@TwistedEagle Ironically, this is a photo of the US "Asiatic Fleet" parked at Chefoo in the 1930s.

A joke, even at the time.

Took a look at that and was thinkin'... golly that looks more like an invitation than a deterrent! #ImperialJapan

re: How to talk about China?

@aristeon

#China and #Chinese people(s) — incl. the colonized peoples — have been harnessed by the parasitic #NeverElected #CCP #dictatorship to serve its paramount need to *stay in power*. That includes systematic eradication of their crimes from historical records and public debate while flooding the 'market' with synthetic propaganda.

Is the latter welcome? For several decades now the crimes against humanity part has been whitewashed with euphemisms as the CCP was elevated to the status of *normalized* business partner. All the while "biding time and hiding strength"; it's objective of defeating democracy and liberalism remaining at the heart of its planning.

After the legitimacy of *actual* communism failed, the CCP seamlessly morphed into a 19th century-inspired national-socialist dictatorship. It is no coincidence that the CCP adopted #legalism from #nazi #thirdreich as its new foundation; i.e. the excuse for its very dictatorship.

When talking about this new post-1989 CCP and its #HanSupremacist empire (in a sense a return to China's imperial roots), the key histocal comparisons should be made to #soviet #russian and the wannabe #nazigermany #imperialjapan empires, the former now under #putin fully re-animated and in "no limits" cahoots with the CCP...

So, "does mainstream discourse focus too much on the (expansionist Chinese dictatorship's) political system"?

Do we need more fluffy pandas, #tiktok flippancy, subsized exports and dancing natives from its colonies? The developing world is essentially a virgin territory for CCP's propaganda while even in the industrialized #democracies the historical understanding of military-expansionist #imperialism is evaporating.

If #Japan is 'stuck in the past' (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63830490 #BBCworld), that's because of a political leadership (#LDP) that not oniy rejects the future, but more fundamentally fails to reject its unconvenient past (#ImperialJapan #warcrimes).

@histodons a few cool pictures I found trolling the Wikipedia entry for the Battle of Port Arthur
(The Battle of Port Arthur was the opening engagement of the Russo-Japanese War. Basically Japan was worried that Russia threatened its influence in the Far East. Late night in Feb of 1904 a Japanese fleet snuck up on the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur -a port leased to Russia by China- and engaged them in naval combat. The Russian Navy succefully drove Japan off the battlefield, although Russia sustained heavy causalities)

#RussoJapaneseWar #RussianEmpire #Russia #Россия #ImperialJapan #MeijiRestoration also tagging @worldwarshistory since this conflict was a precursor to WWI.

#TodayInHistory The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, catching the US Navy unawares, and leading to President F.D.Roosevelt declaring it a "Day of Infamy". An event that would be a turning point of the War, as it lead to the US entry.

#PearlHarbor #worldwar2 #imperialjapan

Wish I coulda been there. The body of a sailor has been returned to #LakePreston, #SouthDakota, my #grandmother's hometown. He was killed while serving on the #USSOklahoma when #ImperialJapan attacked #PearlHarbor on December 7th, 1941. http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/World-War-II-sailor-welcomed-home-in-Lake-Preston-on-Saturday-478475703.html #WWII