[Buddha-l] Re: Greetings from Oviedo

[L.S. Cousins]

You have rather missed the point, Dan. In the letter of August 10th 
the Japanese govt indicated that it had made overtures for peace 
several weeks earlier via the intermediary of the then-neutral Soviet 
Union. Ironically this simply triggered Stalin's opportunistic 
imperialism and may have been an additional factor in his declaring 
war i.e. the knowledge that he wouldn't actually have to fight. His 
reward was Sakhalin which remains under Russian occupation. U.S. 
Intelligence had intercepted Soviet communications and so knew about 
the offer.

In other words there can be no reasonable doubt that when the order 
to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was given, the U.S. 
President knew that Japan was willing to surrender. It is not clear 
that dropping those bombs actually had any impact on the Japanese 
decision. It did not change the division of opinion in their 
governing body at all, although it may have influenced the Emperor's 
own views which eventually became decisive.

I agree that we should not read back the horror of nuclear weapons to 
that time. That really dates to the creation of large H-bombs in the 
following decade or so and the eventual realization that their use 
would make the survival of civilized society doubtful.

 From the Buddhist perspective, it seems to me that it is demonization 
or idolization of a race, a religion, a nation or a political 
orientation (left, right or centre) which is ultimately unacceptable. 
We all have allegiances or loyalties, but if we hold on to them too 
firmly and adopt rigid viewpoints based on them (or based on 
rejecting them), we become part of the problem instead of part of the 
cure.

Lance Cousins

>  > The claim about peace overtures was actually made by the Japanese
>>  leadership in 1945. See their letter of August 10th, offering to
>>  surrender: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/war.term/093_03.html . My
>>  understanding is that this is confirmed from Allied sources.
>
>Lance,
>
>Hiroshima was bombed on Aug 6th, Nagasaki on the 9th. That Japan surrendered
>on the 10th is not a revelation.
>
>Dan Lusthaus