A Magic Broken

Kindle Books has liberated a lot of authors. But having read a lot of subpar fantasy that Kindle has unleashed on the fantasy world, it is a pleasure to read a Kindle book by someone who knows how to write.

What I liked best about A Magic Broken was the characterizations. Each character had their own perspective and individual voice. Too many novels, especially Kindle novels, have all the characters think and talk the same—often like they are a college professor. I was particularly taken by the character of the “honest” crook, the slaver. Day tweaked his language just enough for us to understand who he was without too much annoying bad grammar. 

Broken gives us a good balance of action and detail. The usual lack of balance between these two are why I usually do not read novellas. While the novella is a part of a bigger world and is designed to promote the upcoming series, it stands alone. Day cleverly informed us with a lot of details about the geopolitical situation in the mouth of the main character explaining himself to the city’s guards.

I do feel that the dwarves and elves are a little too stereotypical in the novella. One of the dwarves was also rather a stereotype of the typical rich man’s, er, dwarf’s son.

Those who wish another novel by Day can get it at the bargain price of $.99. Summa Elvetica.  I am looking forward to reading Vox Day's next book, A Throne of Bones, set in this same world, which is to be available soon.

Turning Japanese?

Japan is in a difficult situation. They have a huge amount of debt. It has come to the point that if interest rates rise, most of the government revenues will have to be dedicated to paying it. The Japanese government has proposed doubling the sales tax. While this will help, it will not close the Japanese budget gap. 

Japan is also getting older. This means that the amount of debt per person in the workforce is going up. The same problem exists in Japan for retirees as in the US. There is no trust fund. It is actually worse in the US because Japan does own some US government debt. That changes the chart on the right, making the Japanese situation better than the chart would indicate—assuming that the US will actually pay the debt. 

Has Japan reached the point of "no return" yet? Probably. One logical place for the next crisis to begin is in Japan. 

If the current trends continue then the US will soon be in the situation Japan is in now. The debt will increase at least 1 trillion every year, assuming the US does not get into another war. If the US does, then the deficit will skyrocket. The US has not yet reached the point of "no return." Time remains to act on the deficit as it will take more than ten years to get to the place Japan is now. 

Will the US use that time wisely? 

Or is the US turning Japanese? 

I still find it ironic that pop music knows we are turning Japanese, but we are blind to it. 

Behold He Comes: Nazi Sex Slaves

Yesterday I talked about the institutionalized slavery in the Japanese Empire. Nazi Germany did the same thing. Similar to Japan who began by recruiting prostitutes, Germany took over existing brothels. But as with Japan, that was not enough, so kidnappings occurred to fill the brothels. 

A Nazi RaidThe Foreign Ministry of the Polish Government in Exile issued a document on May 3, 1941, describing the mass kidnapping raids conducted in Polish cities with the aim of capturing young women for sexual slavery in new brothels attended by German soldiers and officers. At the same time, Polish girls as young as 15, classified as suitable for slave labor and shipped to Germany, were sexually exploited by German soldiers usually at their place of destination.

It was often unofficial and “consensual.” 

The Swiss Red Cross mission driver Franz Mawick wrote in 1942 from Warsaw about what he saw: “Uniformed Germans [...] gaze fixedly at women and girls between the ages of 15 and 25. One of the soldiers pulls out a pocket flashlight and shines it on one of the women, straight into her eyes. The two women turn their pale faces to us, expressing weariness and resignation. The first one is about 30 years old. “What is this old whore looking for around here?” – one of the three soldiers laughs. “Bread, sir” – asks the woman. [...] “A kick in the ass you get, not bread” – answers the soldier. Owner of the flashlight directs the light again on the faces and bodies of girls. [...] The youngest is maybe 15 years old [...] They open her coat and start groping her with their lustfull paws. “This one is ideal for bed” – he says.”.

Prostitution is not glamorous. I suppose that if a woman is forced into prostitution to eat that is ”consensual.” 

While there was no way for a young German Christian man to avoid the war, barring being imprisoned in a camp himself, they could avoid the rape involved in forced prostitution. I wonder how many of them did? The peer pressure would have been immense. 

Jews, Russians, and Eastern Europeans were a particular target. When the Russians took over Eastern Germany you can guess what happened. Estimates are that up to 2 million German women were raped by Russian soldiers. Even if it was only a fraction of this number, the number of rapes was huge.  What you reap, that you also sow. 

