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Oh, while it's on my mind:
Mar. 30th, 2003 01:12 am...just to show I'm not thinking only of Iraq (or the spooky, independent congruence between my posts and Josh Marshall's, as I read them).
Japan just launched its first solely owned spy satellites.
The thing is, Japan is a very close military ally of the US. Or has been. Heck, one could even say (as many did, when Japan was more economically prosperous) that Japan is a military protectorate of the US.
So, um... Why would Japan even want its own satellites?
The answer, reading between the lines: They don't trust us to tell them the truth, and they're pissed off. Some sample quotes:
Japan currently buys commercial satellite photos from the US and France.
North Korea's launch of a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan... served as a wake-up call.
"It really shocked the Japanese. They realised that they've got to wake up and not be 100% reliant on the US," Victor Cha, professor of government and Asian studies at Washington DC's Georgetown University told BBC News Online.
Mr (Shuichiro) Yamanouchi (president of Japan's National Space Development Agency (Nasda)) admitted earlier this month: "It's a kind of technological independence. Information independence. For the Japanese it's very important."
The quality of the pictures they will produce is said to be inferior to that already bought from Japan by the US.
North Korea has strongly protested against Japan's plans to launch the satellites, arguing that this is a sign of the country's growing militarism.
Japanese intelligence has indicated that North Korea may respond with a ballistic missile test.
Let's restate that:
Japan is so concerned the US will not pass along vital satellite intelligence that it is willing to risk a North Korean missile launch... for the sake of inferior pictures.
But pictures which will be all theirs.
What a vote of confidence in their trust of us (and US), eh?
Japan just launched its first solely owned spy satellites.
The thing is, Japan is a very close military ally of the US. Or has been. Heck, one could even say (as many did, when Japan was more economically prosperous) that Japan is a military protectorate of the US.
So, um... Why would Japan even want its own satellites?
The answer, reading between the lines: They don't trust us to tell them the truth, and they're pissed off. Some sample quotes:
Japan currently buys commercial satellite photos from the US and France.
North Korea's launch of a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan... served as a wake-up call.
"It really shocked the Japanese. They realised that they've got to wake up and not be 100% reliant on the US," Victor Cha, professor of government and Asian studies at Washington DC's Georgetown University told BBC News Online.
Mr (Shuichiro) Yamanouchi (president of Japan's National Space Development Agency (Nasda)) admitted earlier this month: "It's a kind of technological independence. Information independence. For the Japanese it's very important."
The quality of the pictures they will produce is said to be inferior to that already bought from Japan by the US.
North Korea has strongly protested against Japan's plans to launch the satellites, arguing that this is a sign of the country's growing militarism.
Japanese intelligence has indicated that North Korea may respond with a ballistic missile test.
Let's restate that:
Japan is so concerned the US will not pass along vital satellite intelligence that it is willing to risk a North Korean missile launch... for the sake of inferior pictures.
But pictures which will be all theirs.
What a vote of confidence in their trust of us (and US), eh?
