Pulling a Pugliese? Seriously, Tehran shutting down newspapers is dog bites man*. The only surprise is how few newspapers have been shut down since 3 August 2005, in comparison to how things were during the Khatami administration: Reporters without Borders says that the crackdown in 2000, for instance, closed down "nearly 100 reformist newspapers" (cf. "Iran - 2005 Annual Report," <http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13306>). Did you lead any protest against that in 2000? I bet you didn't.
Back to Azadegan and Japan. Japan is surprisingly sensibly run, as far as domestic policy is concerned, considering that it has been run by the right-wing power elite throughout its modern history. But, increasingly, Japan's foreign policy -- especially its Middle East policy -- makes no sense, not even capitalist sense. Why let the French, the Russians, or the Chinese have Azadegan, _when the Iranians are dying to give it to the Japanese_? (See my previous posting on Azadegan at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20060911/045929.html>.) And it sure doesn't make any working-class sense.
Japan needs a policy that prepares itself for a post-US-hegemonic world. Tokyo must side with Moscow and Beijing and check the US propensity to create conditions that make oil supply insecure and oil prices volatile, the propensity that should worry the Japanese _more than anyone else_.
I hear some voices critical of foolish Japanese foreign policy, from various quarters (e.g., Naoto Amaki, Sakai Tanaka <http://tanakanews.com/>, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who is an LDP dove, etc.) other than the traditional Left, but they have yet to become a critical mass, let alone get organized.
* See the International Press Institute's World Press Freedom Review reports on Iran from 1998 to 2005: <http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html?country=/KW0001/KW0004/KW0092/&year=1998>. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>