Hittokapu Bay.

This is coolbert:

Taken in isolation, this is not a big [a minor?] issue. Taken in the context of the Japanese dispute with China over the contested islands Senkaku & Diaoyu this suggests something else?

President Medvedev makes a visit, scheduled [?] to the Kurile Islands, this raising an instantaneous and somewhat furious reaction from the Japanese.

"Russia defiant as Japan recalls envoy over islands"

"MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia announced that President Dmitry Medvedev planned more trips to a disputed chain of Pacific islands Tuesday, adding more fuel to a diplomatic row after Japan said it would recall its envoy to Moscow."

The Japanese ambassador to Moscow being recalled in protest! NOT a minor event!

"Lavrov's message of defiance came after his counterpart Seiji Maehara said he had summoned home Japan's ambassador to the Russian capital."


The Kurile Islands, rich in resources, controlled by the Soviets/Russians from 1945 onward, ownership of the the island chain disputed to a degree!

"The Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japan's Hokkaido island, have been controlled by Moscow since they were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II, but Tokyo claims the southernmost four as Japanese territory."

From Hittokapu Bay, Kurile Islands, is from whence the Kido Butai embarked on Pearl Harbor mission, 7 December, 1941! A very minor theatre of the war in the Pacific - - occasionally bombed by long-range American aircraft flying out of the Aleutians/Alaska!

"Hittokapu Bay (147.63E 44.93N), also known as Tankan Bay, is located on the island of Etorofu in the southern Kuriles. It was the assembly point for the Pearl Harbor strike force, chosen for its isolation, but it played little further role in the war."

This visit of Medvedev is a deliberate provocation, orchestrated in concert with the Chinese, provoking the Japanese in a manner unwarranted? I hate to think it is so, but regrettably the thought is more or less foremost in my mind.

Disputes not subject to negotiation over land are traditionally a casus belli! Let it not be so in this case!

coolbert.