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wagyl wrote:You need an income to pay income tax. I suppose the consumption tax on the cheeseburgers is a contribution, though.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny, now that you live in Japan and pay taxes shouldn't you be taking pride in Japan's accomplishments?
Coligny wrote:So... It's not an achievement as big as being a minicar backseat pigfucker...
Coligny wrote:Bullshit takechimp, unless you can point out the benefit and specifics of "steel making and special welding" you are just a snake oil salesman.
Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny, now that you live in Japan and pay taxes shouldn't you be taking pride in Japan's accomplishments?
Russell wrote:Coligny wrote:Bullshit takechimp, unless you can point out the benefit and specifics of "steel making and special welding" you are just a snake oil salesman.
Well, you'll have to admit some Japanese companies have experience welding nuclear reactor vessels...
Coligny wrote:Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny, now that you live in Japan and pay taxes shouldn't you be taking pride in Japan's accomplishments?
If you want to see the situation with the finesse of a sledgehammer...
"While I can't escape the responsability of the consequences of paying taxes here.
I can choose pride or shame.
For Japan I'll go with shame."
Don't expect Russel Church Lady to understand my right to choose my feeling toward a situaton though...
Now on a more constricted level... I'm not part of the local circus by any action... So technically I don't really feel like being even remotely involved/guilty/proud of the local clusterfuck. It stinks, but it's not my shit...
On paper you might be able to link me to it, of course... But it's paperwork that you see to fit your comfort, from my side... It's invisible...
Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny wrote:Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny, now that you live in Japan and pay taxes shouldn't you be taking pride in Japan's accomplishments?
If you want to see the situation with the finesse of a sledgehammer...
"While I can't escape the responsability of the consequences of paying taxes here.
I can choose pride or shame.
For Japan I'll go with shame."
Don't expect Russel Church Lady to understand my right to choose my feeling toward a situaton though...
Now on a more constricted level... I'm not part of the local circus by any action... So technically I don't really feel like being even remotely involved/guilty/proud of the local clusterfuck. It stinks, but it's not my shit...
On paper you might be able to link me to it, of course... But it's paperwork that you see to fit your comfort, from my side... It's invisible...
Do you also take blame for France's fuck ups?
Russell wrote:Coligny wrote:So... It's not an achievement as big as being a minicar backseat pigfucker...
What makes you think I limited myself to the backseat?!?
Coligny wrote:Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny wrote:Samurai_Jerk wrote:Coligny, now that you live in Japan and pay taxes shouldn't you be taking pride in Japan's accomplishments?
If you want to see the situation with the finesse of a sledgehammer...
"While I can't escape the responsability of the consequences of paying taxes here.
I can choose pride or shame.
For Japan I'll go with shame."
Don't expect Russel Church Lady to understand my right to choose my feeling toward a situaton though...
Now on a more constricted level... I'm not part of the local circus by any action... So technically I don't really feel like being even remotely involved/guilty/proud of the local clusterfuck. It stinks, but it's not my shit...
On paper you might be able to link me to it, of course... But it's paperwork that you see to fit your comfort, from my side... It's invisible...
Do you also take blame for France's fuck ups?
Since for the biggest that included financial compensation mah tax muney also paid for them I think your question is not that relevant.
Now for the couple of morons that couldn't sink the Rainbow warrior cleanly... I feel guilty for the "getting caught" part... Not the "fucking ship up" (sea what i did here...)(i'm getting as bad as kuro...)
U.S. greenlights Japan’s march back to militarism
Takechanpoo wrote:
didnt know this submarine existed on earth so far.
Takechanpoo wrote:
didnt know this submarine existed on earth so far.
When an ageing Victorian culvert collapsed on land owned by the Duke of Northumberland in May 2012, the effects were immediate and serious: landslips and flooding which resulted in the residents of nearby blocks of flats being evacuated and some of the properties demolished.
But nobody could have predicted that the decay of an underground drainage system in a housing estate in the west of Newcastle would result in the unearthing of a crucial piece of evidence in a bitter land dispute between the Philippines and China.
The story, involving a hard-up English aristocrat, a wealthy Filipino businessman and a 281-year-old map, has yet to reach a conclusion but already reads like the script of a Hollywood film. Alnwick Castle, which is owned by the Duke of Northumberland and where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed, could even act as a ready-made backdrop to the drama.
