Ursula von der Leyen appeared to indicate that Moscow was accountable for the bombing of Hiroshima in World Warfare II
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has appeared to indicate that Russia, slightly than the US, dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese metropolis of Hiroshima throughout World Warfare II.
The highest EU official was invited to an occasion hosted by pro-NATO suppose tank the Atlantic Council on Thursday, the place she launched Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and described him as “an ally and a good friend.”
A lot of von der Leyen’s speech was devoted to condemning Russia for the battle in Ukraine, in addition to praising Japan for becoming a member of the US-led marketing campaign to punish Moscow.
Recalling her go to to Hiroshima for a gathering of G7 leaders earlier this 12 months, von der Leyen stated: “A lot of your family members misplaced their lives when the atomic bomb razed Hiroshima to the bottom. You will have grown up with the tales of the survivors and also you needed us to hearken to the identical tales to face the previous and study one thing in regards to the future.”
She described the expertise as “sobering,” particularly within the context of a interval “when Russia threatens to make use of nuclear weapons as soon as once more.”
The US bombed Hiroshima two days earlier than the USSR declared struggle on Imperial Japan within the closing act of World Warfare II. Washington dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki shortly afterwards, and the 2 operations stay the one instances in historical past during which nuclear weapons have been utilized in a struggle.
Von der Leyen made no point out of the US in her speech, following an obvious sample of Western obfuscation of Washington’s position within the nuclear bombings of Japan. Kishida did the identical when internet hosting the G7 summit in August.
The Japanese prime minister was one in all a number of honorees of the Atlantic Council’s International Citizen Award this 12 months. The others have been Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The suppose tank described the occasion as a “tribute to selflessness and cooperation within the face of autocratic aggression.”
Russia considers the Ukraine battle to be a part of a Western proxy struggle being waged in opposition to it. Moscow’s navy doctrine reserves its nuclear arsenal for conditions during which the nation’s existence is threatened. President Vladimir Putin assessed in June that the battle in Ukraine was nowhere close to that threshold.
Supply hyperlink
