Abe skirts constitution to wake up dormant war machine

"In a sense, Abe and the LDP have pulled the wool over the public's eyes in the run-up to Abe remilitarizing Japan and there' s been a lot of fear mongering going on by the government to the public," political commentator and Shizuoka-based author Philip McNeil told Xinhua.

"When the public are scared they don't question policy. But what we're seeing in the polls is that the public is beginning to see the reality of the situation and the fact that Abe is potentially steering the nation down a very dangerous road, a road that Japan turned its back on decades ago, favoring peace and pacifism," he said.

"To an extent, the public has been hoodwinked by its wily leader and his 'I'll take care of it, gung-ho attitude'," McNeil said.

McNeil pointed out that Abe has been carefully treading the line between hero and villain. He's set about passionately rebooting Japan's economy and has received global acclaim for his "Abenomics" brand of economic strategies and policies, but at the same time he has been simultaneously and duplicitously allowing for the nation to normalize its military, starting with his swift creation of the National Security Council (NSC), moves to relax Japan's weapons exports, and, his "piece de resistance," flagrantly sidestepping both Supreme and constitutional law to fire up Japan's dormant war machine.

The three principles that will form the foundations of the Cabinet's decision to allow Japan's forces the right to exercise collective self-defense and would see troops called into action are based firstly on if "the country's existence is threatened and the people's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is feared to be overturned because of an armed attack on Japan or other countries."

The second is that force is acceptable if "no other appropriate means exist to repel aggression and protect the lives of Japanese people."

The third condition dictates that "if force is to be used then is must be kept to the minimum amount necessary."

But while debate on particular scenarios and circumstances that may or may not see Japan's troops deployed have been fairly exhaustive between the LDP and New Komeito, many observers feel that the Cabinet's inevitable decision will be based on a rather vague and nebulous motion that will allow for further manipulation or reinterpretation by the Cabinet in the future.

"The real concern about Abe's manoeuvrings is that even now everything is still so vague and unclear, it's almost as if he feels he has no duty to reveal what's going on to the public. There's been a lot of talk about no more future reinterpretations, but who's to say?" Sinclair said.

"Plus, it would seem, the major damage has already been done. Article 9 means nothing now, so why should anything else in the Constitution? And if such major decisions are solely going to be made by the Cabinet, why even have an elected parliament -- Abe can just find a way to circumnavigate everything. But sadly, it may not be domestic politics that finally stops Abe and the LDP. It could come from a very real external threat -- at some point, if you play with fire, you're going to get burned." said Sinclair.

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