24 posts tagged “politics”
"Guerrilla warfare is Afghan's national sports."
Man, thought I was going to write about the special kind of humanitarian operation I have conducted last Friday, but DPJ winning over LDP on last Sunday's national election in Japan is so big my attention is diverted to those news reports- and all the guessing-game as to what's going to happen next.
Today I went to vote. This is for the election of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Congress. This is a big deal because, although it in itself is for the local government, it is viewed as kind of a pre-battle before the national election, which could happen anytime. (Japanese Prime Minister can disband the Diet any time, and for some reason, every single one of them wants to use this power. There was only one time the Diet served its full term. It's almost seen as duty, not privilege, to do the disbanding to the best advantage of LDP [Liberal Democratic Party].)
Obama's victory speech was very, very powerful and inspiring. Especially because he spoke to the world, and reached out to the Americans who didn't vote for him. I'm usually very cynical when it comes to speeches from politicians no matter who or where that politician is from, but that speech was very inspiring. I can't remember the last time I felt any emotional support for America as a nation.
So I was watching the U.S. Democratic National Convention on CNN, it was more entertaining than I first thought. The whole thing's got more of the show-biz vibe than the Japanese politics!
According to Yomiuri Shinbun, one of the major newpapers in Japan, one of the main people responsible for the massacre of Srebrenica shot back; it says he submitted this document to the international tribunal in The Hague, which he says was given to him by the U.S. government, giving him immunity in exchange for his withdrawal from public life, issued by then Clinton administration.
CNN's starting to bore me; I do realize each country's political system has historical roots and everything to have become what it is, and I do respect that, but in my opinion this presidential election in the U.S. is taking too much time. This in the eyes of the American people must be the most important (therefore the most, how can I put it, examplary?) election in the "free world" as they call it, but it does not seem to be the most efficient and the most fair election on the entire planet. Not that Japanese election is all clean and everything though (it's anything but)...
"We can't find the weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq) doesn't mean it was never there. We can't find his body doesn't mean Jimmy Hoffa never existed."
-some Republican dude on CNN
.... (?_?) Huh?
Sure. Safety standard for everything in China is screwed up. They are greedy and only care about the money, not our safety. They are ignorant of such "advanced" notions such as lead-free paint. Or eel with no cancer-causing material painted all over it.
I'd like to invite you to look at this issue from a different point of view; under which brand did you see these "tainted" products sold? Who exactly paid them to produce these things in the first place? I bet it's one of the American/ Japanese/ European/ whatever megacorporations that was behind it. So should we just blame those at the bottom of the food chain, and ignore the one who contracted them to make/ produce stuff for them at a certain price? Shouldn't they also be held accountable for what they did, or did not do- namely, ignoring (willfully or otherwise) potential hazardous material/ situation (remember Nike: it's not just the end product that could be in danger, people making them also could be exploited in such manner probably not possible in our part of the world)? Did they kind of think, "as long as they come up with stuff we can sell back home at this price, and the local problems would stay where they are, we don't care much else"? Could they not more closely monitor the actual factories to make sure their own safety regulations have been met, or was that an option not considered because of, you know, cost reasons??
And this question inevitably has to be asked- By welcoming low price for certain quality, being content with the dividend from the share, or just not raising our voice over the issue, don't we as the customer/ shareholder/ general citizen also have to share at least some of the burden? It's not just the Chinese government that could make things change, we could as well by pressuring our corporations to behave in more responsible manner. Or do we turn the blind eye as long as the stuff can be bought cheap? Would we first export/outsource our production to their people, then would we export compliance/ safety regulation to their governments as well? Are we the customers so great we are above such responsibilities?
Some Japanese tabloids claim Shinzo Abe, the current Prime Minister of Japan (who has somehow managed to score LOWER approval rating than George W. Bush; an achievement not to be sneezed on) has what in French language may be called "natural child" (a child born out of an extramarital affair; sound better than a bastard child don't you think?).
