Japan enacts bills easing pacifist constitution's limits on military

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/18/us-japan-security-
idUSKCN0RI03120150918

Japan's parliament voted into law on Saturday a defence policy shift that
could let troops fight overseas for the first time since 1945, a milestone
in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to loosen the limits of the pacifist
constitution on the military.

Abe says the shift, the biggest change in Japan's defence policy since the
creation of its post-war military in 1954, is vital to meet new challenges
such as from a rising China.

But the legislation has triggered massive protests from ordinary citizens
and others who say it violates the pacifist constitution and could ensnare
Japan in U.S.-led conflicts after 70 years of post-war peace. Abe's
ratings have also taken a hit.

The legislation "is necessary to protect the people's lives and peaceful
way of living and is for the purpose of preventing wars," Abe told
reporters after the bills were approved by the upper house. "I want to
keep explaining the laws tenaciously and courteously."

Japan's ally the United States has welcomed the changes but China, where
bitter memories of Japan's wartime aggression run deep, has repeatedly
expressed concern about the legislation.

"Recently we have noticed that voices in Japan opposing the bill have
become louder by the day," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei
told a regular news briefing on Friday.

"We demand that Japan earnestly listen to these just voices domestically
and internationally, learn the lessons of history, uphold the path of
peaceful development, speak and act cautiously in security and military
matters and take actual steps to maintain regional peace and stability,"
Hong added.

The bills, already approved by parliament's lower house, were voted into
law by the upper chamber in the early hours of Saturday despite opposition
parties' efforts to block a vote by submitting censure motions and a no-
confidence motion against Abe's cabinet in the lower house. All were
defeated.

A key feature of the laws is an end to a long-standing ban on exercising
the right of collective self-defense, or defending the United States or
another friendly country that comes under attack, in cases where Japan
faces a "threat to its survival".

Thousands of demonstrators have rallied near parliament every day this
week, chanting "Scrap the war bills" and "Abe resign". Large crowds were
still protesting into the early hours of Saturday.

The protests have called to mind those that forced Abe's grandfather,
Nobusuke Kishi, to resign 55 years ago after forcing a U.S.-Japan security
treaty through parliament.

The revisions also expand the scope for logistics support for the
militaries of the United States and other countries, and for participation
in peace keeping.

The changes still leave Japan constrained in overseas military operations
by legal limits and a deeply rooted public anti-war mindset.

"Even if the constitution is revised, among the Japanese people no-one is
thinking of going to foreign lands for the purpose of exercising force,"
former defence minister Itsunori Onodera told Reuters in an interview
earlier this week. "I think Japan will maintain that stance from now on as
well."

Critics, however, say the changes make a mockery of the pacifist
constitution and deplore what they see as Abe's authoritarian mode of
pushing for enactment of the bills.

Opposition to the legislation brought together both liberals keen to
preserve Japan's pacifist principles and conservative critics of what they
consider Abe's authoritarian tactics.

"The content, process and doctrine of the security bills ... risk
reversing the path we have walked for the past 70 years as a country of
peace and democracy," Yukio Edano, secretary-general of the opposition
Democratic Party, told parliament's lower house ahead of the no-confidence
vote against Abe.

Abe won a second three-year term as ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
chief earlier this month and faces no immediate danger of being unseated,
but voter distaste for the new laws could hurt the ruling bloc in an
election next year.

"The people’s revolt will continue toward the next election one way or
another," said Keio University professor Yoshihide Soeya.



--
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $18 trillion in the six
years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America. The only American president to deliberately import a
lethal infectious disease from Africa, Ebola.

Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth
certificate.

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed
felon using SSAN 042-68-4425, belonging to a dead man.

Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptitude.

Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases
insurance premiums 300% and leaves millions without health care.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ne...@netfront.net ---

[Beam Me Up Scotty]

On 09/18/2015 04:15 PM, Leroy N. Soetoro wrote:
> http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/18/us-japan-security-
> idUSKCN0RI03120150918
>
> Japan's parliament voted into law on Saturday a defence policy shift that
> could let troops fight overseas for the first time since 1945,

BIG mistake...

They must need to kill off some young men to ease the over crowding.

You would think that defending their own territory until someone attacks
them would be the smart thing to do.... Odd that when they're in
economic stagnation they plan to expand their military?

--
That's Karma

[Wayne]

On Fri, 18 Sep 2015 17:15:38 -0400, Beam Me Up Scotty

<I-WAS-JUST-GANG-PROBED-BY-...@IRS.FBI.NSA.CIA.

There's no reason for Japan to do that while the US is their
protector. Must be some kind of Obama initiative.