r/worldnews • u/Quantum_II • Oct 04 '22
Biden affirms U.S. support for Japan after North Korea missile launch North Korea
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/biden-affirms-us-support-japan-after-north-korea-missile-launch-2022-10-04/132
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u/ninjaunderground Oct 04 '22 edited Oct 05 '22
I get now why the US has such a huge military spending... Now that the world needs protecting, they are everywhere to deliver...
Edit: Oh boy what can of worms have I opened by posting this comment
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u/Stupid_Comparisons Oct 04 '22
It's been basically our job to protect Europe and Japan since the end of WW2. Most members of NATO don't even meet the agreed upon defence spending except the US.
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u/oxblood87 Oct 05 '22
You missed over the fact that the USA was relatively unscathed by WW2.
No mainland attacks, no rebuilding of infrastructure, also significant trade incomes etc.
The USA WANTS this imbalance of power, because it is profitable for them. If the USA was not the overwhelming majority then the Dollar would not be the global reserve currency.
If NATO allies had increased their spending and USA had dropped back to pre war spending the global reserve currency would likely be the Euro and the USA would probably have a much lower standing globally.
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u/TheIndyCity Oct 05 '22
Every country wants a geopolitical imbalance of power in their favor. I'd argue that the US showed extreme restraint wielding theirs overall, compared to most every other great power throughout human history.
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u/oxblood87 Oct 05 '22
It is very hard to tell if that was the USA specifically, or a feature of a world that was all warred out and tempered by nuclear weapons.
I make no claims one was or the other, only the observation that the USA, by design, became the western world's protector, which has significantly benefited them economically over the past 80 years.
As China is catching up/overtaking the USA there is going to be turmoil, we can only hope that it is relatively peaceful, or that climate change proves to be a bigger enemy to band together against.
I would also predict that Asia's progress over the last ~century will be mimicked by Africa in the 21st and early 22nd.
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u/TheIndyCity Oct 05 '22
I think a lot of those points are accepted facts. A US hegemony has benefited the US, which I'm not sure anyone would argue that's unfair when it has additionally benefited so many of their partners as well. Part of the reason why the US rebuilt everyone was simply to avoid the same situation that caused WWII after WWI. But I also think it was decided that maintaining distinct superiority militarily would force peace in a way that couldn't be achieved before.
Since the invention of the nuclear bomb, the US has been many steps ahead of their peer adversaries, yet rarely demonstrated their capabilities against them (conventionally speaking, nuclear conflict obviously is an event that everyone loses...which in a lot of ways ALSO kept the US in check). This current conflict is probably the closest we've ever seen the US military confront Russia directly, and they're doing it through proxy and handling it with kids gloves by and large.
While I want to see that conflict end as soon as possible, it may be good in the long run in further establishing a lasting peace by reminding everyone that we're far better off working as friends and competing in the arenas of economics and trade than to square off militarily. Would anyone think a Chinese or Russian hegemony would be more equitable? For allies of these countries, sure. Or for similar styles of government. But I think for the free world, we're best enjoying the sunshine under Pax Americana for as long as it will last (and like all major powers, it will subside eventually).
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u/Ornery_Courage2947 Oct 04 '22
It’s far from our job to protect… NATO is modern day imperialism for the U.S. essentially every company in NATO has an * after their name saying “brought to you by America”
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u/Stupid_Comparisons Oct 04 '22
You're free to leave at anytime
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u/hummingdog Oct 05 '22
Funny you say that because I remember the pathetic looks on your leaders’ faces when Trump was threatening to pull out the plug. You cannot survive a day without our tax dollars.
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u/officer2446 Oct 04 '22
It's been basically our job to protect Europe and Japan since the end of WW2.
This has to be satire
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u/Stupid_Comparisons Oct 04 '22
The North Atlantic Alliance was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its purpose was to secure peace in Europe, to promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom – all of this in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union. Go read a book fool
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u/officer2446 Oct 04 '22
Its purpose was to secure peace in Europe, to promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom
Oh you are serious. Thanks for spreading that freedom worldwide Uncle Sam
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u/GhostZenon Oct 04 '22
And the majority of Asians are grateful for them that includes me, If not for them North Korea could have invaded SK and nuked Japan, while China invading the whole South East Asian countries, I know America did a lot of questionable things in the past but I'm still grateful that the most powerful Military in the world is allied to us right now.
