Posted on 08/28/2011 6:53:06 AM PDT by flowerplough
KAMAISHI, Japan—In the gnarled remains of a tsunami-stricken storefront in Kamaishi, Japan, small signs of progress flap in the afternoon wind: political banners advertising the campaigns of local politicians running for office in the beleaguered region.
Officials had delayed local elections here for months, unsure of where voters had scattered after the March 11 tsunami, or how many were lost to the massive wave that devastated dozens of towns like this northeastern fishing village.
But if the red and white flags bearing the somber faces of Japanese politicians signal small steps forward in this stricken region, the recent news out of Tokyo represents large strides backward: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced Friday that he would resign his post within a week, conceding to pressure from his own Cabinet to leave office.
In a country grasping for definitive leadership in the wake of a long-running economic malaise, an earthquake and tsunami that killed nearly 19,000 people, and a nuclear disaster that’s still unresolved at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kan’s departure is an unsettling turn that brings unwelcome instability. His resignation after 15 months in office brings a sudden end to a political reign that began with the high hopes of Japanese supporters tweaking another political slogan: “Yes We Kan.”
The reality that Kan couldn’t deliver what his political colleagues and Japanese citizens wanted isn’t entirely surprising: Kan is the sixth Japanese prime minister to step down in the last five years.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldmag.com ...
Truman(?), Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Obama...
It’s time for the nations of the world to send ships and evacuate the entire country. They have been lied to enough and all of their lives are at risk.
Just like baseball, you can’t blame your problems on the previous manager; that’s the message for the failure Obama.
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