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I saw the London bombing thread, and thought this should also be remembered
Today (or technically yesterday) is the 61st Anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima.
It is estimated that the final death toll of the bombing and its fallout is just under 200,000 human lives.
It is also estimated that there was only around 20,000 japanese military personnel in the city.
The dead will not be forgotten, as long as i live.
I saw the London bombing thread, and thought this should also be remembered
Today (or technically yesterday) is the 61st Anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima.
It is estimated that the final death toll of the bombing and its fallout is just under 200,000 human lives.
It is also estimated that there was only around 20,000 japanese military personnel in the city.
The dead will not be forgotten, as long as i live.
More than 500,000 people have been affected by the A-bombs, due to birth problems. Radiation causes birth defects, and abnormalities, which are still evident in Japan -even today.
And yet many people do not recognise the date, nor do they commemorate it. Its quite worrying that people just don't seem to care about this.
It was still an unjust action in my eyes.
Although the sitation was bad, and the japanese culture meant they would not surrender; nothing justifies the use of a nuclear armament on such a scale, if atall, and the effects of them were not even fully understood then. Is it a recognised date in japan? E.g. I wander if they have a memorial ceremony. I think it should be more recognised as a date in the west.
I think that That the bombings were inherently immoral due to the massive civilian casualties.
The unique nature of nuclear weapons, and that the bombings were unjustified and unnecessary for tactical military reasons.
Here is some background infomation for anyone who wants it, from Wikipedia.
Opposition
Quote:
Those who argue that the bombings were unnecessary on military grounds hold that Japan was already essentially defeated and ready to surrender.
One of the most notable individuals with this opinion was then-General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He wrote in his memoir The White House Years
A number of notable individuals and organizations have criticized the bombings, many of them characterizing them as war crimes or crime against humanity. Two early critics of the bombings were Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard, who had together spurred the first bomb research in 1939 with a jointly written letter to President Roosevelt. Szilard, who had gone on to play a major role in the Manhattan Project, argued:
"If the Germans had dropped atomic bombs on cities instead of us, we would have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them."
One of the first intellectuals to denounce the Hiroshima bombing was Albert Camus. On August 8, 1945, he wrote in the French newspaper Combat:
"Mechanized civilization has just reached the ultimate stage of barbarism. In a near future, we will have to choose between mass suicide and intelligent use of scientific conquests[...] This can no longer be simply a prayer; it must become an order which goes upward from the peoples to the governments, an order to make a definitive choice between hell and reason." [38].
In 1946, a report by the Federal Council of Churches entitled Atomic Warfare and the Christian Faith, includes the following passage:
"As American Christians, we are deeply penitent for the irresponsible use already made of the atomic bomb. We are agreed that, whatever be one's judgment of the war in principle, the surprise bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are morally indefensible."
Support
Quote:
Although supporters of the bombing concede that the civilian leadership in Japan was cautiously and discreetly sending out diplomatic communiques as far back as January 1945, following the Allied invasion of Luzon in the Philippines, they point out that Japanese military officials were unanimously opposed to any negotiations before the use of the atomic bomb.
While some members of the civilian leadership did use covert diplomatic channels to begin negotiation for peace, on their own they could not negotiate surrender or even a cease-fire. Japan, as a Constitutional Monarchy, could only enter into a peace agreement with the unanimous support of the Japanese cabinet, and this cabinet was dominated by militarists from the Japanese Imperial Army and the Japanese Imperial Navy, all of whom were initially opposed to any peace deal. A political stalemate developed between the military and civilian leaders of Japan with the military increasingly determined to fight despite the costs and odds. Many continued to believe that Japan could negotiate more favorable terms of surrender by continuing to inflict high levels of casualties on opposing forces and end the war without an occupation of Japan or a change of government.
Yes i do believe Japan commemorate it every year, and at hiroshima there is a peace monument i think..
also if im not much mistaken, Japan is one of the few western countries who refuse to have nuclear weapons, despite being in the shadow of north korea....
