Koizumi Continues to Flout His Own Constitution!

Koizumi Yarmulke.jpg
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi respectfully places his hand on the Wailing Wall, one of Judaism’s most sacred sites, in Jerusalem on Thursday during a trip to the Middle East that takes him to Israel, the Palestinian territory and Jordan. (AP)
(From Nikkei)

Who will stop Koizumi from continuing these perverse, random acts of worship?!

Apocalypse Soon

There’s a good article in the LA Times about some of the more extreme members of the three great monotheistic apocalypse cults of the Middle East (in chronological order, Judaism, Christianity and Islam) who take their religion so literally that they are actively trying to hasten the end of this world because, presumably, they just don’t like it very much.

some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam’s holiest shrines.

Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building’s foundation.

Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.

So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal’s body.

Interestingly, this phenomena is largely confined to the US and the Middle East. Yes, of course there are apocalyptic cults in other regions (Japan’s own Aum Shinrikyo being one near and dear to my heart) but they are hardly a mainstream phenomenon over there. In fact, according to the article as many as 40% of Americans believe that an apocalypse is not merely coming but imminent. Now, some people believe that some of the more obscure foreign policy moves engaged in by the US governmental leaders can be traced to this very belief in the end time-and I myself have even engaged in some joking speculation of such a nature-but of course when examined logically the argument falls apart. After all, how could anyone who believes that the world is coming to an end in a couple of decades time be so enthusiastic about being midwife to the creation of a landed hereditary aristocracy by enouraging the repeal of the inheritance tax?

Saddam’s last novel published in Japanese

Reuters is reporting that Saddam Hussein’s last novel, entitled “Get Out of Here, Curse You” in it’s original edition, has just been published in Japan by a minor publishing company.

The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and titled “Devil’s Dance” in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation Friday.

Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman.

The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata.

“The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war — totally,” Hirata told Reuters before the book’s release.

“He (Saddam) knew he was heading into a war he couldn’t win, so I think with this book he was trying to make his position clear and send a message to the Iraqi people.”

The book jacket text reads:


Worldwide first edition!
This is an indictment, and a warning.

That Hussein wrote a novel.

Anyone interested in ordering the book can get it from Amazon Japan here. I expect that the English translation that has most likely already been prepared by CIA analysts will not be published, so this may be your best shot.

Ann Coulter on Koizumi and Bush

Political commentator and psycho dragon bitch from hell Ann Coulter has this to say:

One year before elections in Japan, the [New York] Times was predicting defeat for Koizumi, a loyal friend to President Bush and an implacable supporter of the war in Iraq.

Reporting on the unpopularity of the Iraq War in Japan, the Times said “polls indicate that the population is against an extension” of Japanese troops serving in Iraq and that the opposition vowed to withdraw troops. Indeed, “some members of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s own party have been calling for the troops’ withdrawal.”

And then in September 2005, Koizumi’s party won a landslide. The Times described this as mainly a victory for the prime minister’s idea to privatize the post office, explaining that Koizumi had won “by making postal privatization — an arcane issue little understood by most voters — a litmus test for reform,” thus confirming the age-old political truism, “Most elections hinge on arcane, obscure issues voters don’t know or care about.”

As congressional Republicans decide whether to take the Times’ advice and back away from the war this election year, they might reflect on a fourth world leader who won re-election while supporting the Iraq war. Just about four months before Bush was re-elected in 2004, the Times put this on its front page: “President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found Americans stiffening their opposition to the Iraq war, worried that the invasion could invite domestic terrorist attacks.”

Maybe it was his support for the post office.

As much as I hate to agree with her, I don’t think the war drives most Japanese voters. In fact, I don’t think it drives most American voters (although it certainly means more to them). And the NYT… just doesn’t get it, basically.

Of course, you would probably hear the same basic opinion from Jon Stewart. He would just be funnier about it.

Watch who you talk to

From today’s NYT article on the contents of newly released documents on the Guantanama Bay prisoners.

Another Saudi, Mazin Salih Musaid al-Awfi, was one of at least half a dozen men against whom the “relevant data” considered by the annual review boards included the possession at the time of his capture of a Casio model F-91W watch. According to evidentiary summaries in those cases, such watches have “been used in bombings linked to Al Qaeda.”

“I am a bit surprised at this piece of evidence,” Mr. Awfi said. “If that is a crime, why doesn’t the United States arrest and sentence all the shops and people who own them?”

Another detainee whose evidence sheet also included a Casio F-91W, Abdullah Kamal, was an electrical engineer from Kuwait who once played on his country’s national volleyball team. He was also accused of being a leader of a Kuwaiti militant group that collected money for Mr. bin Laden.

As for the Casio allegation, Mr. Kamal said the watch was a common one in Kuwait and had a compass that could be used to find the direction of Mecca for his prayers. “We have four chaplains” at Guantánamo, he said. “All of them wear this watch.”

Obviously the real issue is not are any of these men innocent, but how long as Casio been in league with the terrorists.

