Conflict Grows Over Pacific Islands

Have you noticed there have been quite a few headlines in the past month about conflict arising between Japan and Russia, Japan and China, and South Korea and Japan?

You may want to spend a few minutes, (as I recently have) figuring out what is happening here.  Why?  Because it is more 'rumors of war' that Jesus told us to watch for.  Also the players mentioned most likely are the 'Kings of the East'...which have a part to play when they march across the dried up Euphrates river on their way to Israel during the VERY Last Days.

Remember, the Japanese have been ruthless folks to their neighbors over the centuries, and as recently as 1937.  If you have never read about the 'Rape of Nanking' (China)....here is an excerpt and link;

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East estimated that 20,000 women were raped, including infants and the elderly.^[40] A large portion of these rapes were systematized in a process where soldiers would search door-to-door for young girls, with many women taken captive and gang raped.^[41] The women were often killed immediately after being raped, often through explicit mutilation^[42] or by stabbing a bayonet, long stick of bamboo,^[43] or other objects into the vagina. Young children were not exempt from these atrocities, and were cut open to allow Japanese soldiers to rape them.

There are also accounts of Japanese troops forcing families to commit acts of incest.^[48] Sons were forced to rape their mothers, fathers were forced to rape daughters. One pregnant woman who was gang-raped by Japanese soldiers gave birth only a few hours later; although the baby appeared to be physically unharmed (Robert B. Edgerton, Warriors of the Rising Sun). Monks who had declared a life of celibacy were also forced to rape women.

Here;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre#Rape

Yes, this is incredible.  The article goes on to say that somewhere around 300,000 non-combatants were killed during this period.  No doubt the human heart is so wicked that no one can understand it.

So the Chinese have no love for the Japanese and I'm betting that many haven't forgotten the treatment their parents and grandparents received at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army.

The Koreans also had a bad experience with the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII.

During World War II, many Korean men were taken for forced labor, and about 450,000 forced laborers were sent to Japan.^[94] Korean women also became victims of the Japanese; such as the so-called comfort women who served in Japanese military brothels. Historians estimate the number of comfort women between 10,000 and 200,000, a figure which also includes Japanese women.^[95][96] According to testimonies, cases included that of Japanese officials and local collaborators kidnapping or recruiting poor rural women from Korea and other nations for sexual slavery under the guise of offering factory employment. There is evidence that the Japanese government intentionally destroyed official records regarding Comfort Women.^[97][98] Japanese inventory logs and employee sheets on the battlefield show some documentation of government-sponsored sexual slavery. In one instance, names of known Comfort Women were traced to Japanese employment records under sub contracted Korean business owners. One such woman was falsely classified as a nurse along with at least a dozen other verified comfort women who were not nurses or secretaries. Currently, the South Korean government is investigating hundreds of cases on these lists.

Here;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule

And finally, we have the Japanese Imperial Army kicking Russia's butt just over 100 years ago.  You can read about the Russo-Japanese War here;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War

Of course it was America that put an end to the Japanese rule of the region.  We ultimately dropped two nuclear weapons on them and vaporized a few hundred thousand people and promised to drop more if Japan didn't surrender.  Had we not done that, who knows how many U.S. soldiers would have died using a traditional military invasion of mainland Japan.

Here's the deal....humans are nasty, period!  And when you release the demons of war...things can go from bad to worse pretty darn fast.

Now back to our original story about the current headlines regarding Japan, Korea, China and Russia and the growing tensions between them.

The Pacific Ocean is peppered with hundreds of islands — most small and uninhabited — that are claimed by more than one country. Here's a look at some of the main territorial disputes that are causing tensions among Asian nations.

— Senkaku, or Diaoyu, Islands. Located in the East China Sea near Taiwan and the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, these remote uninhabited isles have been under Japanese control since 1895. They are seen as important because of their strategic location, and are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and may be near underwater resources such as natural gas. China claims it discovered them in the 14th century. Claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

— Dokdo, or Takeshima. Administered by South Korea since the 1950s, these outcroppings in the Sea of Japan, called the East Sea in Korea, are inhabited only by a contingent of South Korean police. Claimed by South Korea and Japan.

— Kuril Islands. Located off the Russian Far East and Japan's northernmost main island, the southern Kurils were occupied by the Soviets in the closing days of World War II, and Japan before that. Four of the Russian-controlled islands, which have small military and civilian populations, are in dispute and have kept Japan and Russia from signing a formal treaty ending their wartime hostilities. They are a base for fishing operations and a rich source of crab. Claimed by Russia and Japan.

— Spratly Islands. A flashpoint in the South China Sea, they are comprised of hundreds of coral reefs, islets and atolls claimed entirely or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

— Paracel Islands. About halfway between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea, they are claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. They are called Xisha in Chinese and Hoang Sa in Vietnamese. China and Vietnam had a conflict over them in the 1970s, and China has controlled them since then.

Here;  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4r9oru1sscZwtBYFS-VacKRhMKQ?docId=b54f8b4c4cdc43cea36c0dd6eeaaab38

I'm guessing that there are some serious grievances and vengeance that have never been satisfied by China, Korea and Russia when it comes to Japan.  Since Japan was utterly destroyed, it has risen from the ashes of nuclear bomb blasts to become the 2nd largest economy in the world and in the process has become wildly wealthy.  They haven't had a standing army since they surrendered and really haven't needed one since America served as their protectorate.

But China is rising, so is Russia and so is Korea.  I would be nervous if I were Japan.  70-100 years is simply not that long of time to erase the memory of Japanese atrocities....and these little islands that these nations are now bickering over could very well be the flash point that ignites these old memories...and maybe will lead to the releasing of the demons of war once more.

"There will be wars....", said Jesus.