Comments on: An extension of the Diet Session, Abe’s Approval Ratings, Nova and Court Rulings on WWII Issues: TPR News for June 17, 2007

by: equinoXio » » ¿Fujimori, candidato en Japón?

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:47:57 +0000

[...] El Nuevo Partido del Pueblo fue conformado a mediados de 2005 por parlamentarios del PLD y algunos del Partido Demócrata del Japón (PDJ) que se opusieron a la propuesta del entonces primer ministro Jun’ichirō Koizumi de privatizar el servicio postal, materializada tras la aplastante victoria del PLD en las elecciones de la Cámara de Representantes de septiembre de ese año. No obstante, el partido logró conservar su representación en la cámara baja y aspira aumentar sus dos senadores aprovechando el mal momento político del primer ministro Shinzō Abe y del PLD, que si bien conservaría las mayorías, podría perder escaños en la cámara alta. El escándalo de las pensiones por el mal manejo de los registros de la Agencia de Seguridad Social (más de 14 millones de registros no han sido ingresados al sistema electrónico) y la baja popularidad de Abe no parecen preocupar al partido oficialista, que en su página web clama por todos lados "daijōbu" ("todo está bien", ¡hasta las pensiones!). Recomendar esta entrada [...]

by: Steve Schapiro

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:13:13 +0000

. . . claims that the Imperial Japanese Army forced Okinawa’s residents to commit mass suicide during the closing days of World War II.

Seems to me that this phrasing, forcing people to commit mass suicide, is already a victory for the revisionists among the conservative element of the LDP and their allies. The War had a number of such tragedies, such as the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews, homosexuals, Communists, and other undesirables were forced to commit mass suicide.

Is there really any difference between putting a grenade in the hands of a civilian you are supposed to be defending and forcing him to use it on himself and just shooting him yourself?

I’ve heard it said that soldiers in a long war lose sight of the goal, forget what they’re fighting for, but this is absurd.

by: ken

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:14:56 +0000

In theory, yes, they’re set. The session ends, there’s a designated campaign period, and then the election. Of course, if the session goes into the designated campaign period, the election has to get pushed back to match.

by: Vil Relleum

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:14:31 +0000

What legal steps would Abe need to take to postpone the elections? Aren’t the Upper House elections scheduled to rather definite dates? Surely he can’t just do it on a whim as he could with Lower House elections.