Japan’s surprising new prime minister

Japan’s new prime minister, Ishiba Shigeru, has called for an Asian NATO. But salivating hawks should restrain the glee.

For two reasons.

For Ishiba, as for many other Japanese moderates, a defining moment came in 2004 when the US military prevented Okinawa authorities from investigating the crash of a US military helicopter on the grounds of an international university campus and surrounding residential area . With almost unbelievable rudeness US authorities invoked a status of forces agreement not only to prevent the investigation but even to remove top soil from........

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