Assassination – 67 year old Shinzo Abe was assassinated in broad daylight while giving a speech in the city of Nara, Japan at around 11:00 local time. He was in the process of making a campaign speech ahead of an election to be held on Sunday for the House of Councillors, which is the upper house of Japan’s parliament, when he was shot. The Associated Press reported that an NHK reporter heard what sounded like two gunshots and saw Abe bleeding. He collapsed on a street while delivering a speech in the western prefecture. A video showed security guards rushing to him and people attempting to provide medical assistance.
Abe was shot by a hand made gun. The question is, why did Abe’s body guards react so slowly and not intercede with the first firing of the gun shot? Why did they wait?
While reporters are asking about a motive that they can’t find….it was the second gunshot that took his life. When watching the videos we see their is a pause between the first and second gunshot. Enough of a pause that Abe turns around and looks to see where it came from.
Assailant who shot Shinzo Abe appears to be holding a short double barreled “shotgun” of some type which he subsequently drops to the ground. It was later identified as a hand man gun. In Japan all guns are illegal for citizens.
His security personnel reacted slowly, could they have somehow prevented the assassin from firing the second bullet or at least shielded Abe? Perhaps pull him to the ground, or kept a better eye on the man with the bag. Isn’t that what guards look for? Bags and other suspicious things? The question is, could it have been intervened?
Shinzo Abe served as prime minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.
President Donald Trump was a good friend of Shinzo Abe and offered his prayers to the former Japanese Prime Minister and his family.
Trump posted his statement on his Truth Social platform.
The relationship between Trump and Shinzo Abe had become one of the strongest bilateral friendships that Trump made during his presidency.
While the news and political commentators are widely describing Shinzo Abe as a right wing Japanese nationalist, he also has an international past of supporting global efforts and his economic policies, nicknamed Abenomics, which pursued monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and structural reforms.
In an article titled “Shinzo Abe’s Legacy as Champion of the Global Economic Order” witten by Matthew P. Goodman, July 8, 2022 it covers many aspects of “Abenomics” below are some excerpts:
“Even before he resumed office in late 2012, Abe had signaled that domestic economic revival—a subject he had largely ignored in his first, unhappy stint as prime minister in 2006–2007—would be a top priority of his new administration. For more than two decades since the “bubble economy” of the late 1980s burst, Japan had faced slow growth and three powerful economic headwinds: deflation, debt, and demographics (an aging and declining population). Abe proposed a three-pronged economic strategy—quickly dubbed “Abenomics” by pundits—featuring aggressive monetary easing, flexible fiscal policy to bolster growth while containing debt, and deregulation and other structural reforms.
“Abenomics made sense as a strategy but largely failed in implementation. Abe’s pick as central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, injected the promised monetary stimulus (and continues to do so even as the yen plummets and other central banks raise interest rates), but the other two “arrows” of Abenomics failed to take flight. Japan’s economy still suffers from tepid growth, deflationary pressure, and structural inefficiencies.” Read full article: Shinzo Abe’s Legacy as Champion of the Global Economic Order | Center for Strategic and International Studies (csis.org)
Also read: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot dead at campaign event | Washington Examiner
That being said… as we gather around our TV’s and media devices to learn the news on Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe we will wonder what else the man would have accomplished had he been allowed to pursue that which he had set out to do. No one should ever be assassinated by a coward in the streets.
Keep on Pressing into the Kingdom of God. Press, press, press!
Dianne
