I'd like to think the Japanese state department came up with that as a nothingburger for him to throw trump's way so that he doesn't actually have to complement him.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Yeah, unlike certain other world leaders, Abe has more important things to accomplish than scoring points in the form of sarcastic comments about his diplomatic allies.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Yeah, unlike certain other world leaders, Abe has more important things to accomplish than scoring points in the form of sarcastic comments about his diplomatic allies.
Abe is also a militaristic right wing nationalist.
I’d love to see what Theresa May’s expression was like at that moment, given she called Trump to say the same thing, caught him at a bad time and got berated by him instead.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Abe is also a Trump style right winger himself, isn't he?
Yes, that would be Trump “exchanging pleasantries” with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the guy the CIA say arranged Khashoggi’s brutal murder, while Ivanka (who is there for some reason) looks on and Mnuchin chuckles.
Elizabeth Landers is a CNN Congressional reporter and producer.
:whistle:
It’s not NAFTA it’s the U S M C A!
It’s not NAFTA it’s the U S M C A!
It’s the greatest of deals for you to enjoy!
It’s the deal of your president’s choice!
:whistle:
Donald Trump is the President of the United States. I’ll never get used to typing that.
*edit* I should add the additional explainer that Nieto and Trudeau have heavily emphasized that this is a revised NAFTA deal while Trump is heavily emphasizing that it’s a brand NEW deal that’s nothing to do with NAFTA and it’s all getting just a bit silly.
Trump, Trudeau and Nieto signed a revised version of NAFTA this morning. The full story is on the previous page. It actually has some good bits in it, but it has to pass Congress before it can come into effect.
*edit* Wait you were asking who the REVIEWS were from, weren’t you?
Trump, Trudeau and Nieto signed a revised version of NAFTA this morning. The full story is on the previous page. It actually has some good bits in it, but it has to pass Congress before it can come into effect.
*edit* Wait you were asking who the REVIEWS were from, weren’t you?
My understanding is that there are some sticking points that may keep the GOP from ratifying it, like explicitly barring child labor and not allowing companies to murder gay people and requiring the acknowledgment that trans people exist.
Funny enough, Canada's biggest network has been calling it the CUSMA in multiple stories over the past few days. If only they had named it something all participants could agree on ...
CUSMA rolls off the tongue better that’s for sure. Hopefully it becomes the accepted nomenclature. Canada receiving top billing would be the perfect cherry on top of this stupid sundae.
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That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Yeah I think it is possible to spin the election result, doing weird statistic shit and comparisons to previous elections, as somehow technically a win for Trump/GOP. Like some "never before has a President who started the primaries dead last had a midterm where he didn't lose the senate" or whatever. And if anyone could figure one out it would be the Japanese.
CUSMA rolls off the tongue better that’s for sure. Hopefully it becomes the accepted nomenclature. Canada receiving top billing would be the perfect cherry on top of this stupid sundae.
I think there's something in Canadian law (or at least procedure) that when listing countries Canada always goes first.
So apparently there's 3 versions of the name for this thing, since of course Mexico can't be left out.
CUSMA rolls off the tongue better that’s for sure. Hopefully it becomes the accepted nomenclature. Canada receiving top billing would be the perfect cherry on top of this stupid sundae.
I think there's something in Canadian law (or at least procedure) that when listing countries Canada always goes first.
So apparently there's 3 versions of the name for this thing, since of course Mexico can't be left out.
And since Canada also has it in French, we aren't even the US for that part!
I legitimately wonder how Trump would react to learning that in French, the US is the EU.
United States. Etats Unis
.
The same insulting way he'd treat Mexico for using EEUU.
See, but it would make the US the EU, and he doesn't like the EU, so ... (I know that this would all be lost on him and he would just complain about the US being treated 'unfairly'. But until he actually has his damaged brain reaction, one can dream, right?).
Edit: Also, as a Canadian, the fact that we have to factor in that the American president is functionally retarded is more than a bit depressing.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Yeah, unlike certain other world leaders, Abe has more important things to accomplish than scoring points in the form of sarcastic comments about his diplomatic allies.
Abe is also a militaristic right wing nationalist.
