April, the cruellest month, is a month of anniversaries, of Belsen, of the Battle of Berlin and of the Armenian genocide to show that our cyclical lives never quite escape winter’s deathly clutches.

Japan announced last Friday that it would supply the US with Patriot missiles following the revision of export rules. The missiles will replenish Washington’s stockpiles that have been depleted by the funnelling of arms into Ukraine for the US-led war against Russia. Tokyo’s decision also exposes as false the claims that its longstanding plans for remilitarization are only about “self-defense.”