Apparently the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), of which Prime Minister Abe is a member, limits party leadership to TWO terms. The party is now reconsidering this limitation in order to allow Abe to continue in his position as PM:
Editorial: Doubts linger about extending LDP leader's term. September 21 2016. The Mainichi, http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160921/p2a/00m/0na/021000cExtension of power in this way further solidifies power elites, as described here by Gavin Marshall:
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has started discussing an extension of the time the party leader can stay in his or her position, currently set...
Andrew Gavin Marshall. May 28, 2015. Power Politics and the Empire of Economics: An Introduction. The Hampton Institute http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/power-politics-part-one.html#.V-KoIDWYLHo
Ukraine is now the poorest country in Europe. It has gone through 3 or 4 authoritarian regimes since Chernobyl. The Japanese are very unrealistic. An iron-fisted den-of-thieves will not save them. Abe, his crew, his successors, and tepco will continue to loot Japan till the bitter end, like the Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteSomeone told me once that in Ukraine people are reduced to being wolves or sheep. It is a very Hobbesian place.
DeleteSo many lonely people now. So many fearful people. So many angry people and young people. People are so fearful they let themselves be nuked and lied to. Its so very obvious.
ReplyDeleteIs it fear that keeps the population in check or a sense of helplessness? Are they the same thing? I don't know. I feel like people simply want to turn away from disturbing phenomena.
DeletePoor people are afraid of homelessness and jail. They struggle to provide enough food for their kids. Their existence is more hobbesian. The poor are afraid of what the state can do to them.
ReplyDeleteThe Middle class is dwindling. Those who have cancer or close relatives with cancer, are more receptive to the ties between nuclear pollution and cancer. The middle class is more educated. The economy has been bad and is growing worse. The middle classes have to deal with less stability and more stressful jobs.
The middle class are afraid for their health. More so than the poor. They are treading water, so they feel helpless but they can at least try to live healthier lives. Many middle class, who are more educated, are at least marginally aware of Fukushima.
Many the rich have massive investments in the military and nuclear. They believe the lies of the bogus health physics models that says that bioccumulated radiotoxins are not so bad. To them the only danger is the gamma flash from a bomb explosion or meltdown. The rich accept the hormesis lie. The rich accept the radiation waste non-toxicity and safe storage lies.
The rich usually do not face the truth until they are forced too.
It is a total fail of leadership.
Insightful comments. Yes the poor have more to fear from the state and oligarchic corporations, at least on the surface.
DeleteIt is true that the middle class is more formally educated than the poor, but some principles of formal education may reflect the interests of those who produced the knowledge and operate to maintain precisely those ideas and practices that are contributing to the disintegration of the middle class (such as the alleged benefits of "free trade" stripped of the particularities of the content of actual trade agreements).
As you note, knowledge can be highly politicized, as illustrated by rationalized dose-effects models that focus on the "gamma flash."
Why is the preservation nuclear power and nuclear weapons so important to these jade helm and neo people? Is it like a doom machine, set in motion, that cannot be stopped?
DeleteNwo people
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