(CNN) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned Wednesday after eight months in power. "I'm going to step down,"
"I have had many shortcomings, I have been allowed to lead all of you for the past eight months to today. I am extremely grateful for having been given this opportunity," he said.
Eight months ago, Hatoyama 's Democratic Party of Japan won a sweeping victory, an outcome hailed by many as a revolution in Japanese politics.
Hatoyama's critics claimed he gave in to U.S. pressure, and his government coalition broke up. - CNN
(NY Times) - President Horst Köhler of Germany resigned Monday amid a barrage of criticism for remarks he made during a visit to Afghanistan.
It was the first time in four decades that a German president has quit the post, the nation's highest even though it is largely ceremonial.
Mr. Köhler set off the criticism when he said in an interview with Deutschland Radio, the public broadcasting station, that German soldiers serving in Afghanistan or with other peacekeeping missions were deployed to protect German economic interests.
In the radio interview, which was conducted on May 22, Mr. Köhler, a former director of the International Monetary Fund, emphasized the importance of the nation's economy.
"A country of our size," he said, "with its focus on exports and thus reliance on foreign trade, must be aware that military deployments are necessary in an emergency to protect our interests, for example, when it comes to trade routes, for example, when it comes to preventing regional instabilities that could negatively influence our trade, jobs and incomes."
He added, "It was an honor to serve Germany as federal president," then walked off without taking questions.
Mr. Köhler's resignation is certain to lead to a fresh debate over the role of German troops in Afghanistan and in other international missions.
Denis MacShane, a British Labour legislator and German expert, said that Mr. Köhler was only speaking the truth but that German commentators did not want to recognize what he had said. Please read full at NY Times
Haase notes (for those keeping score):
Germany is the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world... The economy of Japan is the second largest in the world.
Related? Today, the war in Afghanistan becomes America's longest war.
- Today, the war in Afghanistan becomes America's longest war.
- Longer than the war in Vietnam.
- Longer than the Korean War.
- It took America two years to end World War I, and bring peace to the world.
- World War II was a little harder; that took us 3 and a half years to finish off.
The war in Afghanistan is over eight years old and bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.' Read more at huffingtonpost
