.
Belgium and the Netherlands thought the imminent invasion was France's problem, couldn't agree on expensive mutual defenses, and were over-run in a week.
Switzerland had a rifle in every home, and a standby militia of hundreds of thousands of sharpshooters. Mountain tunnels had been mined to collapse. Nazi sympathizers were sent back over the border. Large storerooms were blasted into their mountainsides, where many of their aircraft were protected by zig-zag entrances and heavy steel doors. Roadways had been previously prepared for mines and tank traps, every pass had modern heavy anti-tank artillery trained on the roadways, and their air force consisted of the same Messerschmidt fighter aircraft as the Nazis!
To provoke the Swiss, Goering sent a flight of bombers (protected by German Messerschmidts), across a corner of Switzerland. The Swiss, to assert their neutrality, sent up their air force and shot down a few bombers—whose crews were interned for the rest of the war. (Americans who flew into Swiss territory were also interned). As a backup, a central large mountainous fortress had long been prepared to store ammunition, food, to protect citizens, protect the slopes from German paratroopers, armed with artillery, and to retain the majority of their armed forces.
The Roman expression, "Si vis pacem, para bellum"—"To preserve the Peace, prepare for war" was the lesson learned by Swiss.
How's our defense spending going?