Airlifting anime to starving Iraqis

Anyone out there remember Dave Chappelle’s “Black Bush” skit? With the scene that went like this:

BLACK BUSH: I got a coalition of the willing! I got 40 nations ready to roll, son!
REPORTER: Like who?
BLACK BUSH: Who the f— said that? Like who? Uh… England. Japan’s… sending Playstations…

Well, although I haven’t seen any Playstation stories yet, here’s the next best thing, which I swear I am not making up:

The Japan Foundation, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Animation International Middle East, has decided to provide an Arabic-dubbed version of the soccer animation TV program “Captain Majed” (originally “Captain Tsubasa”) to the Iraq Media Network (IMN) as grant aid.

As soccer is a popular sport in Iraq, it is expected that the TV program will strengthen goodwill toward Japan on the Iraqi side. In particular, it may provide dreams and hopes for the children of Iraq, who will shoulder the future of the country.

The conclusion of the agreement for this grant aid took place on March 2 between the IMN and the Japan Foundation, and the program will be provided to the IMN within coming days.

Holy crap, can diplomats be any more irrelevant? Although I have to admit, if you dub this show in Arabic, it might seriously look like a show about Iraqi soccer players.

Codependent OPEC?

“Opec accuses Bush of threatening energy security”

So reads a headline in the Financial Times. One might (wrongly) expect the story to be about the latest barrage of criticism of Bush’s foreign policy in the Middle East. So if it’s not about Iraq, Afghanistan or the Palestinians, what the heck is Opec so upset about?

The Opec oil cartel on Tuesday hit back at President George W. Bush, criticising the US and other consuming countries for pursuing energy policies that threatened energy security and the global economy.

Energy policies that threatened energy security, what?

Here’s an excerpt from the actual Opec statement:

“Alas, uncertainties are compounded by consumer government policies aimed at moving away from oil – moreover, oil from specific global regions – principally, as expressed by such consumers, for security of supply reasons.”

The group argues that the only way to ensure security of supply is by ensuring security of demand.

Is your head spinning yet?

They do have a point. Less demand leads to falling prices and falling revenues for producers, which means there’s less money to invest in new exploration or extraction activities.

Fair enough, but do these people honestly think that more money in the pockets of a few rich oil magnates is going to increase the security of the region? They’ve had plenty of time (during which demand has been rather high, one might add) to stabilze things and the only thing many have managed to accomplish is to worsen domestic inequalities by poorly managing massive oil revenues.

Aso on the non-offensive

Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who has no problem offending Koreans and Chinese on a regular basis, apparently doesn’t like to offend Muslims.

Aso criticized some European publications Monday for printing contentious cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, calling such action “shallow.”

“Even people like us who are not Muslims know the fact that idolatry is absolutely impossible (in Islam),” Aso told a Diet committee. “If someone familiar with that kind of thing did so, I say, from my personal feelings, it could have been shallow.”

Now I’m imagining the Saturday Night Live version of Chris Matthews interviewing Aso on “Hardball.”

MATTHEWS: This is great! Say something even more contradictory!
ASO: The U.S. government should stop glorifying war by building monuments to dead soldiers.
MATTHEWS: Keep it coming!
ASO: Asia should open up its markets to Japanese rice exports.
MATTHEWS: Wow! You’re unstoppable!
ASO: And the UK should give up its royal family…
MATTHEWS: (head explodes)

Ah, if only he weren’t #6 in the post-Koizumi opinion polling, he would make one hilarious Prime Minister.

Asahi Irresponsible on Iran? Not really.

Commenter Jim Moore of the blog “Moore Than This” suggested that Japan is taking an extremely irresponsible stance on Iran’s nuclear ambitions based on an editorial he picked up from the Asahi Shimbun’s English edition:

Iran’s publicly stated intention to advance its nuclear technology threatens a key element of Japan’s energy strategy–development of the Azadegan oil field … If Tehran does not alter its position, Japan could lose its rights to the field.

The article is indeed impactful, but the Asahi English edition seems to have taken it out of context a bit. The original Japanese piece was a part of the regular column “Reading the Economy” which focuses on economic aspects of current events. It runs in the back pages and is not intended to serve as the crux of the newspaper’s editorial position.

One advantage that newspapers have over online news sources is their effective allocation of space to individual news stories/editorials. For people like me who only have occasionaly access to Japanese newspaper, this can be a problem. Asahi’s English site, for example, gives the paper’s editorials equal space next to background pieces like the one described. The Japanese site separates the op-ed section by column. Note to Asahi: PLEASE edit your English Op-ed section to make it less confusing!

For a better idea of what the Asahi really thinks of the Iran crisis, check this Asahi editorial, which puts them much closer to mainstream opinion:

That means Tehran should stop enriching uranium on its soil. It should allow the process to be done in Russia. That will provide the much-needed proof that it does indeed seek to build nuclear power plants as it claims. Once it becomes clear that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons, Tehran will receive international support for its nuclear program.

While denouncing the IAEA resolution, Iran has shown a willingness to accept routine inspections by the IAEA. That seems to be a ploy to shake international unity on the issue through a combination of hard-line and soft-line tactics. It may also be aimed at prodding China and Russia, which have taken a more conciliatory stance toward Iran, into avoiding any sanctions against Iran. For that, the roles of China and Russia in persuading Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions are very important. Time is limited. The international community should work out a formula to ensure a diplomatic solution to the crisis before resorting to forceful means, such as sanctions.

And indeed, MOFA’s official position on the issue is even clearer:
Continue reading Asahi Irresponsible on Iran? Not really.