Actually, looking back into that period of history, I have a feeling the USA planned and tricked the Nips into attacking Pearl Harbor. You are right that the Japs didn't have the size nor might to attack continental USA and the attack was just to eliminate the US Pacific Fleet, but wasn't accomplished - all three carriers were not in port at the time of the attack, only the older battleships, which were quickly replaced. The attack galvanised the entire US congress, and people to support the president's go-ahead to enter the Pacific War. Prior to this, the Yanks embargoed the Japs stretching their resource base which caused them to attack the rest of Asia. So, the US could have planned the entire WW2 and only entered the war when all the major powers already whacked each other silly and came in "fresh" to take over the stage from the tired and embattled nations already worn from earlier wars. The rest is history. Just my guess.
Cheers!
the Soviet Union provoked all the wars. in Europe, China and Japan and USA and Japan. the Soviets created or fueled the conflicts between the nations and caused the ww2. the Soviet spies inside the USA state of department heavily embargoed the Japanese and scrapped the plans of any temporary peace between USA and Japan. in Japan, the Soviet spies Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki convinced the Japanese cabinet and military leaders that they have a better chance of success of attacking the USA and UK bases in the Pacific instead of the Soviet Union. furthermore, the USA Roosevelt administration were eager to enter the ww2, they had been building up its military power and accumulating the resources for the war. in the USA media, the British and China lobbies managed to convince the USA public that the USA should give increased aid to the two nations in their wars, the USA should end the sale of war materials to the Japanese. the series of apparently unconnected events gradually bought the USA and Japan into a collision course toward Pearl Harbor and war.
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