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Oliver Stone Denounces US Military Presence in Asia | The Editor | The Diplomat
Touring the Asia-Pacific this month, legendary American movie director Oliver Stone has denounced the U.S. military presence in the region. He has also called Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, "a hero."
Oliver Stone is in the region to promote his revisionist history of the United States, "The Untold History of the United States."
While visiting South Korea in the beginning of August, Stone visited Jeju Island where he joined protests against a proposed Republic of Korea (ROK) naval base in Gangjeong on the island. Although the base only envisions ROK military personnel being stationed there, critics of the project believe it is secretly being built for the United States to use.
According to Jeju Weekly, Stone spoke at an anti-base protest held by the Gangjeong Peace Movement. He reportedly told the crowd of about a thousand people that the U.S. has "turned again to Asia" and the naval base on Jeju would be "on the frontline" in any U.S. military conflict with China. Stone, who is married a Korean woman, also stressed to the crowd that the U.S. "needed enemies" in order to justify its global military presence.
"Your fight is our fight," Stone told the gathered audience, according to Jeju Weekly.
Speaking to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Monday, Stone also reportedly called on Japan to abrogate its defense treaty with the United States and instead forge peace ties with the People's Republic of China.
According to Stars & Stripes, Stone told the Japanese crowd to "disassociate itself" from the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
"[Japan] can be a great country again and a real broker for peace in Asia," Stone said. "Start by apologizing to China for what you did there and all the people you killed "¦ and then China would suddenly look at Japan differently."
Peter Kuznick, a historian and collaborator with Stone on the documentary, "Untold History of the United States," praised Stone's proposal.
"The U.S. has fought war after war since World War II. Where has China done that?" Kuznick asked. Stars and Stripes notes that Kuznick neglected to mention China's participation in the Korean War, Sino-Vietnamese War, as well as border wars with the Soviet Union and India.
Earlier in his trip to Japan, Stone attended the sites of the U.S. atomic bombings in Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His documentary reviews the U.S. decision to use nuclear weapons on Japan, a choice Stone claims was made to prevent the Soviet Union from winning the war in the Pacific. He also called on Japanese Youth to study the history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
"If the Nazis had dropped the bomb, they'd lost the war, the bomb would be seen as a monstrosity, and the Nazis would be condemned forever," Stone said while visiting Hiroshima.
On Monday he also called Obama "a snake" while praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for Moscow's decision to grant Edward Snowden—whom Stone called "a hero"—temporary asylum.
Stone is an eight-time Academy Award Nominee who has the award three times. His long list of classic films include: JFK, Natural Born Killers, Platoon, and Nixon.
