Commentaries - Farewell to the Shadow Shoguns - Liberia news The New Dawn Liberia, premier resource for latest news thenewdawnliberia.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenewdawnliberia.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Due to the accidents at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011, the Japanese government is re-evaluating its commitment to nuclear energy. Japan’s apprehension about nuclear power is understandable, but closing nuclear plants or rejecting future construction would create substantial and unnecessary economic hardship. Japan must identify and fix what went wrong technologically and operationally with the Fukushima reactors. This identification must lead to major reforms drawing on lessons learned and international best practices that create a transparent and independent regulatory regime. Such reforms will help to restore public confidence and allow Japan to continue to pursue nuclear energy which will benefit not only Japan, but the United States and the rest of the world as well. Japanese withdrawal from nuclear power would have negative results for all.
Two factors have driven the debate over the planned U.S. military realignment in Japan: campaign pledges made by the Democratic Party of Japan and complaints from Okinawans about the presence of the U.S. military. These factors have had a particularly strong impact on efforts to preserve the Marine Corps Air Station on Okinawa. However, other critical factors national interests, regional threats, and the U.S.–Japan alliance’s military requirements are absent from the discussion over the station’s scheduled relocation from Futenma to a more remote locale. The Obama Administration should continue to press Japan for implementation of the military realignment agreement. It is past time for Tokyo to jettison its passive consensus-building approach and take more assertive steps.