The DPJ, JCP, SDP, and Kokumin Shinto collectively informed the government on Tuesday in a meeting of Kokutai chairs that they cannot cooperate with the government on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean, due to the lack of a provision mandating prior approval from the Diet. Indeed, at a press conference on Tuesday Mr. …
Tag: Afghanistan
The LDP readies its bill
On the heels of Mr. Fukuda's maiden speech to the Diet, the government has outlined a new bill on the MSDF mission in the Indian Ocean and will begin working with relevant cabinet ministers and within the governing coalition to hammer out a final draft, before appealing to the DPJ to cooperate.Perhaps, then, Jun Okumura …
A very typical scandal
In case anyone thinks that the DPJ will buy the dodge attempted by CCS Machimura on The Sunday Project — discussed by Jun Okumura in this post — this post by Nagashima Akihisa should disabuse you of that notion.Mr. Machimura attempted to shift the blame to the US for reports that US warships used Japanese-provided …
Thanks Japan!
The UN Security Council has passed its latest resolution authorizing the activities of the ISAF in Afghanistan, and, as I discussed yesterday, took care to thank Japan for its contribution to Operating Enduring Freedom.There's very little of note regarding this resolution, except that for the first time it did not pass unanimously — Russia decided …
The Afghanistan mission is doomed, for the time being
In the midst of the chaos at the top of the LDP and the government, Yamasaki Taku has announced that any new legislation to enable the MSDF to contribute to coalition operations in and around Afghanistan will be postponed to next year's regular Diet session. Mr. Abe's "international promise" is effectively dead.This is interesting in …
Continue reading The Afghanistan mission is doomed, for the time being
Why has the debate on the anti-terror special measures law problem not deepened?
That's the question asked by Amaki Naoto in a post that wonders why the DPJ has not responded to the arguments made by Kurt Campbell, Michael Green, and others about the nature of the mission in Afghanistan.Amaki, of course, is convinced that it is all a US war, and thus the DPJ should make the …
Continue reading Why has the debate on the anti-terror special measures law problem not deepened?
The LDP, somewhere between a rock and a hard place
US officials — including the president — continue to voice their desire that Japan renew the anti-terror special measures law (the latest contributor is National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley), and the new Abe Cabinet continues to signal its willingness to compromise with the DPJ in getting the law passed.It's not entirely clear to me how …
Continue reading The LDP, somewhere between a rock and a hard place
Kicking the Gulf War syndrome
Germany's Prime Minister Angela Merkel, in Tokyo for talks with Prime Minister Abe, has called on the DPJ to consent to Japan's continuing its offshore participation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.It's about time that a leader of one of the dozens of countries in Afghanistan other than the US bothered to ask Japan to continue …
Tobias S. Harris 