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Japan PM Abe's WW2 Anniversary Speech: No Apology &
No Details Of Japan, UK, Australia & US War Crimes

By Dr Gideon Polya

 18 August, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe gave a speech on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the end of WW2 in the Pacific, a conflict  in which 60 million people died.  However PM Abe's speech offered no apology for Japanese atrocities and, while carefully quantitating Japanese military losses, gave no quantitative details of horrendous Japanese, British, American and Australian war crimes in WW2.

 Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's statement on the occasion of  the 70th anniversary of the end of  WW2 in the Pacific (14 August 1945) included the following key observations:  “On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, we must calmly reflect upon the road to war, the path we have taken since it ended, and the era of the 20th century. We must learn from the lessons of history the wisdom for our future… Japan took the wrong course and advanced along the road to war. And, seventy years ago, Japan was defeated. On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad. I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences. More than three million of our compatriots lost their lives during the war: on the battlefields worrying about the future of their homeland and wishing for the happiness of their families; in remote foreign countries after the war, in extreme cold or heat, suffering from starvation and disease. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the air raids on Tokyo and other cities, and the ground battles in Okinawa, among others, took a heavy toll among ordinary citizens without mercy. Also in countries that fought against Japan, countless lives were lost among young people with promising futures. In China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and elsewhere that became the battlefields, numerous innocent citizens suffered and fell victim to battles as well as hardships such as severe deprivation of food. We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured… Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war… We have the great responsibility to take the lessons of history deeply into our hearts” [1].

From a quantitative, scientific perspective, Shinzo Abe's  statement is grossly insufficient, correspondingly  disingenuous,  and accordingly unsatisfactory to all those  countries in East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia who suffered egregiously from Japanese invasion, occupation and war crimes.

While not actually offering a further  apology on the occasion of this 70th anniversary of the end of WW2 in Asia, and indeed while observing that 80% of Japanese today were born  after WW2 and were therefore not responsible, Abe stated: “Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war” [1].

However “it takes two to tango” and the European colonial powers that Japan fought in WW2 have been even more remiss in failing to acknowledge and apologize for their war crimes in WW2 and indeed their war criminal active complicity in getting Japan into WW2.

The following brief, quantitative  summary of Japanese and European war crimes in the Eastern theatre of WW2 attempts to redress these deficiencies by putting numerical upper estimates to what Abe dismissed  in a mere 4  words when  he said that  “countless lives were lost'” [1].

 

Deadly Japanese war crimes in WW2.

The essential and overarching Japanese WW2 war crime was the invasion of other countries, noting that  in WW2 the Japanese occupied territory of  26 present-day countries, specifically China, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Russia (East Asia), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor (South East Asia), India (South Asia), Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Kiribati, Tuvalu (Oceania) and Guam (US territory), as well as militarily invading the territory of further countries by bombing  (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia and the US).

Civilian and military deaths from violence or deprivation in Asian countries impacted by the Japan-initiated WW2 in Asia totalled about 60 million, the breakdown being up to 40 million (China, 1937-1945; [2]), 7 million (India [3-5]),   3.7 million (Japan [6]), 4 million (Dutch East Indies [6]), 2.2 million (French Indo-China [6]), 0.5 million (Korea [6]), 0.5 million (Philippines [6]), 0.3 million (Burma [6]), and 0.1 million (Malaysia and Singapore [6]) .

POW deaths in Japanese custody totalled about 540,000, the breakdown including 400,000 (China), 30,000 (French Indochina),  27,000 (Philippines), 25,000 (Netherlands),  14,000 (France),  13,000 (Britain); 11,000 (British Colonies), 11,000 (US), and 8,000 (Australia) [6].

Deadly British war crimes in WW2.

