It is often said that you learn something new every day. How true.
News of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to an obscure island in the North Pacific attracting the wrath of Japan is a perfect example. For this is one of the South Kuril islands which the Soviet Union siezed from the Japanese at the end of the Second World War. Japan argues that these islands are a part of their soveriegn territory and diplomatic impasse has meant that the Soviet Union and Japan never signed a formal peace treaty. Therefore, technically, the two countries (one now being Russia) are still at war.
Today, Medvedev visited Kunashir Island, near Japan's northernmost Hokkaido Island, sparking a diplomatic row with Tokyo, resulting in the withdrawal of the Japanese ambassador from Moscow. The visit was the first trip by a head of state of Russia or the former Soviet Union to the South Kuril Islands.
Goodness knows how many similar disputes there are over obscure pieces of land all over the world. It reminds me of the Falkland Islands in the South Pacific, which remain a part of Britain in spite of Argentina claiming ownership of them. When Argentina, which was a dictatorship at the time, invaded the islands -- known by them as the Malvinas -- in 1982, the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dispatched the British navy. The ensuing war killed nearly 1,000 young soldiers. For what?
It's highly unlikely that this dispute in the North Pacific, over islands which the Japanese call the Northern Territories will spark a military confrontation. But then no one predicted that there would be such a needless war over the Falklands.
I know nothing about these disputed islands until today. What a crazy world.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
