Foreign Affairs

TexasTowelie

(111,981 posts) Fri Aug 28, 2020, 04:09 AM Aug 2020

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Resign Due to Health Reasons

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to resign due to health reasons, ending his run as the country’s longest serving premier.

Abe told members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party that he would step down, and his successor will be picked by an election within the party, lawmaker Hiroshige Seko said after a meeting on Thursday. Abe had been scheduled to give a news conference at 5 p.m. Friday in which he planned to discuss his health.

No one was immediately available for comment at his office.

Japan’s Topix index dropped as much as 1.6% on the sudden announcement, while the yen rebounded from losses following the report. Abe spoke for a few minutes Friday ahead of the reports, where he told a meeting of the government’s virus task force his administration has put together a new plan to combat Covid-19 ahead of the winter flu season.

The 65-year-old prime minister has visited Keio University Hospital twice in the past two weeks, telling reporters that he was undergoing tests to maintain his health. Although the government has provided few details, local reports said he was undergoing treatment for ulcerative colitis, a chronic digestive condition that forced him to step down as premier in 2007.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/japan-s-abe-plans-to-resign-due-to-health-reasons-nhk-keds6a3i

3 replies

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Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Resign Due to Health Reasons (Original Post) TexasTowelie Aug 2020 OP

maybe maggot MFM008 Aug 2020 #1

My 1st thought! SheltieLover Aug 2020 #2

I'm not sanguine about the future prospects soryang Aug 2020 #3

MFM008

(19,803 posts)

1. maybe maggot

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Aug 28, 2020, 05:25 AM

Aug 2020

makes him sick.....

SheltieLover

(57,073 posts)

2. My 1st thought!

Reply to MFM008 (Reply #1)

Fri Aug 28, 2020, 06:07 AM

Aug 2020

I hope he gets better soon & that the Japanese people have a good leader to replace him.

soryang

(3,299 posts)

3. I'm not sanguine about the future prospects

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Fri Aug 28, 2020, 01:59 PM

Aug 2020

Last edited Fri Aug 28, 2020, 03:54 PM - Edit history (1)

One needs to keep in mind that the CIA installed LDP is led by ultra-conservative elites who gained their family fortunes from Japan's invasion and occupation of virtually the entirety of East Asia. Abe is very much a part of that tradition. Abe's grandfather and the other fascists employed by the US in the cold war against Russia and then China established the Japan we know today. The ugly part is washed away in the English language media because Japan dutifully serves a geopolitical role profitable to the US.

The re-militarization of Japan to be used as a proxy force by the United States, and the continued use of Japan as the springboard for potential wars against North Korea and China is a double edged sword. Disputes over islands in the East Asian littoral and South China Sea are blessed with the label "freedom of navigation" but in reality disguise the imperial legacy of the US and Japan in the late 19th and 20th Centuries which resulted in WW II, when the two erstwhile colonial partners had a falling out.

People who imagine some incompatibility between Trump and Abe are clearly misled by the mainstream media. In spite of immense cultural differences, the two men couldn't be more alike. Abe is a right wing racist who wishes to make Japan "great again."

Will we get a Taro Aso or a new generation of leadership who truly reject the Japanese imperial legacy?

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