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u/Stupid_Comparisons Oct 04 '22
Whatever man. You were all salty until the war in Ukraine happened and we watched every single one of you remember. You wouldent have that free Healthcare if we didn't spent billions protecting you.
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Oct 04 '22
America! Fuck yeah! Comin to save the motherfuckin day yeah!
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u/ABB0TTR0N1X Oct 07 '22
Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes — assholes who just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is that sometimes they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate — and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies get so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are only an inch and a half away from assholes. I don't know much in this crazy, crazy world, but I do know that if you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!
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u/MrRetard19 Oct 05 '22
What’s funny is 3% of its gdp isn’t even that much it’s only 1% more then the nato requirement
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Oct 04 '22
what kind of support?
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u/FM-101 Oct 04 '22
Total.
US and Japan has a mutual defense agreement since 1951 that states if one country is attacked the other comes to their aid.
Basically attacking Japan is the same as attacking the United States-1
Oct 04 '22
So, what's happening? This isn't the first time NK has lobbed a rocket that way.
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u/Geistwhite Oct 04 '22
Nothing because no attack has actually been made on Japan. Shooting the ocean doesn't count.
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u/who_said_I_am_an_emu Oct 05 '22
Stupid ocean, can't even drink it. Only sensible thing to do is bomb it.
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u/jeremicci Oct 05 '22
Crazy that we elected a president who seriously suggested this not long ago
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u/sexbuhbombdotcom Oct 05 '22
I thought he suggested bombing a hurricane
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u/jeremicci Oct 05 '22
I'd have to check, but I believe that particular hurricane was in the ocean at the time.
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u/unknownSubscriber Oct 04 '22
Oh I dunno, how about the thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and the billions in assets stationed there.
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u/inhugzwetrust Oct 04 '22
I guess the same as Ukraine? If North Korea ever was unbelievably stupid enough to ever attack basically anyone (they won't), they'll be quite quickly defeated.
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u/zaviex Oct 04 '22
No, Japan has a ton of US bases and assets defending it. If you attack Japan you’d de facto attack the United States
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u/tacit25 Oct 04 '22
Also when the US said Japan couldn't have a military part of that said the US would step in if Japan is ever attacked. The US is legally bound to defend Japan will full military support. Attacking Japan would be horribly stupid and this doesn't even count Japan's own defense forces
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u/ghrarhg Oct 04 '22
Same with Ukraine after nuclear disarmament. But at least Japan has US bases.
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u/Koreish Oct 05 '22
I only vaguely remember it from a European history class I took in college, so I could be completely off base, but wasn't part of Ukraine's nuclear disarmament that Russia would protect them? In a similar fashion to the US' pact with Japan?
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u/Dassoudly Oct 05 '22
“President of the United States, would you support one of your closest allies of the last 70 years if they were attack by the geopolitical equivalent of a termite?”
I get that this comes with the job, but come on lol. He’s got slightly bigger fish to fry at the moment.
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u/eskieski Oct 04 '22
yeah, remember when Trump saluted one of the North Korean soldiers oh what a guy! and his love letters to Kim.. thanks sweetheart for inviting me to your country and having a dinner for me all those secret documents he has in Mar-a-Lago wonder why all these three jerk offs feel they can try to show some muscle now keep trying the Results from all the NATO allies might surprise them
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u/unknownSubscriber Oct 04 '22
Well, as much as i hate trump, the whole salute thing was a con by the North Koreans. The general saluted first but then quickly changed to a hand shake before trump could react, they got the photo.
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Oct 04 '22
It is never justified to salute out of uniform. Let alone salute AN ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES
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u/CriticalMembership31 Oct 05 '22
I don’t think anyone who’s actually in the military cares let alone for some poor O4 who’s stuck as the custom and courtesies officer. If you’re the CIC and you receive a salute no one’s going to bat an eye if you return the salute in a suit, which is essentially the uniform of the president.
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u/unknownSubscriber Oct 05 '22
Uh, the president is the commander in chief, they get saluted by everybody in the military and they return the salute. If you are on a diplomatic mission and a foreign national salutes you should return it. They tricked him. Trump is an absolute donut and deserves to be in jail, but Id prefer to criticize him for shit he's actually guilty of.
