Japan to expel 8 Russian diplomats

@Simian Lane, you are forgetting 1 issue. Neither the west nor ukraine wishes to prolong or intensify the war. They are hoping they can get Russia to back down after a few more weeks of fighting. You push Russia hard enough, then they will really start to use their more destructive weapons. And there is a lot that hasn’t been use yet. Especially chemical ones.

Plus neither side had the capital to keep this up forever. West cannot forever send aid nor can Ukraine keep this up. Soon everyone will be starving and running out of cash. That doesn’t even include the millions of refugees that will soon create a huge economic crisis.

Kishida and Japan doing something, merely to be seen to be doing something. These sanctions and useless actions have no effect at all. How does expelling 8 diplomats help the victims of the war in Ukraine?

Translator is either making the sign for fight or celebrating with a YATTA!!

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

good try - but nobody has doubts about these atrocities being war crimes. Except, of course, the Putin fanboys.

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

Much of the rest of the world beyond Russia and China, believe in some form of fair trials, not in Stalin's 'Moscow Show Trials', that is those trials typically run in authoritarian states. Though I believe, based on Russian force's previous actions in places like Grozny, Homs and Aleppo, that it was Russian troops who've been committing atrocities throughout Ukraine , I will wait until even more evidence is made available hopefully to the ICC before deciding whether Putin's hordes are solely responsible.

But I will say, had the Russian military and butchers like the Wagner Group, the cowardly Putin's private army not invaded Ukraine most likely we would not be seeing so many deaths and so much destruction. And if all you have is 'Azov batallion' save that for your far right web site.

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

Not necessarily - sometimes a quote is just a quote. In this case, the author is citing the reason given by Japan, which is an accusation of war crimes. It's not unusual to allow some doubt in accusations of crime, at least until more evidence comes in. The author may doubt it, or may just be making a point of quoting the exact words used by the PM.

Either way, emotions runs high and are easily manipulated in wartime. Whatever one's feelings, it's a good idea to keep an open mind and emotions somewhat in check. Difficult as that can be.

Shilling for the US tentacles firmly embedded in Japan. It only hurts regular people in Russia, but at the same time makes them appreciate their leader, and hate the west, more.

Coercion and division is on page 1 of the US military industrial playbook now. And it's the only page in the book...

 The only way to act is by funding and supplying the Ukrainian army with bigger, more sophisticated weaponry, for air, ground and sea, and lots of it.

The Western powers prefer Ukrainian men turn themselves into cannon fodder by vowing to wage war against Moscow to the death. But they don’t want to sacrifice NATO soldiers, EU, UK and US troops.

No way will the British, Americans or EU member states place the lives of their respective citizens at risk against Russia, when Ukraine will do that for them.

Tokyo had complex relations with Moscow before the Ukrainian invasion and the two sides have yet to sign a post-World War II peace treaty.

Attempts to do so have been hampered by a long-running dispute over islands controlled by Russia, which calls them the Kurils.

Japan calls the islands the Northern Territories and has long sought to have them under Tokyo's control.

Russia has been proving itself that any treaties with them are meaningless. There's nothing　to lose here.

Even the chairman of Japan communist party changed his opinion wrt JSDF 180degree now. Prepare to protect Hokkaido

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

No. The author is indicating the words used are a direct quote of the words used by the Japanese to describe the acts of the Russians.

No way will the British, Americans or EU member states place the lives of their respective citizens at risk against Russia, when Ukraine will do that for them.

Stop being cute. You know as well as I do that if NATO intervenes directly the war becomes a nuclear war with tens of millions dead.

Every little bit helps. As long as Putin is pretending to be Peter the Great, it hard to imagine the democratic countries having normal relations with Russia.

@AgentX

Shilling for the US tentacles firmly embedded in Japan. It only hurts regular people in Russia, but at the same time makes them appreciate their leader, and hate the west, more.

Coercion and division is on page 1 of the US military industrial playbook now. And it's the only page in the book...

This is one of those times that I really agree with your comment…you nailed it!

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

Nonsense

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

I’m “sure” you are “right”.

Stop being cute. You know as well as I do that if NATO intervenes directly the war becomes a nuclear war with tens of millions dead.

nuclear deterrence works only for who own them

Waited long enough.

These are war crimes that can never be forgiven," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters.

Kishida-san do you really want to go down that road? Japans war-times crimes and atrocities are well documented many of which were against international conventions and laws of the time. So based on your statement should Japan “never be forgiven” for those crimes? Please think before you speak. Didn’t mummy not teach you to never say never?

It’s so easy to slap the word “war crimes” into any narrative describing a conflict between two countries. It’s there extensively to sway public perception into a direction favourable to group using it. MSM can no longer be trusted to give an unbiased opinion or report on anything and you are always left wondering what their motives are behind it. One only has to look at the war in Iraq to see a more recent example or even more recently the covid narrative. I’ll wait for investigators to go in and do full investigation before passing judgement on any of this. I suspect there is more to this than what MSM is currently crowing about.

