When Ichiro Hatoyama finally gained the premiership from 1954-1956, he had become elderly and was in failing health. This did not stop him, however, from scoring two major achievements: he presided over the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party and reestablished diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
How Japan treats its non-citizen residents and diverse communities is a bellwether for how future neofascist demagogues in other countries will treat their minority voices and views.
Include foreign residents as part of the official Japan population and give us official data for just how diverse Japan actually is.
The United Nations continues to urgently proclaim to the world that the civilian population of the Gaza Strip is being “stalked by hunger, disease, and death.” But these desperate pleas fall on deaf ears in Washington, both its political class and the mainstream media, which continues to be deeply beholden to the Israel Lobby, and to provide money, weapons, and political support to the ongoing mass murder.
Polling reveals that half of the US citizens who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. However, many seem to either support the genocide or, at least, don’t view the Biden administration’s backing of a genocide as a disqualification to receive a second presidential vote.
The notion that non-Western powers might band together to resist the depredations of Europe and the United States has been around since the late 19th century, but only now has the power balance shifted to a sufficient degree that the era of Western global dominance is actually coming to an end.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has adopted “moral clarity” as one of her leading slogans in her quest to gain the Republican nomination for president. This is a key intellectual concept behind the neoconservative movement which reached a peak under the presidency of George W. Bush; it is effectively a coded call to embrace a forever war in pursuit of US global primacy.
Somalia’s internationally-recognized government has once again appealed for the removal of the UN weapons embargo, citing the urgent need for weaponry and supplies to counter the Al-Shabab insurgency.
Unable to reconcile the demands of its US security alliance with its long-stated diplomatic position in support of international law, the Japanese government has opted to pretend that it doesn’t really know what is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Exclusionary businesses have a long history in Japan, and people seem to be forgetting it. Here’s a reminder from somebody who has studied them more than anybody.
