ebanonymous comments

Well, hopefully the guy is ok, but what are Japanese planes doing anywhere in the East China Sea? This is routine? No wonder the Chinese are angry. It's very close to Taiwan, and only a few kilometres from China's mainland. If China had THEIR planes operating there (or at the same distance to the Japanese coast) we'd be hearing about China's "aggression" and "asserting its power" etc. BTW, 200 of those planes is quite a formidable force, even if they're a bit old. They've still got high tech gear, and work. If we did a comparison we'd find the Chinese can't match that yet they send a fishing boat a few months ago & suddenly they're trying to conquer the world.

Someone said "Japan needs to start considering a stronger, more modern self defense before it is decided by the cut-backs that are coming in the US Congress."

First militaries are for war, not defence. Japan hasn't been invaded in centuries (like Kublai Khan in 1274, 1281). Japan used its MILITARY & conquered half of Asia just a few years ago - not China. Message: when China does it it's bad; when Japan does it it's good. This is Orwellian. BTW, they'd love to say that plane is no longer any good so the companies can sell a few hundred to Japan for a nice profit. That's what it comes down to.

If the US or Japan were truly democratic, they'd do one easy thing:

Have a referendum and allow the Japanese people to decide a) if they want to keep US military bases in Japan; b) if they agree to have them, they'd decide where to put them, and under what conditions.

This is not even a discussion, and that is what we would expect in undemocratic societies. As anyone can see, the US demanded those bases, the J-govt acceded to their wishes, and the Japanese people were never asked.

As to the repeat of 1950's propaganda that claimed the Japanese were too weak to defend themselves (from whom, Chinese fisherman or the nonsense over N Korea - what a piffle) so they need the big protector US to look out for them. The only the US looks out for is its own interests, which is what that argument is about.

Real democracy means the people make decisions and they've got no leader. That is an utter fantasy in Japan; in the US, maybe someday....day. Don't worry, the Arabs are miles ahead - or at least their protests are.

Not only is the "Supreme Court" (who are they, God they are "Supreme"?) run by extreme right wing ideologues, it would still be an undemocratic institution even if all members wee clones of Ralph Nader (not that I want him there, just using an example).

First of all, these people are chosen by the President & then Senate. There is no open process; it's as simple as they appoint whomever they fell will vote their way. Then the public have no say. All we hear about are ridiculous arguments over abortion/gays/immigrants etc. These are all right wing ideologies and that's not where the meat of the issues lies. What really matters is how they vote on free speech, presidential power, law suits like this one etc. Needless to say, most people do not agree with this or the nonsense they pulled by giving corporations even more rights than people.

And how does this nut Bush placed in office get to run the court without ever even serving on it? Surely one of the associates on it was better prepared . Now it's back to the days of Taney & Holmes and tolitarians of like mind. More importantly, the US is not democratic. A president can't serve for life, but the supreme court do? That is a ripe load of rubbish. Even some "middle eastern" and other so-called "backwards" or "barbarians" (as some Americans call them on tv like here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaKIh7vaOFY&feature=related ) are trying to address these problems. They're not succeeding as much as they'd like, but they're trying.

But the US has made 0 progress in 200 years on its undemocratic, dictatorial "judges" who get to serve for life. Might as well be Saddam Hussein, after all, he was supposed to serve for life too. Even Castro relinquished power! But what do you expect from the US? No more than the Germanic tribes expected from Rome.

MikeChar asked for a copy of the report. I believe this is the correct link, Mike: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/PDFplus/2011/cn200/documentation/cn200_Final-Fukushima-Mission_Report.pdf