Also, I should have said: it has been the official policy of the US government and military neither to confirm nor deny the presence of nukes (tactital nukes usually) on US ships or planes or overseas bases. When New Zealand tried to get them to stop taking nukes into NZ ports, the US actually set up sanctions that damaged the NZ economy. However, I was thinking that during the height of the Cold War, with Japan leaning towards the socialists and communists, they would have thought of something different. Besides, in the 1940s and 50s, I don't think it was so commonplace to take tactical nukes everywhere. I think this came about mostly during the Vietnam War and then intensified after, during the Reagan years. I could be wrong about that. Perhaps the US army stockpiled nuclear artillery (nuke rounds, nuke-tipped little john missiles, etc) for possible use in Korea. I have to research this more.
If the people in Japan and S. Korea had known so many nukes were coming and going with the US military, they might have thought differently of the alliances set up by the US. To hear some Japan officials talk about all this after the Cold War, some claim they were assured the US had no nukes in Japan. Others say they knew the US had nukes and it was acknowledged. Perhaps it's a mix of both. I remember Time magazine reporting (int'l edition) in the late 80s and 90s how the Japanese were sensitive about US carriers putting into Yokohama because the ships are nuclear powered, but that never made sense at all because Japan has nuclear power plants all over the place--like dozens up and down the Japan Sea cost between here (Fukui) and southern Honshu. CJ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
