Thursday, January 13, 2011

Bygones

Striking a conciliatory tone on an issue that has divided Japan and the United States, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Thursday that the Obama administration would follow Tokyo’s lead in working to relocate an American air base on Okinawa. NYT

So what the hell was all the fuss about last year?

Thank you, China and North Korea.

Oh, wait a second--- "follow Tokyo's lead" could conceivably be different than Okinawa's would be.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:59 AM

    Indeed, indeed. It all seems so silly and surreal from both sides - obviously being able to treat the issues as "independent" and allow for time to be taken suggests that the US probably was not quite as reliant on the original plan to perform its role as Japan's sugar daddy as they made out - but on the other hand it also suggests that perhaps the US is not as fickle a partner as many of those "pro-US alliance" Japanese security "experts" essentially implied about the US. As if the US was going to ever completely quit on an important alliance over a single base - the strategic value for deterrence of which decreases year by year. In a strange way I think the "irresponsible" Hatoyama understood this more than others - if only he had been able to communicate this without saying something odd.

    Anyway maybe now they can get on with holding a huge 51st anniversary bash celebrating the US-Japan alliance

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  2. Wonder if Okinawans will be invited to the bash.

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