Today is Not the Same

The street's alive with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today, I'll make the action
A snapshot into the light...

- Peter Gabriel
"Family Portrait"

In chess, the very worst blunder one can commit is to move a piece forward, then move it back to exactly the same position as before. It telegraphs to the opponent that you do not have a plan and are merely flailing about for solutions.

Yesterday the Ozawa Ichiro crony-packed Standing Council of the Democratic Party of Japan, after having voted last week to oust Ubukata Yukio from the post of DPJ Deputy-Secretary, unvoted his dismissal. Ubukata, who earned his expulsion for speaking out against Ozawa's continued tenure in the secretary-general post whilst his aides are under indictment for as yet unexplained acts and against the centralization of policy making in the Ozawa-led Standing Council, had no limits placed upon him in return for his being reinstated as deputy secretary-general.

Ozawa is not a player of go, not chess. He cannot be unaware, however, of how reversing course on Ubukata has ripped away his necessary facade of invincibility in party affairs.

Today, everybody who knows anything about politics understands Ozawa has no game plan for July. He is floundering about, playing for time.

Thus begins the end game.


Later - For a less epigrammatic take on events, see either Okumura Jun, Ethan Chua or Isabel Reynolds.