While Japan formally initiated WW2 in the Asian theatre with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, it is clear that the British did everything they could to encourage Japan to enter the war on the side of Germany and thus get the US to enter the war on the side of Britain [4]. Thus Churchill stated that: “It was a blessing that Japan attacked the United States and thus brought America wholeheartedly into the war. Greater good fortune has rarely happened to the British empire than this event” (pages 153-155 , [4]) and British Ambassador to Japan  Sir Robert Craigie reflected thus in relation to the final breakdown of Japanese-American negotiations: “There can be no doubt that the absence of any British moderating influence, whether at Washington or at Tokyo, increased the chances of that breakdown which eventually occurred” (page 154, [4]). Indeed it is now clear that both Britain and the US were aware of the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [7].

It should be further noted that the British have invaded 193 out of 203 present-day countries (195 UN-recognized nations and 8 non-UN-recognized self-governing countries) [8, 9], as compared to Japan 30, Australia 85 [10], France 80 [11], the US 70 [12], Germany 38 [8], Apartheid Israel 12 [8], Russia 24 [8],  and China 2 [8].

British WW2 civilian targeting bombing war crimes include  complicity in the development of nuclear weapons used to  destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki (up to 230,000 killed, 150,000 in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki) [13]; complicity in Allied bombing of German cities (500,000 German civilians killed; 7.5 million rendered homeless) despite expert scientific  evidence that it was counterproductive  and jeopardized the War in the Atlantic [4, 14, 15]; and complicity in bombing of civilians in France and Italy (67,000 and 50,000 deaths, respectively) [14].

The British were complicit in deadly Allied maltreatment through deprivation  of German POWs and civilians (the German Genocide and German Holocaust,1941-1950, involved 9 million deaths)  [16] and in the killing of Japanese POWs and raping of Japanese women  [17, 18].

Britain was responsible for the 1942-1945 WW2 Bengali Holocaust in which 6-7 million Indians were deliberately starved to death for strategic reasons but which ahs been largely deleted from British historiography and hence from general public perception [3-5, 19].

Deadly US war crimes in WW2.

The US essentially drove Japan into a corner before WW2 and both Britain and the US were aware of the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [4, 7]. The US has  invaded 70 out of 203 present-day countries (195 UN-recognized nations and 8 non-UN-recognized self-governing countries) [12], as compared to Japan 30, the British 193, Australia 85 [10], France 80 [11], Germany 38 [8], Apartheid Israel 12 [8], Russia 24 [8],  and China 2 [8]. However the US has always needed an excuse  for  war e.g. the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor (Spanish-American War), the sinking of the arms-laden Lusitania (US entry into WW1), Pearl Harbor (permitted to occur notwithstanding   US and UK pre-knowledge; US entry into WW2), Korean invasion of their own country (Korean War), the fictional Gulf of Tonkin Incident (US Indo-China War), alleged threat to US students (US invasion of Granada),   General Noriega's longstanding CIA-linked drug involvements (US invasion of Panama), the US Government's false-flag 9-11 atrocity [20], the non-existent Iraqi Weapons of Mass destruction (Iraq War, Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide),  and variously “Islamic terrorism” and “democracy” (criminal invasion and genocidal destruction of Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen) [21, 22].

US WW2 civilian targeting bombing war crimes include  the atomic bombing of  Hiroshima and Nagasaki (up to 230,000 killed, 150,000 in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki) [13]; Allied bombing of German cities (500,000 killed; 7.5 million rendered homeless) [4, 14, 15]; bombing of civilians in France and Italy (67,000 and 50,000 deaths, respectively) [14]; and the fire-bombing destruction of 67 Japanese cities with as many as 500,000 Japanese deaths and some 5 million more made homeless [14].

The US was complicit in deadly Allied maltreatment through deprivation  of German POWs and civilians (the German Genocide and German Holocaust,1941-1950, involved 9 German million deaths)  [16] and in the killing of Japanese POWs and raping Japanese women  [17, 18].

