[Homer_J_Simpson]

This post is all about the Changkufeng incident. As you can see from the giant front page headline this was taken very seriously by the world, although we now see it as merely a skirmish. Much of the reporting relates to reaction by Germany and the U.S.

I apologize for the feast or famine nature of my posts for the last few weeks. The reason is that when I went to the library to collect stories for July and August I ran short of time so I just printed out a bunch of stories for one day and skipped ahead four days and printed some more. I will plan better for September and so the presentation should be more enjoyable. Please bear with me through August. Just keep you fingers crossed that all the international crises can be resolved through negotiation and war can be averted. Well, maybe it's too late to avert war in China, but you know what I mean.

[BroJoeK]

"It is now accepted as an authentic German viewpoint that the Reich realizes that it has in Japan an embarrassing ally on its hands.

If the Sino-Japanese conflict confronted German foreign policy with highly uncomfortable developments, there is added reason to view with even graver apprehension the possibilities of serious international complication along the Manchukuo frontier.

With the Spanish civil war and the Czech nationalities crisis as sources of concern closer to home, it is conceivable that Germany is neither prepared nor willing to court fresh liabilities and graver implications elsewhere.

Whatever platonic affections may be implied in the three-cornered anti-Comintern pact, it may be safely assumed that they do not now envisage any expansion in the direction of military obligations.

Tokyo, it would seem, therefore, will have to content itself with German professions of “sympathy,” "

Fascinating, if I understand this.

In 1938, Japan appeals to Hitler for aid against Stalin, and Hitler promises the Japanese only "sympathy." Hitler's priorities were then elsewhere -- Spain and Czechoslovakia.

In 1941, Hitler could desperately have used Japanese help -- by attacking Stalin's Far East army. But the Japanese in effect offered Hitler only "sympathy." Japan's priorities were then elsewhere -- Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Singapore, etc....

So Hitler reaped in 1941 what he sowed in 1938?

[redstateconfidential]

Ohh where are the Japanese when we need em’ to pound Stalin, I mean Putin’s right flank....?

[indcons]

Milhist ping