There's a constant low-level political argument in Japan about "becoming a normal country". This is often trotted out as a part of arguments for changing the constitution to allow a "real" military with offensive as well as defensive capability, and allow it to participate in military operations abroad.
Tobias Harris of Observing Japan takes a look at what's actually normal as far as nation states go. He argues (convincingly in my view) that the renouncing of military power in favour of economic weight and dense links with other nations today is the normal state of being, while the obsession with territory and projection of military power has become an anachronism.
Go read it; it's good.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment away. Be nice. I no longer allow anonymous posts to reduce the spam.