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Departing From Country's Pacifism, Japanese Premier Vows Revenge Against ISIS for Killings
New York Times ^ | 02/01/2015 | By MARTIN FACKLER

Posted on 02/01/2015 7:05:19 PM PST by SeekAndFind

TOKYO — When Islamic State militants posted a video over the weekend showing the grisly killing of a Japanese journalist, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reacted with outrage, promising “to make the terrorists pay the price.”

Such vows of retribution may be common in the West when leaders face extremist violence, but they have been unheard of in confrontation-averse Japan — until now. The prime minister’s call for revenge after the killings of the journalist, Kenji Goto, and another hostage, Haruna Yukawa, raised eyebrows even in the military establishment, adding to a growing awareness here that the crisis could be a watershed for this long pacifist country.

“Japan has not seen this Western-style expression in its diplomacy before,” Akihisa Nagashima, a former vice minister of defense, wrote on Twitter. “Does he intend to give Japan the capability to back up his words?”

As the 12-day hostage crisis came to a grim conclusion with the killing of Mr. Goto, the world has suddenly begun to look like a much more dangerous place to a peaceful and prosperous nation that had long seen itself as immune to the sorts of violence faced by the United States and its Western allies.

Some described a level of shock not unlike that experienced by the Americans after the 2001 terrorist attacks, or the French after last month’s assault on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the murders in a kosher supermarket.

“This is 9/11 for Japan,” said Kunihiko Miyake, a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat who has advised Mr. Abe on foreign affairs. “It is time for Japan to stop daydreaming that its good will and noble intentions would be enough to shield it from the dangerous world out there. Americans have faced this harsh reality, the French have faced it, and now we are, too.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Japan; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: isis; isisatrocities; isisbeheading; japan; japanhostages; revenge; terrorism
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To: Don W

The Obama’s might take exception to this eviction.....


61 posted on 02/01/2015 11:05:06 PM PST by matthew fuller (God bless Jan Morgan- owner / The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range.)
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To: 353FMG

Mosques in Japan will be attacked. Hijab’ed or niqab’ed muslim women will be spat upon or cursed or not given seats on Japanese trains. Stuff like that. Any muslim kid in a Japanese public school will be hazed and called a ‘terroristo’. Japanese will tend to spout off their frustration and anger in that manner. At the extreme, you could expect some extreme imperialist fascist (yakuza aligned) group akin to the S.A. in their sound trucks, throwing a molotov cocktail or two at prayer services. That is why Japanese national police are on guard against retribution and the Japanese islamics are playing the C.A.I.R. card. I think that is about the limit as to what Japan can do. It is a shame.


62 posted on 02/01/2015 11:35:24 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Stop the Amnesty runaway train, or we will literally lose our Republic folks.)
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To: 4Runner
I’m assuming Japan has access to weapons grade plutonium and yellow cake. Am I incorrect? They had a reactor at Fukushima.

It's been said that they could build and assemble nukes within a week if necessary. They have the components and know-how to do so. They have plenty of weapons-grade plutonium. I think they have shipped much to the USA for disposal but only a fool would think they didn't keep plenty at home for themselves.

63 posted on 02/02/2015 12:03:33 AM PST by roadcat
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To: 4Runner

Regarding some articles that state Japan could build nukes within 6 months, that reflects the judgement that it takes about that long to create the weapons grade plutonium from by-products at their reactors. However, Japan has 44 tons of plutonium and well over a ton of enriched uranium that they’ve been creating over the last 30 years. They have enough material to create many thousands of nukes. (All you need is 5 to 10 kg of plutonium for a bomb.) So forget about that 6 month timeframe, they can assemble them much faster if required. This is something the Chinese are quite aware of and afraid of.


64 posted on 02/02/2015 12:19:55 AM PST by roadcat
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To: EDINVA
"I don’t think it was a comparison of the acts but acknowledgement of the wake up call."

That's a fair interpretation, but it still irritates me.

65 posted on 02/02/2015 3:34:11 AM PST by Flag_This (You can't spell "treason" without the "O".)
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To: Rome2000
"were" a formidable enemy. They've spent 70 years in pure pacifism and 25 years in love with Kawaii (cuteness)

ditto with the Germans.