Putin is putin his country in isolation better than Tokugawa could ever dream off.

The Japanese government should require them to pay up overdue fines about traffic violations before kicking them out.

外交官車両の駐車違反と罰金「踏み倒し」、最多はロシア

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6P6JVXP6PUTFK00S.html

Or their properties should be confiscated/foreclosed (to cash in for donation to Ukrainians? :))

nuclear deterrence works only for who own them

True. Do you want to take a chance by engaging Russian forces directly? NATO armies and air forces could make short work of Russian forces in a purely conventional war. But the Russian's large nuclear arsenal forces NATO to keep their gunpowder dry. Nobody wants to see tens of millions killed in Europe and North America to prove a point.

Good for Japan.

Kick the trash out. Permanently.

Kishida, just back from the NATO suckfest.

What’s next? Expelling Russian nationals?

Prime-minister KISHIDA this is unfair.

Prime-minister KISHIDA this is unfair.

Invading a sovereign nation and killing innocent Ukrainians is unfair. There are always consequences when nations do that.

I wonder if United States will help protect the Senkakus Islands when china invades No, probably it won't help. It's not a good idea to Japan to push Russia towards for China.

 MSM is currently crowing about.

Crowing? I'm not sure what you mean, but in my dialect to 'crow' usually means to boast. I have not seen boasting by the media, except in reports I've read from those pushing the Kremlin's accounts. Calling the west's media reports boasts seems wack, but then I'm used to that from extremists and other pro-Kremlin posters. Putin's invasion of Ukraine is one of the most newsworthy events of recent history, so I think it's expected to read numerous media reports on what is going on there, written from an array of perspectives. We all should feel fortunate to have access to the Internet where if we look can find reports that fit just about every perspective, except perhaps of some living in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, authoritarian nations where the state controls language, and just about every form of information.

Why is the Russian embassy still working in the States and England? Why Germany and Japan (ordered by big boss) close the Russian embassy in their respective countries?

The leaders of US and NATO are reluctant to directly engage Russian troops because of a fear of escalation leading to the use of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. And effectively WWIII. And Putin believes that this is what the US and NATO believes. And banked on it when decidng to go ahead with the invasion of Ukraine. Without direct NATO engagement, and after much more assistance and many more deaths, the only end game for Ukraine will be a divided West/East Ukraine at best.

BroncoToday  06:49 am JST

Japan on Friday announced the expulsion of eight of Moscow's diplomats over "war crimes" in Ukraine.

The quotation marks around "war crimes" indicates that the author has doubts as to whether the allegations are true.

Err... Quotation marks are being used to show the words are being quoted. You know, the purpose of quotation marks.

Thanks for playing Z bingo, though.

All official Western press are controlled by Capital, the US and the force of NATO. Every Narrative is the same throughout the Western world, as it comes from a single source. The power of Western soft power manipulates minds, hearts and an entire nation. We in South America know very well the power of the American empire that took the place of the European imperialists, England and Germany, economically and militarily, after the Second World War. With the economic decline of the empire, and the ill-fated economic policies of Neoliberalism, and the economic and military growth of China and Russia, all that remains is a major economic reset, and demolish the Greater Eurasia Development project, which unifies Europe, Russia and China. Europe has succumbed...but it is not the world...Japan, Germany and Italy are totally occupied by NATO forces.

Japan is obliged to follow the instructions of the G7, which led to economic stagnation after the Plaza agreement in 1985. It is now obliged to make decisions that could lead to being targeted by nuclear missiles from Russia and North Korea.

Ruble has clawed back 100% of it's losses due to the imperialist economic war. Now they've started cutting interest rates and are warning of more because the ruble is stronger than they want.

Japan is on the losing side. Doesn't matter now. May as well double down because any possibility of any concessions in the islands issue is as dead as 20k+ Azov Battalion neo-Nazis in Mariupol.

UdondashiToday  10:58 am JST

I wonder if United States will help protect the Senkakus Islands when china invades 

Why are you wondering? Two Secretaries of State, Two Secretaries of Defense and the President of the United States have declared that any invasion of the Senkaku Islands will invoke Article 5 of the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty. You can google this up pretty easily. And even if can't, the Senkakus are part of Okinawa Prefecture, which is home to the largest US military presence in Asia and a gateway hub for regional US operations. Which is all why a Chinese invasion of Senkakus is unlikely. At least not until China invades Taiwan and engages the US directly.

Japan is on the losing side. Doesn't matter now. May as well double down because any possibility of any concessions in the islands issue is as dead as 20k+ Azov Battalion neo-Nazis in Mariupol.

