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India Today
02-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
How a Harvard-educated Japanese Admiral planned Pearl Harbour attack on US
In what could be a defining moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, Kyiv launched one of the biggest drone attacks under Operation Spider's Web and struck 4,000 km deep in Russian territory, destroying 41 strategic bombers, some of which were reportedly aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The Russian media and several pro-Kremlin bloggers referred to the attacks as Russia's "Pearl Harbour" moment, referring to the Imperial Japanese Navy's surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet in Hawaii in we dive into the historic Pearl Harbour attack, here's why the latest drone attack by Ukraine is being compared to the World War II the special forces' operation on Sunday, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said took "over a year and a half" of planning, Ukraine hit two Russian air bases in Olenya, Murmansk and Irkutsk, Siberia – over 6,000 km apart in different time zones. Such was the magnitude of the drone attack that over 30% of Russia's bomber fleet — Tu-95 and Tu-22s and A-50 airborne radars — was destroyed, suggest the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, this drone attack could also change the course of the war. The drone attack comes even as Russia hit Kyiv with missiles last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin's plane was reportedly targeted by Ukraine, a surprise escalation to the war after talks of a US AND JAPAN ENDED ON OPPOSITE SIDES IN WWIIadvertisementThe US foreign policy in the late 1930s hinged on support for China. However, at the beginning of the next decade, in 1941, Japan was deeply embroiled in a war with China to expand its empire across Southeast Asia, mainly for resources such as oil, metals, and per American policy then, aggression against China by Japan meant that Japan would come into direct conflict with the United States. Simultaneously, the Japanese had entered into an alliance with the Axis powers — Germany and the wake of these developments, the US, along with Britain and the Netherlands, imposed severe economic sanctions, including an oil embargo, which threatened Japan's military operations, which by July 1941 had occupied all of Indochina. The US government by this time had severed all commercial and financial relations with JAPANESE ADMIRAL PLANNED PEARL HARBOUR ATTACKJapanese leaders, particularly Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, believed a pre-emptive strike against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Oahu, Hawaii, would not only hold back the US naval power long enough for Japan to secure its Asian conquests, but also force Washington into negotiations with who had studied English at Harvard and served as a naval attache in Washington, understood America's industrial potential but gambled on a full-blown per Seymour Morris Jr, the author of 'American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts That Never Made to the Textbooks', if Washington had done some serious background checking into Yamamoto's student days when he was a student at Harvard from 1919 to 1921, they would have uncovered useful clues to his psychological makeup, mentions Harvard Magazine's official magazine makes mention of a psychological trait of Yamamoto, quoting Morris, who said, "When they (Yamamoto's classmates) introduced him to the game of poker, he became a fanatical poker player who would stay up all night, winning hand after hand. And what did he do with his poker winnings – lead the good life? No, not at all: he hitchhiked around the country during the summer, exploring America". The Harvard Magazine also mentions that years later, as a naval attache at the Japanese embassy in Washington DC, and still a compulsive poker player, Yamamoto gambled with members of the US military. "Spurred on by his victories," Morris wrote, "he developed contempt for the mental agility of his American naval opponents at the poker table."Two decades later, as the admiral of the Japanese navy, Yamamato's strategy was akin to playing a hand of poker — a surprise aerial assault on Pearl Harbour, using carrier-based planes. Japanese pilots began training extensively in shallow-water torpedo attacks, as Pearl Harbour was only 40-feet FLEET AT PEARL HARBOUR CAUGHT BY SURPRISEOn December 7, 1941, the war drums rolled and the first wave of Japanese attacks came, lasting almost 50 minutes, from 7:55 am to 8:45 am. The ships, which were moored together, made them easy targets for the Japanese. Over 180 Japanese warplanes from 6 aircraft carriers struck US airfields and battleships in the first wave of the attack, a 1,760-pound armour-piercing bomb hit the USS Arizona's magazine, causing a massive explosion, killing 1,177 sailors. Soon, torpedoes sank the USS Oklahoma, killing 429 naval men. Just five minutes later, a second wave of attacks came with over 160 warplanes that targeted the remaining vessels, the shipyards, and other US intelligence reports suggest they suspected a conflict soon after sanctions against Japan, but they were caught off guard by such a massive assault. An Army radar operator spotted the incoming planes but was told they were expected to be US attack left 2,403 US soldiers dead, and 1,178 wounded. A total of eight US battleships were sunk in the attack and 188 aircraft were next day, on December 8, 1941, the United States entered the Second World War, declaring a war on Japan. Four days later, Axis powers Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December Pearl Harbour attack finally made the US join World War II and changed the course of the war. The attack on its Pacific Fleet also contributed to the US emerging as a global leader in the coming decade. As the OG Pearl Harbour changed the course of history, the "modern Pearl Harbour" could change the shape of things to come.