notasap comments

Obama the post dignity POTUS. He always was better at running for office than actually leading while in office.

The fact of the matter is, the anti-base people smile when they hear of these rapes because they know it is toxic to the Japanese-US military relations. Of course there is a long track record of the US working with local authorities so let's hope justice prevails after a fair trail. Okinawa is not going to stop hosting the US military until Japanese people want the US to leave and ask them. As of now most Japanese understand, desire and support the US being in Japan. With a dangerous China and N. Korea and Russia still technically at war with Japan there is ample reason why the US will remain, despite the hippy left, with all their expat supporters desires otherwise.

It's 11:59 radio free America, this is Uncle Same with music and the truth till dawn. Right now, I got a few words for out brothers and sisters in the occupied zone. The chair is against the wall, the chair against the wall....John has a long mustache, John has a long mustache....It's twelve o'clock American, another day closer to victory. And for all you out there on or behind the lines this is your song......{radio plays "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"}

Trump is so bad for the GOP it is almost like he is a Dem plant, meant to destroy the GOP from within. His appeal is mainly for the very poor and marginalized low-skilled workers, chiefly white working class in culture, who has been left behind by modern capitalism post-industrialism type of economy. The answer to trump is not to demonize his supporters but to find a way to bring them back into the fold. As of now they don't feel either party is listening to them and thus you have Trump and to a lesser degree Sanders.

The world will be better off when it decouples from china. The economy is not going to be horrible this year but we will see the ripples from over investment in a paper dragon. China's economy needs to cool some and maybe the economic crunch there, we can hope, will spur the Chinese people to throw off the yoke of their communist dictatorship.

Istanbul is at the center of the ISIS end time narrative. They still are fighting Rome rhetorically at least. Istanbul being the last capital of the Roman Empire or what became of said empire, known then as Constantinople capital of the Byzantine Empire, which held most of modern day Turkey. It is a holy city for Christians of the Orthodox Catholics their home church the Hagia Sophia was converted into a Mosque by the Muslims when the caputured the city in the 18th century. Sadly the site is now under threat by Islamist who see its frescoes as idolatry. ISIS rhetoric is straight out of the 8th and 9th Century. Too bad as Istanbul is, from what I hear, a great city to visit with many sites to see and a good food culture too boot.

If you are going to tie one off, then the best bet is to pre-load on water and maybe some ibuprofen and have water along the ride. Also, eating first is helpful but as Japanese mainly eat and drink at the same time this is not a big problem as in the States or Europe.

Did it, got the lowest fortune.

Democracy sucks when you are not the majority. All the those who do not want so called bad man America to have its military in Japan is to have the sitting government give notice that the Defense deal is over. That's about it. It can end whenever the Japanese people elect a government that wants it to end. Until then, like in most federal republics, the collective defense will be worked out by the national government and the includes the location for the military bases. Those that feel that Okinawa should have the final word here DO NOT CARE ABOUT DEMOCRACY or the views of the majority of Japanese citizens

I just don't agree with the argument that people can simply go wherever they want to go and the country they choose to go to must let them in. When amnesty international has to think about the aspects of actually running an entire country they they can have a say in how, when or where a country takes in immigrants.

The reaction of the Chinese does more to make the case that they are a paper-tiger and not a real superpower than some destroyer sailing through the area ever could. Real superpowers like the USA just note that a foreign vessel was within such and such on a free-sea transit. A weak power over-reacts and is left exposed. This is also why the Russian bombers making moves towards the US do not provoke the outrage that they would if the bombers were US and were making moves towards Russia. The US knows it is a power, it doesn't need to prove anything.

I think the no dating policy is a bit extreme and I'm not a big fan of the music,...make that a fan of any size. But, comparing their lives to slavery is a bit over the top. These young women/girls can walk away, even with the contract etc. They stay for the money and fame. That's a choice they make. How bad their life is, is nothing next to someone who has no choice. These young ladies are elite entertainment stars, their lives are always and the lives of the other celebrities are all faked for our consumption. That's the job in this lifestyle. Again, they are making lots of money and if they want they can stop making the money and turn their back on the fame.

