Re the Donkey-to-DPJ Suck-Up (Not)

I finally got around to reading the hardcopy Yomiuri, and waddya know, it has a story headlined “U.S. Democratic Party Approaches DPJ”.

A couple of interesting points. First, the Yomiuri does not mention John Kerry at all; instead, James Kelly, President Bush’s political appointee to the East Asia and Pacific portfolio in the State Department. (Before that, he was…president of the Pacific Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in Honolulu. Big surprise, right?) So, what are the odds that Sankei got the name wrong? Second, and vastly more important, Yomiuri being Yomiuri, the focus of the story is the worry expressed by Nye over the DPJ’s insistence on pulling out of the JMSDF refueling activities in the Indian Ocean and opposition to relocating the US Marines air station in Futenma to Ginowan. To quote:

If [the DPJ] suddenly throws those things at the Obama administration, it will not be received as an intent to maintain the U.S.-Japan alliance.”

The Nye Team (what else to call it, in the absence of Kerry?) came to issue a warning. That, dear readers, is the real story.