Samit Basu comments

After Yoon's gone, the most anti-Japan president in Korean history swears in...

@Desert Tortoise

The Saudis are vile beyond description. Japan has in the past opposed Saudi involvement and I hope they prevent this from happening.

UK is broke, Italy is broke, Japan is broke, Saudi sits on mountain of dollar bills to spend, so they offer $1 billion to some soccer player(Mbappe) to play in their league for one year....

@Mr Kipling

So as I said, they have nothing to add.

Saudis have what UK, Italy, and Japan don't have, money.

@Mr Kipling

They have no technical skills that can be useful to this project

Saudi share of design and production work will be handled by Saudi subsidiaries of BAE, Rolls-Royce, and Leonardo.

Saudi Arabia wants things happening on its soil to jump start an industry and train young engineers mentored by seasoned British and Italian engineers.

Nissan is reportedly close to bankruptcy again. Who will buy out Nissan this time, the Chinese?

Honda and Toyota too will follow Nissan's footsteps in about 10 years and Japan is left with no auto industry.

https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/nissan-exec-says-we-have-12-or-14-months-to-survive/

Nissan Exec Warns “We Have 12 Or 14 Months To Survive”

The Japanese brand is in the midst of trying to find a new anchor investor to get through the next year

But this is illegal under Japanese law....

FIFA World Cup 2034 Saudi Arabia is a done deal. No one can resist the smell of MBS's dollar bills.

There goes Japan's secret ICBM program.....

Just remember that if the US fires missiles from a Japanese islands, Japan too becomes an active combatant of Taiwan War and China has the right to strike positions of an active enemy combatant, presumably Tokyo,

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https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/08/why-japan-opposed-saudi-arabia-joining-uk-italy-gcap-fighter-jet-alliance

Why is Japan opposed to Saudi Arabia joining UK-Italy GCAP fighter jet alliance?

https://mecouncil.org/blog_posts/why-japan-should-welcome-saudi-arabia-into-the-gcap-fighter-jet-alliance/

Why Japan Should Welcome Saudi Arabia into the GCAP Fighter Jet Alliance

Tokyo could significantly improve its global standing by allowing Saudi Arabia to join a tripartite project to build a next-generation combat aircraft.

When Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Saudi Arabia in July, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directly asked to join the alliance. But while the UK and Italy are open to Saudi Arabia’s offer, Japan is “firmly opposed,” according to a report by the Financial Times.

@Jalapeno

Manned fighter jet's days are numbered.

Not at all. AI cannot execute missions on a total communication silence required of stealth. It takes a human pilot to improvise changing battleground situations that deviate from initial mission planning.

@Lookingforbooks

I wonder what countries they are thinking about adding to the team? France? Germany?

UK and Italy have been wanting to add Saudi Arabia, opposed by Japan. Unfortunately, Kishida said no in the face of Mohammad Bin Salman and angry MBS is currently discussing joining Korea's 6th gen fighter program based on the KF-21. Korea has been bending backward to get Saudi Arabia join their program, such as reinterpretation MTCR treaty to enable export of 900 km range ballistic missiles and a low-orbit SAR spy satellite constellation so that Saudi Arabia can scan entire Middle East every 30 minute.

Saudi Arabia is already building its integrated ballistic missile defense network with Korea's M-SAM/L-SAM.

@voiceofokinawa

Do the leaders of Italy and the UK know that Japan cannot export such weapons to a third country due to a constitutional constraint?

That's fine, UK and Italy would gladly take over Japan's marketing territory. UK and Italy just need Japan to ship GCAP parts to them.

@kurisupisu

I’ve yet to meet a Japanese person that has ever visited Peru.

So you never heard of Alberto Fujimori, the former dictator of Peru, and his daughter Keiko, who's trying to restore her father's honor by winning back presidency?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Fujimori

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_Fujimori

This is the beginning of the end of Japan's auto industry.

Recall that Carlos Ghosn was the first to push a Japanese automaker toward EV, but his Japanese subordinates staged a coup and kicked him out, and Nissan has been in a downward spiral ever since.

Japan's children born today will ask their parents if Japan used to make automobiles, because all the new automobiles are imported, just like how a Japanese teenager on her iphone today is amazed that Japan used to make smart phones but all phones are now imported.

Japanese will have to get used to Japan's new status as a developing country where iphones cost a month's salary....

Ukraine needs weapons right now, not investment and trade.

@Marc Lowe

Are 'they' sure? If it was launched toward the Sea of Japan, it doesn't mean Japan was the target.

Sea of Japan doesn't exist in Korea. North Korea announced they launched toward East Sea.

@kwatt

North Korea tries not drop ICBM craps into Japan's EEZ

Actually North Korea CAN drop ICBM into Japan's EEZ because Japan's EEZ is not a territorial water, but international water where anything goes.

Additionally, North Korea doesn't accept Japan's EEZ claims, they draw Japan's EEZ as half way between Japanese mainland and the Liancourt Rocks, meaning it's shifted much further eastward than what Japan claims.

@TaiwanIsNotChina

Let's hope "preparing for any development" means preparing to defend Taiwan.

Unfortunately, it simply means ensuring the war not spilling over to Japan and organizing a quick evacuation of Japanese and critical Taiwanese VIP individuals(aka TSMC senior engineers and executives) to Japan....

@TaiwanIsNotChina

And so could an Asian NATO exclude the Northern Territories.

Then Diaoyu Islands must be excluded as well, since the ROK doesn't recognize Diaoyu Islands to be Japanese and calls it by its Chinese name.

Then Japan will not recognize North Korea to be an ROK territory and want it excluded as well as Jammu-Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, and Islands of South China Sea.

Then what does this Asian NATO accomplish?

