Monday, September 18, 2006

Japan's Abe, An Emphasis on Military and Pride

The next prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, looks to make significant changes. He plans to have the constitution revised so that Japan can have a military with offensive capabilites. Some analysts predict that he will strive for a version of Washington's relationship with Britain, which closely cooperates with the U.S. military but acts on its own as it sees fit.

This should help to aleviate the strain on the US's military in Asia. It will be interesting to see what transpires. Read More.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like many of its articles on Japan, this Washington Post story is sensationalistic. Abe is to the right of the main stream in Japan and is a much weaker politician than Koizumi was. Changing the constitution will be a very difficult and long process. Moreover, even if Japan were to reemerge as an independent military power, this might be more of a burden than a benefit for US military power, especially since Abe is challenging the US narrative of history (the Tokyo Tribunals, the US as liberator of Asia and democratizer of Japan, etc.), and hence the US justification for regional leadership.

Ron Ballew said...

Thanks for your input, I am not very clued up on Japanese politics. I agree the revisionist history that he advocates is very disturbing. I will have to follow this more closely.