Shinzo Abe slashes 7 decades of pacifism, switches Japan to war mode

TOKYO -- By fatally slashing Japan's seven decades of pacifism, like a Shogun's shoulder to waist "kesagiri" finishing move, in the very year marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday realized his dream of abandoning postwar order and switching his country back into war mode.

Despite majority of population's opposition, the country's ruling coalition led by the historical revisionist rammed through a series of controversial security bills in Japan's all-powerful lower house Thursday, marking a backward move meaning the historically bloodied "samurai sword of Japan" could once again be wielded by its troops in every corner of the world.

It is a tragedy for Japan as the first victims of Abe's blade are the country's democratic system and the principle of the rule of law, which have been established in the war-torn country since the end of WWII at a cost of millions of innocent souls.

It is also a tragedy for East Asia as its regional countries once ruthlessly trampled by Japan's wartime barbarities will once again witness the rise of Japan's militarism at a time when their wounds have not yet fully healed and bitter memories remain to haunt.

To have such anxieties and concerns is reasonable and rational for the region and the rest of the world. Abe renovated Japan's long-restricted arsenal, polished the nation's arms, and developed next-generation weapons hardware such as the Izumo aircraft carrier, unconstitutionally designated the country's Self-Defense Forces (SDF) as a normalized military and now, untied his samurai' s hands to allow them to once again use the weapons.

And the most dangerous issue here is the prime minister's ultra- right ideology supported by the powerful and influential ultra nationalist group Nippon Kaigi, which denies and whitewashes Japan 's dark wartime history and such brainwashing and mind control will become the solo driving force of the fully armed samurai.

"Rule of law" is the prime minister's pet phrase when he gives speeches at home and abroad, but it is logical to question that if the "democratic" prime minister cannot respect the rule of law domestically, how does the flip-flopping leader hope to adhere to the principle at an international level?

The approval of the legislation granted the SDF the capacity to exercise the right to collective self-defense in all its efforts to lend a hand to the United States under their defense treaty for its planned "pivot to Asia" and will make Japan an armed puppet controlled by Uncle Sam, for now but not forever, to help defend his own interests in the East Asia.

But, the international community has leant in recent history that any US-led meddling, with its close allies, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine, for example, seldom came to a positive conclusion, but created greater turmoil. It is worrisome that Uncle Sam and his foe-turned-shogun friend would jeopardize peace and stability and make the regional situation more discomposed through their usual saber-rattling.

More than seven decades ago, Japan waged a war of aggression against its Asian neighbors under the banner of "self-defense," and now, the country, administered by Abe, leveraged the same credentials and so the world must unite in its vigilance in case the hawkish shogun's "proactive pacifism" suddenly shifts to a " proactive militarism."