After the culvert collapsed three years ago, the Duke was left facing a repair bill of up to £12 million to fix the damage. To finance the project, he agreed to sell around 80 family heirlooms at an auction in Sotheby’s in London.
Lot #183 was a map drawn up in Manila in 1734 by Pedro Murillo Velarde, a Jesuit priest, which the auction house’s catalogue described as “the first scientific map of the Philippines”.
Specialists at Sotheby’s set a price of between £20,000 and £30,000 for the 44 by 47-inch document, but it eventually sold for £170,500.
The buyer was Filipino businessman Mel Velarde, the president of an IT firm, who lodged the winning bid over the phone from a steakhouse where he was celebrating his 78-year-old mother’s birthday. Although he was initially interested in the map because he shared a name with the cartographer, he said winning the auction became a “personal crusade” when he realised that it may prove his country’s claim to the Scarborough Shoals.
The Shoals, a group of rocks and reefs 120 miles west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, are labelled as “Panacot” on the map, which also shows them as forming part of Philippines territory. The ownership of the rocky islands has long been disputed, with both China and the Philippines laying claim.
Asked why he was so keen to secure the map, Mr Velarde said: “In a true-to-life movie, there’s a part for everybody. There’s a bully in the neighbourhood. He already took over our land. Then, this map is owned by a Duke in a Harry Potter castle. It’s like you wanting to play your part in the movie.”
The businessman has now given a copy of the map to the Philippine government, where it will be put to use by officials during legal debate at the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. A final judgement on the row is not expected until March next year.
The Philippine government are hopeful that the map may tip the balance in their favour. “China’s claim is about historical title. This old map would certainly present the side of the Philippines when it comes to any historical basis,” said Edwin Lacierda, a spokesman for the country’s president Benigno Aquino III.
The Philippines accused China of seizing the Shoal in 2012, when ships of the two nations were involved in a stand-off. When the smaller Philippine force had to withdraw, the Chinese occupied the islands.
In 2013, the Philippines requested international arbitration in the case, and last year submitted a 4,000-page dossier to support its claim of sovereignty. China has so far ignored requests to take part in the legal process.
The “Murillo Map”, as it is now known, also contains a series of 12 engravings, depicting the various different ethnic groups which lived on the islands at the time. A Filipino supreme court judge has described it as the “mother of all Philippine maps”, as it also appears to cast doubt on the so-called “nine-dash-line”, which marks out China’s claim to 90 per cent of the South China Sea.
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The China Coast Guard, which has been sending vessels into waters around the Senkaku Islands more frequently since 2012, plans to build a large base in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, to enhance monitoring of the chain, sources close to the matter said Saturday.
By building the base in Wenzhou, which is close to the Japan-administered islets, the coast guard is apparently hoping to bolster support for surveillance vessels so China can strengthen its claim to them.
[...]
The move came after revelations that China’s military is building large base facilities on the Nanji Islands, which are in the same province and even closer to the Senkakus, indicating that Beijing is poised to test Japan through concerted efforts by the military and coast guard.
Earlier in June, the website of Zhejiang Province published the contents of a meeting between officials of the Wenzhou city government and the China Coast Guard, including the latter’s plan to build the base.
The base will occupy about 500,000 sq. meters and will have a pier around 1.2 km long with a facility where six vessels — including large ones with a displacement of up to 10,000 tons — can moor, a hangar for airplanes and helicopters, and a large training facility.
China will choose the location after examining several candidate sites.
The cost is projected at about 3.34 billion yuan (about $544.3 million) and the Chinese government will bear the entire expenditure.
The website noted that China has been regularly sending vessels to waters near the Senkakus since September 2012. That is when Japan decided to buy the islands from their private Japanese owner, effectively nationalizing the chain.
As for the purpose of building the base, it said the move would be beneficial for regular navigation conducted to protect China’s maritime interests. It also explained the geographic advantages of having the base in Wenzhou, which at a distance of around 356 km represents the part of the mainland that’s closest to the islets.
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The Chinese military is weighing the regular use of unmanned aircraft to monitor the East China Sea, a move that may exacerbate tensions with Japan over the Senkaku Islands, a Chinese document on Beijing’s use of drones showed Friday.
The document, compiled in October, suggested the need for drones operated by the People’s Liberation Army, noting that patrols of the area by Chinese ships aren’t enough to protect Chinese interests.
After Japan’s effective nationalization of the Senkakus a few years ago, Chinese planes and vessels have been surveilling the uninhabited islets with greater frequency to assert Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over them. The islets are administered by Japan but also claimed by nearby Taiwan.
