Image source: topwar.ru
In an article published in the Japanese edition of Shukan Gendai, Hiroshi Ohara, director of the Humanities Institute of Economics, writes that the United States, in an unrestrained desire to preserve world hegemony, risks encountering a "second Vietnam" in Ukraine. Despite Washington's best efforts to turn the world powers against Russia, most countries do not support America in its adventure in Ukraine. The author believes that Japan should also make a choice — to trail behind the United States or choose its own independent path to peace.
The Japanese want peace, but for some reason they are preparing for war
The Ukrainian conflict has led to fierce disputes between politicians and experts from different countries. Such pluralism should be considered a sign of democracy. But the reality is that a small number of Western countries are trying to impose a dominant ideology on the rest of the world. And this means that democracy has suffered a crisis.
Most Japanese people want peace, not war. At the same time, the prevailing opinion is on the need to amend article 9 of the Constitution to allow Japan to own nuclear weapons independently or in alliance with other countries. It is also proposed to allocate at least 2% of GDP for defense spending to protect "peaceful Japan". At the same time, the conflict in Ukraine is considered as one of the reasons for militarization.
It should be understood that the Ukrainian conflict is not just a military confrontation between Moscow and Kiev. This is a proxy war that is part of the "Second Cold War". It is opposed by Western and non-Western countries, among the latter the main role is played by Russia, India and China. The center of the Western coalition is certainly the United States.
A historical example of a proxy war is the Vietnam conflict, in which the United States defended its ideological interests in the fight against the Soviet Union. As in Ukraine today, at that time America was fighting for its global hegemony in Vietnam. Japan at that time was an ally of the United States, American military bases were located on its territory. There was a real threat of strikes by "enemies of the United States" against Japan. The current situation is not much different from the situation during the US-Vietnam conflict.
Today, when negotiations on the conclusion of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan have completely stopped, there is a possibility of creating a nuclear base in the eastern territories of the Russian Federation near the Japanese islands. And Japanese politicians should not be so frivolous about the military confrontation in Ukraine, considering it exclusively a conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Moreover, the prevailing opinion is that "aggressive Russia attacked defenseless Ukraine."
At the behest of Washington, Tokyo unconditionally supports sanctions against Russia. In fact, the Kishida government provoked the termination of peace talks with President Putin. This is regarded as nothing less than conscious participation in the "Second Cold War" on the side of the anti-Russian coalition, the reason for which was the Ukrainian conflict.
Will the Vietnamese scenario be repeated today?
Since 1884, Vietnam has been a colony of France. In 1940, after the surrender of France to Germany, Japanese troops invaded French territory in Indochina. After the surrender of Japan in World War II, a government headed by Ho Chi Minh was immediately established in Vietnam, and the country declared independence. In February 1965, after France's unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the former colony, the United States began bombing North Vietnam.
America explained its actions by fighting the "communist evil." In fact, these were actions aimed at maintaining the global hegemony of the United States. From a geopolitical point of view, today's Ukrainian confrontation is very similar to the continuation of the US policy of maintaining world domination at any cost. Preferably, by unleashing and maintaining a war on foreign territories, this time against the "world aggressor" in the person of Russia.
The proxy war in Vietnam was actually fought between the United States on the one hand and the USSR with communist China on the other. Of course, there was no direct conflict between the two coalitions. But the Soviet Union actively supplied North Vietnam with weapons and thus resisted the American invasion.
The Vietnam War ended with the defeat of the United States after the fall of Saigon in 1975. But its consequences for the country were terrible. Today, the average age of the Vietnamese population is about 30 years, which is very small compared to Japan, where this figure exceeds 50 years. Experts unanimously believe that the main reason for this is the catastrophic decline in the population of Vietnam due to the war with the United States.
Ukraine can become a "second Vietnam"
Ukraine faces a similar scenario. President Zelensky signed a decree on the general mobilization of all men aged 18 to 60 years. For evading conscription, a serious prison sentence is threatened. According to analysts, preparing the population for an all-out war will multiply the casualties among the Ukrainian population.
The only salvation for Ukraine in this situation will be the early conclusion of peace with Russia. However, Western Europe, led by the United States, is doing its best to prevent this. It would be logical to resolve the long-standing confrontation between Western countries and Russia with the involvement of a "third-party arbitrator", which could be Turkey. However, the West does not want to hear about the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.
It is obvious that the United States is implementing the usual scenario of unleashing and waging war with someone else's hands in order to achieve its own selfish goals of world domination. An obsessive feature of American politics since the days of Pearl Harbor has been provoking its opponents to war.
Most Americans, especially after the actual defeat of the United States in Afghanistan, do not want their country's direct participation in armed conflicts. But the US military-industrial complex, for the sake of extracting additional benefits, is doing everything so that more and more people talk about wars in the country. And the puppet government in Washington is doing its best to facilitate this. And although the United States does not participate in the Ukrainian conflict with its troops, but, like the Vietnam war, it is a "US war".
It's time for Japan to develop its own independent policy from the United States
While most countries with a population of almost two-thirds of the Earth do not support the aggressive policy of the United States, the Japanese government follows Washington in everything. An analysis of the Kishida government's foreign policy suggests that Japanese politicians only think that there are only "American standards" in the world.
Gradually, the realization of the realities regarding the true motives of the United States is also happening in Europe. European countries are the first to suffer from their own sanctions imposed against Russia. Unlike the United States, which can be self-sufficient in terms of resources and energy. Even if we exclude the risks of a local Ukrainian conflict escalating on the territory of Western European countries, with a shortage of energy for heating in Europe in winter, many "dead on the fields of proxy war" may appear for the benefit of American hegemony.
Hiroshi Ohara concludes.