Clark Kent
<B>News Bot</B>
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'Tribute' tax for sympathy budget
By - 03-03-2010 04:10 PM
Originally Posted at: The Japan Times Online
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Regarding Eric Talmadge's Feb. 25 article, "Japan starting to balk at footing bill for U.S. forces": The "sympathy budget" is a classic example, like the infamous "comfort women" issue, of bureaucratic Japanese obfuscation at its best. But let's call this financial burden on the Japanese taxpayer what it really is an annual tribute from a vanquished nation to the victor. That Japan and the United States have long been allies, 60-odd years after World War II, does nothing to mitigate this fact.
Now that the two are such good allies as the public is repeatedly assured and which there is no reason to doubt why should Japan continue playing this anachronistic role of vassal state to the U.S. empire? The constant parading out of senior American military officers with their tired rote hard-sell of the benefits of the U.S. armed presence only emphasizes just how much more important these bases are to the U.S. military than to the Japanese whom it is ostensibly here to protect.
Read More...
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The Japan Times Online
By - 03-03-2010 04:10 PM
Originally Posted at: The Japan Times Online
====================
Regarding Eric Talmadge's Feb. 25 article, "Japan starting to balk at footing bill for U.S. forces": The "sympathy budget" is a classic example, like the infamous "comfort women" issue, of bureaucratic Japanese obfuscation at its best. But let's call this financial burden on the Japanese taxpayer what it really is an annual tribute from a vanquished nation to the victor. That Japan and the United States have long been allies, 60-odd years after World War II, does nothing to mitigate this fact.
Now that the two are such good allies as the public is repeatedly assured and which there is no reason to doubt why should Japan continue playing this anachronistic role of vassal state to the U.S. empire? The constant parading out of senior American military officers with their tired rote hard-sell of the benefits of the U.S. armed presence only emphasizes just how much more important these bases are to the U.S. military than to the Japanese whom it is ostensibly here to protect.
Read More...
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The Japan Times Online
