Tuesday, April 29, 2003

The Sun Rises On Japanese, U.S. Neocons

Appearing in IHT/Asahi comes this opinion on the spread of neoconservative thinking in Japan. The author, Yoichi Funabashi, posed this question to Norman Podhoretz;

The war in Iraq is often referred to as the ``neocon war.'' But how do the neoconservatives themselves who advocated this war assess its outcome and what challenges do they see lying ahead?

Podhoretz waxed increduously that Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld aren't at all neocons but lifelong conservatives who have not been unduly influenced by this faction of ex-liberals. I'm not sure what this had to do with the question as it was presented. Is Podhoretz arguing that neoconservatives weren't in on the ground floor of this new vision for America or is he evading the question because he doesn't want to pre-emptively diminish the originality of whatever answer the administration might offer?

Podhoretz then gushes over the new marketing strategy culled from Eliot Cohen, Commentary magazine's former editor-in-chief which employs Podhoretz as its editor-at-large;

Cohen 'dubbed the U.S. war against Islamic radicals ``the fourth world war.'' By using this expression (``the third world war'' was the Cold War), Cohen intended to exhort Americans to brace themselves for many years of hostilities-and not just outright military conflict, but, like the Cold War, in a broader sense as well.

According to Podhoretz, James Woolsey, a former CIA director, praised his coinage and told him that he would also adopt it (which he almost abused it since then).


Podhoretz goes on to praise the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strike as an important strategic concept and supports the 'domino theory' for spreading democracy through the Middle East citing Japan's economic and democratization model in Asia as creating the same desired affect.

Funabashi has noticed a hawkish trend among some of the students he lectures to in American universities and cites the following;

"it seems that some South Korean students at Columbia University are referring to certain Japanese students there as ``Japanese neocons.'' These are students who openly discuss the ``three scenarios'': constitutional revision and rearmament, support for the Japanese prewar policy of aggression in Asia and nuclear armament.

It was a Japanese student at the university's journalism school who told me about them.

``Actually, I think it would be more appropriate to call them neo-Nazis than neocons,'' he said."


Funabashi goes on to describe how this attitude may come to the fore in Japan's future dealings with North Korea and wonders;

What is difficult to understand is the way Japanese neocons view the United States and the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Are they trying to encourage the United States (and China) to do more to deter North Korea's nuclear armament by alluding to the possibility that Japan could choose to go nuclear? (An extension of the traditional practice of toeing the U.S. line.)

Or are they trying to forthrightly propose that Japan arm itself with nuclear weapons and maintain the Japan-U.S. alliance at the same time? If so, the move goes hand in hand with some neoconservatives in the United States, who tolerate Japan's nuclear armament on the assumption that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons-and possibly bearing in mind that China could also eventually become a threat. (An attempt to establish an alliance with the United States on equal terms.)

Or could they be using the Japan-U.S. neocon alliance simply as a front to plunge down the ``three-scenario'' path and shed the Japan-U.S. alliance altogether? (An attempt to achieve independence.)


Update 4/30: U.S. eyes Japan's help in possible N Korea blockade

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