A drone was detected near the Senkakus on Sept. 9, 2013, prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets.
Quoting experts on Chinese military drones, the document highlighted the importance of using the unmanned aerial vehicles to counter repeated U.S. surveillance conducted by Global Hawk drones in the East China Sea and to deal with territorial disputes involving Japan.
The document also said that Beijing has legal grounds to conduct periodic drone surveillance because it established an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea in November 2013.
The Chinese military now has some 50 unmanned aerial vehicles, including the Yilong, which is seen as most suitable for missions in the East China Sea because of its 4,000-km range and ability to fly continuously for 20 hours.
The Yilong drone costs about $1 million, which is substantially cheaper than U.S. drones. It is also believed to more effective at carrying out surveillance missions than manned flights.
But the Chinese military may have to improve the drones’ safety before any mission, the document suggested.
The report also noted that the State Oceanic Administration uses nine surveillance ships and four airplanes to monitor the area around the East China Sea. The Chinese entity maintains 11 aerial observation bases and also deploys unmanned aircraft.
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Russell wrote:Time for Japan to build a base on the Senkakus...
pheyton wrote:Seems Japan has prepared for the apocalypse.
Japanese unveil iPhone-controlled battle robot
A Japanese electronics company has unveiled a cutting-edge battle robot Kuratas, signifying a new era in military industry.
France will offer Australia its stealth technology for submarines, never before shared abroad, if it wins a lucrative deal to build Australia’s fleet of next-generation submarines, state-controlled French naval contractor DCNS said on Wednesday.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and DCNS separately are competing with a Japanese government-led consortium for the A$50 billion ($37.38 billion) contract to replace aging Collins-class subs, the biggest contract in Australian defense history.
Japan, which has had a ban on exporting defense technology since World War Two, had been seen as the front runner for the contract, but political pressures in Australia for domestic production have given fresh momentum to the European bidders.
A spokesman for DCNS said that, while the company had privately informed the Australian government of its willingness to share the stealth technology, it hoped a public acknowledgment would generate good will with the Australian public.
“These technologies are the ‘crown jewels’ of French submarine design knowhow and have never been offered to any other country,” DCNS spokeswoman Jessica Thomas added in an email exchange.
“By the very nature of these stealth technologies and the decision to release them to the Australian government, this is a significant demonstration of the strategic nature of this program for the French authorities.”
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is eager to deepen security ties with Japan, reflecting a U.S. desire for its two allies to take a bigger security role in Asia as China’s military might grows.
The United States, hoping to promote Australia-Japan cooperation, is backing the Japanese-built submarine, which is also packed with American surveillance, radar and weapons equipment, sources familiar with Washington’s thinking have told Reuters.
A contract to supply a variant of Japan’s Soryu-class submarine would give Tokyo its first major overseas arms deal after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year eased curbs on military exports, which had isolated defense contractors for seven decades.
But Abbott, facing intense political pressure to secure the thousands of manufacturing jobs that the project would bring, decided to open up bidding to Germany and France.
Last month, influential Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon blasted Japanese defense officials over comments that Australia was incapable of building a version of a high-tech Japanese-designed submarine at home.
A panel comprised of former U.S. Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter, former Australian judge Julie Anne Dodds-Streeton, lawyer Ron Finlay and former BAE Systems executive Jim McDowell is overseeing the 10-month bidding process.
Japan wants to give planes to the Philippines that Manila could use for patrols in the South China Sea, sources said, a move that would deepen Tokyo's security ties with the Southeast Asian nation most at odds with Beijing over the disputed waterway.
Four sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Japan was looking to offer three Beechcraft TC-90 King Air planes that could be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar.
They said talks within the Japanese government were preliminary and would need to overcome legal hurdles. Japan had yet to formally propose the planes as an alternative to more sophisticated Lockheed Martin P3-C aircraft that Manila wants to track Chinese submarine activity, they added.
Senior Philippine military and defense officials in Manila said they had not heard about the possible donation of the twin-turboprop TC-90 aircraft, which Japan uses to train military pilots.
"The Philippines doesn't have enough aircraft to conduct regular patrols over the South China Sea," one of the sources in Japan said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Donating aircraft, even small planes, would represent a military upgrade for the Philippines, which has only a handful of fixed-wing planes it can deploy on maritime patrols.
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