But the new definitions covering civilian contractors and technical experts and the legal protections they enjoy under the bilateral Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which now separates them into four basic categories, are unlikely to quell calls for more fundamental revisions to the pact itself.
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga told reporters Tuesday afternoon in Naha that as details were still lacking, the prefecture will be watching carefully to see how bilateral discussions to further refine those details progress over the following months.Others, however, said the new agreement is not enough.
“The definitions of civilian workers remains too vague, and I think the agreement is insufficient,” said Satoshi Taira, an Onaga supporter and a leader of an Okinawa group opposed to the construction of the Henoko base to replace the Futenma facility.
Tyler Steim on how Chinese flight capital has worn out its welcome in British Columbia:
Compounding the frustration is the fact that, according to experts, a major portion of the money flooding into the market is hot. Officially, the Chinese government limits the amount of money individuals can take out of the country per year to US$50,000. Wong recently launched an online petition to strengthen Canada’s notoriously lax federal anti-money laundering measures. It has attracted more than 10,000 signatures.
While such frustrations are unquestionably legitimate and stronger regulation is badly needed, the narrative of “putting down roots” makes some people uneasy. Melissa Fong supports affordability measures, but worries that talk of roots raises the spectre of a more insidious form of racism: respectability politics. “It’s the old question of what is a ‘good’ Chinese?” she says.
Ian Young, author of the South China Morning Post’s enormously popular Hongcouver blog, the must-read chronicle of Vancouver’s affordability woes, is more sanguine. “When you have thousands of super-rich settling in a new city in very short time, that’s discomfiting … people don’t know what to think,” he says. “But the issue here is [the buyers’] millionaire-ness, not their Chinese-ness. And I think most people get that.”
Douglas Green on the state of Turkey's connection to Central Asian terror:
The affiliations between Central Asian and Middle-East terror groups in Turkey goes back to the early 1990s, when the borders of Turkey with Georgia and the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan and the rest of former Soviet Union opened. Thousands of immigrants coming not just from the Caucasus but also from Uzbekistan and neighbouring Soviet republics poured into Turkey and settled down in locations which included the town of Ovakent near the Syrian frontier, while others moved to Istanbul.
Among the migrants was a “dissident” Uzbek named Abdullah Buhari who founded the so-called Society of Religious Assistance and Solidarity, operating in Ovakent but also in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul. It was there where he was killed by gunmen on the street on December 11, 2014, with Turkish authorities pointing fingers at “secret services” of Uzbekistan, his country of origin, through hired Chechen contract killers...
Many commentators have pointed at Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan’s recent U-turn in seeking reconciliation with both Moscow and Damascus; if genuine, it could mean the end of that lifeline – which means that the Istanbul attack could be seen as a “warning”. Besides, repairing ties with Russia by the more isolated Turkish regime would not fit into the plans of Chechen radicals whereas their Central Asian comrades-in-terror would see their aim, namely to topple the region’s secular regimes according to the plans Turkey had in store regarding Syria.
Steven Nagy on how even with the likely LDP Upper House victory, Article 9 reform still has a long way to go:
A victory in the Upper House elections by Abe’s LDP party is not in doubt. What remains less tangible is how large his victory will be. Achieving a two-thirds majority on 10 July would enable Abe to be less restricted by the Komeito’s pacifist inclinations and allow for a vote by the Upper House as to whether or not a referendum could be held on changing Article 9 of the Constitution. This result remains a high probability owing to an impotent opposition without a clear policy alternative.
The constitutional question is controversial. Any change would be the first since it was put into place. Abe has explicitly called for amendments, with his party’s draft alterations to the text to specify “that Japan possesses the right to self-defense and that an organisation will be set up for self-defense.” This change of Article 9 would be a paradigm shift in terms of Japan’s post-WWII pacifist identify. It would transform the region’s security architecture and it be what Andrew Oros articulates as the normalising of Japan’s security structure.
Despite a two-thirds majority in the Upper House, constitutional revision is unlikely for several reasons. First, at the citizen level, pacifist norms are widespread and much nuanced. Voters view defence of Japan and her territories as common sense, especially as China pursues a more assertive stance in the East and South China Seas, whereas overseas dispatch for the purpose of security cooperation is wearily looked upon. Second, within the LDP itself there are both conservative and liberal factions both in favour and against constitutional revision. Bridging this division will be a challenge to Abe. Third, and in relation to this challenge of bridging those both pro- and against revision, law makers are interested in prioritising economic growth and a bolder commitment to structural reform instead of wasting valuable political capital on changing Article 9 of the Constitution. For many, they already recognise the reality that the Constitution has been reinterpreted many times in the post WWII period by successive PMs and that changing or eliminating Article 9 is not necessary to enable Japan’s military.
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