That's gotta be shade right. That's international diplomacy shade right there right?
Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Abe is also a Trump style right winger himself, isn't he?
I am not a Japan expert, but as I understand it, no, not really.
Abe is right-wing on the Japanese political spectrum, but modern Japanese political culture is quite different from America's. For example, ethnonationalism isn't a political issue in Japan, because Japan is incredibly ethnically homogenous already (with several incredibly oppressed indigenous minorities) with extremely strict immigration laws. Both "sides" on the Japanese political spectrum are down with this. Japanese conservatism vs progressivism revolves more around economic issues and societal reform. Partially as a result of Japan's very strict immigration laws, Japan's population has stagnated, with a very large number of old people, like our Boomer generation, but worse due to a lack of immigration bolstering the lower end of the demographic pyramid. Japan's birthrate is also especially low, perhaps due to its extensive urbanization and modernization, at 1.44 births per woman compared to the US's 1.80, but also perhaps due to Japan's extremely rigid societal structure keeping couples apart due to strict cultural mores on how to date and marry and how hard they must work.
These demographic issues have resulted in severe economic issues, which dovetail with the societal structure issues because Japan cannot "activate" more of its workers due to old societal traditions that refuse to die. For example, Japanese working society is extremely sexist; women are not expected to ascend very far up the workplace hierarchy; instead, they work for a while as single women, then they are expected to marry a man, quit their job, and then support the man while the man works very long hours (12+ hours a day). Which, of course, may also be one reason why their birthrate is so low, because the men are working 12+ hours a day and the younger Japanese aren't into arranged marriages any more and who has time to date when you have to work 12+ hours a day. They've been trying to reduce the amount of hours worked per week, but that's had mixed effectiveness, as young employees are continuing to work long hours while older employees are being shifted to work less, so oops. Also employment in Japan is often "for life," so there's a major lack of horizontal labour mobility that might make Japan's economy more efficient.
Wait? What was I talking about again? Oh right, Japanese work culture being very sexist. So, for example, during tea breaks at work, female employees might be expected to serve tea to male employees, even if the female employee outranks the male employee. And if a Japanese woman wants to become a doctor, they might run into shit like this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/08/tokyo-medical-school-admits-changing-results-to-exclude-women
So those are the two biggest issues facing Japan right now, and their politics mostly revolve around how to solve them. As I understand it, Japanese progressives would prefer to focus on social and cultural policies (such as child-rearing subsidies, expanded unemployment insurance, housing allowances, stronger regulations for part-time workers, funding for free public schooling), whereas the conservatives would prefer to focus more on economic and labour policies, like, namely, Abeonomics, Abe's signature policy platform, a set of economic policies that were, it is said, largely why he gained power. In this sense, the Japanese progressives may be said to be more "Trump-like" in rejecting the status quo and trying to transform Japan's extremely conservative culture, whereas Japanese conservatives are more ... well, not Trump-like, in that they're largely interested in preserving the status quo through the use of relatively established, technocratic policies.
Abe's politics are militant and nationalist, but those also need to be seen in the light of Japan officially not having a real military. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are actually, on paper, quite potent, but Japan is bound by their constitution and various socio-cultural opinions to be a pacifist state. When people say that Abe's a militarist, they mean that Abe wants Japan's military to be legally allowed by the constitution to engage in war. Japan's military is now able to engage in counter-terrorism activities, which they previously were not. Abe has mused about Japan being allowed to have nuclear weapons, which they technically are though nuclear weapons are hugely unpopular among the Japanese public for obvious reasons. The Japanese are now allowed to engage in "collective self-defense" with other Asian allies. Like... that's what we're talking about when we say Abe's a militarist. He's moved the needle, but the needle started about 17 miles away from where the American needle is, so comparing him to Trump and saying they're both "militaristic" is rather fallacious.
Edit: Also, Abe's party, the LDP, have been in power for... I think 19 of the last 22 years and 58 of the last 63 years, if I did my math right, so... like... even if Abe's "conservative," that's kinda just because Japan is "conservative." Relative to the Japanese political spectrum, the LDP would be pretty centrist/status quo, obviously, to maintain power for that long.