The held the Nazis for war crimes at Nuremburg....but who can hold the most powerful country for war crimes, as in my eyes it was a war crime.
Is Japan a Western country?! Don't you mean "developed"?
Nuclear weapons are pretty sick - radiation is far more inhumane than conventional, ballistic weapons. Extreme radiation sickness causes the body to break down, so you end up crapping and vomiting your organs out.
Japan is not that far away from the Korean Penesula. in fact some of North Korea's missle tests almost landed on japan. But the Atomic Bomb is a very sad thing the distruction of Hiroshema should always be remembered as also the bombing of pearl harbor .
North Korea would never attack Japan. Japan's population is pretty large. And the rest of the world would never allow Japan to be attacked, because it would wreck the world's economies. Japan has the second largest economy in the world (after the USA, and before Germany). Its economy is 3 times larger than Germany, and half the USA's. Plus, Japanese companies play a major role in most economies - they own many major technology companies, as well as large car manufacturers. What I find unusual about Japan is that its people are very modest - despite the fact that they come from an economic superpower.
It is unknown what north korea will do, tensions are increasing with the west and with china's arrival as a major player will no doubt bring about change...whatever that may be.
I doubt anybody will attack Japan, for the reasons Andreyevich stated; the Japanese culture is totally contasted from the Western one; there is no litter in the streets; they can sell Xbox 360's in the streets of tokyo; piled up in the Gaming districts, and they can sustain econmoies giving birth to comaines like Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Hitachi, Nintendo, Hyundi just to name some off the top of my head. What caused the nuclear bomb was the way the japaese culture meant they fought; peace talks would just not work; as their culture is so strong, it means great sucess by the means of their economy and lifestyle, but at that time, their culture meant that america dropped an atomic bomb on them; I agree that it is wholly unjustified, but two bombs, which most people don't even consider, even though people hear it... twice the destruction, just demonstrates the western namely US governments attitude.
On November 2 2005, the United Kingdom lead 45 countries, including the European Union, the United States and Japan, in submitting a proposal condemning North Korea to the United Nations. On December 16 this proposal passed the General Assembly with 88 support, 21 against and 60 abstention votes.
Just to note, In particular, China and Russia were against this proposal, and the Korean government abstained.
Just a resource:
Quote:
Nearly a decade and a half of efforts at normalising relations between the countries have faltered due to Pyongyang's unwillingness to give up that program or come clean over the abductions. For Japan, normalisation would help preserve regional stability and represent one more step toward closure on its wartime history; for North Korea, it would potentially produce the single greatest economic infusion for reviving its moribund economy. Indeed, the prospect of normalisation with Japan is one of the leading incentives that can be offered to North Korea in a deal to end the North's nuclear programs.
North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development, along with its history of infiltrating agents into Japan, have elevated the country's importance in Japanese defence planning, particularly after it tested a missile that over-flew Japan in August 1998. The North Korean threat has been cited as justification for missile defence and satellite development, constitutional revisions, and reinvigoration of the military alliance with the U.S. In fact, Japan's military posture is moving away from homeland defence towards readily deployable forces, although to date they have assumed non-combat-related roles.
Quote:
North Korea has said it wants a non-aggression treaty with Washington before it makes any move. For its part, the United States is keen to see the standoff resolved but is standing firm amid concerns expressed by top officials that the nation is a "rogue state" holding the world hostage to nuclear blackmail.
CNN
To be homest I dont think North Korea is a direct threat at this moment in time, although western media does tend to focus on the Middle East alot...
I don't think that North Korea is a direct threat either. They have been keeping out of the way for some time now - I think they realise that it's over for them. Kim Jong Il will die off, and things might improve.
Lol Sam i wouldnt take news from the CNN they are very biased. Anyway. It should be remembered Japan has had a major effect on my life through its history and culture they were bombed through the stubborness of the USA. Suppose the usa like a wounded animal will become more visious so they launched the Abomb which i find awful.
Japan is great, All hail Japan, Japan is Uber good lol.
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lol.