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© 2016 AFPAbe hopes for progress in peace treaty talks with Putin
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© 2016 AFP
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Disillusioned
The only way there will be progress is through compromise and I can't see either one of these guys agreeing on anything.
SenseNotSoCommon
A quail in a cockfight.
Christopher Glen
He can only hope for progress by accepting historical fact: Russia has all 4 islands, and is in a position of strength. Japan might get 2 back, but only by showing a willingness to compromise. Of course Abe's base won't accept that, so there will be no treaty while the LDP remains a political force.
bullfighter
An alternative scenario is possible. Abe like Nixon has good credentials as a "hawk." Nixon could go to China and set up relations with "communist China" because he had solid credentials as an anti-communist. No Democrat could have done what Nixon did in that period without being labeled "soft on communism." Similarly, if Abe works out a deal with Putin, his own party cannot claim that it is an opposition sell out to the Russians.
And, remember, as soon as he came in, virtually all foreign pundits as well as many domestic pundits were saying that Abe was sure to repudiate the Murayama statement on the comfort women. I suspect that there are many in the LDP who would like a deal with Russia. Russia has natural resources that Japan needs and Russia is a counterweight to China.
Mlodinow
The only way to a peace treaty is settlement of the island row, and because Abe will never accept "giving" Russia 2 islands there will not be a peace treaty while he is PM. Simple.
Also, because he wants to host Putin in Japan, you can guarantee that there will be nothing but agreements to agree this time in order to lure him in (and then shut the door in his face by not dividing up the islands).
Kingston Obike
From every indication, Putin is always quite frank and knows little about constructive diplomacy, its the Japanese that are overly diplomatic and aren't compromising as a result.