After WW2 the US largely insisted on US hegemony over  British,  Western European and Japanese colonies. Thus US bombing killed about 30%  of the North Korean population [23]. Post-1950 US Asian Wars killed about 40 million Asians from Palestine to Korea through  violence or  violently--imposed deprivation [8]; the  ongoing post-1990 US War on Muslims has been associated with 13 million Muslim deaths from violence or   violently--imposed deprivation [22]; 1950-2005  avoidable deaths in countries occupied by the US in the post-WW2 era total 82 million [8]; and global post-1950 avoidable deaths from deprivation total 1.5 billion on Spaceship Earth with the US in charge of the flight deck [8].

Deadly Australian war crimes in WW2.

The ultimate, fundamental war crime is invading other countries. Mostly as a UK or US lackey, Australians have   invaded 85 out of 203 present-day countries (195 UN-recognized nations and 8 non-UN-recognized self-governing countries) [10], as compared to Japan 30, the British (193), the US 70 [12], France 80 [11], Germany 38 [8], Apartheid Israel 12 [8], Russia 24 [8], and China 2 [8]. Indeed Australia has been involved in 30 genocidal atrocities that have been almost completely removed from the national narrative [24].

Australians were  involved  in Allied strategic bombing of civilians in Europe and after WW2 in the shooting of Japanese  prisoners and raping Japanese women [17, 18].

However Australia  greatest WW2 war crime was its involvement the WW2 Bengali Holocaust. By withholding food from its huge wartime grain stores Australia was  involved in the WW2 Bengali Holocaust (WW2 Bengal Famine) in which 6-7 million Indians were deliberately starved to death by the British for strategic reasons [3-5, 19].

US lackey Australia has been involved in all post-1950 US Asian Wars, atrocities  associated with 40 million avoidable Asian deaths from violence or  imposed deprivation [8].

Rape and “comfort women” abuses of Japan, the UK, Australia and the US.

Opportunistic  rape accompanies war [17, 18] but the Japanese military organized a large-scale rape system of 200,000-400,000 sex slaves or “comfort women” to service the Japanese military [25, 26]. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe offensively asserted that these 0.2-0.4  million “comfort women” were not forced into sexual submission [26].  In his 70th Anniversary non-apology, PM Abe  mentioned “that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured” [1] but he did not apologize or retract his offensive assertion that the “comfort women” were not coerced.

However the British did the same via their Military Labor Corps in India. In WW2 about   300,000  starving Bengali women and girls (30,000 in Calcutta alone) were subject to civilian sexual abuse or military sexual abuse via the  British Military Labor Corps,  and on  scale comparable with  the “comfort women” abuses of the Japanese military [3-5, 19].

After  WW2, from 1950 to 2000 the Americans had  a system  involving 300,000 sex workers  (many variously coerced or tricked) to service the Allied forces in Korea [27]. There is not much  difference  between an impoverished Korean, Vietnamese, Thai or Filipino sex worker serving the US military and a sex slave.  Members of the US, UK and Australian occupation forces in Japan raped Japanese women opportunistically [17, 18].

Conclusions.

The statement by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of WW2 in the Pacific did not offer an apology, and, while stating that   “three million of our compatriots lost their lives during the war”,  failed to quantitate  the horrendous Japanese war crime of 60 million deaths in WW2 as a result of  Japanese militarism. Instead PM Abe hid behind the phrases “countless lives were lost among young people” and “numerous innocent citizens suffered and fell victim to battles as well as hardships such as severe deprivation of food” [1]. While PM Abe rightly mentioned the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (230,000 killed) [13], he failed to mention the rape of Nanking (300,000 Chinese killed) [28].

Politicians lie by omission and PM Shinzo Abe's statement reveals that he is no exception. However the UK, US and Australian counterparts of the Japanese Mainstream media, politicians and academic Establishment are also lying by omission  over horrendous British, American and Australian war crimes in WW2 as detailed above, including secret encouragement of  war, violent mass murder of millions, mass murder of  millions through imposed deprivation,  and large-scale sexual abuse of starving, impoverished, or otherwise enslaved women.   

