The Unbearable Lightness of Being John Kerry

John Kerry was born two centuries too late: this Francophile Secretary of State with the heckuva $2 banknote mug* would have made a decent Plan B for Thomas Jefferson, but he had to face Karl Rove and his minions, and to live in a World where Asia matters more than Europe.

JFK Jr. dreams of being the guy who solved the Israel-Palestine conundrum, and tries his best to stay away from East Asian politics:

In 2013, John Kerry flew once to Seoul and Beijing, twice to Tokyo, 6 times to Paris, 9 times to Tel Aviv, and 12 times to Shannon (for "refueling" - Irish whiskey I presume)
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During his short stop in Seoul before Beijing, the SoS did something right on his way to or from Cheong Wa Dae: passing by the quintessential Seoul neighborhood Seochon (and more precisely in the now highly touristic Tongin Market**) to taste Korea's quintessential street food. Judging by the color, his tteokbokki wasn't that spicy; if John Kerry makes a face, that's because he's being forced to swallow East Asian politics:

Here with Ambassador Sung KIM, John Kerry eating tteokbokki in Tongin market
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KIM Jong-un's obviously not on a tteokbokki diet. Ever since he discarded uncle Jang, North Korea's "Beer Leader" has been drinking, eating, and smoking his way to heart attack:

After the purge, Kim The Third needs some fat cleansing.
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/433844655055069184

I mean look at this blob from a closer range!
"BREAKING: Flappy Bird grounded in North Korea as well!"
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So. Since neither Kim nor himself seem ready to move, Kerry drops the hot potato on XI Jinping's lap: "China has a unique and critical role it can play. No country has a greater potential to influence North Korea". And while you're at it, could you please stop building aircraft carriers, redrawing ADIZes, and claiming Senkaku/Diaoyu? We can't even make our partners agree on Dokdo/Takeshima...

Of course, the US have a unique and critical role they can play. No country has a greater potential to influence Japan and Korea, and they are very much aware of Shinzo Abe's amorality, but the revisionist PM has it all tied up: the US need Japan and they're kept busy with Okinawa reshuffles. Somehow, if Abe's as much a S.O.B. as his untried war criminal of a grandfather***, he remains their S.O.B.

So the US 'criticisms' remain totally indirect and nowhere near the face-losing zone: Abe's Yasukuni visit was a 'disappointment', and Barack Obama's 2-day state visit to Japan became a one day in Korea - one day in Japan stunt.

Even 89 year-old Tomiichi Murayama was more direct in his toned-down reference to Japan's "indescribable wrongdoings" yesterday, as he met survivors of Imperial Japan's sexual slavery system.

And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood much more firmly for the victims as the clock keeps ticking****.

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* an "Forbes" for a middle name!
** don't get me wrong, I love that place, and I'm glad it's more alive and kicking than ever! See posts related to Tongin Market, including "Yeongcheon Market saved, Tongin Market already bukchonized" (November 2011), "Tongin market opens up to art : adaptation or yet another symptom of Seochon's "Bukchonization" ?" (July 2011)
*** see among other posts "The Elusive Independence Day - When will Japan officially proclaim its Independence from Imperial Japan?"
**** again, this essential case is gaining momentum in the US (most notably in NJ and CA), and reaches far beyond Japan or Korea (see for instance "First International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women"")

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UPDATE 20140226
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Read the backstory of Kerry's visit to Tongin Market (with a kinder picture of him): http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/02/20/2014022001937.html 

Tongin Market's tteokbokki looks more appetizing than John Kerry trying to eat it
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France claims the British Isles at the United Nations

"France on Thursday made a presentation on its Partial Submission Concerning the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS).

France said the natural prolongation of the continental shelf of France extends to the British Islands and beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea of Britanny is measured.

According to the UNCLOS and its relevant provisions, if the continental shelf of a coastal state extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured, information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles shall be submitted by the coastal state to the CLCS under the UNCLOS."

Okay. Replace "France" with "China" and "British Isles" with "Okinawa Trough" and you get the core of the message released by Xinhua yesterday (see "China makes presentation on outer limits of continental shelf in East China Sea to UN" - Global Times - 20130816).

Here's the Okinawa Trough:

NB: the closest piece of land are Japan and Taiwan. And note that you can even find a few Koreans who also claim Okinawa.

