Meanwhile, the world governments and most of the international community share the concerns of Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, expressed in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

"Any move by the new U.S. administration to build a missile defense system could upset the world's military balance, lead to a new arms race, and leave certain countries feeling naked in the face of U.S. power, Singapore's Prime Minister said ... The Prime Minister's comments on the missile defense proposal are especially noteworthy because Singapore has cordial relations with all the main nuclear powers and because the 59-year-old Goh is a respected, relatively neutral observer of Asian affairs. If President-elect Bush goes ahead with plans to build a system to protect the United States from ballistic missile attacks, 'then you must expect Russia, China and India to find a way where they can also protect themselves,' Goh said."

Furthering Prime Minister Go Chok Tong's argument, if America were to develop a workable missile defense system, deploying it would directly violate Soviet/US START treaties, which forbids the deployment and launching of new missile systems. This would absolve major superpowers from having to adhere to the tenets of these international agreements. Donald Rumsfeld's philosophy contrasts this sharply.

As he commented during a December 28th press conference, "History teaches us that weakness is provocative. The task you have outlined is to fashion deterrence and defense capabilities, so that our country will be able to successfully contribute to peace and stability in the world."

In this post-Cold War climate the likelihood of a ballistic missile attack is highly unlikely. But even on the off chance that it does occur and, in defense, some monumental U.S. achievement in computer targeting enables a multi-billion dollar defense system to shoot down every single missile, that threat still only constitutes a minor hurdle to an America vulnerable to a plethora of other threats ushered in by political and social turbulence. In Yemen last year terrorists sidled a bomb right up alongside the USS Cole. Warring tribes and epidemic levels of AIDS cases threaten the stability of the African continent. Russia is slipping back into the poverty of the communist era and, though alarmists scream about a new militant Soviet regime led by ex-KGB President Putin, the Russian people look to a compassionate U.S. for help. The concept of force against force warfare on the field of battle hardly represents the core of modern military or diplomatic concerns.

The incoming administration has proposed adding $20 billion for weapons research to the already stellar military budget out of which he hopes to finance a $60 billion ballistic missile defense program. Perhaps Bush should follow Japan's lead and embrace some "fresh viewpoints" before he creates the very monster he claims to defend against.

In the December 28 press conference at which he introduced Rumsfeld, the President-elect summarized his own perception of the military, "Today, American armed forces have an irreplaceable role in our world. They give confidence to our allies, they deter the aggression of our enemies."

These words suggest a world of blacks and whites, good against evil, right against wrong. But the landscape is far more textured than that. Humanity always emerges as its own worst enemy. Oshii understands this, as does "Blue Submarine No. 6" director Mahiro Maeda whose fatalistic adaptation of Satoru Ozawa's manga series ends without fanfare, explosions or a winner. So too does "Wings of Honneamise" creator Hiroyuki Yamaga whose vision of the future finds warring nations inhibiting mankind's exploration of space.

It seems that Japan, fifty years out of war and the only country to experience the destructive force of the most dangerous weapon ever manufactured, knowingly speaks for the spirit of disarmament, diplomacy and freedom. If only the world could learn from its cartoons.