The Barack Obama administration is “making noise” about its commitment to defending Japan but Tokyo would be insane to depend on a bankrupt US government, a political analyst and writer in Philadelphia says.
“The US is making noise about its commitment to defending Japan, and it is backing this up, somewhat, with delivery of more sophisticated weapons to Okinawa,” Linh Dinh said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday. “But Japan would be insane to depend on a bankrupt, incoherent and delusional USA.”
"Russia is selling to China its most advanced jet fighters and anti-aircraft missiles. This is a new shift, for up to now, Russia has only supplied China with Soviet-era weapons. So you can see how this is lining up. On one side, you have an alliance of China and Russia and their allies, which include Iran and Syria, and on the other side, you have the US with NATO and Japan, but Japan is caught in a very difficult position, because it is relying on China for trades, and on Russia for natural gas and oil, and this energy dependence has only increased after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Access to oil and natural gas dictates the policies of all these countries, including the United States, of course, although the American public has been given a false sense of security thanks to the relentless propaganda about American energy independence. If you believe this nonsense, the US is about to become Saudi America, but shale oil preserves have been grossly overestimated and fracking is a very expensive process that also uses a lot of oil. Although this energy boom won’t last, the American mainstream media have been nonstop in promoting this illusion about American energy independence, and have even gone so far as saying it can be used as an economic weapon to weaken an adversary such as Russia, but the opposite is true. Although natural gas prices have gone down in recent years, Russia still has the upper hand in this, and that’s why Japan has kept quiet about the threatened US-led economic sanctions against Russia. European countries will also pay a heavy price if they’re foolish enough to join this embargo."
“Because of its weakened position and its past failure to back up its words, the US will find itself more isolated in the future,” Linh Dinh added. “Current American allies such as Brazil and India are already moving closer to China and Russia, and others will undoubtedly do the same.”
On Saturday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel attempted to reassure Japan of America's commitment to its security, amid territorial disputes in the region.
Japan is currently locked in a dispute with China over a group of uninhabited islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and the Diaoyu by China, in the East China Sea.
Addressing US and Japanese forces at Yokota Air Base, a US Air Force base in Western Tokyo, Hagel said one of the goals of his trip to the region was to assure allies of America's commitment to "our treaty obligations."
However, it is unclear if US reassurance can on its own relieve worries in Japan that Washington might one day be unable or unwilling to militarily defend the country, despite President Barack Obama's strategic "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific region.
AHT/ARA
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