 of that slow-moving trial
project is TEPCO.
- Death of Deterrence
- Meanwhile in 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) issued a muted warning on Japan's heightened drive for a nuclear
bomb- and promptly did nothing. The White House has to turn a blind eye
to the radiation streaming through American skies or risk exposure of a
blatant double standard on nuclear proliferation by an ally. Besides, Washington's
quiet approval for a Japanese bomb doesn't quite sit well with the memory
of either Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima.
- In and of itself, a nuclear deterrence capability would
be neither objectionable nor illegal- in the unlikely event that the majority
of Japanese voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to Article 9.
Legalized possession would require safety inspections, strict controls
and transparency of the sort that could have hastened the Fukushima emergency
response. Covert weapons development, in contrast, is rife with problems.
In the event of an emergency, like the one happening at this moment, secrecy
must be enforced at all cost- even if it means countless more hibakusha,
or nuclear victims.
- Instead of enabling a regional deterrence system and
a return to great-power status, the Manchurian deal planted the time bombs
now spewing radiation around the world. The nihilism at the heart of this
nuclear threat to humanity lies not inside Fukushima 1, but within the
national security mindset. The specter of self-destruction can be ended
only with the abrogation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause
of the secrecy that fatally delayed the nuclear workers' fight against
- Yoichi Shimatsu, a Hong Kongbased environmental
writer, is the former editor of the Japan Times Weekly.