politics

Mahathir warns against revision of Japan's pacifist constitution

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What an oddly specific statement about Japan, considering Mahathir is concerned about China's investment in his country.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Dictatorship ? Who is the dictator ? By definition, the dictator is the one who rules the nation against majorities, who does things using his own wishes, who make decisions relying on his own personal biases.

By that definition, Xi Jinpeng is a dictator, and China is the dictatorship.

Akie, you just hung yourself by your own petard.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

@Akie - feel free to live in China where access to information is restricted and a social credit system as defined by the central government determines if you have the right to travel (the social credit system reeks of a dictatorship).

As for me I will continue to live in Japan where in many regards I feel I have more freedom than I do in my country of birth, the U.S.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_democratic_dictatorship

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/04/xi-jinping-from-president-to-china-new-dictator

https://www.cfr.org/blog/china-likely-enter-another-long-period-severe-dictatorship

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Dictatorship ? Who is the dictator ? By definition, the dictator is the one who rules the nation against majorities, who does things using his own wishes, who make decisions relying on his own personal biases. That dictator is not China, it is Abe.

-12 ( +3 / -15 )

Mahathir is right. If Abe gets his way, Japan will end up fighting America’s wars, wars that will have no meaning for Japan--except, perhaps, as a war goods merchant.

Abe has always lived in a right-wing bell jar. In that bell jar is the Lost Cause and the desire for the restoration of Japan’s military glory. All of this is destructive nonsense.

There is one bright light in the darkness and idiocy of Abe’s militaristic machinations. This is the falling birth rate. To have a mighty military you need lots of able bodies. They are not available. It is hardly enough to keep the industries going, much less enough for the military might Abe dreams of.

Let Abe kill Article 9. Over 70 years of peace has done its job. No one, except losers, wants war. The SDF barely gets enough volunteers.

The most we can expect is Japan as silly sidekick to the American war machine.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Mahathir looks like another one confused about the two separate paragraphs of Article 9. No one is talking about changing the first paragraph wherein Japan denounces it;s right to wage war. The desperately needed change is the second paragraph that states that Japan will not maintain a military, an obvious contradiction with reality, ever since the US forced Japan to create the JSDF in 1950. One would think that the PM of a country would be better informed. Unless of course Chinese money is talking.

But he is absolutely right that other nations should "emulate" Japan's peace constitution. starting with nations that use the threat of military force to advance their geopolitical goals...like the Chinese dictatorship.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Abe overestimates himself, and misjudges the global trend, commits strategic blunder in changing the constitution to involve Japan in wars disguised as collective defense. It will permanently damage Japan's reputation and legal framework as a peaceful nation. The resentments from East Asia will persist for generations to come. Nations that wish Japan to be rearmed for wars are not the nations Japan should trust.

-3 ( +12 / -15 )

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