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u/katastrophyx Oct 04 '22
Thats not an excuse. The president should know how to conduct himself around foreign dignitaries. That was an absolute embarrassment
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Oct 04 '22
The only time a salute is justified is in uniform. When the president is wearing a suit, soldiers should salute him but he is not supposed to return the salute. Ever. Unless in uniform.
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u/akjd Oct 05 '22
I could swear I've seen every president in my lifetime return a salute at some time or another.
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Oct 05 '22
Its technically never allowed for a president to salute. Historically though if he returns the salute of a US soldier nobodys gonna say "hey sir you cant do that."
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u/No_Zookeepergame_27 Oct 04 '22
What would happen if NK miscalculated the landing and its nuke dropped in Japan instead? So it was an honest mistake. Would the US and others retaliate?
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u/too_old_still_party Oct 04 '22
they didn't send a live nuke over Japan. If they would have, well....idk, but something...
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u/cheseball Oct 05 '22
Well you don't actually include a nuclear warhead if you don't intend for it to explode.
It'll just contain a weight, equivalent to the weight of a nuclear warhead.
If that missle landed in Japan accidentally, it doesn't necessarily mean war would start. Maybe more sanctions, and increased tensions.
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u/CabbageStockExchange Oct 05 '22
We really aught to create a Pacific NATO to counter China and Russia. I’d imagine it’d look something like: US, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan to name a few
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u/legolasticity Oct 05 '22
There is one. It’s called ANZUS. United States, Australia and New Zealand. AUKUS as well (Australia, UK, US). Japan is allied so closely with the U.S. I would imagine they would be somewhat protected by United States allies.
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u/CabbageStockExchange Oct 05 '22
How come we don’t just merge both commands into one?
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u/cheseball Oct 05 '22
All NATO states will have to agree to it. Some NATO states may not want it to over extend to SEA region.
And at the same time some of the other countries in ANZUS may not want to be involved in Euorpe conflicts.
NATO has always been Europe centric and aimed against Russia.
And there's some caution in having a overextend defensive treaty like that, because it could increase likihood even any small conflicts will become world wars.
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u/CabbageStockExchange Oct 05 '22
Oh I’m sorry I should have clarified. Not merging NATO with a pacific branch. I was asking why not merge ANZUS and AUKUS together?
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u/cheseball Oct 05 '22
Oh I see what you mean whoops.
AUKUS is technically the 'updated' ANZUS. But New Zealand did not want nuclear subs docking in their waters to maintain nuclear free, so they're not included in the AUKUS treaty which requires that.
But ANZUS still exists that includes NZ, although it's more like NZ - AUS + AUS - US.
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u/Conclamatus Oct 05 '22
Nuclear-powered ships like US aircraft carriers are banned as well, which is a bigger problem for the US.
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u/Conclamatus Oct 05 '22
ANZUS has been a much less meaningful entity since New Zealand banned nuclear-powered US navy ships from docking in their ports. The US is moving on now and that's part of why AUKUS is becoming more important instead.
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u/420BigDawg_ Oct 04 '22
Japan should join NATO
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u/Prestigious_Split579 Oct 05 '22
How about Pacific Alliance Treaty Organization: P.A.T.O
Trivia: Pato means "duck" in our country kekw
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u/Ididitall4thegnocchi Oct 05 '22
They already have a mutual defense pact with the US. They don't need to join NATO.
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u/xinxy Oct 05 '22
America trying to help every ally, everywhere, all at once.
Might end up spreading a little thin?
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u/idontaddtoanything Oct 04 '22
100% NO saw china do it over Taiwan and were like “ I bet we can do that”
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u/RedditorNPC Oct 05 '22
U.S Is helping Currently Helping Ukraine, Taiwan, and Now Japan from Invasions
They really have their hands full huh
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u/TheOrganHarvester123 Oct 05 '22
U.S has always been helping Japan, hell we literally have military bases stationed all in Japan.
It's always been a thing, you just didn't notice because the headline didn't tell you to.
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u/CraazedNConfused Oct 05 '22
Biden needs to concentrate on having better diplomatic relationships with the worlds strongest country’s, and stop pulling out his dick every time something happens. I have never in my life felt like we are so close to a world war than since The Biden administration has come in to power. It’s scary.
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u/pb_sable_ac Oct 04 '22
Weird that during Trump's presidency, we didn't have nearly as many world war 3 like events coming. I'm not a supporter of Trump but this administration seems to attract a lot of war.