Holocaust  means the deaths of huge numbers of people whereas genocide is precisely  defined by Article 2 of the UN Genocide Convention as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” . The same First World presstitutes who selectively ignore the WW2 war crimes of Japan, the UK, the US and Australia also ignore the ongoing,  anti-Arab anti-Semitic, Neocon American and Zionist Imperialist  (NAZI)-promoted  US War on Muslims (13 million Muslim deaths from violence or war-imposed deprivation in an appalling  Muslim Holocaust and Muslim Genocide since 1990) [22] and the ongoing Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust in which 17 million people  die avoidably from deprivation each year in the Developing World (minus China) and 1.5 billion people have died thus since 1950 [8].

History ignored yields history repeated. Genocide  ignored yields genocide repeated. Holocaust  ignored yields holocaust repeated [4]. PM Abe was egregiously disingenuous  when he stated “We must learn from the lessons of history the wisdom for our future” [1] while selectively ignoring past and present  crimes of Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. Indeed, also ignored by PM Abe,  the terminal weakening of Western and Japanese colonialism  due to the cataclysm of WW2 resulted in dramatic increases in life expectancy in the formerly subject countries. Thus the “annual avoidable deaths as a percentage of population” fell from a genocidal  3.1% pa in British –ruled  India in 1947 to 0.35% today [4, 8] and fell from  1.4% in China (1950) [29] to 0.0% today [8].  

Lying, whether lying by omission or lying by commission, is deadly.  Thus it is now very unlikely  that the world will avoid a catastrophic plus 2 degrees Centigrade (2C) temperature rise [30, 31],  world leaders ignore the paleoclimatology-informed reality that their 2C target is actually a disaster [32, 33], and Japan under PM Shinzo Abe has offered a derisory cutting of emissions by “20% by 2030 on 2005 levels” [34], ignoring  the reality that Japan has only 2 years left before it exceeds its “fair share” of the world's 2010-2050 Terminal Carbon Pollution Budget that must not be exceeded if we are to have a 75% chance of avoiding  a plus 2C temperature rise [35].

Holocaust  ignored yields holocaust repeated. Ignoring  the WW2 Chinese Holocaust (40 million killed), the WW2 Bengali Holocaust (7 million killed) and the Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust (17 million deaths from deprivation each year and 1.5 billion such deaths since 1950) [8] will simply ensure more of the same and indeed far worse. Thus it is estimated that 10 billion people will die this century – an average of 100 million per year - in an already worsening climate genocide  if climate change is not requisitely  addressed [36]. Humane people must  (a) utterly reject the One Percenter Establishment holocaust ignorers, (b) inform everyone they can, and (c)  urge and apply Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against all those politicians, parties, companies, corporations and countries disproportionately complicit in the worsening climate genocide.

References.

[1]. Shinzo Abe, “Full text: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's World War II statement”, Wall Street Journal, 14 August 2015: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/08/14/full-text-japanese-prime-minister-shinzo-abes-world-war-ii-statement/ .

[2] “New figures reveal Chinese casualties”, China Daily, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015victoryanniv/2015-07/15/content_21283653.htm .

[3]. Gideon Polya (2011), “Australia And Britain Killed 6-7 Million Indians In WW2 Bengal Famine”,  Countercurrents, 29 September, 2011: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya290911.htm  .

[4]. Gideon Polya (2008), “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History. Colonial rapacity, holocaust denial and the crisis in biological sustainability” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2008 edition that is now available for free perusal on the web: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/  ).

[5]. Bengal Famine, BBC radio broadcast series “The things we forgot to remember”, 2008: http://www.open2.net/thingsweforgot/bengalfamine_programme.html .

[6]. “World War II casualties”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties .

[7]. J. Rusbridger and E. Nave(1991), Betrayal at Pearl Harbor. How Churchill Lured Roosevelt into World War II (Summit, New York).

[8]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”, that includes a history of every country from Neolithic times and is now available for free perusal on the web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/  .

