Van Wolferen Gives Both Barrels to US/Japan

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Japan-U.S. relations prospering on isolation
There is nothing in the world that resembles the nichibei relationship. Yet, it is hard to think of two large industrialized countries that are so unlike each other as the United States and Japan. Except, recently, for one striking resemblance. If you had to choose one single word to typify their place in the world today, what more appropriate term would there be than "isolation"?...Bush or rather Vice President Dick Cheney has forced the United States to act upon the world as an isolationist power; completely uninterested in the fate of other nations...Japan remains the world's largest creditor. But strategically, politically and diplomatically Japan dwells in a hidden place where other countries rarely can find it...more...

[jingai]

Koizumi's unneighborly conduct is a luxury that Japan's elite takes for granted. And that is a mistake; one conveyed, ironically, by the criticism of Koizumi as "Bush's poodle" or "lapdog."

Pets are looked after; their relationship with their master assumes protection. American isolationism means unilateral action, no concern for others and no sense of mutuality.

The 60 years during which members of Japan's political elite did not have to think about strategic matters have rendered them blind to the fact that isolationist America's former allies, including Japan, are now no more than American vassals, facing huge new risks, without the earlier guarantee of protection.

What on earth is he talking about? There are still US bases in Japan and the US-Japan security treaty is still in force.

[Socratesabroad]

What on earth is he talking about?

I thought the same thing. Charges of 'lapdog' and such have also been leveled against Blair:
British bulldog or Bush's poodle? Anglo-American relations and the Iraq war
Parameters, Winter, 2003 by James K. Wither

Despite what Van Wolferen's sees as "unilateral action, no concern for others and no sense of mutuality" on behalf of the Americans, Anglo-American relations are as close as ever.

Sadly, Van Wolferen's already made his views clear and it looks like he's trying to turn them into reality

The United States must fail in Iraq.
It is a thought that lies deep in the minds of many Europeans and rarely expressed openly. We may find such a defeat terrible, but at the same time necessary.
There is an inescapable logic to it: If the United States does not fail, other countries amassing power may in the future believe that they too have the option to start ``preventive wars.''

Van Wolferen should've just stuck to his forte, the Japanese political economy.

[Greji]

What on earth is he talking about?

I thought the same thing. Charges of 'lapdog' and such have also been leveled against Blair:
British bulldog or Bush's poodle? Anglo-American relations and the Iraq war
Parameters, Winter, 2003 by James K. Wither

Despite what Van Wolferen's sees as "unilateral action, no concern for others and no sense of mutuality" on behalf of the Americans, Anglo-American relations are as close as ever.

Sadly, Van Wolferen's already made his views clear and it looks like he's trying to turn them into reality

The United States must fail in Iraq.
It is a thought that lies deep in the minds of many Europeans and rarely expressed openly. We may find such a defeat terrible, but at the same time necessary.
There is an inescapable logic to it: If the United States does not fail, other countries amassing power may in the future believe that they too have the option to start ``preventive wars.''

Van Wolferen should've just stuck to his forte, the Japanese political economy.

He can be very self-centered in that area also!