Japan boosts defense budget to record levels, focuses on missile defense systems in regard to NK - Polidicks

[quote]Japan’s government has approved a record defence budget, [B]with money earmarked for costly missile defence systems and, controversially, weapons that could be used in pre-emptive strikes against North Korea.[/B] [B]The 5.19tn yen ($46bn) budget, up 1.3% from last year, is the largest ever and marks the six straight annual rise in defence spending under Japan’s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe.[/B] Abe, who ended a decade of defence cuts soon after becoming prime minister in late 2012, has described the[B] threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles as a “national crisis”.[/B] The regime has launched two missiles over northern Japan this year, and several others have landed inside its 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. In September, North Korea threatened to “sink Japan into the sea” with a nuclear bomb after Tokyo and Washington spearheaded a new round of UN security council sanctions against the regime. Defence officials say Japan needs to drastically and quickly upgrade its missile defence in response to Pyongyang’s rapid development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.[/quote] [url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/22/japan-boosts-defence-budget-to-record-levels-with-eye-on-north-korea[/url]

The missile defence thing sounds good, not sure about the weapons for possible preemptive strike bit though.

Good on 'em. NK is a real and credible threat to Japan and they need the capabilities they're bankrolling. [editline]23rd December 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Darth Ninja;52999562]The missile defence thing sounds good, not sure about the weapons for possible preemptive strike bit though.[/QUOTE] Having the capacity to launch a pre-emptive strike =|= actually launching one.

The right to defend! That's all what we want.

Can't blame em

Cruise missiles are so badass

[QUOTE=Vodkavia;52999840]Can't get excited about Shinzo Abe's faction is very transparently using a real crisis as a smoke screen for the pushing greater militarization/nationalization of japan, his faction were beating this drum [B]long[/B] before missiles became a credible threat. Before anyone even half thinks "well these contingency measures are no biggie" consider how that attitude of just green lighting sweeping legislative changes under duress worked out for the United States. This isn't me saying "ignore missiles flying over the horizon," but rather "who's got something to gain from this."[/QUOTE] To be fair one of their biggest neighbours was making double digit annual increases in military spending since the 1990s, and has also been flying aircraft into their airspace regularly

i want play to omgpop [editline]23rd December 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=sanavismail;53000055]i want play to omgpop[/QUOTE] [editline]23rd December 2017[/editline] i wan play in pool in omgpop [highlight](User was permabanned for this post ("Spambot" - Shendow))[/highlight]

Is it me or does it seem like everybody is getting a little overhyped with missile defense? Historically, ICBMs have been nearly impossible to stop or even correctly target in their terminal phase, and while north korea has but the one missile, if they started rapidly building up and added decoys and countermeasures to their missiles then our certain shot becomes a best guess And they almost certainly would not work on chinese or russian ICBMs which are decades more advanced

[QUOTE=Mallow234;52999936]To be fair one of their biggest neighbours was making double digit annual increases in military spending since the 1990s, and has also been flying aircraft into their airspace regularly[/QUOTE] Should the position they're in really be a surprise either? Sounds like they were vindicated to want these changes for so long.

[QUOTE=Vodkavia;52999840]Can't get excited about Shinzo Abe's faction is very transparently using a real crisis as a smoke screen for the pushing greater militarization/nationalization of japan, his faction were beating this drum [B]long[/B] before missiles became a credible threat. Before anyone even half thinks "well these contingency measures are no biggie" consider how that attitude of just green lighting sweeping legislative changes under duress worked out for the United States. This isn't me saying "ignore missiles flying over the horizon," but rather "who's got something to gain from this."[/QUOTE] Given what a threat North Korea has become, even if this is for the self benefit of Abe's party, it also in this case actually benefits Japan. The US has "fake" bad guys to warn the people about in order to justify increased military spending, but Japan is legitimately at risk.

Why do people think that Abe is going to have Japan return to its 1937-era warmongering status? It's completely asinine. Ah yes, Japan, the nation with an incredibly robust economy that hinges on exports, a shrinking population, a poorly equipped and trained military, cornered by 3 nuclear powers, whose entire armed forces are built around defending the home islands... ...is gonna go out a conquerin'. Come the fuck on folks. Japan shouldn't have to play to America's tunes any longer. They are their own nation, and should be allowed to build up their military to protect themselves from [I]very legitimate threats[/I]. Americans regularly squeal and cry when Japan considers remilitarization, but they're not the ones having missiles aimed at them. America doesn't know the effects of nuclear weapons. [I][B]Japan does.[/B][/I]

[QUOTE=Sableye;53000076]Is it me or does it seem like everybody is getting a little overhyped with missile defense? Historically, ICBMs have been nearly impossible to stop or even correctly target in their terminal phase, and while north korea has but the one missile, if they started rapidly building up and added decoys and countermeasures to their missiles then our certain shot becomes a best guess And they almost certainly would not work on chinese or russian ICBMs which are decades more advanced[/QUOTE] I don't know. We have some pretty effective missile defense systems deployed around here. The Arrow 3 should be pretty effective against ICBMs.