[9]. Gideon Polya, “British Have Invaded 193 Countries:  Make  26 January ( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day”,  Countercurrents, 23 January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya230115.htm .

[10]. Gideon Polya, “As UK Lackeys Or US Lackeys Australians Have Invaded 85 Countries (British 193, French 80, US 70)”, Countercurrents, 9 February, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090215.htm

[11]. Gideon Polya, “President Hollande And French Invasion Of Privacy Versus French Invasion Of 80 Countries Since 800 AD”, Countercurrents, 15 January, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya150114.htm .

[12]. Gideon Polya, “US has invaded 70 nations Since 1776 – make 4 July Independence From America Day”, Countercurrents, 5 July 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm .

[13]. “Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki .

[14]. “Strategic bombing in WWII”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_bombing_during_World_War_II .

[15]. C.P. Snow, “Science and Government”.

[16]. Gideon Polya, “VE Day 70th Anniversary, German Holocaust,  Bengali Holocaust And Global Avoidable Mortality Holocaust”, Countercurrents, 9 May, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090515.htm .

[17].  “Allied war crimes during World War II”, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_war_crimes_during_World_War_II .

[18]. Gideon Polya, “Australia Trashes Free Speech – SBS Sacks Journalist Scott McIntyre Over Anti-War Tweets”, Countercurrents, 4 April, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya040515.htm .

[19]. “Bengali Holocaust (WW2 Bengal Famine) writings of Gideon Polya”, Gideon Polya: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/bengali-holocaust .

[20]. “Experts: US did 9-11”: https://sites.google.com/site/expertsusdid911/  .

[21]. Gideon Polya, “Exposure Of  Neocon American And Zionist Imperialist 9-11 Deception”, Countercurrents, 8 September, 2012: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya080912.htm .

[22]. “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ .

 

[23]. Brian Wilson, “Korea and the “Axis of Evil””, Global Research, 12 October 2006: http://www.globalresearch.ca/korea-and-the-axis-of-evil/3464 .

[24]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “The Cambridge History Of Australia” Ignores  Australian Involvement In 30 Genocides”, Countercurrents, 14 October, 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya141013.htm .

[25]. “Comfort women”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women  .

[26]. Colin Joyce, “Japanese PM denies war-time “comfort women” were forced”, ”, The Telegraph, 3 March 2007: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1544471/Japanese-PM-denies-wartime-comfort-women-were-forced.html .

 

[27]. Matthew Carney, “Last of “comfort women” fight stigma as Japan and South Korea face accusations”, ABC, 7.30 Report, 13 July 2015: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4293117.htm?site=sydney .

 

[28]. “Nanking Massacre”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre .

 

[29]. “Demographics of China”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_China#Table_of_births_and_deaths_1950.E2.80.932014.5B8.5D .

[30]. “Are we doomed?”: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/are-we-doomed .

[31]. "Too late to avoid global warming catastrophe": https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/too-late-to-avoid-global-warming .

 

[32]. Chris Mooney, “The world's most famous climate scientist just outlined an alarming scenario for our planet's future”, Washington Post, 20 July 2015: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/20/the-worlds-most-famous-climate-scientist-just-outlined-an-alarming-scenario-for-our-planets-future .

 

[33]. “Two degrees of global warming is not “safe”: Hansen”,   ABC RN Breakfast, 5 May 2015: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/two-degrees-of-global-warming-is-not-safe/6444698 .

 

[34]. “Japan to pledge 20% CO2 cut – reports”, Guardian, 9 April 2015: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/09/japan-to-pledge-20-co2-cut-reports .

 

[35]. “Years left to zero greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution relative to 2013”: https://sites.google.com/site/carbondebtcarboncredit/years-left-to-zero .

 

[36]. “Climate Genocide”: https://sites.google.com/site/climategenocide/  .

 

Dr Gideon Polya has been teaching science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/australian-complicity-in-iraq-mass-mortality/3369002#transcript

) and “Ongoing Palestinian Genocide” in “The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ). When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ . 

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