The Palestinians had all of their demands except for control of parts of Jerusalem back in the 1990s and they chose to walk away from the deal and start a uprising where thousands were killed. They had Israel returning to its 64 borders, they had a real sovereign state in Palestine. They chose to walk away from the deal. Why? Because Palestinian leadership wants war with Israel, its their reason for existing. They don't want peace. They want it all, the whole area and they want Israel destroyed. Short of that, they will settle for violence and being the victim in the eyes of many around the world who don't understand this complex fight.

We have bled a good bit in Afghanistan and have forged some close ties in this fight with the local Afgani troops, despite some issues. With a new government that seems to be seeking to build the state up rather than enrich members of one family real progress is once again possible. The Iraq war really hurt the Afghan effort and has prolonged this fight. To leave now that we have the chance for real progress would be a disgrace to those that have fallen and fought there.

IF you want to see how intricate the fight has become in terms of Afghan-US joint operations have a look at this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulJu9M-vzo

Power Projection! If you don't believe me go and get up close to one of these ships. Every time I see them I'm proud to be an American.

no need to call it a nuclear carrier, as it redundant....there are no non-nuclear carriers. Sort of like how people who are not from New York call it New York City....

Once again we will the US haters making excuses to support Russia in doing something that they routinely criticize the US for.

now we see if the opposition will hoist themselves with their own petard by knee-jerk opposition to these economic plans that Abe has laid out. Something tells me that the pathos heavy left will do exactly that.

FB has been a net negative in terms of soical aspects if you ask me.

Shot and simple...NO! The last thing Japan needs is a large islamic population.

Who are the opposition? Political opportunist and communist Chinese sympathizers! Abe has the security interest of Japan in mind. The protestors have nothing but adherence to some naïve idea of pacifism and a desire to let others do the work while they complain of base locations and noise.

Who are the opposition? Political opportunist and communist Chinese sympathizers! Abe has the security interest of Japan in mind. The protestors have nothing but adherence to some naïve idea of pacifism and a desire to let others do the work while they complain of base locations and noise. When years go by and there is no noticeable change in Japan's military operations the people will look back and see that this whole kerfuffle was nothing more than grown children being overly emotional.

Japan is now a safer county. Who can face the real problems of the day. Those that want to bury their head in the sand and let others take care of the things are just not rational nor do they have what is best in mind for Japan. Rationalism won and overly dramatic emotional appeals lost. A good day for civilization.

Abe is thinking of the safety of Japan. The protesters are not. That is the simple truth to this issue.

Don't the Russian know that that Japan is peaceful...just look at the protesters. When might and power make right, only naive people think that they can avoid fighting. Japan! Wake up!

Remember when this happened in the US and the Diplomat was French? He got off....

I still don't understand why those who oppose the US bases are not for the change in the bill. If the US is to leave Japan, Japan must have the ability to defend itself. Those who think otherwise or that Japan can be pacifistic and not be threatened by others without the US or their own military are just being naive or they want Japan to be weak.

The protesters are being a bit overblown...Japan is not seeking to go to war with anyone but rather to have the ability to defend itself against modern enemies. The logic of the protesters is akin to insisting that Japanese troops all line up in formation to fight, despite that tactic not being viable anymore. The sad thing is, in an overly emotional world, you don't have to be right, you just have to find a message that seem very powerful and repeat it over and over.

@smithinjapan et al. Do you not see the irony here? Peace Protesters using violence when their words fail sort of proves that the state needs to be on a footing to defend itself from those who may use violence if words fail....could not be any clearer!

As these comments are essentially a type of drive-by discourse I don't expect a serious answer to my question (that's if the editors here allow it be posted) but if Japan has to rely on someone else to provide the bulk of its real defense, i.e. the USA, then shouldn't those who are protesting the Japanese Governments ability to be more proactive in providing its OWN defense be in favor of US bases in Japan? It seems that the left in Japan wants it both way, which is not surprising when we talk about the modern leftist. They want the US out of Japan and the Japanese Government to still be hamstrung by the pacifist constitutions...which was written by US military officers. Sort of like asking someone to put their heads on the chopping block and trust that no one will drop the axe. It's either the US stays or Japan starts to act like a modern state and provide its own defense.