- I should say, again, not a Japan expert. There's probably a weeaboo here somewhere who can provide more details/corrections. -
Edit: Also, Abe's party, the LDP, have been in power for... I think 19 of the last 22 years and 58 of the last 63 years, if I did my math right, so... like... even if Abe's "conservative," that's kinda just because Japan is "conservative." Relative to the Japanese political spectrum, the LDP would be pretty centrist/status quo, obviously, to maintain power for that long.
I would say that at this point the LDP primarily benefits from three things:
Malapportionment and FPTP. It's not as bad as it is some other countries (as the Japanese Supreme Court has ruled that it's unconstitutional for any parliamentary district to have more than twice the population of the smallest district) but rural votes are still worth significantly more than urban ones. The LDP won 75% of FPTP seats in 2017 with just over 48% of the vote. The next largest party, with 20% of the vote, won just 6% of FPTP seats.
The LDP, because of their lengthy governance, has managed to secure themselves the place of the safe default. "Don't know who to vote for? Vote for the LDP, at least you can be sure they won't screw things up too badly."
Meanwhile, the opposition parties have absolutely no credibility with the Japanese public at this point. They haven't been able to distance themselves from the failures of the much anticipated DPJ government that was in control from 2009 to 2012. It doesn't help that they keep splitting and reforming, hoping that people won't notice that it's still the same people in charge. Apart from the Communists, the oldest of the top three opposition parties was only formed in October 2017.
So even though Abe's approval rating hasn't been over 50% since May of 2017 and the LDP hasn't had a support level much over 40% in at least the last twenty years (that's as far as the NHK poll archive went back), he and the LDP will still win in a landslide whenever the next election is called.
I think that, in his heart, Abe probably is a genuine militarist. He's the scion of the branch of Japanese conservatives that the LDP leadership kicked to the curb in 1960 in favor of safer, more economy-centered conservatives. But it doesn't really matter. He's heavily constrained by other Japanese leaders and popular opinion and the minor changes he's able to implement on security issues still leave the JSDF as the most constrained military outside of, I don't know, Costa Rica.
One needs to also factor in that Abe's party refuses to acknowledge any of the atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, from keeping it out of history textbooks to complaining about a statue commemorating comfort women in a Chinese-majority neighborhood in California, to badgering the biggest English-language Japanese newspaper to issue this tortured clarification/apology just the other day:
One needs to also factor in that Abe's party refuses to acknowledge any of the atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, from keeping it out of history textbooks to complaining about a statue commemorating comfort women in a Chinese-majority neighborhood in California, to badgering the biggest English-language Japanese newspaper to issue this tortured clarification/apology just the other day:
JFC that is chilling. That's right up there with the worst of Trump's anti-press crap.
One needs to also factor in that Abe's party refuses to acknowledge any of the atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, from keeping it out of history textbooks to complaining about a statue commemorating comfort women in a Chinese-majority neighborhood in California, to badgering the biggest English-language Japanese newspaper to issue this tortured clarification/apology just the other day:
CUSMA rolls off the tongue better that’s for sure. Hopefully it becomes the accepted nomenclature. Canada receiving top billing would be the perfect cherry on top of this stupid sundae.
I think there's something in Canadian law (or at least procedure) that when listing countries Canada always goes first.
So apparently there's 3 versions of the name for this thing, since of course Mexico can't be left out.
MCUSA, yo!
Does anyone read that hearing Reiner Wolfcastle yelling "Mendoza!"? Or is it just me?
I'm relatively sure Abe is just playing the game there. Japan relies on the US for security and Trump is highly mercurial, making decisions on personal whims. Buttering him up will reinforce US commitment to Japan and won't hurt him at home I think.
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I would like to congratulate you on the enormity of your success.
Abe is trolling.
I'd like to think the Japanese state department came up with that as a nothingburger for him to throw trump's way so that he doesn't actually have to complement him.
That seems more like a "bless your heart" southern compliment than anything.
It's very subtle, isn't it?
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Unlikely. Abe has been on a charm offensive with Trump ever since his election. Abe desperately needs input into any Korean negotiations. Japan does not want to see a unified Korea on their doorstep, especially one without US involvement/management.
