tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post5665382537322876228..comments2023-10-09T00:45:55.603+09:00Comments on Shisaku: The secret to His successMTChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-8783751440920257282007-12-22T09:32:00.000+09:002007-12-22T09:32:00.000+09:00It seems everyone in Japan puts a lot of store in ...It seems everyone in Japan puts a lot of store in the importance, symbolic and actual, of the refueling mission. <BR/><BR/>What is the composition of the fleet anyway? One tanker? A couple of destroyer escorts? How much fuel are they pumping? My guess is it about as much as the US navy spills in the Indian ocean every day. <BR/><BR/>Which leads me to say the Americans really cannot afford to get too wound up about whether Japan is going to be somewhere in the motley crew known as the coalition of the willing. Sure they twisted arms to get a commitment and they don't want Japan to hightail it out of Dodge, but the Bushies are too busy trying to shore up their sandcastles in Iraq and Afghanistan to turn their ire on the Japanese. After all the Japanese will be running after a whole bunch of Spaniards, Brits, Poles,.... <BR/><BR/>Onto your comment about Koizumi and his ability to get somethings (one or two) done through improvisation and deft footwork. I guess that is a talent in successful politicians everywhere. In fact I remember Koizumi pulling the carpet out from under (name does not rise up above the murk of my brain) concerning the privatization of the highways saying "If this happens there will be no role for politicians!"<BR/><BR/>Abe and Fukuda and Ozawa are ideologues. Old cranky men unwilling to bend or shift like old cranky men throughout time.Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00083523225961467347noreply@blogger.com