Fwd: Truth is the First Casualty of War

[Dace]

>>>No. To say "we won't keep selling you the oil you need to conquer
>>>China" is not to threaten Japan's very existence: it is to try to
>>>limit Japan's power to conquer China.
>>>
>>>
>>>Brad DeLong
>>
>>You're speaking of the intention of the embargo rather than its effect.
>
>You've just abandoned the claim that the U.S. embargoes on exports of
>scrap iron and oil to Japan were offensive threats to Japan's very
>existence.
>
>Game, set, and match to me...

According to your logic, as long as the intention is good (prevent Japanese
imperialism), then the effect (threaten Japan's existence as an industrial
state) is irrelevant.  However, the actual intention of the United States
was not to prevent imperialism per se but simply to prevent *Japanese*
imperialism.  In fact, aside from our own domination over the Philippines,
the US fully supported French, British, and Dutch imperialism in the region
before and after World War II.  The motivation for the embargo was racism.
You might say it was a "hate crime."  Therefore, by your own logic, there
was no justification for the American assault against Japan's existence as
an industrial state.

Ted