Jan. 21, 2015	07:11 am JST	 Jan. 21, 2015 | 07:11 am JST
A man walks past televisions sets displaying a news program about an Islamic State video purporting to show two Japanese captives, at an electronics store in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon.
noypikantoku
Jan. 21, 2015	09:16 am JST
ISIS held these 2 guys for a long time, until Abe pledged these 200 million USD aid, maybe ISIS was not really aiming to Kill these guys until Abe gave them a reason to. Yes ISIS needs to be destroyed and the International community should work together, but don't they have a good strategy? can they keep these plans confidential? Why do Abe needs to DECLARE to the entire world that he is donating 200 million dollars to bomb ISIS? Sending a message to these terrorists to add Japan to their enemy list, So who is inviting danger to Japan now? ISIS are not stupid! what differs them from the typical terrorists is they're not just the stereotype Jihadists, they have fanatics even in Japan, so It won't surprise me now if these terrorists attack Tokyo.
noypikantoku: You make a good point, they have held them for nearly 12 months.
citizen2000
Why do Abe needs to DECLARE to the entire world that he is donating 200 million dollars to bomb ISIS?
Your question is legit but who could really know at this time ?
Tahar Djaout/Moueen Bessissou said : "with those people, if you talk you die, if you do not talk you die, so.... talk and die"
PS: you can also replace "talk" by "drawing a cartoon" also...
Thanks gogogo
ISIS do these to their captives, Convert to extreme Islam and Join us? or will Kill you, and ISIS is aware that these 2 guys will be useful for them someday, so they kept them.. and they were right. I really dont understand what will be the benefit of announcing to the entire world that they are officially funding the aid against ISIS. Abe just painted a target range on Japan's forehead. The world should plan these properly. It's better to have ISIS not know who are they fighting with and where the attacks will come from.
kwatt
It seems that Abe should not have declared 200 million for non-military aid in public and IS used the same number ironically for ransom. IS would do more ransom businesses in the near future. Abe seems to be in deep shit about it.
I dont think ISIS was really interested in Japan, until Abe provoked them too. Just look at the statement of the executioner... "To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade,"
I understand that they need to participate with this fight, however they have to make a PLAN first! and make this PLAN confidential
Keeping their mouth shut really helps a lot, When Japan was silent about it, ISIS was not aiming at them, didn't even mention Japan.... now? Not anymore.
CrazyJoe
IS strategy to disengage countries that have expressed cooperation in the Western camp?
pointofview
If you smoke theres a higher chance youll get lung cancer. If you drive wrecklessly theres a higher chance youll have an accident. If you dont study there a higher chance youll get a lower mark and if you intentionally go and hang out in IS regions of the world you have a higher chance of getting captured or killed. How about people use their brains and just stay clear of these areas? So stupid. These men are the authors of their own misfortune.
halogenic
It's apparently non-military aid to help refugees.
onagagamo
Expect a backlash from Japanese people towards anyone who looks Muslim here....
lucabrasi
@onagomo
In my experience Japanese people are very slow when it comes to " backlash".
Indeed, the man in the picture looks very preoccupied.
this reminds me of breaking Bad's Hank Schrader's last quote to Walter White, this can be addressed to Abe too it goes like this:
"You're the smartest person I ever met and you're too stupid to see that ISIS made up their minds few days ago."
DanielJP
ISIS is just trying to provoke everybody into coming and fighting them when we mostly need to just let them wreck themselves they have one skill and it's fighting they arn't able to create a sustainable peacetime society
keisuke A
noypikantoku,
ISIS was not really interested in Japan, yet. But this was just a matter of time. Japan is an important economic and militaristic ally of the US. On top of that they are infidels (religion-wise) in the eyes of ISIS. True, ISIS deals with bigger problems at the moment, but the existence of ISIS in itself goes against every important value in contemporary Japanese society. Freedom of speech, freedom of faith, equality between the races and so on. Just staying out of the picture and letting the others do the dirty work for you might be very convenient on the personal level, but it sure is aint moral.
Keeping your mouth shut in the face of obvious evil isn't the right choice.
