6 ms·

There’s a conspiracy theory that the us military is purposefully or accidentally responsible for Lyme as a bio weapon. Fun fact, things like bubonic plague wer

There’s a conspiracy theory that the us military is purposefully or accidentally responsible for Lyme as a bio weapon. Fun fact, things like bubonic plague were used during WWII. Japan had a plan scheduled to go off a few months after they surrendered (and thus canceled) to use such things on one of the US west coast cities, can’t recall which.

boudin 7y ago
There's an actual investigation about that. https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/lyme-disease-amendment-investigation/index.html https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/lyme-disease-a...
ivanhoe 7y ago
Yup, operation Cherry Blossoms at Night. Japan planned an air-raid attack on San Diego at night to spread plague infected fleas. They never did that in the end because the war ended, but they killed some estimated 200K people in China while "testing & improving" those weapons - horror movie stuff... and AFAIK Japan never officially apologized for that (nor US apologized for giving immunity to Shirō Ishii, the mastermind behind Unit 731 war crimes, and his medical team) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cherry_Blossoms_at_Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cherry_Blossoms_at_N... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirō_Ishii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirō_Ishii
- msbarnett 7y ago
  > and AFAIK Japan never officially apologized for that It would actually appear to be covered by a number of apologies they’ve issued over the years, first and most notably the formal apology for all actions in China which was accepted by the PRC as part of the Japan–China Joint Communiqué that formally reestablished diplomatic relations in 1972.
  - wallace_f 7y ago
    IDK why corporate media loves to hate Japan. The two big criticisms are whales and war crimes apologies, yet other countries kill more whales (not just per capita but in absolute numbers) and it's not like America has ever apoligized for the Native American genocide(1), or even interning Japanese. 1-https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-madley-california-genocide-20160522-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-madley-californi...
    - mc32 7y ago
      Reagan apologized and also compensated descendants of Roosevelt’s internment policy[1]. I think people keep chiding Japan because they are reluctant to address the so called “comfort women”. Obama signed an apology to First Nations Americans. [1]https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/09/210138278/japanese-internment-redress https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/09/210138278...
      - wallace_f 7y ago
        I stand corrected on internment camps, I didn't know they were compensated. From the above source I linked: >Neither the U.S. government nor the state of California has acknowledged that the California Indian catastrophe fits the two-part legal definition of genocide set forth by the United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948 Finally, I don't see why Japan is singled out. The rape of Berlin could have been worse. Millions of Cambodian Viets were pick axed to death in the Killing Fields. Norway kills far more whales, especially on per capita basis. We still throw people in prison for smoking plants and are quiet about our police state. The Japanese were utterly bombed like almost no other time and place in humanity, and the only leadership from that era which survived did so by the US. And I don't see any people broadcasting their views about social justice for women going to Southeast Asia where Western money pours in to sexually exploit women. I think we live in an era with its own virtue politics, not an era of actual virtue.
      - msbarnett 7y ago
        > 1]. I think people keep chiding Japan because they are reluctant to address the so called “comfort women”. They’ve issued a bunch of specific apologies specifically regarding the “comfort women”, beginning in 1992 and then frequently thereafter. At various times they have apologized several times per year. The apologies are listed here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statemen..., culminating in a 2015 apology that was agreed to by South Korea to “finally and irrevocably resolve the issue” And amazingly still the notion that they won’t apologize for it is commonplace.
cgh 7y ago
For a horrifying fictional take on this, watch Men Behind the Sun. Be warned.

boudin 7y ago

There's an actual investigation about that. https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/lyme-disease-amendment-investigation/index.html https://edition-m.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/lyme-disease-a...

ivanhoe 7y ago

Yup, operation Cherry Blossoms at Night. Japan planned an air-raid attack on San Diego at night to spread plague infected fleas. They never did that in the end because the war ended, but they killed some estimated 200K people in China while "testing & improving" those weapons - horror movie stuff... and AFAIK Japan never officially apologized for that (nor US apologized for giving immunity to Shirō Ishii, the mastermind behind Unit 731 war crimes, and his medical team) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cherry_Blossoms_at_Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cherry_Blossoms_at_N... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirō_Ishii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirō_Ishii

msbarnett 7y ago
> and AFAIK Japan never officially apologized for that It would actually appear to be covered by a number of apologies they’ve issued over the years, first and most notably the formal apology for all actions in China which was accepted by the PRC as part of the Japan–China Joint Communiqué that formally reestablished diplomatic relations in 1972.
- wallace_f 7y ago
  IDK why corporate media loves to hate Japan. The two big criticisms are whales and war crimes apologies, yet other countries kill more whales (not just per capita but in absolute numbers) and it's not like America has ever apoligized for the Native American genocide(1), or even interning Japanese. 1-https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-madley-california-genocide-20160522-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-madley-californi...
  - mc32 7y ago
    Reagan apologized and also compensated descendants of Roosevelt’s internment policy[1]. I think people keep chiding Japan because they are reluctant to address the so called “comfort women”. Obama signed an apology to First Nations Americans. [1]https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/09/210138278/japanese-internment-redress https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/09/210138278...
    - wallace_f 7y ago
      I stand corrected on internment camps, I didn't know they were compensated. From the above source I linked: >Neither the U.S. government nor the state of California has acknowledged that the California Indian catastrophe fits the two-part legal definition of genocide set forth by the United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948 Finally, I don't see why Japan is singled out. The rape of Berlin could have been worse. Millions of Cambodian Viets were pick axed to death in the Killing Fields. Norway kills far more whales, especially on per capita basis. We still throw people in prison for smoking plants and are quiet about our police state. The Japanese were utterly bombed like almost no other time and place in humanity, and the only leadership from that era which survived did so by the US. And I don't see any people broadcasting their views about social justice for women going to Southeast Asia where Western money pours in to sexually exploit women. I think we live in an era with its own virtue politics, not an era of actual virtue.
    - msbarnett 7y ago
      > 1]. I think people keep chiding Japan because they are reluctant to address the so called “comfort women”. They’ve issued a bunch of specific apologies specifically regarding the “comfort women”, beginning in 1992 and then frequently thereafter. At various times they have apologized several times per year. The apologies are listed here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statemen..., culminating in a 2015 apology that was agreed to by South Korea to “finally and irrevocably resolve the issue” And amazingly still the notion that they won’t apologize for it is commonplace.

cgh 7y ago

For a horrifying fictional take on this, watch Men Behind the Sun. Be warned.