The following is from the serial column of Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai, who brings the weekly Shincho released yesterday to a successful conclusion.
This article also proves that she is a national treasure, a supreme national treasure defined by Saicho.
This paper is also a must-read not only for Japanese citizens but also for people around the world.
Prime Minister Kishida Should Learn from the Ukraine Crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared regarding the invasion of Ukraine, "We will not stop attacking until we achieve our goal.
We are a nuclear power," he said, telling the world that Putin's Russia is willing to use nuclear weapons and commit crimes against humanity.
Almost 30 years after the end of the Cold War, we are facing intimidation by a mad dictator with nuclear weapons.
It is essential to always think of the Ukraine issue in the context of Japan.
There are many commonalities between Japan and Ukraine, and as we will see later, China and Russia are indeed very much alike.
The Ukrainian President Zelensky, who stood up to Vladimir Putin, demonstrated by his actions the resolve that a leader should have.
He has undoubtedly transformed himself into a national leader by committing to his country and destiny.
However, he has suffered from Ukraine's flaws as a nation in the process.
When the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine became independent, Ukraine trusted the U.S., Britain, and Russia and handed over all the nuclear weapons he possessed at the time to Kuchsia, along with his fighter planes and other major equipment.
The aircraft carrier, about 60% complete, was sold to China.
"The end of the Cold War was a sign of peace. Ukrainians thought that military power was not so necessary," explained Glenko Andriy, a Ukrainian international political scientist living in Japan ("Discourse TV," March 4).
It is a sorry but mistaken view of Ukraine that it has been so confident of an era of peace that it has not fortified its defenses or gained allies in the face of Russia's military power and dictatorship, which it neighbors to this day.
Yet now they are aware of it, but Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is not.
Big difference.
Mr. Putin claims that Russians and Ukrainians are the same people and should fuse.
He means that Russia should swallow Ukraine, but then, of course, it will destroy the Ukrainian nation and its people.
It is the same as China demanding Uyghurs assimilate into the Chinese nation.
Non-interventionism
The risking of the lives of Mr. Zelensky and the Ukrainian people, who refuse to accept such an outcome, will attract the world's sympathy and cooperation.
Still, the world will not take the step of direct military intervention in Ukraine; NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) will not even place a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
However, the former Eastern European countries, led by the United States, are rushing to provide arms.
From the Amari base in Estonia, the world's largest transport plane, the Antonov, a product of the Cold War and made in Ukraine during the former Soviet era, was loaded with guns and bombs and flown to Ukraine.
The Antonov was later destroyed, along with its entire hangar.
In the first week of the war, 17,000 anti-tank guns and missiles from the United States and NATO arrived in Ukraine via Poland and Romania.
U.S. cyber forces have already begun to destroy Russian military communication systems.
The U.S. is also pushing Poland to provide their old MIGU-29s to Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers can pilot the old Soviet-made Migoo-29s.
In return, the U.S. has offered to provide Poland with U.S.-made F-16s.
The Polish government has denied the program's existence, but U.S. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Blinken has said that "it is moving forward very positively. It is safe to assume that negotiations are ongoing.
However, here, too, we can glimpse a cruel reality. The F-16s offered by the U.S. are those that the U.S. plans to provide to Taiwan. What about Taiwan's defense, which China is targeting?
Meanwhile, the Polish government is worried about Russian retaliation.
In this highly complex situation, each country continues to support Ukraine carefully, not to give Putin an excuse to attack, but in the end, the fate of Ukraine, which must fight this war on its own, will remain unchanged.
Putin, who believes that he can crush Ukraine, told Turkish President Erdogan on March 6 that "the operation is going well.
In standing on the principle of the jungle law, Mr. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are in the same boat.
Japan may be the only country in the world facing threats from both of them.
That is why Japan should sharpen its security senses more than Ukraine.
However, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the Diet on April 7 that "the three non-nuclear principles are national policy.
Immerse yourself in "constitutional pacifism," look away from the reality of the international community, and have minimal support for Ukraine.
While the Kishida administration offered $100 million and bulletproof vests, Andriy appealed. "I don't tell Japan to give me a weapon. However, I want you to help Ukrainians, including vehicles, urgently."
With the pacifism of the Constitution and the non-interventionism that arises from it, Prime Minister Kishida intends to do nothing more to the Ukrainians who are being killed.
Two of a kind
I want to emphasize again. The Ukraine crisis is definitely a crisis for Taiwan and Japan.
The reason for this is that both leaders, Putin and Xi Jinping I mentioned earlier that they are two of a kind.
The New York Times reported multiple times on the U.S. government's efforts to persuade China to stop Putin.
President Biden and other top government officials made 12 requests, the last of which was to provide intelligence information to the Chinese to warn them of a Russian military invasion.
The NYT reported that the U.S. government "pleaded with China" for this stance.
Nevertheless, China rejected the U.S. request and, on the contrary, strengthened its support for Russia and its condemnation of the U.S.
On February 23, called the U.S. a "culprit" that had "escalated tensions over Ukraine.
Putin and Xi are like twins in their strategy to threaten the world with nuclear weapons.
China is rapidly increasing its production and installing nuclear warheads and nuclear strike launchers.
In eight years, it will have 1,000 nuclear warheads. Against this backdrop, China has also changed its "no first use of nuclear weapons" strategy.
The description of "no first use of nuclear weapons" disappeared from the 2013 White Paper on National Defense. The storage of nuclear warheads and missiles separately to ensure it changed no first use of atomic weapons after 2015.
The PLA will repeat the training by adopting the idea of "alarm and immediate firing" to launch a preemptive nuclear attack when it senses that the enemy country has decided to attack atomic weapons.
China and Russia stand on the same horizon in the idea of attacking nuclear weapons first if necessary.
In March 2013, Mr. Xi visited Russia on his first trip abroad as President of the People's Republic of China. He told Putin: "We are always open-minded and feel similar in character. The two are best friends," the two have met 37 times in the last decade.
At the summit meeting before the Beijing Olympics opening, he stated that "the friendship between China and Russia is infinite." China and Russia are poised to unite and confront the United States.
It is a challenge to us, the "Western" world.
For Japan, which is on the front lines of this challenging situation, helping Ukraine will lead to protecting Japan.
It is no time to say, "The three non-nuclear principles are our national policy." Instead, focus your wisdom on helping Ukraine.
Stand on the principle that Japan will protect Japan.
