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Friday, April 1, 2011

Japan after earthquake and tsunami

Ever since an earthquake-tsunami-nuclear crisis unfolded on March 11, the standard uniform for Japanese cabinet ministers has been a bright blue jacket of the sort more often seen on janitors or production workers. Now, however, Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary and the government’s crisis point-man, says it may be about time to return to more normal attire.  “Those of us who work in the government have been saying that sooner or later we should be changing our jackets,” Mr Edano says in an interview on Thursday. “I’m thinking of changing into the regular sort of business suit.” This costume change would be of more than sartorial significance. Ministers’ adoption of blue-collar jackets is intended to show that they are in crisis mode and to express solidarity with the emergency workers and engineers fighting to relieve the suffering of tsunami victims and to contain the nuclear crisis. But a return to normal wear would symbolise a return to a more business-as-usual atmosphere in relatively unscathed parts of the country and could help reduce economic damage caused by anxiety suppressing consumer demand. Restaurateurs and taxi drivers in Tokyo, for example, say sales have plunged since the earthquake and tsunami. Observers blame worries about the nuclear crisis and possible aftershocks and a widespread embrace of jishuku, or “self-restraint”, adopted on the grounds that it is unseemly to party when people in the disaster zone are suffering. Such self-restraint has proved valuable in easing the strain on the depleted supply of electricity in the Tokyo area, with individuals and businesses switching off unnecessary lights, heaters and automatic doors to save power. But Mr Edano says too much jishuku can be damaging, praising a recent charity soccer match and the resumption of baseball games as steps back to normality. “Little by little, you see these little actions here and there, and I think that will stimulate the economy,” he says. “If the Japanese economy can be stimulated and lifted upward, that would in turn be able to translate into more capacity to support the disaster-stricken Tohoku area.” Mr Edano’s frequent press conferences, as chief government spokesman, have become the main source of information for the public about developments at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. And the former lawyer’s command of technical detail and his matter-of-fact delivery have helped buttress an administration that was suffering perilously low opinion poll ratings before the earthquake. Public support appears to have risen since the disaster, although polls show voters are unimpressed by the government’s handling of the nuclear crisis. Mr Edano acknowledges that communication between the government, the widely criticised utility Tokyo Electric Power and the plant itself was “not satisfactory” in the aftermath of the tsunami that knocked out its back-up safety cooling systems. He insists that Naoto Kan, the prime minister, has since managed to improve the flow of information with a testy visit to Tepco – where the premier at one point demanded executives tell him “what the hell” was going on – and by insisting that a special assistant has full access to the utility’s headquarters. Public doubts about Tepco will only be confirmed, however, by Mr Edano’s suggestion that the government is still having to issue frequent requests to ensure that the utility shares all its information. A rebound in public confidence will require evidence of real progress dealing with the plant’s overheating and radiation-leaking reactors and spent fuel pools. That will take time – weeks at least for even basic stability and far, far longer for a final resolution. The chief cabinet secretary is the first to warn against complacency or over-optimism. The battle to cool Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors and spent fuel has been beset by frequent setbacks, with attempted remedies often creating new problems. So even if Mr Edano marks today’s start of Japan’s new fiscal year, as planned, with a switch into standard business dress, he says he will be keeping his emergency wear close at hand: “If needed, I would immediately change back into this jacket.”

Bashar unfazed by Latakia protests

President Bashar al-Assad defied calls on Wednesday to lift a decades-old emergency law Amateur video uploaded to a social website purported to show protests in the Syrian city of Latakia. President Bashar al-Assad defied calls on Wednesday to lift a decades-old emergency law and said that Syria was the target of a foreign conspiracy to stir up protests in which more than 60 people have been killed. Angry that their demands were not met, hundreds of protesters chanting “Freedom” marched in the port city of Latakia, where residents said that security forces had fired in the air. Speaking in public for the first time since the start of the unprecedented demonstrations, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world, Assad said he supported reform but offered no new commitment to change Syria’s rigid, one-party political system. “Implementing reforms is not a fad. When it is just a reflection of a wave that the region is living, it is destructive,” said Assad, making clear he would not concede to pressure from mass protests which toppled other Arab leaders. “Syria today is being subjected to a big conspiracy, whose threads extend from countries near and far,” Assad said, smiling and looking assured, without naming any countries. Ending emergency law, the main tool for suppressing dissent since it was imposed after the 1963 coup that elevated Assad’s Baath Party to power, has been a central demand of protesters. They also want political prisoners freed, and to know the fate of tens of thousands who disappeared in the 1980s. The protests have presented the gravest challenge to Assad’s 11-year rule in Syria, which has an anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports Hezbollah and Hamas. Social networking sites Twitter and Facebook were flooded with messages of disappointment and anger at Assad’s speech, in which he failed to mention any specific reforms the international community had urged him to take.

Ivory Coast facing a bloody deposition

Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo will be held accountable for whatever happens in Abidjan, the United States said Thursday, as forces loyal to his rival surged into the economic capital. "If there is major violence in Abidjan and Gbagbo does not step aside, he and those around him, including his wife Simone Gbagbo, will have to be held accountable for the actions they failed to take to stop it," Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told reporters. "The international community will certainly hold him accountable, but he does have an opportunity, but this opportunity is slipping away." Alassane Ouattara has been recognized as the rightful leader of the Ivory Coast, but he has been unable to take power since being elected in November, leading to a bloody crisis that has left some 500 people dead. Abidjan residents, fearing a final showdown, locked themselves in their homes Thursday as Ouattara made a final plea to his rival's soldiers to change sides amid a reported rash of defections. "The US calls on parties to exercise restraint and make the protection of civilians their highest priority," Carson added. Pro-Ouattara fighters have in two days seized the political capital Yamoussoukro and the world's biggest cocoa exporting port of San Pedro, as the United Nations slapped fresh sanctions on Gbagbo and called for him to cede power, which he has held since 2000.