More on Ozawa scandal conspiracy theories

Note: This is a follow-up to my previous post “All About the Benjamin” about some of the wilder theories set forth by Benjamin Fulford, the titular independent journalist.

Despite widely held expectations that he will/should quit, Ichiro Ozawa remains in his position as DPJ president amid the charging of his former public secretary with violations of the political funding law. Other sources have quite smartly covered this scandal – here and here for starters.

But as the courts slowly work out this case, I want to focus on one aspect of the scandal that deserves attention – the public’s reaction. While those polled appear to think that Ozawa should do the right thing and quit, apparently a noisy few are indulging in conspiracy theories as to why the prosecutors decided to target Ozawa when a critical election was looming. No doubt speculation was flamed by Ozawa’s own accusations that the prosecutors are engaged in a politically motivated investigation.

In some corners, Internet commenters, some half-kidding, some definitely not, have implied that the Ozawa prosecution was not just politically motivated, but perhaps even a plot by the CIA or “the Jews” to protect their buddies in the LDP.

The accusations have been pervasive enough for Kunihiko Miyake, former MOFA diplomat and political appointee in the Abe administration, to devote a column in the Sankei to batting down these rumors in the interest of “correct understanding of the international situation.”  He tries to argue why neither the CIA nor “the Jews” could possibly be controlling the Japanese prosecutors:

• He has met CIA agents working in Japan, and their Japanese simply isn’t good enough for them to even make acquaintance with, let alone control, the Tokyo prosecutors, who have a history of fierce independence and even arrogance in exercising their authority.
• He seems to consider the idea of a Jewish conspiracy as too ridiculous even to address, instead simply noting that only sheer ignorance could lead Japanese to entertain such beliefs based on debunked notions expounded in the fabricated book Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He also notes that anyone who even comes close to implicating Jewish conspiracy theories in the US is instantly and rightly branded a dangerous nutjob.

Though he mentions that American industrialist Henry Ford was a fervent anti-Semite and indulger in conspiracy theories, he seems to think that today in Japan only “bloggers” could possibly be fooled into believing conspiracy theories.

So I think it is important to note that it is not simply bloggers who believe in these conspiracy theories. This Sunday, a TV host was forced to apologize for the comments of one Atsuyuki Sassa, a commentator, former upper level police official, and the first director of what is now the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, one of Japan’s five main intelligence services. Talking about the global financial crisis, he argued that the “capitalists doing the bad things are all Jews.”

Watch (h/t Shozaburo Nakamura):

This is a highly respected man who once had top-secret security clearances (not that that actually means he is privy to know the real conspiracy or any such nonsense), so it goes to show that it doesn’t take a pajama-clad blogger to be taken in by the likes of a wild conspiracy theorist like Ben Fulford (who himself is a respected commentator who has appeared on some of the same TV programs as Sassa).

“Alpha blogger” Lead-off man’s blog, writing in reaction to the Miyake piece, suggests that it would be more persuasive to explain what a real conspiracy looks like to show how ridiculous these pretend ones are. To aid, I’ll just repost this video from Noam Chomsky to reiterate:

Transcript:

“I think this reaches the heart of the matter. One of the major consequences of the 9/11 movement has been to draw enormous amounts of energy and effort away from activism directed to real and ongoing crimes of state, and their institutional background, crimes that are far more serious than blowing up the WTC would be, if there were any credibility to that thesis. That is, I suspect, why the 9/11 movement is treated far more tolerantly by centers of power than is the norm for serious critical and activist work. How do you personally set priorities? That’s of course up to you. I’ve explained my priorities often, in print as well as elsewhere, but we have to make our own judgments.“

From a site dedicated to debunking 9-11 myths:

… Real conspiracies have very few players and even then, they are usually exposed. Enron, Watergate, Iran/Contra and the rest have few people involved and someone always comes out to blow the whistle.

The evidence for a conspiracy to use 9/11 to invade Iraq is significant.  While there is not one shred of evidence the government blew up the World Trade Center, there is evidence that they used the tragedy to remove Saddam Hussein using poor WMD evidence.