Japan - Russia Kuril Islands dispute:

Kiko wrote:Don't know where to insert this but it's relevant.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-deploys-missiles-islands-claimed-japan-after-tense-us-navy-standoff

franco wrote:Read somewhere in the past couple of days that the USA have informed the residents of the Kuriles that they consider them citizens of Japan so they will need to get Japanese passports to travel to the US.  

franco wrote:Was that Navy base in Matua Island created?

Not that I'm aware of. The focus has been on rebuilding the other military bases on Iturup & Kunashir.

franco wrote:Yeah, it appears US is trying to goad a conflict in Kuril islands now.

This is a never ending world wide endeavor.

I guess that is where the s-300V4 and those tanks are located?

Yes, along with the permanently stationed machine gun artillery regiments, BAL and Bastion anti-ship missiles battalions and a new joint civilian military airport at Kurilsk.

Tsavo Lion wrote:https://english.pravda.ru/news/world/145359-alaska_russians/

Kiko wrote:America forced Tokyo to give up Kuril Islands, yet now it labels its Russian residents as Japanese, ex-diplomat tells RT:
https://www.rt.com/news/509030-us-russia-kuril-islands/

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE KURIL ISLANDS, SINCE JAPAN IS TRYING SO HARD TO GET THEM

There are 56 Islands in the Kuril chain, from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka in Russia.

In a previous article, I discussed whether Biden could influence Japan’s claim to the Russian Kuril Islands. But Japan does not need all the Islands, it lays claims only to Kunashir, Shikotan and Iturup. What’s so special about them?

To begin with, these are the largest Islands of the Kuril archipelago. The total area of the three islands is 5,000 km2, which is equal to half of the total area of the archipelago (10,500 km2).



For islands of 5,000 km2, this is a pretty good result. Three Moscows could fit on these three.

But this is the case when size does not matter.

Beautiful wildlife, active volcanoes, waterfalls, rare animals (84 species are mentioned in the Red List) – this is of course a special highlight of the islands, but one can hardly buy the Japanese with this. They have enough of their own exotics.

There must be something special in those lands for disputes to have not subsided for 75 years.

First feature

The Kuril Islands are one of the richest regions of the world’s oceans in terms of the number and diversity of marine life.

Millions of tons of pollock, cod, herring, flounder, squid, crabs, shrimp and so on are caught there each year. One just can’t list them all.

And in the period of August-October, tuna, mackerel, saury, and pink salmon enter the southern Kuril region. And this is the only place in Russia where one can catch tuna.

Imagine how much sushi the Japanese could have if they had the opportunity to fish near the Kuril Islands.


Second feature

On the island of Iturup is a rich deposit of rhenium. The rarity lies in the fact that all over the world this is the only deposit where rhenium is in the form of the mineral rheniite. In other cases, it can only be obtained by extracting it from other metals, as a passing component.


Rhenium is very resistant to high temperatures and chemicals.

It can withstand a temperature of 2,200 degrees Celsius and does not deform in any way.

Hence the scope of use of this superhero. Parts for rocket technology and sonic aircraft, combustion chambers, exhaust nozzles of jet engines – all of this is made thanks to rhenium.

By the way, using rhenium as a catalyst, it is possible to produce high-octane (i.e. better quality) commercial gasoline.

Now you understand what an important role rhenium plays in our industry. And how much the economy is facilitated by its deposits on our land.
Due to low availability and high demand, rhenium is one of the most expensive metals, with 1 kg of rhenium costing between $1,000 and $10,000.

Maybe it’s time to store your savings not in currency or gold, but in rhenium.

The third feature

The Sea of Okhotsk, or rather its bottom.

In 2014, Russia was able to prove that the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk is an extension of our land. This means that it is a territory of Russia.

And this is an important event for us, because there is about 1 billion tons of oil there alone, while the annual oil production in Russia from all fields is about 0.5 billion tons.

Studies have shown that oil lies at a depth of about 2 km under the sea floor. Even if we take into account the maximum depth of the Sea of Okhotsk, which is 4 km, the maximum depth of the well will be about 6 km. On land, the average depth of oil production is 5 km, and ultra-deep wells reach 12 km.

But if the Kuril Islands go to Japan, they will have the right to extract minerals in the exclusive economic zone (370 km from the coast).

In short, these seemingly ordinary Islands are so important for our country.

https://www.stalkerzone.org/what-is-special-about-the-kuril-islands-since-japan-is-trying-so-hard-to-get-them/

Japan will really show to the world what a POS country it is. There was no ceasfire agreement that transferred the four islands back
to Japan. Any treaty that Japan has with the US does not apply to the USSR and Russia. And clearly the four islands were lost by
Japan during WWII and were not some peacetime invasion by the USSR.

Japanese hair splitting about when it called for peace or some other shit is totally irrelevant. It is basically trying to impose peace-time
rules on war-time. Japan has delusions of grandeur and might.