And here's the continental shelf supporting the British Isles (obviously we frogs have a much easier case than the stretched Chinese one):

NB: I could also have made Denmark claim the British Isles (a perfectly rotten joke for the Bard), but my country has had a legitimate right to do so ever since Guillaume le Conquerant took over England, back in 1066 (yup, 900 years before England stole the Holy Grail from German barbarians - at one stage, a giant called Geoff supposedly did a dirty trick involving a hat).


PS: to my many British friends, please keep your shelf control, and remember that you invented humor. And yes, the ball crossed the line in 1966 (anyway according to recent news, that West Germany team was probably loaded).

Stephane

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ABE forced to back down a bit. For the moment. Next PR stunt: KIM Jong-un

At long last, Shinzo Abe marked a pause in his outrageous streak of provocations by backpedaling a bit and very evasively on recent comments*:

• "No apology": Abe said that after all, he would not dump Tomiichi Murayama's 1995 statement, the first embryo of official apologies from a Japanese government for the atrocities committed under Imperial Japanese rule. That's a good thing, but not a major surprise: that statement was a red line that many even within his own party thought too risky to cross**.
• "Invasion": Abe said "I never said Japan did not invade other countries". Which is technically true, but technically as well, this man is still refusing to confirm that Japan invaded other countries!
• "Necessary": Abe said that neither he nor his party shared Toru Hashimoto's views on Comfort Women (see "So you want to know what is 'necessary', Mr Hashimoto?"). Here too, Abe doesn't state clearly what his own views are.***

So let's not rejoice too soon. Here, Shinzo Abe is just aknowledging his limits of the day after testing how far he could go without facing any resistance. We've watched him grow bolder and bolder, and now he's simply redeeming a few Godwin Points from his Imperial Japan Airlines mileage program, after collecting a record bonus in his recent infamous Flight 731 (see "Can't top that? Shinzo Abe posing as Shiro Ishii, the Josef Mengele of Imperial Japan").

International pressure definitely played a role, and the Unit 731 provocation backfired, triggering many articles on the very atrocities Abe and his friends try to obliterate from memories, just like the lobby of Japanese lawmakers against memorials for Comfort Women erected in the US backfired last year (see "We reject as false the choice between revisionism and nationalism - for a Global Truth and Reconciliation Network").

But Shinzo Abe doesn't care much about international pressure: I think he was forced to back down a bit by members from his own party, who probably reminded him that the most important for them was to pass the modification of the Article 96 of the Constitution, which makes it difficult to change the Constitution itself. Right now, you need each of the 2 houses to get 2/3 of their members vote the change, then ratify it through a popular vote (referendum). If Shinzo Abe's LDP doesn't have a majority by itself, fellow hardliners Your Party and Hashimoto's Restoration Party share the same goal of destroying the safeguards of Japanese democracy, starting with the fundamental Article 9, which clearly states that Japan is a peaceful nation ("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").

So nothing has changed yesterday. Shinzo Abe has only be reminded by fellow warmongers that he should keep his eyes on the ball: we must first destroy Japan as a democracy.

Yesterday, Shinzo Abe also confirmed that he considered meeting Kim Jong-un. His government sent an envoy to Pyongyang against the strict recommendations of Japan's allies... but maybe Mr Abe sees more kinship in such democracies as North Korea, Russia or Iran, who knows?

Anyway, both "Kim The Third" and "Shiro Abe" badly need a PR stunt to raise their profiles as East Asia's top "diplomats"...


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* see "Abe Bows to Int'l Pressure Over WWII Apology" (Chosun Ilbo 20130516)
** see "Interpretations of Japan's wartime history causing rift in ruling LDP" (Asahi Shimbun 20130514)
*** Note that Japanese voices rose loudly to condemned Hashimoto: Okinawa women's associations (see "Okinawa women’s groups condemn Hashimoto justification of sex slaves" - Japan Times 20130516)... but some may say Okinawa itself is not completely Japan...
*** I wrote something about that episode on my French blog ("L'extreme-droite Japonaise invite Le Pen... et les projecteurs"), and later on Rue89 ("La visite de Le Pen au Japon, coup de com pour l'extrême droite nippone")
*** see "Abe Hints at Meeting Kim Jong-un" (Chosun Ilbo 20130516)