The following is from Rui Abiru that appeared in today’s Sankei Shimbun.
He is one of the best reporters working today.
Is politics without diplomatic or military expertise enough?
One year ago today, I introduced a film set in Ukraine, “Red Darkness in Stalin’s Cold Land,” in this column.
I am pained by the repeated tragedies as I look at Russia’s current unbridled violence against Ukraine.
Tragedy strikes Ukraine　
The film tells the story of Gareth Jones, a British reporter who went to the Soviet Union (now Russia) in 1933 during the Great Depression when the economy was supposed to be booming and witnessed a closely hidden reality from the authorities.
Jones went to Ukraine, which was supposed to be a fertile land where anything could grow, and saw that everyone was starving and eating the remains of their family members under Soviet control.
Most of the harvested grain is sent to Moscow and does not enter the mouths of Ukrainians.
After returning to the U.K., he rebuffed Soviet threats and appealed for help, but a prominent reporter from the New York Times, who was in league with the Soviet Union, wrote him off as a hoax, and he was not taken seriously.　
The former British Prime Minister Lloyd George, who served as a diplomatic advisor, also followed the Soviet Union’s request and suppressed Jones’ story.　
It is said that Stalin’s artificial famine in Ukraine as genocide.
On March 24, the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan issued a call on Twitter.
The war has started. If we don’t stop it, it will turn into a world war.” Yet, despite this, the sense of crisis in Japan still seems to be weak.
In a joint poll conducted by this newspaper and FNN (Fuji News Network) on November 19 and 20, when asked about the pros and cons of economic sanctions in the event of a military invasion of Ukraine by Russia, 43.9% of respondents “agree” that sanctions should be imposed, lower than the 44.1% who “disagree.”
It seems that they feel that the tragedy striking Ukraine is not just a fire on the shore but a blur somewhere far, far away.
On the contrary, a senior official said, “Ukraine has nothing to do with us even within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The situation in Ukraine was not the main topic of questioning at the Budget Committee of the Upper House on March 24.
Isn’t this too much of a peace-loving attitude?
Responsibility for Security　
Former Prime Minister Baldwin was unable to counter the military expansion of Nazi Germany after becoming Prime Minister after the second generation of Mr. Lloyd George, who was less wary of the Soviet Union.
Former Prime Minister Churchill, who was said to be the prime minister of the crisis, wrote about him in his book “World War II.”
“The prime minister of a country professes that he did not fulfill his responsibilities regarding national security because he was afraid of losing the election.”
He also makes a point that is instructive for Japanese people today.　　
“He was inferior at diplomacy and military affairs. （His knowledge of British party politics was profound, and in a broad sense, he represented a specific strength and some weaknesses of our island nation.”　
Similarly, Japan, an island nation and inward-looking country, have too many politicians and prime ministers of this type.
I hope that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who likes to talk about his faction every second, will also think about this.
Sanae Takaichi, the LDP’s policy chief, warned at a meeting of the party’s Policy Research Council on April 24: “This (the Ukraine incident) is a matter of fact.
Russia is a neighboring country of Japan, and we should consider it our problem. Russia and China are also getting very close.”
Today’s crisis in Ukraine is indeed tomorrow’s crisis in Japan.
(Editorial Writer and Member of the Political Science Department)