Interesting speech from Jerusalem prize winner

[rich]

interesting particularly given the fact that many in Japan still will
not acknowledge its war record of conquest, murder, and other war
crimes during WW2.

charles simic says it better than i could (from March 12th issue of NYRB)

'What unites many countries in the world, both the ones that don't
give a fig about human rights and the ones that profess they do, is
their unwillingness to punish their war criminals. When it comes to
accountability, instances of confronting their own guilt are
exceedingly rare among nations, especially when the victims are
members of some other race, religion, or country. Even international
leaders concerned with situations such as the one in Yugoslavia,
despite their protests to the contrary, are often reluctant to see the
guilty punished since political interests usually take precedence over
justice.'


rich




On 2/20/09, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 2:30 AM, Lawrence Bryan <lebryan at speakeasy.net>
> wrote:
>
>> http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/02/20/haruki_murakami/index.html
>
> no complaints here, only thanks.  Thanks!
>