PitaHito
Has anybody considered that this could be a Pearl Harbor for Japan?
timtak
I think that it is very likely that these two men will be killed alas, as others were killed in the past and it makes me very depressed to think of their fate. My heart goes out to their families. At the same time, I wonder about the extent to which ISIS may be being used politically.
Iran is accusing the West of involvement in ISIS. Are the Iranians simply batty?
As long as the West and its allies can be seen to be victims, and have righteousness on their side as they bomb the Middle East, that is to say as the West are allowed to bomb the Middle East "righteously", then they can bomb anyone that uses anything other than their currency to sell oil, and by this means, have an oil standard for their currency, which based as it is upon this most wanted commodity, can then be printed indefinitely, without hyper-inflation (though oil may become cheaper), allowing the West and its allies to purchase goods from the rest of the world for nothing, and in that sense enslave the rest of the world. Whether this is going on or not I can not say, but it would be both consummate evil and consummately profitable. No one knows whether skyscrapers really do fall down like that or not, but it gave the US the excuse to bomb the only oil supplier that was not using dollars. Nobody knows what caused the "Arab spring", but the revolutionaries stopped mid-revolution to set up a new Bank of Libya that used dollars and not gold to sell oil. Skyscrapers and Revolutions are fraught. In order to present evil as righteousness, and have a carte blanche -- freedom to print money ! -- all one needs is a very few tragic victims, and a guy in a desert with a Youtube link and a knife.
papigiulio
This! However for ISIS that is just another excuse to blame Japan. What i find weird is these stories surfacing that the recording is fake. Apparently there's gossip that the 2 japanese person are digitally added. Why? and what is going on.
Jan. 21, 2015	12:11 pm JST
nopikantou:
" maybe ISIS was not really aiming to Kill these guys "
Oh really? ISIS just wanted them to enjoy the famous ISIS hospitality, even unvoluntarily? How do you come up with stuff like that? Do you even realize that ISIS/Al Quaeda have been been taking and selling hostages for years, it is a stable source of income for them? Of course, Abe gave them a convenient talking point, but even without Abe donating anything to international coffers, OF COURSE there would have been the inevitable ransom demand. To deny that is denying reality.
therougou
Apparently there's gossip that the 2 japanese person are digitally added. Why? and what is going on.
I think they are all digitally added. They filmed it somewhere else and added the desert background.
ISIS don't kill all their captives, check bunch of documentaries on line like vice and some articles on CNN about their ex captives and ex members, do your homework. If you got caught by them you either convert to extreme Islam and join them or die. This what makes ISIS more dangerous than Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, having the capability of recruiting non arab members and converting and making them extreme jihadists, and these 2 Japanese guys could be their members or they might be saving them for something which is the situation now. If Abe kept his mouth shut, maybe atleast these 2 guys can live much longer and can be rescued discreetly.
Common sense dude, why would they time these executions after Abe stated his decisions to donate 200 million USD? They've got Yukawa for a looong time, the world almost forgot about him and now suddenly he is back? spreading these videos during Abe's visit to middle east? and you think the ransom money ISIS is asking that matched with Abe's contribution to the funds against ISIS is a co-incidence? now, who is not living in reality?
HaraldBloodaxe
Abe will make noises about not paying, then he will pay and the hostages will be butchered anyway.
Then the payment will be classified a State Secret and the whole scenario will be used as justification to change the constitution and remilitarise.
boweevil
Hostages held since August and October.
Abe goes to Middle East. Pledges money Japan will have to borrow as its debt to GDP ratio is one of the highest in the world.
Hostages now threatened with execution.
Abe leaves Middle East to deal with Middle East hostage situation.
Stellar performance all round.
Pandabelle
Because we are a democracy and public spending needs to be accounted for.
nonpikantou:
" ISIS don't kill all their captives, check bunch of documentaries on line like vice and some articles on CNN about their ex captives and ex members, do your homework. "
I did my homework, and I did point out to you that ISIS has been trading hostages for money for a long term. The decision if it is most advantageous to trade them or to kill them is up to the Caliph. I simply pointed out to you that just letting them go was never an option.