Yeah, unlike certain other world leaders, Abe has more important things to accomplish than scoring points in the form of sarcastic comments about his diplomatic allies.
Abe is also a militaristic right wing nationalist.
I’d love to see what Theresa May’s expression was like at that moment, given she called Trump to say the same thing, caught him at a bad time and got berated by him instead.
Abe is also a Trump style right winger himself, isn't he?
Yes, that would be Trump “exchanging pleasantries” with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the guy the CIA say arranged Khashoggi’s brutal murder, while Ivanka (who is there for some reason) looks on and Mnuchin chuckles.
Elizabeth Landers is a CNN Congressional reporter and producer.
It’s not NAFTA it’s the U S M C A!
It’s not NAFTA it’s the U S M C A!
It’s the greatest of deals for you to enjoy!
It’s the deal of your president’s choice!
:whistle:
Donald Trump is the President of the United States. I’ll never get used to typing that.
*edit* I should add the additional explainer that Nieto and Trudeau have heavily emphasized that this is a revised NAFTA deal while Trump is heavily emphasizing that it’s a brand NEW deal that’s nothing to do with NAFTA and it’s all getting just a bit silly.
Trump, Trudeau and Nieto signed a revised version of NAFTA this morning. The full story is on the previous page. It actually has some good bits in it, but it has to pass Congress before it can come into effect.
*edit* Wait you were asking who the REVIEWS were from, weren’t you?
I am so slow...
That’s a very good question. I haven’t seen any, although BBC News have a nicely detailed breakdown of the changes.
My understanding is that there are some sticking points that may keep the GOP from ratifying it, like explicitly barring child labor and not allowing companies to murder gay people and requiring the acknowledgment that trans people exist.
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Yeah I think it is possible to spin the election result, doing weird statistic shit and comparisons to previous elections, as somehow technically a win for Trump/GOP. Like some "never before has a President who started the primaries dead last had a midterm where he didn't lose the senate" or whatever. And if anyone could figure one out it would be the Japanese.
I think there's something in Canadian law (or at least procedure) that when listing countries Canada always goes first.
So apparently there's 3 versions of the name for this thing, since of course Mexico can't be left out.
MCUSA, yo!
I legitimately wonder how Trump would react to learning that in French, the US is the EU.
The same insulting way he'd treat Mexico for using EEUU.
See, but it would make the US the EU, and he doesn't like the EU, so ... (I know that this would all be lost on him and he would just complain about the US being treated 'unfairly'. But until he actually has his damaged brain reaction, one can dream, right?).
Edit: Also, as a Canadian, the fact that we have to factor in that the American president is functionally retarded is more than a bit depressing.
I am not a Japan expert, but as I understand it, no, not really.
Abe is right-wing on the Japanese political spectrum, but modern Japanese political culture is quite different from America's. For example, ethnonationalism isn't a political issue in Japan, because Japan is incredibly ethnically homogenous already (with several incredibly oppressed indigenous minorities) with extremely strict immigration laws. Both "sides" on the Japanese political spectrum are down with this. Japanese conservatism vs progressivism revolves more around economic issues and societal reform. Partially as a result of Japan's very strict immigration laws, Japan's population has stagnated, with a very large number of old people, like our Boomer generation, but worse due to a lack of immigration bolstering the lower end of the demographic pyramid. Japan's birthrate is also especially low, perhaps due to its extensive urbanization and modernization, at 1.44 births per woman compared to the US's 1.80, but also perhaps due to Japan's extremely rigid societal structure keeping couples apart due to strict cultural mores on how to date and marry and how hard they must work.
These demographic issues have resulted in severe economic issues, which dovetail with the societal structure issues because Japan cannot "activate" more of its workers due to old societal traditions that refuse to die. For example, Japanese working society is extremely sexist; women are not expected to ascend very far up the workplace hierarchy; instead, they work for a while as single women, then they are expected to marry a man, quit their job, and then support the man while the man works very long hours (12+ hours a day). Which, of course, may also be one reason why their birthrate is so low, because the men are working 12+ hours a day and the younger Japanese aren't into arranged marriages any more and who has time to date when you have to work 12+ hours a day. They've been trying to reduce the amount of hours worked per week, but that's had mixed effectiveness, as young employees are continuing to work long hours while older employees are being shifted to work less, so oops. Also employment in Japan is often "for life," so there's a major lack of horizontal labour mobility that might make Japan's economy more efficient.
