On 10 February 2011 Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev called for increased military deployments on Kuril Islands. In making the statement, Medvedev said the islands were an "inseparable" part of the country and a strategic Russian region. No direct reference was made to what military equipment would be deployed on the islands, although the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported that the new Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, being built in a deal with France, would be deployed to the region.On 15 February 2011 plans for deploying advanced anti-air missiles systems on the Islands was announced.
This is really disturbing. I hope Japan will pressure the U.S. to work together on this issue although I'm not sure they'll really care to do much. Why isn't anyone mentioning that Russia has no reason to be there. Why are Russians all the way over there in the first place?? They really need to work on their economy on the western side of their country considering they can barely manage that. Karafuto has always been occupied by asians (ainu, orok, evenki) . If Japan isnt allowed to militarily move there, neither should Russia at the very very least. I know that politics are Machiavellan but for Russia to do this at such a time really shows that Asians need to step it up and back these predators out of our region. My heart goes out to Japan and I have faith they will rise through this most challenging and difficult time to triumph better than ever before.
Oh, on a banal note, I think Japan should graciously resign Dokdo/Takeshima to Korea. Yes, it was always disputed over for centuries but its tiny, there isnt much there, and the benefits for Korean-Japanese relations would weigh far greater than anything happening in the current situation.
Dokdo for Korea, Karafuto for Japan and greater east asian co-operation. Thanks for reading~




