Courtesy of Mish.
I would like to use the word shocking, but hardly anything any government does anymore is shocking.
The best I can hope for is Japanese citizens are disgusted enough to boot their fascist, economically illiterate prime minister before its too late.
Unfortunately, I highly doubt that happens.
Please consider Japan’s Abe Seeks to Pass Secrecy Bill That Sapped Support
Japan’s government will move today to pass a bill granting it sweeping powers to declare state secrets, a measure pushed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost ties with the U.S. even as it sapped his public support at home.
The bill, which is backed by the U.S. and forms part of Abe’s broader push to strengthen Japan’s defense policy in the face of China’s military assertiveness, would stiffen penalties for bureaucrats who leak secrets and journalists who publish them. It would give government officials, rather than the courts, the power to define what constitutes a state secret under categories from defense to diplomacy, terrorism and safety threats.
The measure, criticized by much of Japanese media, has prompted rare public protests. Demonstrators gathered outside parliament last night and organizers called for more protests today, while the ending of debate on the law sparked an outcry from opposition lawmakers.
The approval rating of Abe’s government fell 4 percentage points from a month ago to 49 percent, the first time it dropped below 50 percent since Abe’s election almost a year ago, according to a recent poll by the Asahi newspaper.
Half of those surveyed opposed the bill that punishes leaks of government information with jail terms of as much as 10 years. The newspaper polled 1,001 people by phone Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 and didn’t give a margin of error.
Public criticism heightened after Shigeru Ishiba, secretary general of the LDP, wrote a blog post Nov. 29 likening those who demonstrate against the bill to terrorists.
U.S. officials have supported Abe’s push for collective self-defense and said they welcome the secrecy bill.
US War-Mongers Support Abe
Also disgusting (and also not surprising) is support for secrecy laws from US warmongers and NSA defenders. …