What is interesting is that looking at the advantages Germany had in the war they should have won. It has been suggested that God intervened on the side of the Allies. Maybe. But far more likely is that German ideology cost the Nazis the war. When the German troops arrived in the Ukraine, they were greeted as liberators from the communist Russians. If their ideology had allowed it, treating the “inferior” Ukrainians well, even as a subterfuge, would have made them allies. Instead they stole the Ukrainian’s women to use as sex slaves. This may have cost them the war as the war was lost on the Eastern Front. 

What goes around, comes around. Jesus was proven right when he said that “if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.” Germany lived by the sword and the result was that they died by the sword. 

Why do we as American Christians think that this is not true for the US as well? Since America lives by the sword, if Jesus is correct, America will die by the sword. God does not have to intervene, the natural consequences of war will inevitably lead to America dying by the sword. Has America “lived by the sword”? I suggest you click on the keyword “War” on the right column of this blog for some examples of America relying on the sword. 

I will return to this series next week. Yes, you have guessed it, I will be talking about America. 

Behold He Comes: Japanese Comfort Women

While much can be written about the brutality of the Japanese empire, such as the massacres at Nanking,  I decided to focus on one particular aspect of it. Being in fear of unhappy soldiers far away from home led to the establishment of government brothels throughout the Japanese empire. At first, lured by higher pay and the open nature of prostitution in Japan, the recruits for these brothels were volunteers. But there were not enough women to keep the soldiers happy. So this was the result. 

Young women from countries under Japanese Imperial control were abducted from their homes. In many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants. Once recruited, the women were incarcerated in “comfort stations” in foreign lands. Other women were rounded up at gunpoint, some being raped before being herded into “comfort stations.” A Dutch government study described how the Japanese military itself recruited women by force in the Dutch East Indies. Some “comfort stations” were run by private agents supervised by the Japanese Army or run directly by the Japanese Army.

It seems to me that this is the natural result of empire. If you separate young men from their natural environment for the defense of an empire, any empire, such things will happen. It is one of the most common, yet most underreported, aspect of any empire. Of course these women were well treated:

Approximately three quarters of comfort women died, and most survivors were left infertile due to sexual trauma or sexually transmitted disease. According to Japanese soldier Yasuji Kaneko, “The women cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died. We were the emperor’s soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctance.” Beatings and physical torture were said to be common. 

This an aspect of all aggressive militaries. 

Hiroshima was the Christian Center of Japan. This was a church. Even if you are innocent, you suffer if your nation suffers. I see the natural results of Imperial Japan in the suffering the Japanese people during the end of the war and the post-war period. I am not saying that God directed the hands of MacNamara in the war. But I am saying that God made the world in a certain way, and the natural consequences of human action are often eventually that evil will be returned on those that do evil. 

As Paul said in Galatians, “God is not mocked, what a person sows, that he shall also reap.” Japan sowed hate and brutality. Guess what Japan reaped? God does not have to do anything. The natural consequences of an individual’s or a nation’s actions will occur. 

Tomorrow I will talk about the Third Reich. Until then you can look at this video on the Comfort Women. 

Romney Boomlet

I will don my Prophecy Podcast turban and predict that if Romney wins there will be a little boomlet. 

A lot of the investor class are sitting on money, and are not borrowing money to expand because they see the risk of another Obama term as too large. So if Romney is elected we will have a self-fulfilling prophecy and the economy will improve. This may allow the US to avoid the mini-crunch that most pundits are predicting for next year. The bad 2013 prediction of many, me included, is the combination of the expiration of the Bush Tax cuts, the expiration of the temporary Social Security tax cut, the first layer of Obamacare taxes, and the forced spending cuts—all happening at once. But if Romney is elected the Bush tax cuts will be extended, Obamacare might be repealed, and the “animal spirits” as Keynes called it, consumer confidence, will increase. 

While it is anecdotal, I have had many people tell me that they are holding off making any investments until after the election. These investor “animal spirits” will be an important factor if Romney is elected. 

But will it last? 

Unless Romney is a lot better “dancer” than I think he is, then no, the respite will be temporary. Get ready for an extended period of national decline