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump blaming Ukraine for Putin war like saying US attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor, says Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has said that Donald Trump blaming Ukraine for starting Vladimir Putin's war was like claiming 'America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor'. The former Prime Minister, a fierce supporter of Ukraine, also rebuffed the US president's 'dictator claim' against Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump's extraordinary outbursts against Zelensky have stunned European capitals as the new president tears up America's policy on Ukraine in what appeared to be a move to cosy up to Putin and strike a deal which benefits both the US and Russia. Both Ukraine and Europe were excluded from peace talks in Saudi Arabia between delegations led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, discussing the war and US-Russia ties. But it is Trump's language which has sparked the biggest backlash, even from some supporters of the new US president. Mr Johnson, who was at Trump's inauguration in January, said: 'Of course Ukraine didn't start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.' Japan launched a surprise strike on the American naval base, Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Thousands of American servicemen were killed or injured in the attack, which dealt a major blow to the US Pacific Fleet. Four US battleships were sunk and nearly 200 aircraft destroyed. President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan the following day and America entered World War II. Mr Johnson also rebuffed Trump's 'dictator' jibe against Mr Zelensky, saying: 'Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945. 'Of course Zelensky's ratings are not 4 per cent. They are actually about the same as Trump's.' But Mr Johnson, who played a key role in leading support from the West for Ukraine, argued that Trump's comments were 'not intended to be historically accurate, but to shock Europeans into action'. The former PM continued: 'The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It's absurd. We need to get serious and fast.' He also asked when Europeans are going to 'stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?' Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Trump's 'dictator' barb, stressing that Mr Zelensky is the democratically-elected leader of Ukraine. Mr Zelensky, who accused Trump of living in a 'disinformation space', being fed propaganda by the Kremlin, warned that he would not sell his nation after Russia and the US started talks to broker a peace deal without Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "false and dangerous" for Trump to call Mr Zelensky a dictator. Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said "the war in Ukraine must be resolved on Ukraine's terms, because the aggressor here is Russia". Britain and France could lead a peace-keeping force of around 30,000 troops, with air power including from the US acting as a 'backstop' to stop future Putin aggression if the war is brought to an end.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea vows to ‘punish provokers' after US submarine docks in South
North Korea has accused the US of engaging in a "hostile military act" and posing a "grave security threat" to the country by sending a nuclear submarine to a South Korean port. The USS Alexandria entered the Busan port on Monday for supplies and rest for its crew, South Korea's defence ministry said, adding that the docking would allow the navies of the two countries to promote combined defence posture. 'We express grave concern over the US dangerous hostile military act that can lead the acute military confrontation in the region around the Korean peninsula to an actual armed force conflict," the North's defence ministry said in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency. Pyongyang said the emergence of the submarine in the peninsula was a 'clear expression of the US invariable hysteria for confrontation' against the East Asian country. The North's armed forces would "unhesitatingly exercise the legitimate right to punish the provokers", it said without elaborating further. The USS Alexandria, a fast attack submarine armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, is part of the US Pacific Fleet. Temporary deployment of US military assets like aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and bombers to South Korea is not unusual, but Washington has increased the frequency over the last year in a show of force against North Korea. Pyongyang often responds furiously to such deployments, describing them as proof of hostile intentions, and sometimes reacts with missile tests. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has upped his rhetoric against the US since Donald Trump took office last month for his second presidency. Mr Trump, on his part, has called Mr Kim a "smart guy" and said he would reach out to the Korean leader again after a summit between the two collapsed in 2019 over talks on sanctions relief. Pyongyang also criticised joint live-fire drills carried out by South Korean and US militaries at a firing range south of the militarised Korean border last week. The drills involved American strategic B-1B bombers. Earlier this month, the North said it would not tolerate any 'provocation' by the US after secretary of state Marco Rubio called it a 'rogue state' in an interview.
