This...

...explains why the Maehara resignation is just another in a series of diplomatic disasters for Japan...

...and this is an example of how crippled Japan's diplomacy has become, even with its closest ally...

...and this, which is far, far more important, has been pushed out of the news cycle by the two previous items.

The trivial triumphs over the existentially threatening, again.

When political life is dominated by petty individuals with no interest or ability to understand matters outside their narrow parochial interests, this is what happens.

A study in democracy.