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u/der_titan Oct 04 '22
North Korea fired two missiles over Japan under Trump's presidency.
Plus, under the Trump presidency, Putin was getting much of what he wanted. Trump was undermining NATO, had poor relations with Ukraine, and was polarizing / radicalizing the country and weakening American democratic institutions.
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u/UltraMagnus777 Oct 04 '22
North Korea did the same thing under Trump. Wasn't a WW3 event then, isn't one now.
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u/pb_sable_ac Oct 04 '22
During the beginning of Trump's presidency after taking over from President Obama. I remember he mentioned something about "fire and fury" and then all of a sudden, there was nothing. Now its back again.
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u/UltraMagnus777 Oct 04 '22 edited Oct 04 '22
Don't try and dodge. Your original claim was that this didn't happen during Trumps presidency. It did. You didn't clutch your pearls then, you don't need to now.
And I'd also say you weren't paying attention. Because they continued to do missile tests after they played Trump for a fool and his laughable "fire and fury" comment.
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u/pb_sable_ac Oct 04 '22
Wasn't dodging, I just mentioned not nearly as much. No need to be offended. It is without a doubt there are more wars under Biden's presidency then there was under Trumps. We are definitely under a bigger nuclear threat today then we were during Trump's presidency. Don't deny that fact. I'm simply stating the truth that this administration attracts a lot more war than the last one.
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u/shockinglyclad Oct 04 '22
What like Trump killing the Iranian general causing mass panic and Iran to shoot down a passenger plane or did you forget about that too?
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u/UltraMagnus777 Oct 04 '22 edited Oct 04 '22
What you were doing is using an event that happened under both Presidents to declare that there are "more WW3 events" under this one.... when the same event happened under both. You didn't care about this event under Trump, you shouldn't care about it now. I don't. It's NK being NK... same as its been for my entire life.
You're not stating any type of "truth", you're stating what you're feeling and cherry picking events. This is clear because you think everything stopped after Trump's "fire and fury" comment. No, no it did not. So you're obviously wrong about that... what else are you wrong about?
Edit: Though I see you're parroting a LOT of right wing talking points about Ukraine too in other comments and crying for appeasement, so we're done here. Not offended or anything, I'm just not wasting my time. Educate yourself.6
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u/APsWhoopinRoom Oct 04 '22
It's literally exactly the same. North Korea does this every few years no matter who is in power. It's usually a stunt to get the US to give them aid. Actually, Kim threatened to nuke Guam during Trump's presidency, which is worse than anything they've done in the last few weeks. You must have a short memory
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u/peniscurve Oct 04 '22
Then you might have issues with your memory, you can for sure see a pattern, where they test missles for a bit, take a break, test missles, take a break, repeat. Doesn't matter if it is Trump, Obama, Biden, Bush, or whoever.
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u/andrewrbrowne Oct 04 '22
Because the cunt was best buddies with all the lads starting the world war 3 events.
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u/Corregidor Oct 04 '22
Man it's funny that so many people always find a way to blame the US for other countries actions lol. Russia invades Ukraine? No it's not NATO, Russia's most immediate "threat", it's the US lol.
NK shoots missles at Japan? Damn American really can't stop shooting missiles at Japan apparently. Just funny to see everytime.
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u/pb_sable_ac Oct 04 '22
No need to point fingers or take blame, I am just simply stating my observation that one administration seems to be able to handle things better diplomatically.
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u/thederpofwar321 Oct 04 '22
Biden is handling it fine. Hes not just giving Putin and other dictators what they want so they're acting out. The lashing out you see from these nations is the result of a good administration, not a bad one.
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u/Retcon_404 Oct 04 '22
Reddit needs to add an award for the "dumbest thing you've ever heard anyone say" because calling the Trump admin better at diplomacy is waaaaaaay up there.
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u/aj_cr Oct 04 '22
I don't see how you can consider insulting world leaders on twitter, and disrespecting them at any given chance and almost starting a nuclear war with tweets "handling things better diplomatically". Trump knows as much about diplomacy as I know about quantum physics.
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u/APsWhoopinRoom Oct 04 '22
You have to be pretty dumb to think Trump had anything to do with that. Countries make their own decisions regardless of who is in power in the US.
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u/archypsych Oct 04 '22
Always been amazed at how absolutely we’ve become Allies of Japan since WWII! Zero tension. Best friends.