Articles by: Brian Victoria

Hermann Göring’s Words Resonate Yet Again – in Japan

Hermann Göring’s Words Resonate Yet Again – in Japan

While readers need no introduction to Hermann Göring, head of the Nazi Luftwaffe and Hitler’s onetime designated successor, Göring’s explanation of how to convince the people of a nation to go to war may not be as familiar. During his trial for war crimes at Nuremburg in 1946 Göring said: “Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia,[Read More…]

by 04/01/2023 Comments are Disabled World
Japan: Fooling All The People!

Japan: Fooling All The People!

Many if not most readers will be familiar with the following saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” While this saying may hold true in most situations it’s most definitely mistaken in today’s Japan,[Read More…]

by 09/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Nationalism: The True Enemy of Humanity

Nationalism: The True Enemy of Humanity

In a recent lecture on the war in the Ukraine, John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, noted that “nationalism” is the strongest ideology in the world today. Having lived through the Cold War era, anything having to do with Russia, formerly the major part of the Soviet Union, was framed in the ideological context of “the[Read More…]

by 12/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
As "Honorary Aryans" the Japanese had the 'privilege' of carrying the Nazi Banner

Japan: Trials and Tribulations of a Land of “Honorary Whites”

Of the many descriptions of the Japanese people readers are familiar with, e.g. industrious, polite, clean, etc., the description of Japanese as “honorary whites” may well be a first for many. Yet, it was not long ago that this term had official standing, albeit in apartheid South Africa. In the 1960s Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd determined it would be to[Read More…]

by 02/07/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Ezo Republic's Seat of Government in Goryōkaku Fortress as it appears today

Lessons from Japan’s Last Civil War for Taiwan

While attending the recent Shangri-La Dialogue on Security in Singapore, Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio stressed the need to oppose unilateral changes to the status quo by force, no matter where they occur. “I myself have a strong sense that Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” he warned. Needless to say, Kishida was referring to the possibility of a[Read More…]

by 19/06/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Biden in Asia: Further Steps Toward War with China

Biden in Asia: Further Steps Toward War with China

For observers of President Biden’s recent visit to Asia it will come as no surprise that, as in the past, the US sought to encourage Asian allies to join in further strengthening its political, economic and especially military containment of China. Like the US role in prolonging the war in Ukraine in order to weaken Russia, the US hopes to[Read More…]

by 27/05/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein

Neo-Colonialism: Born in the USA!

While the meaning and practice of “colonialism” hardly needs to be described, the meaning of “neo-colonialism” is far less understood. This is because neo-colonialism is much less evident to the eye, unless, that is, one cares to look for it. Let us begin our search with the dictionary definition of the term. Merriam-Webster defines “neo-colonialism” as: “The economic and political[Read More…]

by 04/05/2022 Comments are Disabled World
US Soldiers Massacre Filipinos in 1906 Philippines

America’s Concealed Past, Condemned Future

Regular readers of Countercurrents may recall a recent article I wrote entitled, “Japan’s Concealed Past, Condemned Future” ( https://countercurrents.org/2022/04/japans-concealed-past-condemned-future/). In that article I argued that because the Japanese people had been, in the postwar era, deliberately deceived into believing that the military, not Emperor Hirohito, had been responsible for the war, they were likely to be condemned to go to[Read More…]

by 12/04/2022 2 comments Imperialism
PM Kishi Nobusuke

Japan’s Concealed Past, Condemned Future

In his 1905 book, The Life of Reason, George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If one accepts there is a degree of truth in these words, one question to be asked is, “What happens to those who had their country’s past concealed from them?” Aren’t such misled people even more likely[Read More…]

by 06/04/2022 1 comment World
Joint US & Japan Naval Training

Japan’s Concern for Ukraine: Crocodile Tears?

To watch Japanese television news, including numerous news specials, is to be reminded morning, noon and night of the war in the Ukraine and the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Needless to say, there is nothing wrong with this inasmuch as the suffering, death and destruction caused by the war is all too real and ought to be of concern[Read More…]

by 20/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Mark-7 A-bomb readied for mounting at Kadena AFB, Okinawa

Japan: ‘Sharing’ Nuclear Weapons

Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, after some slight hesitancy Japan joined the European Union, the US, and other countries in both condemning Russia’s military invasion and placing strong economic sanctions on Russia. However, even while condemning Russia, a group of conservative politicians, headed by former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, saw an opportunity the pursue what has long been[Read More…]

by 07/03/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Pearl Harbor Comes to Taiwan

Pearl Harbor Comes to Taiwan

For the moment at least, the Ukraine crisis has pushed the possibility of a Chinese attack on Taiwan off the front pages. Nevertheless, on a near daily basis we read of what are presented as increasingly ominous incursions of Chinese aircraft into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Seldom, however, do we see a map showing the area claimed by[Read More…]

by 02/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Three Senkaku Islands

Defending Japanese Imperialism

Common knowledge informs us that the surrender of Imperial Japan on August 15, 1945 brought an end to the Japanese empire and Japan’s occupation of all areas and countries that had been taken as a result of its military aggression. The Allied Cairo Declaration of 1943, for example, stated: “. . . all the territories Japan has stolen from the[Read More…]

by 13/12/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Test Firing of the Hwasong

An Option Taken Off the Table

As most readers know, whenever the US seeks to force a nation to accede to its wishes, a spokesperson will say, “All options are on the table,” meaning the use of military force is at least a possibility if not likely. Seldom, however, will one ever hear a US spokesperson say, “The use of military force has been taken off[Read More…]

by 05/12/2021 Comments are Disabled World
F-35B landing on JS Izumo

Japanese Stealth Aircraft Carriers?

Although unfamiliar with the details, most people recognize the purpose of stealth technology is to make aircraft effectively immune to radar detection at normal combat ranges. The question is, would it be possible, employing the same technology, to make stealth aircraft carriers? The answer, even with Japan’s undoubted technical prowess, is a decided no, at least not for the foreseeable[Read More…]

by 28/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
USS Reagan and Japanese ship (JS) Izumo jointly patrolling the South China Sea in June 2019.

Is Japan’s Security Environment Deteriorating?

In recent months, hardly a day goes by when the Japanese media, as well as their Western counterparts, don’t comment on the increasingly dangerous security situation surrounding Japan. Needless to say, the two nations identified as responsible for the increased danger are China and North Korea. But are they really the cause? It is certainly true that North Korea continues[Read More…]

by 22/11/2021 Comments are Disabled World
"17th Special" Seabees with the 7th Marines on Peleliu (public domain)

Something Worse than Slavery?

With the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, together with the emergence of Critical Race Theory, the spotlight has once again been shone on the heinous institution that was slavery and its aftermath, racial discrimination. Could anything be worse than a system in which a human being becomes the property of another, to do with as the slave owner[Read More…]

by 19/10/2021 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy