Will Japan Pay Up?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30893735

[237SJ]

Terrible though it is for the hostages, I hope not. £200m would buy IS an awful lot of weaponry.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah probably but I wouldnt

The partial irony of sharly ebdo is that the French have been secret payers for years

Margaret T had it right - when she said that any member of the Cabinet that was kidnapped, was dead meat

[youngmafbog]

You can't pay up or your country becomes a cash cow.

Perhaps Japan could rustle up a couple of WW2 commandants and kamikaze pilots to go fight over there. That might wake ISIS up a bit.

[dannyk13]

Just heard on the news that Japanese spokesman has said they will not give in to the terrorists demands.

[mushroom25]

for nearly thirty years, governments of all persuasions in the UK said they would not surrender to the IRA. then, in 1998........

[Old_Geezer]

Says they won't give in, in the article. But no one knows what happens behind the scenes.

For sure, simply on a numbers basis, to pay would mean more deaths than not paying; plus it would mark Japan as an easy target to extort from, putting their citizens at greater peril.

[Gromit]

They have been negociating with IS for months. The current threat is to disrupt the Japanses PMs visit to the region, and appears to have succeeded. A Japanese Special Forces operating could be mounted from Turkey, they are on good relations with Japan. But it might be cheaper to just pay up.

// // The Japanese man who was captured is believed to be Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old from Chiba, who started a military service company in January called PMC. He was apparently taken hostage by Islamic State militants on Aug. 14.
Meanwhile, a senior official of another Syrian opposition group, the Islamic Front, who was with the Japanese man shortly before his capture, said the Islamic State is willing to negotiate handing over the hostage with the Islamic Front.

The official told The Asahi Shimbun on Aug. 20 via telephone that when the Islamic Front proposed releasing the man in exchange for the release of Islamic State members it was holding as prisoners, the Islamic State said it was willing to talk.

"We would like to start full-scale negotiations soon," said the official, who declined to disclose further details. //

[Old_Geezer]

Mushroom; when the "extermination of evil" preference has proved impossible, one can only try to negotiate a compromise if things are to change. Neither side surrendered, even if the means to peace was not what many would consider a "good" route to it.

[ToraToraTora]

Gromit: "But it might be cheaper to just pay up. " err no! that'll send the message that kidnapping japanese citizens is lucrative.

[-Talbot-]

The threat is because the Japanese pledged 200m dollars in non-military assistance to the countries battling IS.

Mr Abe added that Japan's pledges of non-military support to countries in the Middle East would continue.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30893735


On Saturday, while in Cairo, Mr Abe promised $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in non-military assistance to the region, with $200m (£130m) in non-military aid for countries fighting Islamic State.

Officials said that much of the $200m fund would be focused on helping refugees displaced from Syria and Iraq.

[Peter Pedant]

eyah I thoughtit was 2 million - but it is 200 m
that is a alot of pop guns .....

[ludwig]

Let's hope not. These ransoms should never be paid.

[sandyRoe]

Jihadi John will be honing his butchers kit. If the kidnappers had asked for two million, rather than 200, the ransom might have been paid.