Bolton seeks fivefold rise in Japan’s spending on US military: Report
…from Press TV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: It used to be that the US said it posted its military overseas to ensure its security; and hence, the US taxpayer footed that bill. And then there were other reasons.
Having our military posted everywhere gave us leverage on the current governments and hosting militaries. It also created a cash cow annuity for those companies that specialized in servicing those bases.
Clinton Bastin, who lived in Atlanta near me, in our early briefings from him, explained how the whole toxic nuclear storage was a contrived scam to create its own annuity for certain companies.
When chemical engineers used to run the Atomic Energy Commission, they were endorsing the constant recycling of nuclear fuel to reduce the volume of waste.
When I asked him to paint me a picture of how much it was visually, his answer floored me. He hesitated a bit, and then said: “All the real dangerous nuclear waste we have created to date could be piled on a football field 5- or 6-feet high, the rest is all just fillers and stabilizers”.
Constant recycling would have made the uranium mining industry unhappy, as demand would go way down. What did the companies do? They lobbied to have “academics” always be put in charge of the Department of Energy – political appointees who would cater to the desires of those that put them there.
Clinton was a bitter man, exiled from his professional community after a lifetime of top level service. VT has always welcomed such people with open arms, as they bring a wealth of knowledge with them, along with their impeccable credentials.
I shed a tear for him at his memorial service, not only for him and me, but because I knew people of his caliber were not being replaced… Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … July 31, 2019 –
The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly seeking up to a fivefold increase in Japan’s spending on American military forces deployed to the Asian country.
In talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Shotaro Yachi, the head of the National Security Council secretariat, last week US National Security Adviser John Bolton raised the possibility of the fivefold increase in Japan’s spending on US military, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday, quoting a US government source.
Trump has long complained that Japan was not contributing enough to its defense and that the American military was shouldering an unfair burden. He has repeatedly criticized a decades-old military treaty with Japan as “unfair.”
Last month he told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the deal needs to be revised.
“I said, look, if someone attacks Japan, we go after them and we are in a battle, full force, in effect,” Trump said. “If somebody should attack the United States, they don’t have to do that. That’s unfair.”
The treaty, signed after Japan’s surrender in World War II, commits the United States to defend Japan. Tokyo, in return, provides military bases that Washington uses to project power deep into Asia.
Japan’s military wants record spending next year to buy US-made missile systems and warplanes.
Experts say a possible end to the treaty is widely seen as raising the risk of forcing Washington to withdraw a major portion of its military forces from Asia. It has stationed some 50,000 troops only in Japan.
An expert on US politics in Tokyo, Yasushi Watanabe, said Trump “has long believed America has been forced to shoulder excessive burdens because of some frameworks of international relations.”
Under an agreement reached with the United States and Japan under Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, Tokyo will pay a total of $8.7 billion over the five-year period from fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2020.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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Dear Mr. Dean: The final sentence in your comment (above) stoked a memory about my visit to the army-navy club in dc back in my college days. Briefly described, the ‘club’ is a marble mansion in the NW part of the district and it’s very exclusive: for beltway boys only. On that night, there were three, separate night clubs, each with its own stage, band etc. Numerous pentagon/n.a. brass were present in full-dress. Later on, I realized why: It was a method whereby lobbyists could more-easily identify, observe and, after some consideration, interact with the costumed Killer Klowns. And thanks for all the wonderful efforts from yourself and your colleagues.
It has reachd a point that the US like the Palestinian jews simply are killing people they don’t like. / are a threat to their control of the World.
US are war eaters, allthough US have loyal and patriotic troops, US always seek war unlike where war seeks other nations.
Japan, Germany, Italy, Greece..still occupied countries under UN charter.
To be mercenaries would require payment.
They are paid by the US state which is ‘owned’ by the corporations, bankers and Israeli interests.
My point was to question whether they are really a people’s army and defense force protecting them, or have they effectively been converted into a mercenary force where the people pay, or borrow money to pay, but it is not even the government that they serve, but those who have been pulling the strings. When you take a look at who so many of the retiring military want to work for
22 Trillion in Debt thanks to our real rulers. They could give back a little; at least fund the VA.
…what difference does it make how much Japan has to pay? They get their money printed out of thin air too. As the third highest holder of American debt, debt that was bought from money printed backed by nothing. Most people don’t realize that Japan’s economy is more upside down than ours……
P.S…….I never heard of Clinton Bastin before but if he was alright by Jim Dean, he is alright by me. Maybe there are good guys and bad guys….maybe bad guys disguised as good guys, wearing white hats or helmets…history only tells us of winners and losers….good guys don’t always win..in fact now it is pretty much bad guy against bad guy… using the good guys to fight their battles for them…oh yeah it has been like that for along time…
There are many Clinton Bastins out there, solid people that were never in the public limelight due to their specialty. He was president of the world nuclear workers union, formed after Chernobyl, and one of the top investigators. He was one of the top people in the world, but when he started talking about the big con, everything changed. When I found him his only outlet was letters to the editor of the NY Times, which surprisingly they printed. He got no traction from them. That was when I approached him and the briefings began, and one hell of an education. One gem was his Three mile Island story, one how the people of Denver get the same radiation every three months due to living at a high altitude that the former got, but with no noticeable uptick in cancers. He was a facts guy, using the science rather than how it “felt”, or what he “thought” about something.
The official lies by government on the 9/11/01 scam is that it was an external attack on America by Muslims. If this is true, why didn’t our great Military know about it in advance and defend against it in advance? They have experts in every field to anticipate any and every possible mode of attack. Professor Joy Karega, who was fired from Oberlin College in Ohio for speaking out on these topics claimed Israel did 9/11/01. She was fired for this. Then followed a massive propaganda campaign against her from Israelis claiming anti-S. But the facts show she was right: Obviously we have been lied to by our own government. The four star generals were in on the lies of 9/11/01 along with Bush, Cheney and many other criminals. Yet no one has been prosecuted for this. Some like
General Meyers sold out but was rewarded with the Medal of Freedom by Bush. All traitors and liars. Americans are the biggest fools on planet Earth.
https://ehpg.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/israel_did_911.pdf
Why no arrests and prosecutions for the 9/11/01 swindle on America by our own government?
Trump makes his own argument for disengagement and disentanglement yet somehow misses his own point that both SETO and NATO are obsolete relics of the Cold War.
Time to bring the troops home and put ’em to work fixing our collapsing infrastructure.
Pouring and working concrete like the old CCC. Hope they don’t mind learning a new skill set. Beats sitting in a fox hole on the line.
https://www.veteranstodayarchives.com/2014/01/12/is-radiation-a-scam/
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