[QUOTE=Sableye;53000076]Is it me or does it seem like everybody is getting a little overhyped with missile defense? Historically, ICBMs have been nearly impossible to stop or even correctly target in their terminal phase, and while north korea has but the one missile, if they started rapidly building up and added decoys and countermeasures to their missiles then our certain shot becomes a best guess And they almost certainly would not work on chinese or russian ICBMs which are decades more advanced[/QUOTE] Still worth it. Japan taking a nuke to any population center would probably essentially bring the country to a halt, and a horribly slow crawl for decades after. Any system that can have any sort of chance of defeating anything capable of doing that is worth a shot. The rest falls on the CIA and etc. to prevent them from having capacity to launch at all.

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;53000226]Why do people think that Abe is going to have Japan return to its 1937-era warmongering status? It's completely asinine. Ah yes, Japan, the nation with an incredibly robust economy that hinges on exports, a shrinking population, a poorly equipped and trained military, cornered by 3 nuclear powers, whose entire armed forces are built around defending the home islands... ...is gonna go out a conquerin'. Come the fuck on folks. Japan shouldn't have to play to America's tunes any longer. They are their own nation, and should be allowed to build up their military to protect themselves from [I]very legitimate threats[/I]. Americans regularly squeal and cry when Japan considers remilitarization, but they're not the ones having missiles aimed at them. America doesn't know the effects of nuclear weapons. [I][B]Japan does.[/B][/I][/QUOTE] Wherever Japan will or not return to its old ways, is irrelevant because it can't in the first place, thanks to a certain nation right next door, however Shinzo Abe is an ultra-nationalist that barely manages to disguise the fact he is one, his intentions are anything but good. [url]https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/03/07/commentary/japan-commentary/abes-nationalism-hurts-japan/[/url] [url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/15/ultra-nationalist-school-moritomo-gakuen-linked-to-japanese-pm-shinzo-abe-accused-of-hate-speech[/url]

[QUOTE=evilweazel;53000942]Still worth it. Japan taking a nuke to any population center would probably essentially bring the country to a halt, and a horribly slow crawl for decades after. Any system that can have any sort of chance of defeating anything capable of doing that is worth a shot. The rest falls on the CIA and etc. to prevent them from having capacity to launch at all.[/QUOTE] Idunno, Japan bounced back pretty quickly the last couple times that happened...

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;53001226]Wherever Japan will or not return to its old ways, is irrelevant because it can't in the first place, thanks to a certain nation right next door, however Shinzo Abe is an ultra-nationalist that barely manages to disguise the fact he is one, his intentions are anything but good. [url]https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/03/07/commentary/japan-commentary/abes-nationalism-hurts-japan/[/url] [url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/15/ultra-nationalist-school-moritomo-gakuen-linked-to-japanese-pm-shinzo-abe-accused-of-hate-speech[/url][/QUOTE] the guy is a shrewd and ambitious dude but this right here is literally the first time I've heard someone say he's not a good guy. the third term he's serving is potentially iffy but it's not technically illegal and I've lived through more than one president that I wish could've served a third term. the only trait I could imagine anyone holding against him is that he's a "nationalist", but there's nothing wrong with being nationalist. everyone is nationalist to an extent. about 3/4ths of facepunch will swear up and down that they're not nationalist and then as soon as gypsys are brought up they'll go "let 'em fuckin swing" (the other 1/4th is about 50/50 on whether they'll say the same about muslims, whether they post about it publicly or not, at least based on my private conversations with a number of users.) . me personally, I'd like immigration regulations to get a little more strict. doesn't make me a shitbag, just makes me someone who would rather not have his identity stolen for the third time by anyone who jumps the border and wants a cell phone. like the most controversial thing he's ever done is support having a standing army which literally every country does.

[QUOTE=RichyZ;53002047]for a country with a dying old population, being scared of immigration is a very unwise behavior[/QUOTE] old population is a problem that'll sort itself out eventually tbh. whether it be through the youngins coming to there senses and doing the do or people coming in whenever they decide to make it easier to do so (or the people deciding to make it hard die) the problem will 100% guaranteed go away at some point. even if there's not a single naturally born japanese citizen left the problem will go away. plenty of new people are born every day and we already know racism isn't japan's issue, just straight up "eww i dont wanna fuck a foreigner." if they die off due to that behavior it's just darwinism. the pure race don't matter much, as long as the culture is preserved (it will be, there are still pagans for fucks sake)