From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis)
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 00:05:21 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: CDA Yes Votes; Collection
In-Reply-To: <199602171501.JAA01539@grendel.texas.net>
Message-ID: <N69FJD5w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Sten Drescher <stend@grendel.texas.net> writes:
> jb> On the other hand, there may be an alternative...
>
> 	And that alternative was killing many hundreds of thousands of
> people, Americans and Japanese, military and civilians, in an invasion
> of Japan.  Have you looked at how many Japanese soldiers fought to the
> death while the US was 'island hopping' toward Japan?  Do you think
> that they would have been less willing to fight to the death when it
> was the home islands themselves?  Especially since many of the
> military leaders were arguing against surrender after the _second_
> bomb was dropped?  Sorry, but 'war is hell'.

This has no cryptographic relevance, but...

One alternative was to complete the blockade Japanese islands, then sit
and wait for them to surrender (while possibly fighting in China).

Japan is very vulnerable to blockades. You may recall that the attack on
Pearl Harbor came as a retaliation of the U.S. oil embargo which the
Japanese government viewed as an act of war.

A blockade could have lasted for years and caused millions of Japanese
civilians to starve to death.

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps