Quote:
Originally Posted by Torplexed
What is this? A rant from 1991? Most cars, electronics and exported jobs I see now days are South Korean or Chinese. I believe Japanese corporations ended up selling off most of the landmarks they bought up back in the go-go days of the 1980s. Mitsubishi, in particular took an extraordinary loss on the Rockefellar Center.
If you're hankering to see the Japanese suffer and brought low, I would think the liquidity trap of the last two decades would be enough. Not to mention Fukushima.
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Preach.
The World Wars exemplify the maturation of Clausewitz's concept of total war - the mobilization of a whole people to the purpose of the state. Thus, the purpose of the state becomes the purpose of the people, and the means of production becomes the engine of war. There had always been an understanding that the easiest way to hurt an opponent without risking one's own force was to raid their sources of wealth and commerce. However, as total war converted private wealth and commerce to the service of the state, it also converted them to legitimate targets of war.
It's no stretch to consider fishing trawlers, tugboats, and sampans to be serving an island state at war, and they are totally legitimate wartime targets. Specifically targeting the crew, especially after their vessel is sunk, is more problematical; for instance, sinking the fishing boat while letting the crew survive actually accelerates the food shortage. Capturing (or killing, if he refuse surrender) a skilled airman/seaman/soldier etc has always been accepted as a part of war. In general, though, the survivors from craft you have destroyed have little immediate value to their state.
Although the game does not model it, you could definitely role-play attacks on unarmed ships as though giving fair warning. I usually encounter fishing trawlers while surface-cruising at night, without much warning before we spot each other. One could sail into the formation and not open fire until 30 minutes after contact. In certain areas, in certain conditions, one could even consider surfaced attacks on larger merchants, although sometimes that results in them turning tail and running.
PS- as it stands, enemy aircrew are unrescuable - does anyone know if this is mod-able?