" If you got caught by them you either convert to extreme Islam and join them or die. This what makes ISIS more dangerous than Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, having the capability of recruiting non arab members and "
Not necessarily. ISIS has also killed hostages who did convert. Islamist doctrine allows for killing them when they are considered "hypocrites", i.e. not sincere converts. And no, there is no fundamental difference between ISIS and Al Quaeda, they are simply competing organizations with the same cause, with often interchangeable players. Al Quaeda has also plenty of non-Arab members, were you seriousl unaware of that?
Abe promoted the peace keeping force world wide. For Extremists point of view, is part of the collation force for wiping out them fro Middle East. Their ransom amount is same as Abe donation amount of 200 millions.
The consequence is Abe is risking Japanse people blood for his popularity in Middle East. Abe has blood on his hands, if they followed cruel fate as western journalists.
Abe can talk touch with nationalist pride however Middle East is not Japanese national interest. It is all the fault of Abe for making Japanese citizens for becoming Big Mac or Quarter Pounder.
Zempun:
" Abe promoted the peace keeping force world wide. For Extremists point of view, is part of the collation force for wiping out them fro Middle East. Their ransom amount is same as Abe donation amount of 200 millions. "
That is the ISIS talking point; regrettably you seem to believe that too. Japanese citizens who were stupid/careless enough to venture near Jihadist territory have been murdered and taken hostage before; a simple google search will tell you that.
The claim that without Abe this situation would not be there is simply wishful thinking. The amount of money money asked might be different, but that is the only difference.
Uhm… Im not saying to tolerate ISIS, you are missing my point. I am suggesting Abe To plan his tactics and their decisions discreetly, I think it's wiser to keep their plans Against ISIS confidential rather than waving their flag and shouting out loud saying HEY LOOK AT ME! I'M ONE OF YOUR TARGETS FROM NOW!
heynong
WillB or StormR
Japanese citizens who were stupid/careless enough to venture near Jihadist territory have been murdered and taken hostage before; a simple google search will tell you that.
I think you missed the other poster point. You should mention Japanese journalists instead of Japanese citizens. Back in 2007, one Japanese journalist was shot and killed by Myanmar or Burma Military Police. He knew the risk and he took the risk for fulfilling news hungry people all over world wide. Without his sacrifice, outside people will not know the real life drama during the riot back then. He was killed and his family got some compensation. Japan was not blackmailed with ransom money.
Until Abe term, Japan was not aggressive nation. Japan has lower risks for terrorists comparing with other US allies. If journalists are killed for performing their duty is nothing different from fire fighters or police men or miners. This case is different because of Abe promotion for becoming the die hard crusader for peace keeping force ( offensive force in real nature). Japan was even not a member of crusade war under Richard I according the history. Abe wants to become a member. He is more interested in his popularity instead of national interest.
Many doctors and nurses know the risks of contagious deceases of Ebola. However many risk their lives for saving lives in north Africa. It is also true for Journalists. They are not stupid. They are doing their jobs with professionalism. Without those stupid/careless people, more losses of lives and no real pictures about Syrian civil war and IS genocide of minority of Irag.
They are the heroes of heroes unlike unpaid and gossiping commentators like us.
The decision if it is most advantageous to trade them or to kill them is up to the Caliph
Exactly! so that means They don't directly kill their captives right away! As they can use them for other purposes.They can Kill them, recurit them or Use for extortion, We never know.These japanese guys could have lived at least a little longer if Abe was just discreet about his plans, while ISIS is not aiming at Japan, the Japanese intelligence or whatever forces or group to save these captives can plan how to rescue these 2 guys. Is it possible or not? I don't know but atleast being quiet can help them buy time. However the sudden decisions to kill them soon is because of Abe's recent actions and provocations. They will be dead on friday, but if Abe didn't provoke them, maybe they can live for more months, and lot's of things can be done in few months.
I simply pointed out to you that just letting them go was never an option.
I never said that ISIS will let them go! NO! read my posts properly, I said maybe not aiming to Kill them, because ISIS is reserving them for another purpose later against Japan if they try to hassle them... and yup that day came!
Safe seating
Pond clean-up