pile it on the list of embarrassments for America
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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Well they did declare war depending on who you believe.
And as a rule I don't believe anything the US says since they could never be trusted
This sounds like a Boondocks bit.
These last years after the pandemic feel like we're stuck in a late-night Adult Swim reality.
Pretty sure the Japanese told the rest of the Axis Powers of their plans
AND they technically tried to warn the US about it, but the diplomat responsible for delivering the notice was late because of bureaucracy among other things! It was literally not even supposed to be a surprise attack!
The 14-part ultimatum message was encrypted from Japan, the embassy had to decrypt then translate into English. To preserve secrecy the embassy didn’t employ locals, and few of the embassy staff knew English so progress was slow. The instruction to deliver the message at 1pm also didn’t mention this was absolutely critical. The Ambassador arrived at the State Department over an hour late.
Meanwhile army intelligence had decrypted and translated the message much faster, but a litany of failures meant the warning of probable attack had to be sent by telegram - not even paying for priority service - and arrived at the base after the attack.
However, it was intended to be a surprise attack, and the declaration of war was only delivered ten hours later.
Pretty sure it was still going to be a surprise, just not zero warning. Iirc their goal was delivering the declaration minutes before the first planes arrived.
It was never a surprise.
The US, that never tolerates economic competition froze Japanese assets and subsequently imposed a total oil embargo in response to Japan's occupation of French Indochina, cutting off roughly 88–94% of Japan’s oil supply.
That was almost a declaration of war.
They wanted war with Japan.
Moving the fleet to a remote place in the middle of the ocean was seen as insanity since it was a sitting duck.
......source?
......source?
Literally any history book, this is high-school level information. JFC
Literally every class I've ever taken, and every documentary I've ever seen has said it was a surprise attack.
Some documentaries suggest that the allies suspected an attack may be coming at some point, but they didn't "know".
So, no. Not literally every history book shows this as a pre-agreed upon attack.
I don't even believe the 'late' part
That's legitimately a brilliant response.
Japan and the US during WW2 were not allies. They were enemies.
That is pretty much why Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in the first place.
Today the US and Japan today are allies, however.
The two situations are not exactly comparable. You shouldn't treat your allies like you treat your enemies
In Japan this would go down terribly. Not only because sarcasm is seen as distasteful, he pretty much made her lose face.
I say "would" because in reality Japanese media tend to report stories with a pro-government, pro-US bias, so I doubt this little gaffe will get much traction domestically.
I'm not sorry for this fascist ghoul, whitewashing the horrible warcrimes of their empire in WW2?
It's legitimately the funniest thing he's ever said.
Funny is great, but not... In every situation. I don't want a funny president for the same reason I don't want a funny oncologist.
Oh, no doubt. It was super inappropriate for sure.
What a babbling idiot. Does he think that she was one of the Kamikaze pilots?