U.S. Base Will Stay on Okinawa
Despite campaign promises and widespread protests, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has finally made the widely unpopular decision to allow the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa.
Despite campaign promises and widespread protests, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has finally made the widely unpopular decision to allow the relocation of a U.S. military base on Okinawa.
Hatoyama had been on the fence for months on how to resolve the issue, with his approval rating plunging to less than 25 percent. –JCL
Your support matters…The New York Times:
Apologizing for failing to fulfill a prominent campaign promise, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told outraged residents of Okinawa on Sunday that he has decided to relocate an American air base to the north side of the island as originally agreed upon with the United States.
On his second visit to Okinawa this month, Mr. Hatoyama for first time conceded what Japanese media had been reporting for weeks: that he would accept Washington’s demands and honor a 2006 agreement to move the United States Marine Air Station Futenma to the island’s less populated north.
The decision is a humiliating setback for Mr. Hatoyama on a problem that has consumed his young government and could prove its undoing. Before last year’s historic election victory, he had vowed to move the base off of Okinawa or even out of Japan. But his apparent wavering on the issue helped drive his approval ratings below 25 percent.
Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
For this retired U.S. Army officer, the president's Thanksgiving visit with the troops has been "triggering" in all the worst ways.
The ACLU blasts the clemency action for Mathew Golsteyn and Clint Lorance as an "utterly shameful use of presidential powers."
Defense leaders express dismay and a resolve to do more to increase resilience in the force.
The CNN pundit appears to be taking his talking points from prominent military sources.
There already exists a proven protocol for the proper use of firearms. Why can’t it be implemented for civilians?
Aggressive, highly trained and hypermasculine Navy SEALs should not be used as the go-to tool for waging global imperial war.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.