The American elections are over. Mr.Obama's 20-minute Victory Speech was terribly enthusiastic and hugely impressive. I do not know exactly why I feel happy on his victory. Probably the reasons are, (1) he may be deemed to be representing the large masses of underprivileged, in the US and may be beyond, (2) he has at least talked of the non-nuclear world, and (3) he is less likely to go to war over Iran. May be more. All in all I feel more secure at his victory. I would be deeply unhappy, and feel insecure, if the result was the other way round.
But all this is the one side of the coin. Take Iran, for example. If you talk about Iran's possible nuclear armament, why not talk about India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons which are publicly owned by their governments. Moreover, the US, and the West, may well be advised to recognize the position of Iran as the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, and make use of it as a means to have dialogue not only with Iran but a wider range of the third-world nations. There is no harm in it at all.
Another factor in the Iranian question is the aggressive attitude of Israel because of which there is a danger of a fairly large-scale war in the Middle East. In reporting the US elections the media had much to say about the Hispanic vote but very little about the Jewish vote, so far as I saw.
I personally would not be surprised if their vote was split between the two camps. Partly it is because of insurance. Also both camps were more or less equally expected by Israel to back them up in case of a war.
Similarly, there was not much difference in the stand of the two camps on, say, the Japan-US relations. Both were keen on strengthening the military alliance, and in that sense Japan was taken for granted. On the election day itself 10,000 American troops were engaged in joint military exercises with 37,000 Japanese Self-Defense forces. Who knows it may not provoke China, whose Chairman Hu stressed in his report to the 18th Congress of the Communist Party two days afterwards, among other things, the importance of defending China's maritime interests.
Not only might China have been provoked. Also on the same election day, the demonstrators in Okinawa, Japan, were carrying placards whose slogan was No Rape! No Osprey! No US Bases!
In short, we would like to feel more safe and secure here in East Asia. For that purpose there can be a lot that not only Japan and China, but also the US can do("Yes, we can!").
One of such steps will be clearly the appointment of two peace-loving persons by Mr.Obama as the new Secretaries of State and Defense.
But all this is the one side of the coin. Take Iran, for example. If you talk about Iran's possible nuclear armament, why not talk about India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons which are publicly owned by their governments. Moreover, the US, and the West, may well be advised to recognize the position of Iran as the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, and make use of it as a means to have dialogue not only with Iran but a wider range of the third-world nations. There is no harm in it at all.
Another factor in the Iranian question is the aggressive attitude of Israel because of which there is a danger of a fairly large-scale war in the Middle East. In reporting the US elections the media had much to say about the Hispanic vote but very little about the Jewish vote, so far as I saw.
I personally would not be surprised if their vote was split between the two camps. Partly it is because of insurance. Also both camps were more or less equally expected by Israel to back them up in case of a war.
Similarly, there was not much difference in the stand of the two camps on, say, the Japan-US relations. Both were keen on strengthening the military alliance, and in that sense Japan was taken for granted. On the election day itself 10,000 American troops were engaged in joint military exercises with 37,000 Japanese Self-Defense forces. Who knows it may not provoke China, whose Chairman Hu stressed in his report to the 18th Congress of the Communist Party two days afterwards, among other things, the importance of defending China's maritime interests.
Not only might China have been provoked. Also on the same election day, the demonstrators in Okinawa, Japan, were carrying placards whose slogan was No Rape! No Osprey! No US Bases!
In short, we would like to feel more safe and secure here in East Asia. For that purpose there can be a lot that not only Japan and China, but also the US can do("Yes, we can!").
One of such steps will be clearly the appointment of two peace-loving persons by Mr.Obama as the new Secretaries of State and Defense.
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