"Peace Agreement" Russia vs Japan: Control Over Islands Not Up For Discussion

[ThunderBlade + 231]

According to Reuters Agency, Russia told Japan on Monday that Moscow’s sovereignty over several disputed islands was not up for discussion and that disagreements between the countries still obstruct the path to a peace deal. Russia and Japan have been in dispute since World War Two over islands captured by Soviet troops in the last days of the war. The islands are known as the Southern Kuriles to Russia and the Northern Territories to Japan. “We’ve brought the attention of our friends from Japan to the fact that the questions of sovereignty over the islands are not being discussed. It is the Russian Federation’s territory,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.Lavrov was speaking to reporters following talks with Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono. “I won’t hide that we still have significant divergences. To start with the positions were diametrically opposed and we have said this more than once,” Lavrov said. “But the political will of our leaders to fully normalize between Russia and Japan prompts us to activate this dialogue,” he said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making a push for a treaty with Russia over the islands. He is due to hold peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan. 22, but Moscow has shown no willingness to cede control over the islands.

[Pavel + 384]

Moscow is trying to play the role of the Greatest...

[damirUSBiH + 327]

After 74 years, they're still trying to figure out how to end World War II.

[Pavel + 384]

Russia continues to flex its muscle ... this time the South Kuril Islands... which have been Russian occupied since the end of WW-II. Japan was on wrong side, they were axis of evil, but South Kr. doesn't belong to Russia..

[pinto + 293]

South Kurile.... Small island, a big challenge

 

[Rodent + 1,424]

9 minutes ago, Pavel said:

Russia continues to flex its muscle ... this time the South Kuril Islands... which have been Russian occupied since the end of WW-II. Japan was on wrong side, they were axis of evil, but South Kr. doesn't belong to Russia..

Talk about lost in translation! That these are still disputed is silly. Each country should be able to select a few islands that are closest to them. The rest of the disputed chain of islands should be decided on with a simple game of heads or tails.

I really should be consulted more often in world disputes. I have great ideas. Rodent for Congress!!

[Pavel + 384]

5 minutes ago, Rodent said:

.... I really should be consulted more often in world disputes. I have great ideas. Rodent for Congress!!

Believe it or not, there still is no peace treaty between Russia and Japan after World War II. Maybe, in your foreign affairs agenda, potentially, you should put mediation between Russia and Japan about S. Kurile

[50 shades of black + 254]

Japan has shown forms of imperialism before: why were they trying to colonize and dominate the Korean peninsula years before WWII? I’m not saying that it was an objective of Japanese people, just the ideology of  military leaders of that time and if anything, the Japanese people can be considered victims in a sense.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

10 hours ago, Rodent said:

Talk about lost in translation! That these are still disputed is silly. Each country should be able to select a few islands that are closest to them. The rest of the disputed chain of islands should be decided on with a simple game of heads or tails.

I really should be consulted more often in world disputes. I have great ideas. Rodent for Congress!!

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a really nice place on a Canadian island called Campobello.  It is sitting on the Border between Maine and New Brunswick.  

Little known to folks in both countries (outside of the local lobstermen) are yet some other little islands, quite uninhabited, the largest of which is this flyspeck in the Gulf of Maine called Machias Seal Island. It is sitting out there maybe 10 miles southeast of Cutler, Maine,and 12 miles southwest of Southwest Head, Canada, itself a little village on Grand Manan Island. Next door is yet another little flyspeck called North Rock.  OK, so those rocks have been around for 15,000 years, and neither Canada nor the USA can figure out how to divvy them up, territory-wise.  What makes them valuable is the "fishing rights" to the lobsters that grow in super-abundance around the rocks.  

So the US Coast Guard goes out there and hassles the Canadians, stopping and searching their boats  (rather pushy of them, all things considered) and the Canadians have built this big  (unoccupied, I think) lighthouse on the larger island, and their coast guard goes out there to physically plant a Canadian flag, and not to be outdone, the Americans run out there to go plant their own flag.  Now keep in mind that the lobstermen from both countries have worked out their own informal deals on sharing the lobstering grounds, so it is not as if anyone is throwing boarding hooks at each other. 😊   Still, the governments cannot make their respective peace, now since at least the War of 1812, over these little piles of rock.  

And the Canadians graciously welcome the Americans in to go tour Roosevelt's place on Campobello Island.  Nice of them.  Don't forget to go buy some souvenirs. 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Jan van Eck

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

11 hours ago, Pavel said:

Russia continues to flex its muscle ... this time the South Kuril Islands... which have been Russian occupied since the end of WW-II. Japan was on wrong side, they were axis of evil, but South Kr. doesn't belong to Russia..

That's nothing.  Russia is still sitting on a big chunk of Poland up there on the Baltic Coast, which they refuse to leave because it provides them with a nice place to go store large stockpiles of military equipment and aircraft to threaten and intimidate Poland, and to park part of the Russian Baltic Fleet where it does not get iced in much.  Check it out; called the Kaliningrad Oblast.  

The South Kurile Islands will have sunk into the abyss long before Russia surrenders the Kaliningrad.  

[Rodent + 1,424]

8 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a really nice place on a Canadian island called Campobello.  It is sitting on the Border between Maine and New Brunswick.  

Little known to folks in both countries (outside of the local lobstermen) are yet some other little islands, quite uninhabited, the largest of which is this flyspeck in the Gulf of Maine called Machias Seal Island. It is sitting out there maybe 10 miles southeast of Cutler, Maine,and 12 miles southwest of Southwest Head, Canada, itself a little village on Grand Manan Island. Next door is yet another little flyspeck called North Rock.  OK, so those rocks have been around for 15,000 years, and neither Canada nor the USA can figure out how to divvy them up, territory-wise.  What makes them valuable is the "fishing rights" to the lobsters that grow in super-abundance around the rocks.  

So the US Coast Guard goes out there and hassles the Canadians, stopping and searching their boats  (rather pushy of them, all things considered) and the Canadians have built this big  (unoccupied, I think) lighthouse on the larger island, and their coast guard goes out there to physically plant a Canadian flag, and not to be outdone, the Americans run out there to go plant their own flag.  Now keep in mind that the lobstermen from both countries have worked out their own informal deals on sharing the lobstering grounds, so it is not as if anyone is throwing boarding hooks at each other. 😊   Still, the governments cannot make their respective peace, now since at least the War of 1812, over these little piles of rock.  

And the Canadians graciously welcome the Americans in to go tour Roosevelt's place on Campobello Island.  Nice of them.  Don't forget to go buy some souvenirs. 

In middle school  while on vacation in Maine, I went out on a lobster fishing boat with one of the local fisherman to do his normal run. Great fun!

I guess if the fishermen have already come up with a plan that works for them the governments should probably let well enough alone. alternatively, my heads and tails method of solving territorial disputes seems wise.

[Illurion + 894]

On 1/14/2019 at 11:17 AM, Rodent said:

Talk about lost in translation! That these are still disputed is silly. Each country should be able to select a few islands that are closest to them. The rest of the disputed chain of islands should be decided on with a simple game of heads or tails.

I really should be consulted more often in world disputes. I have great ideas. Rodent for Congress!!

My take on this is that it is GOOD NEWS.

 

The Russians have no use for the islands,  and do not staff the islands to any extent.

 

Despite what Putin said,  these ISLANDS ARE VERY MUCH UP FOR DISCUSSION AT THE MEETING.

 

I believe Russia wants to trade them to Japan for something.

 

Why now ?

 

The question is,  what does Japan have that Russia WANTS SO BAD THAT THEY WILL GIVE UP THESE ISLANDS ?