As the United States retreats from its postwar leadership role under Donald Trump, Japan must overcome domestic constraints and step up with partners to help sustain the global order it has long quietly supported. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/editorials/2025/12/31/it-is-japans-time-to-step-out/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #editorials #us #donaldtrump #nationalsecuritystrategy #worldwarii #apec #shinzoabe #tpp #china #africa #developmentaid #article9 #constitution #coldwar #sanaetakaichi #taiwan #shinzoabe
Alex Akselrod
boosted
"Many #Americans know of #JosefStalin’s Terror of the late 1930s, during which more than 1 million people were arrested for #politicalcrimes, and over 680,000 #executed.
Fewer know about the repressions that began after #WorldWarII and ended with #Stalin’s death in 1953. Much like the repressions of the 1930s, they involved fabricated #plots, #arrests, coerced #confessions and #purges. Unlike the Terror of the 1930s, they were accompanied by a wave of #statesponsored #antisemitism – including the purge of #Jews from multiple occupations and unwritten quotas that limited their professional and educational opportunities.
The abolition of the #Jewish #AntiFascist Committee on Nov. 20, 1948, and the arrest and execution of its members was central to this postwar #assault."
"Many #Americans know of #JosefStalin’s Terror of the late 1930s, during which more than 1 million people were arrested for #politicalcrimes, and over 680,000 #executed.
Fewer know about the repressions that began after #WorldWarII and ended with #Stalin’s death in 1953. Much like the repressions of the 1930s, they involved fabricated #plots, #arrests, coerced #confessions and #purges. Unlike the Terror of the 1930s, they were accompanied by a wave of #statesponsored #antisemitism – including the purge of #Jews from multiple occupations and unwritten quotas that limited their professional and educational opportunities.
The abolition of the #Jewish #AntiFascist Committee on Nov. 20, 1948, and the arrest and execution of its members was central to this postwar #assault."
China is using threats, diplomatic pressure, economic measures and manufactured media narratives to attack new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and influence Japanese politics. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/11/20/japan/good-relations-with-communist-party-is-a-fools-errand/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #china #sanaetakaichi #taiwan #xuejian #reiwashinsengumi #us #ldp #shigeruishiba #komeito #japaninnovationparty #ccp #philippines #shinzoabe #laichingte #xijinping #worldwarii
Kevin Carson
boosted
US #Holocaust #Museum announced temporary closure of exhibit detailing #UnitedStates turned away #Jewish #refugees during #worldwarii This decision reportedly follows an order from #Trump to vet #Smithsonian museums for content considered to be #antiamerican. Closure of the exhibit, which highlights a critical historical narrative, has sparked a conversation about the boundaries of such vetting processes and their impact on historical education. @NoLieWithBTC: Museum closes exhibit #censorship
US #Holocaust #Museum announced temporary closure of exhibit detailing #UnitedStates turned away #Jewish #refugees during #worldwarii This decision reportedly follows an order from #Trump to vet #Smithsonian museums for content considered to be #antiamerican. Closure of the exhibit, which highlights a critical historical narrative, has sparked a conversation about the boundaries of such vetting processes and their impact on historical education. @NoLieWithBTC: Museum closes exhibit #censorship
Black-and-white, but far from simple, Kon Ichikawa’s film is a survival story that stares into humanity’s darkest corners. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/08/20/film/fires-on-the-plain-restoration/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #film#konichikawa #worldwarii #japanesefilm #eijifunakoshi
Young volunteers and experts are racing against time to recover the remains of Japanese soldiers who died during World War II, most of them abroad. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/08/15/japan/history/bones-world-war-ii-remains/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #history #worldwarii #india #palau #asiapacific #okinawa
Toshihisa Yamada’s first feature gives a lightly fictionalized spin to the tale of the “lucky” Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer that survived World War II. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/08/14/film/yukikaze/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #film #japanesefilm #worldwarii #yutakatakenouchi #toshihisayamada
It seems evident that the two bombs would be dropped to confirm their relative effectiveness before Japan could realistically respond. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/08/06/japan/were-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-bombings-necessary/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #worldwarii#atomicbombing #hiroshima #nagasaki
Alex Akselrod
boosted
"#YIVO’s story, which began in 1925 in #Vilna (now #Vilnius) as a means to lend scholarly legitimacy to the #Yiddish language and #Jewish people of Eastern #Europe, took a more existential turn in #WorldWarII, by which time YIVO’s headquarters had relocated to #NewYork, with most of its materials remaining behind."
https://forward.com/culture/731245/yivo-institute-jewish-research-exhibit-centennial-history/
"#YIVO’s story, which began in 1925 in #Vilna (now #Vilnius) as a means to lend scholarly legitimacy to the #Yiddish language and #Jewish people of Eastern #Europe, took a more existential turn in #WorldWarII, by which time YIVO’s headquarters had relocated to #NewYork, with most of its materials remaining behind."
https://forward.com/culture/731245/yivo-institute-jewish-research-exhibit-centennial-history/