I have yet to see any problem, however complicated,
which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
Poul Anderson
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| Via Justin Kapacinskas |
I've sometimes felt that parties that I've sometimes quoted or embedded have gone mad. Prager University, which has produced a number of very good videos, had a bad one from a Notre Dame history professor who insisted that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was reasonable and necessary. I recently refuted that in a FB Corner segment. But now we have Victor Davis Hanson, whom is trying to explain why the Japanese felt they weren't so foolish, even suicidal to launch its Pearl Harbor attack.
Hanson suggests that the Japanese thought that Hitler was close to conquering Russia and would soon thereafter finish off England. This would then open up the European Asian colonies for easy picking. By taking out the Pacific hub of the American fleet, Japan would have already locked in their gains before the Americans could rebuild and respond. Hanson also argues that the Japanese thought that the prevailing "isolationist" sentiment and a humiliating tactical defeat would bring a face-saving FDR to the bargaining table.
Before responding, let's note that a Japanese attack was hardly unexpected, and this was no crazy revisionist conspiracy theory: "By late 1941, many observers believed that hostilities between the U.S. and Japan were imminent. A Gallup poll just before the attack on Pearl Harbor found that 52% of Americans expected war with Japan, 27% did not, and 21% had no opinion...In late November 1941, both the U.S. Navy and Army sent explicit war with Japan warnings to all Pacific commands. [T]hese plainly stated the high probability of imminent war with Japan."
From history.com:
Despite worsening Japanese-American relations (especially in light of Japan's alliance with Germany and Italy), Yamamoto initially opposed war with the U.S., mostly out of fear that a prolonged conflict would go badly for Japan. But once the government of Prime Minister Tojo Hideki decided on war, Yamamoto argued that only a surprise attack aimed at crippling U.S. naval forces in the Pacific had any hope of victory. He also predicted that if war with America lasted more than one year, Japan would lose.The attack on Pearl Harbor wasn't quite as destructive as hoped: none of the 3 Pacific carriers were there. "Japanese confidence in their ability to achieve a short, victorious war also meant other targets in the harbor, especially the navy yard, oil tank farms, and submarine base, were ignored... Striking the Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor carried two distinct disadvantages: the targeted ships would be in very shallow water, so it would be relatively easy to salvage and possibly repair them; and most of the crews would survive the attack, since many would be on shore leave or would be rescued from the harbor." (W)
Japan, with few natural resources, had just attacked a country with the world's leading economy, blessed with natural resources, which had emerged from WWI as one of the most powerful world powers. Let's point out some Asian targets had critical natural resources denied by economic sanctions. Hanson may or may not be right about the Japanese misjudging the consequences of its surprise attack on the US or the length of the ensuing war. I further question some of Hanson's assertions: for example, Japan had never created an east front against Russia in Operation Barbarossa, and the Russians had basically staved off the assault on Moscow before the Pearl Harbor attack. Furthermore, the decision to attack had been made by early September, the feasibility study before Barbarossa:
In early 1941, a feasibility study by Japanese naval aviation experts of the proposed attack on Pearl Harbor concluded that an operation was possible but would be dangerous. It would require the deployment of all six fleet aircraft carriers to be successful. Approximately 400 high-level, dive and torpedo bombers and fighters would be needed. The American carriers would be the primary target. The Japanese made the final decision for war on 6 September 1941, after which detailed planning for the Pearl Harbor attack began.Let's Find a Cure
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(IPI). From the Chicago Tribune: "After several fruitless months of union bargaining, the village of North Riverside has taken a dramatic step to protect its taxpayers."
I see, as usual, the predictable corrupt self-serving parasitic crony unionists, trolling this thread, are bashing one of the few enlightened municipalities in the Chicago area to look out for taxpayers. They, of course, are trying to bash the few honest politicians trying to move away from unsustainable union greed and overlook how pension payments have quadrupled over the past decade, not public revenues, a trend not reversing anytime soon--that's just an inconvenient hard math truth for the fascists. Let's hope that North Riverside shows the way forward in a long overdue step towards fiscal sanity for Illinois municipalities and the state.
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Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists
Barry Manilow, "This One's For You"
