Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated

[steve58]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/shinzo-abe-shot-speech-former-japanese-prime-minister

Our world is getting more f*cked up by the hour....

[Gusington]

Just reading through this now...wow.

[Sir Slash]

Yes, terrible. And with a 'home-made' gun apparently.  :o  He should never have been able to get that close to Abe. But, maybe politicians should stay indoors to make speeches and such.

[Gusington]

^Reading on BBC that until now politicians in Japan actually give speeches on street corners in cities amidst huge crowds of people.

[FarAway Sooner]

Japan has always prided itself on the physical safety it affords to its citizens.  Their leading politicians have been no different.  Physical security within the borders of Japan has always been pretty minimalist.  This will rock Japanese society.

I've heard the same reports as SirPug.  Initial news reports suggest it was a gun made with a 3D printer, but I don't believe that has been confirmed yet. 

It sure seems like the world is going to Hell.  I wonder if the actual data backs that up, or if that's just the steady diet of fear that our media feeds us to keep us watching ads?  I don't honestly know.

[Gusington]

^A little bit of both. Bad things have always happened but we didn't always have 24 hour instant access to them.

BBC reports that the homemade pistol was made from pipes and that the shooter was a [former] member of the Japanese Navy, so perhaps he had some experience in assembling firearms, etc.

The last political assassination in Japan was in 1960 with, yes, you guessed it...a samurai sword.

[al_infierno]

Where there's a will, there's a way, eh?

From what I understand Abe was a bit of a war crimes denier and EOJ nationalist, so it'll be interesting to see how this high-profile assassination affects the Japanese public's views on his platform.  Are they gonna double down on the "Japan did nothing wrong" narrative he was pushing?

[Gusington]

^Yes he was quite a nationalist - which makes me wonder what the assassin's angle is, what he was thinking, etc., especially as Abe was the former PM and no longer in power.

Makes me wonder if there was some kind of external influence from a certain very large Asian nation with a long-standing historical grudge against the Japanese which also happens to not be India.

[al_infierno]

^Yes he was quite a nationalist - which makes me wonder what the assassin's angle is, what he was thinking, etc., especially as Abe was the former PM and no longer in power.

Makes me wonder if there was some kind of external influence from a certain very large Asian nation with a long-standing historical grudge against the Japanese which also happens to not be India.

From the reports I've seen, the gunman is a former defense force serviceman who disliked Abe's politics.  And Abe apparently was still pretty well liked and influential in Japan.  At this point though it's hard to say for sure.

[Gusington]

^Yes the shooter was in the navy.

[Anguille]

Terrible

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

^Yes he was quite a nationalist - which makes me wonder what the assassin's angle is, what he was thinking, etc., especially as Abe was the former PM and no longer in power.

Makes me wonder if there was some kind of external influence from a certain very large Asian nation with a long-standing historical grudge against the Japanese which also happens to not be India.

Messaging with some Japanese friends this morning.  They're more suspicious of a certain global economic forum than they are of their neighbours.

[Gusington]

^Wow. I didn't think of that.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I guess his last speech at Davos calling certain pharmaceuticals into question and touting a strong, independent Japan may not have gone over well.  Seems a bit tinfoily to me but then again, what was tinfoil 2 years ago seems to be true today.

[Gusington]

Tinfoil hats are so 2019.