@TaiwanIsNotChina

Who is going to make all of them be resolved in the dictatorship's favor?

No one. Thus Asian NATO is impossible.

The US has a mutual defense treaty with Japan and Japan has some of those disputes.

The US mutual defense treaty specifically excludes the Southern Kurils.

Asian NATO requires the followings from Japan.

Japan renounces claims on the Liancourt Rocks.

Japan either renounces claims on the Southern Kurils islands and Diaoyu Islands, or at least exclude them from the scope of Asian NATO's collective defense.

Japan bans the use of Rising Sun Flags by SDF.

Japan scraps Article 9.

But Asian NATO also requires other countries to make similar renouncements, such as

ROK renounces claims on Kando(aka the Manchurian territory East of Songhua River which was Josen's territory that was given away to China by Imperial Japan by Kando Treaty. The ROK doesn't recognize the Kando treaty and demands the return of Eastern Manchuria), which the ROK will not.

ROK renounces claims on North Korea which it cannot.

India renounces or excludes its claims on Jammu-Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.

South China Sea nations also either renounce or exclude their claims on South China Sea islands.

So the hurdle is impossibly high, and it won't sell even to the US and Australia with no outstanding territorial disputes, because they don't want be dragged into Japan's wars with China and Russia over the Diaoyu Islands and Southern Kurils Islands.

In either case, Taiwan cannot be included in this Asian NATO under any scenario.

There is no change as long as same party is in power for the last 70 years, longer than Putin's United Russia party.

To be replaced by Chinese sponsors.

Japan must decrease, China must increase.

No loss for IOC, will be replaced by BYD or some other Chinese automakers.

Right now is the bad time to do it after the SDF screw up in July.

https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/japan-sacked-warship-captain-for-unknowingly-entering-chinese-territorial-waters/

Japan Sacked Warship Captain for “Unknowingly” Entering Chinese Territorial Waters

The incident, which took place on July 4, saw the JMSDF destroyer “ JS Suzutsuki” enter the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters off China's Zhejiang province, staying there for 20 minutes.

The Japanese destroyer’s actions in entering China’s territorial waters were protested by Beijing.

*According to Japanese media, *the incident raised questions about the competency of JMSDF personnel.

*Additionally, the Japanese Navy is *reportedly considering disciplinary action against other crew members aboard the destroyer involved.

*Upon investigation, the destroyer’s captain claimed he was unaware of the ship’s position until after it had entered Chinese waters.*

https://www.thereflector.com/stories/rescued-japanese-mastiffs-available-for-adoption,48173

Rescued Japanese Mastiffs available for adoption

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington (HSSW) will begin adoption efforts to find homes for 58 Japanese Mastiffs after rescuers took the animals from a dog-meat farm in South Korea.

The Japanese Mastiff, or Tosa, is a large breed dog averaging 80 to 130 pounds, but exhibits a calm, gentle temperament, according to the Humane Society.

At 80 ~ 130 lbs, Tosa Inu breeds are just too large for typical homes, I don't know what the solution is.

If it was Shiba Inu then yes it's much easier to find homes, but it's Tosa.

Sadly there is little to no demand for adoption for these meat dogs, since they are almost exclusively Tosa Inu breeds, too large to be kept at typical urban homes of Korea.

@elephant200

Only the big three: US, Russia, China will be capable to finish their sixth generation fighter project.

You can count Russia out. Russia can't even build Su-57 in sufficient quantity now.

What this article doesn't report is that the current cost estimate for the development and fielding of 270 GCAP fighters across three nations is 120 billion pounds, a sum UK cannot afford and is looking to bail. This is why Saudi funding was so critical to GCAP's success, but Mohammad Bin Salman was insulted by Kishida's refusal in person and has opened to join Korea's KF-21 based 6th gen fighter program instead and the negotiation is in an advanced stage, so the Saudi card for GCAP has left the station. Koreans on the other hand are throwing everything they got to get Saudis onboard their programs, going as far as exporting 500 km range Chunmoo MLRS(the Korean equivalent of HIMARS) and promising to make the 900 km version via local assembly in Saudi Arabia to get around the MTCR treaty. Saudis are happy with how the Koreans are bending backward to appease them and appears to sign onto the Korean 6th gen fighter program over GCAP.

The 900 km Chunmoo version was critical because it would allow Saudi Arabia to directly bombard Tehran.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/on-defence-labour-is-either-being-dishonest-or-ignorant-3260162

GCAP will be expensive, costing each partner country around £40bn.

https://www.kedglobal.com/aerospace-defense/newsView/ked202408200007

South Korea to extend export missile range from 300 km to 500 km

Once the DAPA gives the final approval, defense firms are expected to hike missile ranges by reducing warhead weight

South Korea has decided to extend the range of missiles for export to 500 kilometers from the current 300 km after accepting requests to do so from client countries in the Middle East.

With the DAPA’s final approval, it would also be possible for South Korea to export missiles with a range of 900 km, similar to the KN-23 North Korea has exported to Russia, he said.

@Data

What difference to the previous sixteen independent samplings will the seventeenth independent sampling show? 

There never was an independent sampling before. All sampling was done by Japan and provided to IAEA, making the numbers suspect and untrustworthy.

There was a reason why Japan resisted independent sampling until now, basically arm twisted to do so.

Japan agreed to an independent sampling and testing of Fukushima sea water by China to reach this agreement. So we will soon find out the true status of the radioactivity of Fukushima water.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-japan-end-dispute-fukushima-water-discharge-rcna171950

The two sides agreed on Japan establishing a long-term international monitoring arrangement and allowing stakeholders to conduct independent sampling and monitoring, the ministry said in a statement.