This time the LDP won an absolute majority so it doesnt need coalition partners. Also, aggressive Chinese actions are forcing Japan to rearm and rethink its defence policies. And might it not be likely that Japan secretly has gone nuclear?
Back when the US tried to put some nukes on the islands and the people found out that the government was going to let them, there were riots (if my memory is right). The people have let the government build up an army, though they’ve been very noisy about it being a peaceful-actions-only agency. But, so far as I’m aware, the majority has no interest in even toeing the line with nuclear weapons.
I expect that the US does in fact have nuclear weapons stationed in Japan and that those are there to serve in Japan’s defense, but I don’t think that they would be under the control of the Japanese government, nor do I think that Japan has been able to build nor buy their own.
So most people seem to think. But how many of those who condemn Sony for caving have actually had to work through the failure of even just one software system out of the many that exist at just one major enterprise? The damage at Sony goes much, much farther.
The articles I have read may have exaggerated the extent of the damage done, but if they are at all credible, then this wasn’t just the leaking of a few emails about Angelina Jolie. Rather, it resulted in extensive damage throughout the company’s systems, on many computers and, presumably, servers as well. Given the state of our cyberdefense capability, I don’t blame Sony or the theater chains a bit. Standing up to bullies is well and good, but when you’re that vulnerable you pretty much have to do what they say, until you can improve your strategic position.
Did North Korea believe its Sony hack was really an attack on Japan rather than the United States? Or was it just Greta Van Susteren getting pwned?
(Not sure if this best fits in this thread or one of the other related threads around here. But anyway . . . )
I just stumbled upon this fun item: The Curious Case Of The T.V. Attorney And Twitter, by “Patrick Non-White” of Popehat, Dec. 20, 2014.
TL;DR: Greta Van Susteren reported her suspicion that North Korea actually intended, and believed, that it was targeting Japan with its Sony Hack. She then tweeted this (now-deleted) proof, that she found on the DPRK news feed:
In fact, this DPRK twitter feed is a parody run by Santa Hat (Patrick Non-White) himself, as he later proved, and Greta fell for it.
Patrick’s real point there was to criticize journalists for running with an unverified story without doing any fact-checking: “How could this have happened? Probably confirmation bias: the Tweet was too good to check.” (This theme echoes the UVA rape story, which Erdely was criticized for failing to fact-check because it was “too good to check”.)
Finally, Fox News makes a journalistic mistake! This is the break I’ve been waiting for! Smell you later, you crappy new channel!
[Sits back and waits for the Fox News empire to collapse]