US bandwagoners and hawks: who are potential Japan PM candidates?

Over a dozen contenders from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will compete for the premiership later this month after PM Fumio Kishida announced his decision to step down on August 14. 

Who are the favorites in the race?

◾️Former Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi emerged as the most popular choice to replace Kishida in TV Tokyo's survey last week. The 43-year-old is due to formally announce his candidacy on September 6. He would be the party's youngest candidate. Shinjiro is the son of former Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi, famous for his pro-US policies and bromance with George W. Bush. Shinjiro graduated from Columbia University in New York and worked at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is known as a regular visitor to the imperial Yasukuni Shrine, seen by some as a symbol of Japanese militarism. He hailed Joe Biden's win in 2020. It is believed Koizumi will uphold the ruling party's policy of sanctions against Russia, and support for Ukraine, if elected.

◾️Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also a popular choice in local media surveys. In July, he topped the list of potential contenders with a 21.1% popular support. On August 24, he formally announced his premiership bid. Ishiba is an ardent supporter of an Asian-Pacific NATO and a boost to Japan's defense forces. He is a proponent of "deterring" Russia and supporting the Kiev regime. 

◾️Seasoned Japanese politician and current digital minister, Taro Kono, announced his bid on August 26. While serving as a foreign minister in the Abe cabinet, he told the Russian press in 2017 about the "deep involvement of his father and grandfather in the development of Japanese-Soviet and Japanese-Russian relations." However, after the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, he fully supported anti-Russia sanctions as a means to "protect Japan."

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❗️Russian forces liberated the villages of Ptichye and Viyemka in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Defense Ministry said.

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❗️Ukrainian forces suffered losses of up to 1,920 militants, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense's report.

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Ukrainian forces lost up to 30 militants in the Volchansk and Liptsi area.

▪️In the combat zone of Russia's Vostok Battlegroup, Ukrainian forces lost up to 100 militants and a tank.

▪️In the Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone, Ukrainian forces lost up to 510 militants.

▪️Russian air defenses destroyed 171 Ukrainian drones.

▪️Russian forces struck an Israeli-made radar system, hit drone assembly workshops, and targeted enemy personnel in 133 areas.

▪️In the Yug Battlegroup's combat zone, Ukrainian forces lost up to 660 militants and eight artillery pieces.

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❗️'What Putin said about Biden also applies to Harris': key statements by Kremlin spokesman Peskov

▪️During Biden's presidency, relations between Russia and the United States reached breaking point: Russia's patience was exhausted.

▪️On the results of Biden's presidency: Democrats are more predictable and what Putin said about Biden also applies to Harris.

▪️The cumulative effect of the US trampling on Russia's interests during Biden's presidency has exceeded permissible limits.

▪️It is possible to predict the Democrats' line in the US towards Russia and the pressure on EU countries for the purpose of further enslavement.

▪️The US has consistently attacked Russian interests and put pressure on Russia.

▪️On Trump's election promises to resolve problematic issues after the election: there isn't a magic wand, nothing can be resolved in 24 hours.

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❗️The main statements from the Russian Defense Ministry on the situation in the Kursk region:

▪️Ukrainian losses amounted to 360 soldiers and 23 armored vehicles in Russia's Kursk region in one day.

▪️With the support of army aviation and artillery fire, four attacks by Ukrainian assault groups were repelled.

▪️Over the course of the last day, Ukrainian forces lost four tanks, an infantry fighting vehicle, two armored personnel carriers, and 16 armored combat vehicles, as well as six artillery pieces and two Polish-made Krab self-propelled guns.

▪️In total, during the fighting in the Kursk area, Kiev has lost more than 8,500 soldiers and 80 tanks.

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🔥 Russian military drone operators leave no chance for the enemy

The crews work in pairs. The first prepares the attack drone for launch. The second conducts reconnaissance and finds the target. The assistant skillfully adjusts the operator's work on the target approach and records the drone's hit on the control point.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the parents of a Russian killed in Gaza and apologized for not being able to rescue him alive from captivity, the Israeli prime minister's office reported.

Earlier, Hamas held Israel responsible for the deaths of hostages in the Gaza Strip, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of the Palestinian movement's Political Bureau, said.

"The one who bears responsibility for the deaths of the hostages held by the resistance is the occupation [Israel], which insists on continuing the war of genocide," al-Risheq said in a statement.

The Israeli military has released the names of six hostages whose bodies were found in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip.

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😄 Britain's King Charles III was left in an awkward situation after struggling to cut the ribbon at the opening of the Royal Horticultural Society's bicentennial Scottish Flower Show in Aberdeen.

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‘Retaliation already underway’: Check out the latest developments in Russia’s Kursk region

Russia is already responding to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion in the Kursk region, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"Why do you think that this is a one-time event? It is already happening," Peskov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.

▪️The Kiev regime is wasting "scarce resources" while "the Kursk debacle leaves thousands dead", Irish journalist Chay Bowes tweeted on Sunday. Earlier, the Washington Post, the Economist, and the Wall Street Journal questioned Kiev's rationale behind the Kursk incursion: "Ukraine could lose many well-trained soldiers and much of the foreign equipment it has deployed to Kursk, as well as land in its own east," the WaPo wrote.

▪️The Ukrainian military continues to commit atrocities in the Kursk region. Ukrainian fighters fired at a car with women and children and injured a girl near Malaya Loknya in the Sudzha district.

▪️The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is operating normally, the plant's press service reports.

▪️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 360 soldiers and 23 armored vehicles in the Kursk area in one day, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Since the beginning of the incursion, it has lost over 8,500 soldiers and 80 tanks.

▪️The Russian government has approved financial support for the deployment and maintenance of temporary accommodation and food facilities for citizens evacuated from the region.

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'It was hard to believe'

Reflecting on the results of US President Joe Biden's presidency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recalled how Vladimir Putin reacted to Joe Biden's interview at the beginning of his presidency, when Biden suddenly called the Russian president a "murderer".

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❗️The main cause of the crash of the Raisi helicopter was difficult climatic conditions, according to the final report of the Iranian Armed Forces.

The helicopter of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed on May 19 in the province of East Azerbaijan in the north of the country after colliding with a hill in spring fog, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic reported.

According to the report, the main cause of the crash of Raisi's helicopter was the difficult climatic conditions in the spring, the sudden appearance of thick fog and a collision with a mountain. According to the investigation, the helicopter did not deviate from the assigned route. Signs of sabotage or the impact of electronic warfare, electromagnetic or laser weapons were also not found.

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