Wait? What was I talking about again? Oh right, Japanese work culture being very sexist. So, for example, during tea breaks at work, female employees might be expected to serve tea to male employees, even if the female employee outranks the male employee. And if a Japanese woman wants to become a doctor, they might run into shit like this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/08/tokyo-medical-school-admits-changing-results-to-exclude-women
So those are the two biggest issues facing Japan right now, and their politics mostly revolve around how to solve them. As I understand it, Japanese progressives would prefer to focus on social and cultural policies (such as child-rearing subsidies, expanded unemployment insurance, housing allowances, stronger regulations for part-time workers, funding for free public schooling), whereas the conservatives would prefer to focus more on economic and labour policies, like, namely, Abeonomics, Abe's signature policy platform, a set of economic policies that were, it is said, largely why he gained power. In this sense, the Japanese progressives may be said to be more "Trump-like" in rejecting the status quo and trying to transform Japan's extremely conservative culture, whereas Japanese conservatives are more ... well, not Trump-like, in that they're largely interested in preserving the status quo through the use of relatively established, technocratic policies.
Abe's politics are militant and nationalist, but those also need to be seen in the light of Japan officially not having a real military. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are actually, on paper, quite potent, but Japan is bound by their constitution and various socio-cultural opinions to be a pacifist state. When people say that Abe's a militarist, they mean that Abe wants Japan's military to be legally allowed by the constitution to engage in war. Japan's military is now able to engage in counter-terrorism activities, which they previously were not. Abe has mused about Japan being allowed to have nuclear weapons, which they technically are though nuclear weapons are hugely unpopular among the Japanese public for obvious reasons. The Japanese are now allowed to engage in "collective self-defense" with other Asian allies. Like... that's what we're talking about when we say Abe's a militarist. He's moved the needle, but the needle started about 17 miles away from where the American needle is, so comparing him to Trump and saying they're both "militaristic" is rather fallacious.
Edit: Also, Abe's party, the LDP, have been in power for... I think 19 of the last 22 years and 58 of the last 63 years, if I did my math right, so... like... even if Abe's "conservative," that's kinda just because Japan is "conservative." Relative to the Japanese political spectrum, the LDP would be pretty centrist/status quo, obviously, to maintain power for that long.
- I should say, again, not a Japan expert. There's probably a weeaboo here somewhere who can provide more details/corrections. -
Dunno man, which China and NK on the back door I would also want some nukes, specially after the incident earlier on the year.
I would say that at this point the LDP primarily benefits from three things:
That's why when you look at things like the most recent monthly NHK poll on party support, you see that the top three responses were:
So even though Abe's approval rating hasn't been over 50% since May of 2017 and the LDP hasn't had a support level much over 40% in at least the last twenty years (that's as far as the NHK poll archive went back), he and the LDP will still win in a landslide whenever the next election is called.
I think that, in his heart, Abe probably is a genuine militarist. He's the scion of the branch of Japanese conservatives that the LDP leadership kicked to the curb in 1960 in favor of safer, more economy-centered conservatives. But it doesn't really matter. He's heavily constrained by other Japanese leaders and popular opinion and the minor changes he's able to implement on security issues still leave the JSDF as the most constrained military outside of, I don't know, Costa Rica.
Dan Dale is a journalist with the Toronto Star.
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JFC that is chilling. That's right up there with the worst of Trump's anti-press crap.
That I Occupied North Texas levels of linguistic gaslighting.
The comfort women change seems positive, but just enough explanation made it in before the cutoff that I have to think it's suitably disgusting?
Does anyone read that hearing Reiner Wolfcastle yelling "Mendoza!"? Or is it just me?
There is certainly a sizeable revisionist faction within the LDP, but this is just not true.
I like the "The chucklefuck has signed it now, so we can call it whatever" subtext
I mean it's not even a subtext really. They're just saying that.