Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

A thought on Japan, one of the few countries that might stand with us against China. This has much to do with the Bush/Koizumi relationship.

Japan’s maverick prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, who loves to irritate China through his actions, adheres to policies that are most in line with those of his handler, Bush.
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But there is also the not to be ignored fact that we control Japan through its need of oil.

In a world that runs on oil, the nation that controls the flow of oil has great strategic power. U.S. policy-makers want leverage over the economies of competitors -- Western Europe, Japan and China -- that are more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.
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Japan, the world's second-largest oil importer, said it may give Iran its second loan in three years to secure stable supplies of oil, days after it overrode U.S. protests and agreed to develop an Iranian oilfield.

If Japan can secure stable supplies from Iran and other places and if Japan has won the right to receive an oil pipeline from Russia as it seems then we might see Japan take a more neutral stance albeit Koizumi is in Bush’s pocket and a change of direction would be difficult.
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China did a good job of swaying the recent Taiwan election gotta wonder if the Russian pipeline to Japan has a similar purpose.

-Am