The Independent
11-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
North Korea vows to ‘punish provokers' after US submarine docks in South
North Korea has accused the US of engaging in a "hostile military act" and posing a "grave security threat" to the country by sending a nuclear submarine to a South Korean port. The USS Alexandria entered the Busan port on Monday for supplies and rest for its crew, South Korea's defence ministry said, adding that the docking would allow the navies of the two countries to promote combined defence posture. 'We express grave concern over the US dangerous hostile military act that can lead the acute military confrontation in the region around the Korean peninsula to an actual armed force conflict," the North's defence ministry said in a statement carried by the KCNA news agency. Pyongyang said the emergence of the submarine in the peninsula was a 'clear expression of the US invariable hysteria for confrontation' against the East Asian country. The North's armed forces would "unhesitatingly exercise the legitimate right to punish the provokers", it said without elaborating further. The USS Alexandria, a fast attack submarine armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, is part of the US Pacific Fleet. Temporary deployment of US military assets like aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and bombers to South Korea is not unusual, but Washington has increased the frequency over the last year in a show of force against North Korea. Pyongyang often responds furiously to such deployments, describing them as proof of hostile intentions, and sometimes reacts with missile tests. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has upped his rhetoric against the US since Donald Trump took office last month for his second presidency. Mr Trump, on his part, has called Mr Kim a "smart guy" and said he would reach out to the Korean leader again after a summit between the two collapsed in 2019 over talks on sanctions relief. Pyongyang also criticised joint live-fire drills carried out by South Korean and US militaries at a firing range south of the militarised Korean border last week. The drills involved American strategic B-1B bombers. Earlier this month, the North said it would not tolerate any 'provocation' by the US after secretary of state Marco Rubio called it a 'rogue state' in an interview.
Al Arabiya
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
North Korea says US nuclear submarine at South Korea port posing grave threat, KCNA report
North Korea 's defense ministry said on Tuesday the United States is again posing a grave security threat by sending a nuclear submarine to a South Korean port and its military forces are ready to take any action necessary, KCNA news agency reported. The emergence of a US nuclear submarine in the Korean peninsula is a 'clear expression of the US invariable hysteria for confrontation' against North Korea, an unnamed spokesperson for the North's defense ministry said in a statement. 'We express grave concern over the US dangerous hostile military act that can lead the acute military confrontation in the region around the Korean peninsula to an actual armed force conflict,' the statement carried by KCNA news agency said. Its armed forces will 'unhesitatingly exercise the legitimate right to punish the provokers,' it said, without elaborating. US fast attack submarine Alexandria has arrived in South Korea's Busan for supplies replenishment and rest for its crew, South Korean media reported on Monday citing the South's navy. The South Korean defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation and comment. The nuclear-powered submarine is part of the US Pacific Fleet armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to the US navy. North Korea routinely criticises the presence of US military assets and joint drills by US and South Korean forces. On Sunday, it warned of 'undesirable consequences' criticising a series of exercises conducted by the allies. The North's defense ministry spokesperson did not mention separate live-fire drills conducted jointly by South Korean and US armies at a firing range south of the militarised Korean border since last week. The North has stepped up aggressive rhetoric since Donald Trump took office last month for his second presidency despite his comments suggesting he would reach out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for direct dialogue.
