Muscling in on their action

I used to think the Washington Post a newspaper. Now I may have to change my views. Over the weekend, the online version at least seems to have morphed into an extra-fat blog:

Japan's Floundering Abe Fights for Floating Gas Station
Refueling Operation Is Vulnerable to Domestic Power Plays
Washington Post Foreign Service

By Blaine Harden - TOKYO, Sept. 7 -- For the election-battered, scandal-plagued and competence-challenged government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it has come down to this: If he cannot keep a floating gas station open in the Indian Ocean, Abe may be finished as the leader of Japan.

The high-seas refueling operation has been Japan's principal contribution to the war in Afghanistan. Over the past six years, Japanese military tanker ships cruising far from home have pumped more than 127 million gallons of fuel, free of charge, much of it into U.S. warships hunting for terrorists and smugglers.

Yet in recent weeks the gas station has become a political cudgel...

"Japan's Floundering Abe Fights for Floating Gas Station"? What kind of serious news publication's article title is that? How does the writer avoid censure for affixing the misleading label of "floating gas station" to the MSDF's oilers?

Does Mr. Blaine not understand that disdainful verbal slaps and gross disregard for accuracy are blogger traits?