Both are different peoples compared to the Japanese and Germans during WWII

66 posted on 02/02/2015 4:45:50 AM PST by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: GladesGuru
Muslims, historically speaking, have a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of certain victory.

Where do you get that? I always read the opposite historically.

67 posted on 02/02/2015 4:52:05 AM PST by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: Cronos

They have a task.......... can one of their robots accomplish it?


68 posted on 02/02/2015 4:53:00 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
only one ninja is left:

I doubt that. We have ninjas today. We call them Black Ops specialists.

I'm sure that Japan's military and intelligences service has them too, and they know all the ninja techniques which would be applicable to modern operations.

69 posted on 02/02/2015 5:03:28 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
Japan's Special Forces group
70 posted on 02/02/2015 5:09:25 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: PapaBear3625

Mitch Rabb could wear make up and contacts to change his eye color and seem to fit in.

A Japanese special operator will have a hard time making his eyes pass in an Arab crowd


71 posted on 02/02/2015 5:10:28 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Cronos

Lepanto, where Mr. Muslim’s fleet met Mr. Cannon.

“The Gates Of Vienna”, a defeat which left a festering sore that led to the selection of teh same day for the Twin Towers attack.

“Entebbe” is another example.

I hope my tag line summarized the issue and the solution.


72 posted on 02/02/2015 5:47:09 AM PST by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est. Because of what Islam is - and because of what Muslims do.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Israel had a similar policy until 1972. I’d like to see a replay of a series of “unfortunate events” that befell some terrorists heads and enablers:

5 Sept. 1972 - Black September terrorists massacre 11 Israeli Olympic athletes.
10 Oct. 1972 - Wael Zwaiter is shot dead in a Rome apartment building.
8 Dec. 1972 - Mahmoud Hamshari is killed in Paris by a telephone bomb.
24 Jan. 1973 - Abad-al-Chir is blown up in a Nicosia, Cyprus hotel room.
6 Apr. 1973 - Basil al-Kubaisi is shot dead on a Paris street.
9 Apr. 1973 - Kamal Nasser, Mahmoud Yussuf Najjer and Kemal Adwan are assassinated in their Beirut apartment.
12 Apr. 1973 - Zaid Muchassi is killed in an Athens hotel room explosion.
28 June 1973 - Mohammed Boudia is blown up by a car bomb in Paris.
12 Jan. 1974 - Three armed, unidentified Arabs are shot to death in Glarus, Switzerland.
21 Aug. 1974 - The woman “Jeanette” is shot dead in her houseboat near the Dutch town of Hoorn.
11 Nov. 1974 - A young armed, unidentified Arab is shot to death in Tarifa, Spain.

As reported in George Jonas’ book “Vengeance”.


73 posted on 02/02/2015 7:33:22 AM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Flag_This

Ironically, the morning of 9/11/01 I had picked my son up at school to take to his doc’s appt. His comment was “this will be our generation’s Pearl Harbor.”


74 posted on 02/02/2015 8:21:48 AM PST by EDINVA
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To: AmericanInTokyo

Hell, it is more than we are allowed to do.


75 posted on 02/02/2015 8:39:04 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: SkyDancer

If Japan retaliates, which they should, Obama will be most upset.


76 posted on 02/02/2015 8:41:29 AM PST by Organic Panic
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To: Mears

Yeah if you see Kill Bill movies you know they know get business together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prDCDmchtTg


77 posted on 02/02/2015 9:13:11 AM PST by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: Organic Panic

He’ll refuse to eat anything Japanese and let them know it.


78 posted on 02/02/2015 9:20:58 AM PST by SkyDancer (I Was Told Nobody Is Perfect But Yet, Here I Am ...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Somehow I think ISIS will find the Japanese MUCH more capable in beheadings than they are. More power to ‘em.


79 posted on 02/02/2015 9:23:14 AM PST by jimt (Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed.)
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To: EDINVA

The sad part is, 9/11 was only a wake up call for part of America. The other part refuses to see or understand.


80 posted on 02/02/2015 9:45:40 AM PST by Flag_This (You can't spell "treason" without the "O".)
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