20k+ Azov Battalion? Seriously you need educating sir.

"A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,000 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are exclusively infantry, while in others battalions are unit-level organizations."

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

"A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_(military)

The Azov Battalion is not a Division. But while your embellishing why not go for 1 million+ ?

How can anything you say be taken at face value when you care nothing for the facts? The simple answer is your comments can not be taken seriously until you use only facts.

The fact is Russia under Putin never had any intention of negotiating any of the four Islands back to Japanese control. This really changes nothing in that regard and so damages nothing.

"A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,000

Serious? Azov Battalion is the 'name' of the neo-Nazi group. It's not merely one battalion. The true number is a mystery for a few reasons:

It's not publicly available.

A number of it's members are in because of the high salaries paid directly by the imperialist powers, not because they are genuine, convinced neo-Nazis. Though the leadership at every level are hardline neo-Nazis.

And finally because they have been given a frightening blood-letting over the past 5 weeks. At least 20k killed in Mariupol and an unknown number captured and in or on their way to Siberian gulags.

DaveToday  12:42 pm JST

I don't understand people, they push for more fighting and more deaths, easy to do when you have no family there. Even if they push Russia back, you think they will stop with the bombings and destruction now? and I don't think they will defeat the whole country of Russia and bring Russia under their control. and with the torture and executions of Russian prisoners' This will not end soon or end well. but keep pushing it, makes you look very Gung-Ho.

Do you seriously believe that Russia has ever had any intention of stopping the killing if they managed to take over in Ukraine? Look at their invasion of Georgia and subsequent ethnic cleansing in the regions in which they took control (Abkhazia and Ossetia).

Any capitulation by Ukraine will result in untold deaths as Russia purges "nazis" from the country, and of course you can see in recent Russian state news broadcasts that practically everyone in Ukraine is now apparently a card-carrying Nazi. Not sharing your recipe for borscht? Obviously you're a nazi.

Ukraine, by fighting and resisting, is not in any way "Gung-Ho" - it is survival, pure and simple.

RobToday  01:09 pm JST

*"A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,000*

Serious? Azov Battalion is the 'name' of the neo-Nazi group. It's not merely one battalion. The true number is a mystery for a few reasons:

It's not publicly available.

A number of it's members are in because of the high salaries paid directly by the imperialist powers, not because they are genuine, convinced neo-Nazis. Though the leadership at every level are hardline neo-Nazis.

And finally because they have been given a frightening blood-letting over the past 5 weeks. At least 20k killed in Mariupol and an unknown number captured and in or on their way to Siberian gulags.

Yeah you can even see that they openly use nazi insignias on their uniforms! See here:

https://i.insider.com/624d24dcbb219a00181be175

Oh hang on, that's a Russia-backed seperatist, Senior Lieutenant Roman Vorobyov of the "Somalia" motorized rifle battalion, receiving an award from DPR leader Denis Pushilin. So... The Russians are the neo-nazis?

Serious? Azov Battalion is the 'name' of the neo-Nazi group. It's not merely one battalion. The true number is a mystery for a few reasons:

It was formed as a military unit and had 900 members of that unit, (a battalion) and was called the Azov Battalion. Many have been killed in action and replacements from normal Ukraine citizens are not Nazi's and being Nazi is not a requirement for joining. There have only ever been a handful of members identified as Nazi in any case. The founding officers are Jewish.

But the unit all use symbols associated with Nazi's...

So do the Russian "Z" forces.

Are they all Nazi's on both sides?

No. But for one side, when a handful of soldiers identify as "right wing" then you jump to conclusions and call everyone around them Nazi's too. That was your first mistake.

Oh hang on, that's a Russia-backed seperatist, Senior Lieutenant Roman Vorobyov of the "Somalia" motorized rifle battalion, receiving an award from DPR leader Denis Pushilin. So... The Russians are the neo-nazis?

Yep, seen it before. Nevermind the fact it's from a reenactment of a WW2 battle which had a number of DPR fighters dress up as Nazis.

The utter tyranny of imperialism. Feeding the average moron this kind of image, suggesting the irreconcilable enemies of Nazism are in fact neo-Nazis.

@Fighto!

Invading a sovereign nation and killing innocent Ukrainians is unfair. There are always consequences when nations do that

And what consequences were for USA after it invaded several countries and killed hundreds of thousand of innocent people?

@sandpaper

Look at their invasion of Georgia and subsequent ethnic cleansing in the regions in which they took control (Abkhazia and Ossetia)

No ethnic cleansing ever happened. Abkhazians and Ossetians live there now as they lived for centuries.

Ukraine, by fighting and resisting, is not in any way "Gung-Ho" - it is survival, pure and simple

For the population of Donbass the fighting against the Ukrainian extermination campaign since 2014 is not in any way "Gung-Ho" - it is survival, pure and simple.