Max Von Schuler-Kobayashi - Posts

 

View:
 

How a Korean war might go if it happened tomorrow.

 

I wrote this background post for my military blog recently.  In this BoB entry, I will give a short history of the 1950 Korean war, and explain how it affects perceptions today.  I will also give a detailed treatment of how North Korean Special Forces might perform.  And I don't believe the North Koreans have a workable nuclear weapon, they faked the tests.  In any case, they don't have a reliable way of delivering one.

Recently, we have had confirmation that the South Korean corvette Cheonan was sunk on March 26th by a North Korean torpedo. This is the most serious incident perpetrated by North Korea in a long time, perhaps since the Korean war

This has intensified the debate over the presence of American ...

A North Korean attack

Some people seem worried about the possibility or North Korea attacking.  Please read my comments in Japanese and English to get better understanding.

High time to Federalize BP

It is a hot July in Tokyo, and I am burning.  It is not the heat wave that has raised my temperature so much as the actions of British Petroleum.  

I would like to ask the President, "Mr. President, just who is in charge of America, You, or British Petroleum?"  Well, we all know that the President alone is not in charge of America, there are also the Legislative and Judicial branches of government, but nowhere in my high school civics class do I remember reading that an oil company had a say in the running of the United States.

From the beginning, BP has done nothing but lie.  And BP showed a desire and will to cut costs that is simply unbelievable.  I NEVER thought I would find myself defending Halliburton, ...

Look at Louisiana

Remember that song, "It never rains in California"?  Well, in Louisiana, it rains oil!

The General Must Go

Mr. President,

It is time for some backbone.  Uniformed officers, especially generals, and especially General Stanley McChrystal who commands the troops in Afghanistan,  CANNOT publicly insult elected officials--and get away with it, or try to get away with it with a simple apology.  The General must go!

Those Minerals in Afghansitan

Ted made an excellent post about those minerals in Afghanistan.  I replied, and another reader replied to me.  But I thought that I would include my reply as a post in itself.

OneWorld-san,

It seems you are making a case that American ideas are universal.  That if we could simply show these poor unenlightened uncivilized people how to live like us, they would jump for joy.  It is the modern day version of the "White Man's burden".

I doubt that they will go for it.  And in any case, who are we to say that this will improve their lives?  I have never been to West Virginia, but what was once a beautiful mountain land is now dotted with wastelands.  The mountain tops have been blasted off to get the .. ...

On Alvin Greene

Mrs. Susan McCoy, who is prosecuting Mr. Greene on obscenity charges, says that Mr. Greene should be prevented from running for office.

Anybody who is a citizen and not a criminal can run.  We cannot have any boards with wide discretionary powers deciding things like that.  It is up to the voters to decide his fitness, and up to the press to search for any dirt, if it exists, and report the facts to the public.

Now about this obscenity charge.  Is Mrs. McCoy White?  There seems to be a strong racial aspect here.  OK, Mr. Greene made a pass at her daughter, who is 18, a legal adult.  He showed her porn.  Big deal.  Porn, unless it involves kids, is not illegal.  This accusation smells.  .. ...

So, it comes to this: "a Christian who won't embarass us?"

South Carolina had to find a Christian who IS NOT an embarrassment?  It must have been a tough search! ...

Japan's PM steps down over American pressure

Japan's PM steps down over American pressure.  Well, the result of this will not be a return to power of the LDP.  The cozy military industrialist relationship that existed between America and the US is gone for ever.

My bet would be on more fragmented politics in the near future.  And then either a strong Right leaning government, going it alone, or a moderate left leaning government, inclined towards China, but either result would be an anti American government. 

The point is, the Japanese populace has turned against America because of this issue.

Way to go Washington.

...

How can this happen?

Sometimes in my life, having sat in Japan for 36 years, I start to feel a little like Rip van Winkle.  You look at an event, and it seems to jarringly out of touch with America.  Well, 36 years ago, I doubt that this would have been possible.

How is it that BP seems to be able to control local law enforcement, and the Coast Guard, and block news media access to sites affected by the oil spill.  They even seem to be able to stop aircraft from overflying it.

I THOUGHT the Coast Guard worked for the Federal Government, not BP!

...