Japanese minister resigns for saying WW2 atomic bombs 'justified'

[Foxy Brown]

Japan's embattled defense minister has resigned after making comments suggesting the 1945 atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified.

[marktobias]

One thing politicians never seem to realise, you're not allowed to have an opinion

I don't know if such a massacre could ever really be justified. It's the whole means to an end argument but without seeing what would have happened if the bombs hadn't been dropped, the majority will always side with "the good option".

[fsw]

It would be difficult to justify such acts in today's world. Not sure if that helps in working out if it was justified 50+ years ago.

Just been looking some of the stats of WW2, given that over 70 million people died in the conflict (that's more than the population of the UK!), and some 11 million just in the holocaust - atrocities are difficult to scale given the loss of life at such a time.

[Stats form wikiwanker].

[Blu-Cherri]

Maybe he doesn't know what he's talking about because the war with Japan was only one of the two main reasons for dropping the bomb.  The other was to 'scare' Russia into backing off and to get the war over wuickly to stop Russia joining.  There's no way, having that in mind, could the bombings be justified. Alteria(yes i can't spell) motives just cancel any justification out completely.

But anything related WWII is so hard to debate justification or not, simply because of how huge it was and all the extra motives all the different countries etc...

.....well that's my opinion anyway...

[fsw]

But anything related WWII is so hard to debate justification or not, simply because of how huge it was and all the extra motives all the different countries etc...

I certainly agree with that.

[Asmodai]

Would it be better to have two cities nuked or become part of the USSR and face mass starvation (http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/Ukraine_famine.htm) or worse?

Both are pretty horrible.

[thatguy]

One way or another, the world has to come to grips with how it perceives its own history, and unless we have the ability to reflect and understand objectively our own actions (no matter how complicated they might be), then we learn nothing from our past mistakes. As nonsensical as his actions may seem, I think it's at least a step in the right direction. Not to agree that the bombings are justified, but that we need to learn to question the past more deliberately, and not pass it off based on our own personal feelings--and sometimes it takes a radical statement to do that.

Poland is currently following a similar line of thought in regard to its representation in the EU, and while it's a legitimate argument, it could lead to more problems in the future (rather than solving the problems of the present).

That said, there's still merit in the minister's gut for making such a claim, and in his integrity in willingness to resign after it backfired.

[Genesis]

Kyuma said later that his comments had been misinterpreted, telling reporters he meant to say the bombing "could not be helped from the American point of view."

"It's too bad that my comments were interpreted as approving the U.S. bombing," he said.

[Sexykago]

The bombings were unjustified. You can show me any info about what what Germany and Japan did. I've already seen plenty. The US could have just simply bombed somewhere offshore as a warning. But they didn't. They bombed civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From Nanking Denial to justifying the A-bomb. As elected politicians they should know better.

[nop]

The US could have just simply bombed somewhere offshore as a warning. But they didn't. They bombed civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This is good reasoning. Anyway it is the history now. Learn and remember.

[ctz]

Would it be better to have two cities nuked or become part of the USSR and face mass starvation (http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/Ukraine_famine.htm) or worse?

Both are pretty horrible.

So you're saying that without A-Bombs Japan would have been invaded by USSR?

[Arcadia Victis]

Would it be better to have two cities nuked or become part of the USSR and face mass starvation (http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/Ukraine_famine.htm) or worse?

Both are pretty horrible.

So you're saying that without A-Bombs Japan would have been invaded by USSR?

FDR arranged for the USSR to occupy Eastern Europe at the Yalta conference in exchange for the commies breaking a NAP with Japan and joining the US in the Pacific theater.

[Asmodai]

Would it be better to have two cities nuked or become part of the USSR and face mass starvation (http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/Genocide/Ukraine_famine.htm) or worse?

Both are pretty horrible.

So you're saying that without A-Bombs Japan would have been invaded by USSR?

Quite possibly. The USSR had already moved into Manchuria and occupied a number of the Northern Islands (and are still there for that matter).