VJ day

Innocent children were killed on all sides during the Blitz.

And of course, that was wrong.

I do not agree with nuclear bombs but what does bother me is that if we agreed to rid ourselves of any bombs we cannot be absolutely positive that all nations would comply even if they had agreed. I do think that they are a great deterrent which hopefully would never need to be deployed. With some of the rulers/dictators we now have in power in some countries we can never be certain we are safe.

Bez, wasn't the British involvement because we had already plundered the resources of Malaya, etc., for two centuries?

I think that the idea of nuclear weapons keeping the peace is now invalid, because there are people who are very happy to die in their "cause" - so "mutually assured destruction" is no longer a deterrent. IS and their mates are not deterred from their actions by the danger of their own destruction, so the accumulation of nuclear weapons is purposeless.

Dr. Bill Frankland was the subject of Desert Island Discs this morning on Radio 4.
He spent 3 years as a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore. Aged 103 now, his attitude both then and now is an inspiration.
Well worth a listen on catch up.

It is not invalid for the other 200 plus countries.

Not exactlyjen far more complicated than that with all these trading companies in that area.

Nuclear weapons were not used against Germany because the Germans surrendered without the necessity of even threatening them with any weapons of this nature. The Japanese would have fought to the last man standing, that is why!
I take exception it being said that I said anything at all to the effect that 'they deserved it'! I most certainly don't think that the civilian population 'deserved' anything of the sort and have never said so. I do however think that it was a necessary evil, but then I guess I am biased. I do think that the Japanese hierarchy were responsible for starting the war in the first place, for not protecting their civilian population, particularly after they were warned by the Americans that something terrible was about befall them. I do blame the Japanese hierarchy for their gross brutality both to civilians, including babies, and to POWs, also for not surrendering when it was quite obvious that they couldn't win, and were still prepared to let this nightmare go on to the detriment of their own population never mind anyone else. What the British (and the Dutch, and the French among others) were doing before the war has absolutely no bearing on the fact that the Japanese were rampaging around the far east, torturing, murdering, raping and terrifying the civilian populations of the countries they 'conquered'. I don't think any civilians deserve a nuclear bomb, but the blame for this dreadful event lies fairly and squarely with the Emperor of Japan and his insane military hierarchy.

www.globalresearch.ca/the-real-reason-america-used-nuclear-weapons-against-japan-it-was-not-to-end-the-war-or-save-lives/5308192
This link gives many examples of people in high office who had felt it was not necessary or right for the bombs to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I think it was disgusting.

That is so easy to say from safety of 70 years along the line. I think I've made my views clear and I'm not carrying on with this conversation any more. All I would say is that those of you who either aren't old enough to have any connection with WW2, or whose families weren't directly connected or particularly affected by it in any way, they you simply don't know or perhaps cannot comprehend the full horror of that war either in Europe or the Far East and it's lasting effects on the people caught up iin it both combatant and civilian, and that it simply had to be brought to an end as swiftly as possible for everyone's sake including Germany and Japan
The POW almost certainly owes his life to the dropping of that bomb as any attempts to invade Japan would have l

Sorry, hit the wrong key. led to his murder.

Just cannot read all the posts here, did the Japanese blow up over 140,000 civilians in two days and cause long lingering deaths of thousands more ? Did their warfare rip the skin of children ? Did they leave future generations with deformities . Would I think all this was worth saving my life ? No way

Japan was almost on it's knees when the bombs were dropped, as for the cruelty of the Japanese army to prisoners of war , read up the history of this country and our treatment of the innocent people of the colonies .

What world peace rosesarered ? you must live on a different planet to me, if the world isn't at war countries don't matter ? Kenya, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Africa , Korea, and so many, many more we may not have fought in but we sold arms and made more millionaires

nigglynellie As has been demonstrated on this thread, some posters have had relatives who suffered under the hands of the Japanese who did not feel that dropping two bombs on cities full of ordinary citizens - and affecting not just those present at the time but future generations - was justifiable.

I'm sorry, but you will never alter my point of view, so the best thing to do is that we agree to differ, and leave it at that.

I wasn't trying to change your point of view. I was merely questioning your assertion that everybody who suffered under the hands of the Japanese have or had the same opinion regarding the dropping of the bombs.

My father knew I was a member of CND. He approved. Read the OP again, niggly.

Excellent link, Eloethan.
I think the reason the bombs were used on Japan instead of Germany is because they wanted to test them, to find out what really would happen, but dare not do so on German cities.
The Japanese were far enough removed in ethnicity and distance for the US and the rest of Europe not to feel too much revulsion at the time.
Hopefully we are more civilised now, 70 years on.

I think also that the more Eastern races have a different outlook on life altogether - the Germans realised they were not able to win and so they wanted the best possible solution for them. Those did not necessarily mean the best solution for the countries they had invaded - we only have to look at the mean vindictive killing in Oradour to see that - the people here where I live must feel so glad that they did not suffer the same fate from retreating troops. The Emperor of Japan was far more likely to continue to fight to the last man despite the toll on his people. I think they have a far more heightened sense of losing face than Europeans.
The use of the Bomb was a dreadful thing all round and I doubt that even the people making the decisions realised the whole impact of what they were doing. It was a lesson for the whole world - but there could be some other madman getting power who would not care about that and with no adequate protection we could find ourselves victims - I am afraid I still do believe in having some back up deterrent - not many are needed as the damage of even one would be immense. These chemical bombs or gases do not do such wide damage but they are as bad really. The keeping up of NATO and UN are just so vital - talk is always better and madmen need to be watched closely - I think we have a couple of madmen as leaders in other countries right now and one is a young man who unless deposed has many years to wreak havoc.

Excellent post Bez.
Anniebach, I was writing of what we call ' World Wars' as in the two that we had in the 20th century? involving the whole of Euurope at the least.That is what having a nuclear deterrent has achieved.No Third World War.
if you are a member of CND then you will not agree with having any nuclear arms,it's a point of view , but not the only point of view .
Let's hope we never have to use them, because if we do, it will mean that another country( perhaps the one with a madman at the helm) has already sent one over to us.
Japan has always tried to hide it's role in the last war from it's people, and probably continues to do to this day.

I agree with your comments Bez. My stepfather once said as much to me when as a teenager I was lambasting the Japanese over something I was reading about their cruelty to animals. He gently tried to explain that the culture in the East was very different to ours and their attitude to life both human and animal could not be compared to that of Europeans. At the time I wasn't convinced, but now? Who knows. But the attitude to animals throughout the East still bothers me.

Rosesarered, nothing excuses the dropping of those bombs, and your concern is there has been no war in Europe, that we have been involved in wars I listed doesn't matter because we were safe . You are as far to the right as I am to the left so we could never agree on anything, I cannot be a 'I'm alright Jack' waving the U K flag

Have you read Eloethan's link?
I was surprised how many disagreed. I also think it is appalling that General MacArthur was not even asked what he thought, and that Eisenhower said the Japanese were ready to surrender, as did whoever was in charge of the US fleet.
It looks very much as I said, that they wanted to test the bomb on real people and disregarded the experts in the forces.

Nuclear disarmament means this would not happen.

www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/europe/2015/03/22/russian-ambassador-warns-denmark-nato-missile-shield/25188635/

Good for you , go and polish your halo.

That was to AB