Japan may be no threat to the US...
as of now and in the forseeable future for numerous reasons such as bind the two entities in pursuit of common interests, nothing more.
Bramicus said:
To carry blame or guilt forward like that would be to damn the children for the sins of the fathers, which would conflict with the concept you mentioned wherein the legal responsibility of the individual ends with death or insanity, as well as conflicting with the spirit of Mosaic law.
I believe I have made a distinction between the death of a person and the death of a nation. The individual criminals as defined by IMTFE, International Military Tribunal of the Far East, of classes A, B, and C may be dead and gone, and hence the individuals' responibilities in regards to criminal law and civil law should have expired with the individual deaths.
Yet the collective responsibility of the Japanese nation as a legally identifiable body capable of decision, planning, and action remain with the succeeding gov'ts because the Japanese nation continues, only under a different slogan. What would the world come to if huge crimes were committed under one gov't and the responsibility were washed away with a simple change of hands while the nation remains basically unchanged in composition ? Anything would go, wouldn't it ?
As for civil responsibilities, what kind and degree of efforts were rendered to the vicitims as individuals and the victim countries as collectives for war reparations and criminal actions ? The kind of monies lent to victim countries and other developing contries dying to get ODA's don't really count at all; with kickbacks that require countries to spend say 30 percent of loans for purchasing Japanese technology and products (and a UN General Assembly vote counting towards the G-4 UNSC proposal ?) are not considered taking responsibility of any sort but simple business/political activity aimed at huge profits. A similar practice is called loan sharking which some shady banks also engage in. In the case of Japan, the low interest is checked, and even surpassed, by non-interest profits tied into the bundled package.
Minimalist-denialist historical revisionism and misrepresenation of colonial and war damages as pushed by right-wing historians, endorsed by central government, the local governments, and voters alike are what constitute post-war responsibility (sengo sekinin ﾂ戰ﾅ津｣ﾂ静凪?戮). According to the Mosaic Law, lying in matters of law is a capital offense. "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
What are the rabbinic rulings on violations of the following ?
"Thou shalt not kill." --referring not to military killings, but those of civilians, POW's, and esp. biological testees and comfort women during general retreat.
war time responsibility (sensou sekinin ﾂ戰ﾃ?ﾂ･ﾂ静凪?戮): homicides committed during the human experiments for developing chemical, biological weapons, civilian massacres, including that committed in and around Nanjing, 1937-1938
post-war responsibility (sengo sekinin ﾂ戰ﾅ津｣ﾂ静凪?戮): profiteering from the human experiments via pharmaceuticals s.a. the Green Cross Companies, civilian deaths from biological/chemical contaminants and explosives since August 15, 1945.
"Thou shalt not steal."
war time responsibility (sensou sekinin ﾂ戰ﾃ?ﾂ･ﾂ静凪?戮): the act of stealing moveables and immoveables; the list would be long...
post-war responsibility (sengo sekinin ﾂ戰ﾅ津｣ﾂ静凪?戮): the act of holding on to stolen moveables and immoveables, s.a. the holding of Korean treasures in the Imperial archives, public, and private collections.
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." --referring to the wives, mothers, grandmothers, and daughters of the Chinese who were raped and murdered during the Japanese occupation of the coastal cities of China from 1931-1945 ?
war time responsibility (sensou sekinin ﾂ戰ﾃ?ﾂ･ﾂ静凪?戮): e.g. forced prostitution on comfort women, rape and murder of aforementioned AND civilians in Liaodong, Shanghai, and Nanjing during the war.
post-war responsibility (sengo sekinin ﾂ戰ﾅ津｣ﾂ静凪?戮): denial of criminal action, thereby leaving many victimized dead without restoring honor, the victim survivors to die in physical and mental agony
In that sense, the so-called 'minority' wasn't a real minority as some would rather believe for the sake of undistrubed conscience. The elected governmental head does not take his governmental responsibility to correct historical misrepresentation, and the same goes for the Mayor of Tokyo. 14 out of 47 districts who openly approve of the Fusosha revisionist junior high school history textbook is not a minority that can be overlooked. In this sense, Japan as a whole IS responsible on grounds of committing the crime of "bearing false witness" as prohibited by the Law of Moses. Here again, both war time responsibility (sensou sekinin ﾂ戰ﾃ?ﾂ･ﾂ静凪?戮)-- as seen in the murdering of witnesses, the victims violated once again-- and post-war responsibility (sengo sekinin ﾂ戰ﾅ津｣ﾂ静凪?戮)--as seen in the open minimization/denial of accusations-- apply beyond all resonable doubt.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness." --trying to hide incriminating evidence is commonplace in all cultures. However, if the destruction of evidence involves human lives, that action becomes accountable. Post war Japan, both on the gov'tal and individual level has been engaging in the unlawful behavior commonly called perjury. It does not count that not all of Japan has been unanimous in such. What counts is that there were further violation of victims in such symbolic manner, in addition to general neglect in restoring the victims to what they were before the violation, and the fact that the Japanese nation as a whole has been forgiving enough for such post-war criminal behavior to continue without consequences --silence and non-action amounting to endorsement.
What does Moses teach on these crimes ? What do the rabbis say ? For the Karaites, what are the rulings for justification before the Lord ?
