Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a stunning victory in the elections for the Parliament’s upper house. His party and his coalition partners won over two-thirds of the seats in the chamber, holding out the possibility that Abe might be able to amend the Japanese constitution. Currently, Article Nine of the constitution forbids Japan from engaging in militaristic activities, a legacy of the US-written constitution after Japan’s defeat in World War II. Although such a change is one of Abe’s objectives, it is not clear if or when he might pursue the change. There is a formidable anti-war constituency in Japan.
English Translation of Article Nine
ARTICLE 9.
(1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
South Sudan became an independent state in 2011. It was created through the efforts of Western powers, principally the US, to protect the residents of the region from the genocidal actions of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. Bashir is currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court, but he has not been arrested and still reigns as Sudanese President. The hopes for South Sudan, however, were ill-fated. Two leaders in the state, Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, have been fighting essentially a personal feud which has inflamed tensions between their respective ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer. The fighting has displaced thousands and the UN has been trying unsuccessfully to broker a cease-fire.
The US is sending 560 additional combat troops to Iraq in order to help the Iraqi government retake the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. The offensive comes as Daesh (the Islamic State) continues to lose ground in its self-declared caliphate. The American ground commitment to Iraq is also a ground commitment to the Iranian forces supporting Iraq. It may also be a sign of a growing military involvement that may prove to be more long-lasting than the initial commitment intended. We should hope that the offensive is successful or else more US troops may be going to Iraq.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment