New Cold War: 2015 Update

See Michael Klare, A New Cold War in Asia? - TomDispatch (here) for discussion of the New Cold War in Asia.

See my previous blogpost about rising militarism in Japan:

Majia's Blog: Why the Secrecy About Fukushima?


Now let us move into the present.

In July 2015 the LDP successfully pushed through Japan’s lower house of parliament a collection of bills allowing Japan’s armed forces, known as the Self-Defense Forces, to defend an ally under attack, representing a new interpretation of the role of Japan’s self-defense forces. The bill is now with the upper chamber, which is controlled by the LDP:

Kiyoshi Takenaka and Linda Sieg, “Huge protest in Tokyo rails against PM Abe's security bills,” Reuters (August 30, 2015): date accessed September 8, 2015:http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/30/japan-politics-protest-idINKCN0QZ0BX20150830?irpc=932

Abe in July pushed through parliament's lower house a group of bills that let Japan's armed forces defend an ally under attack, a drastic shift in Japan's post-war security policy.

The bills are now before the upper chamber, which is also controlled by Abe's ruling bloc and aims to pass the legislation before parliament's session ends on Sept. 27, despite widespread public opposition.

The Mainichi reported that Japan’s Sefl defense Forces (SDF) had allegedly previously promised US Department of Energy Secretary Poneman that the new security legislation would pass by summer of 2015:

Defense Ministry denies document suggesting SDF promised security legislation to U.S. The Mainichi (September 8, 2015): date accessed September 8, 2015, http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150908p2a00m0na004000c.html

However, the Defense Ministry denied the document’s existence.

Intrigue is mounting as Abe seeks to shake post-World War shackles by failing to re-affirm Japan’s non-nuclear principles at the annual commemoration of the Hiroshima bombing:

Reiji Yoshida (August 6, 2015), “Exclusion of nonnuclear principles from Abe’s Hiroshima speech causes stir,” Japan Times, date accessed August 8, 2015, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/06/national/exclusion-nonnuclear-principles-abes-hiroshima-speech-causes-stir/#.VenKQ5dBmFt  

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s failure to include a pledge to observe the country’s three nonnuclear principles in the annual memorial speech on Thursday remembering the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb attack is causing speculation the exclusion may be political.

In 2014 and 2013, Abe himself reconfirmed the pledge repeated by past prime ministers to “firmly maintain” the principles — of not possessing, producing or permitting nuclear weapons on Japanese territory — in the annual speech in the city that was devastated by an atomic bomb dropped by a U.S. plane on Aug. 6, 1945.

After the speech on Thursday, senior government officials downplayed the exclusion, pointing out the prime minister in the same speech emphasized his determination to make every effort to abolish nuclear weapons around the world…

Nuclear insecurity is at the heart of Japan's security, according to the LDP.

The LDP has been saber-rattling for some time now and there seems little doubt that China is a big-player in the new “axis of evil” that is coming out of Washington and Tokyo.

The new cold war may not be that cold given recent incursions by China and Russia naval forces in the Bering Sea.

Although I understand the provocations launched by the US/Japan alliance, no one will win this war, as well all understand quite well.