Mr. Pilger appears to be under the severely naive impression that ONLY the comparatively democratic West can be guilty of imperialism. What, EXACTLY does he consider imperial Japan to have been?
Yes, Mr. Pilger, in strictly HUMAN terms, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were war crimes. I don't feel they were necessary either.
So?
What EXACTLY is your point?
In war, people commit war crimes . . . the "bad" guys, AND the "good" guys. It's called: . . . The result of hatred, anger, confusion, the impulse for revenge, emotional hysteria, fear of the future, the desire for dominance, etc.
Why are you surprised?
When I was still foolish enough to be a Trotskyist, many years ago, I remember listening to radical feminists declare that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (which WAS a NAKEDLY IMPERIALIST act by a MARXIST SOCIALIST regime . . . NOT a capitalist one, and was NOT provoked by any 9/11-type of terrorism in the Soviet Union) was a "good" thing (even though both Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns UNITED to fight against it) because it would "destroy" the "misogynistic" native culture . . . it was "for their own good", even if the majority didn't like it. They "needed to be dragged, kicking and screaming", into the modern world . . . even as Soviet troops were tossing prisoners under moving tanks. None of these "ladies" of the Left appeared to have any recognition of the inconsistencies in their own "anti-imperialist" ideology.
We can reasonably conclude that Mr. Pilger believes ONLY America and its allies should be required to meticulously follow the "rules of war". Perhaps he feels that Australia would be safer and more "democratic" if the Empire of Japan had won the war, instead of capitalist "imperialist" America . . . a land where Mr. Pilger would STILL be free to market virtually any calumny he wishes, from the comfort of his hotel room's sofa.
About the comments of the President of Iran . . . Mr. Pilger is simply parsing words. He knows very well what the lunatic of Tehran MEANT.

Gusi, How many pro American interviews have you seen on the ABC? The very vast majority of their interviews are with people with doomsday predictions of impending disasters due to current or past behaviour of the West. Aboriginal Problem, Climate Change, victims of past wars(Pilger), economic and social inequalities etc are usually attributed to Western decadence. No?

Occasional intense questioning of Labour party figures or others figures does not necessarily equal balance.

Who said its a Conspiracy? Not me. Its just their own bizarre reality in which the West is to blame for the worlds problems. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without the US and the West the World would be run by totalitarian states and we would have long ago ceased to exist.

John is not arguing for support of Japanese imperialism. He is trying to open people's eyes to the brutality of "our" imperialism.

A pox on all the houses of imperialism - Russian, European, American, Japanese, Chinese and Australian.

Atman, Current Affairs shows are usually bad news shows. Good news is saved for programs like Catalyst, Compass or foreign correspondent.

The shows usually have western 'experts' as presumably the Russian and Chinese experts are not free to speak their minds.

I am not aware of any current affairs shows on commercial television bashing the non-west. In fact the only current affairs shows on commercial TV are on SBS some of which is far more left wing than anything on the ABC. Perhaps you can recommend a current affairs program on commercial TV as I rarely watch 7,9 and 10.

I listen to ABC radio for 6-10 hours a day and I think that overall it is well balanced, every side gets a say. The ABC is in fact monitored for overall bias. Philip Adams is balanced out by Rachel Cohn, John Cleary et al. Something sadly lacking on the other channels.

in the week preceeding hiroshima, america rolled out another type of bomb: simple napalm. applied to tokyo in a single mass raid, more than 100,000 died in a single day. no need for demonstrations of atomic power, no need for radiation poisoning, and a simple way to kill as many japanese in their wood and paper cities as it took to get surrender.

but the target was the soviet union, the frightening of.

for many americans, ww2 was just a tedious interlude in the war against communism. bush0 did 2 years in jail for his support of the nazis, churchill tried to continue and expand the ww1 conquest of germany into his personal vendetta against the soviet union, and got far enough with his plans to scare lenin. the resulting soviet paranoia was firmly based on history.

pilger is a human being, and no doubt has his individual flaws. but he has tried to give the world a view of government activities from the 'back-side'. my experience with governments and supporters of governments has long ago convinced me that if their mouths are open, they are lying. if you must rely on someone's word, take pilger's

Demos, you seem to see Pilger as some imperfect, yet well meaning individual trying to expose the injustices of the past. You forget Japan and Germany initiated a major world war with the purpose of annihilating liberal democracies. Consequently, they brought about their own defeat and the deaths of many of their own people. Suddenly,in the 21st Century, Pilger reinterprets this having become innocent victims of Western imperialism! Its sheer lunacy and I'm surprised at how many can be so easily convinced.