Editor in Chief Bill  | 13 Dec 2024 9:05 p.m. PST |
Helena Pagano's great-grandfather was the last Alaska Native chief of a remote island in the Bering Sea, closer to Russia than North America. He died starving as a prisoner of war after Japanese troops invaded during World War II, wresting the few dozen residents from their village, never to return… Military: link |
JMcCarroll | 14 Dec 2024 5:48 a.m. PST |
I'm not saying they don't deserve reparations, but how far back in time should we go for reparations? |
Grattan54  | 14 Dec 2024 10:15 a.m. PST |
Nah, I don't see that happening. If Japan did that it would open a flood gate of demands for reparations. Sadly, it is war and civilians die in war. |
79thPA  | 14 Dec 2024 10:17 a.m. PST |
I saw that as well. It would be nice if the Japanese funded a cultural center. The US forgave Japan for numerous war crimes in the blink of an eye; I don't think the restitution thing is going to get very far. |
Korvessa  | 14 Dec 2024 10:28 a.m. PST |
There's no question that Japan did many very bad things in WWII (as did Germany and Russia and just about everyone else); but considering they suffered between 2.5 and 3.1 million deaths (military and civilian), not to mention all the property damage, pretty sure they paid for their sins. |
Royston Papworth | 14 Dec 2024 11:24 a.m. PST |
Romans burnt down my ancestor's hut. Allowing for 2000 years of interest, I am after £32.75 GBPbn from the Italian Government… |
John the OFM  | 14 Dec 2024 11:25 a.m. PST |
The Japanese are more likely to blame the natives than apologize. |
Andrew Walters | 14 Dec 2024 11:58 a.m. PST |
This is an important issue. Reparations not only mitigate the damage of war, or at least a very tiny part of it, but by punishing the population of an aggressor for a generation afterward you hopefully make people more wary of leaders who want to start wars. That's ultimately going to be the key to ending war, I think. But *so* much bad stuff happens that if we let people go back decades and try to take up the issue there will be a very, very large number of cases and it will become a joke. Justice is not possible, but if we play it right we might get some deterrence. Not sure how, though. |
Korvessa  | 14 Dec 2024 10:09 p.m. PST |
Andrew, I really don't think that works as a deterrent; not with the types of folks who are likely to start wars. What deters regular people does not deter criminals (based on my 31 years of law enforcement experience). For example, I grew up in a good home with good parents. Fear of punishment works on people like me. Conversely, fear of punishment does not work on those who have mental health or drug issues, or have been punished before. I think the same thing applies to nations. I doubt the fear of reparations if they lose a war ever stopped anyone. The reparations imposed on Germany after WWI certainly had little effect on future behavior. |
David Manley  | 15 Dec 2024 6:08 a.m. PST |
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bjporter | 15 Dec 2024 9:34 a.m. PST |
Or, you just people off who didn't "commit the crime" so to speak and foster anger and resentment, which leads to the possibility of revenge or retribution in the future. See Treaty of Versailles… So TMP is into automated censorship now, great… |
Grattan54  | 15 Dec 2024 10:13 a.m. PST |
It is your punishment for using a bad word. You now owe Bill repartitions. |
John the OFM  | 15 Dec 2024 4:27 p.m. PST |
Big Man wants to use bad words because it makes him look more manly. |
Deucey  | 15 Dec 2024 7:45 p.m. PST |
Andrew. No government is going to decide against war just because their great grandchildren might have to write a check. Look at Social Security to see how much people worry about the economy of their yet to be born descendants. |
Choctaw | 17 Dec 2024 6:54 a.m. PST |
Big Man wants to use bad words because it makes him look more manly. And you're being a tough guy and calling him out on a toy forum. See how this works? |
mjkerner | 17 Dec 2024 8:57 a.m. PST |
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robert piepenbrink  | 19 Dec 2024 2:25 p.m. PST |
Andrew we've been doing fines and levies for centuries without effect. If you want deterrence, I recommend the Third Army War Memorial Project. (Patton had a policy of firing a few rounds into a German village before calling on them to surrender, so there would be no question that this time they'd been defeated on their own soil.) I've also been known to refer to the DPRK's tunnel system as "The Curtis E. Lemay Memorial." But generally, the lesson people learn is "don't lose next time." And in fact, few wars are preceeded by a proper vote. I rather like the classical Greek system, in which--Athens and Sparta both--you had to get a vote from the people who would actually be carrying the spears. But you notice it didn't prevent the Peloponessian War. As for ending war, the key to ending war is ending government. Wars are either governments in conflict or citizens in conflict with their government. Please conduct the experiment at a safe distance. Mars may be too close. (And of course, since all my ancestors were Germans who immigrated to North America prior to WWI, I'd like my reparations from France, thank you.) |