Abe's 'normal state' abnormal

Japan's right-wing politicians echo Germany after its WWI defeat by stirring nationalism and challenging world order

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in December. Less than a month later, when he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Abe compared the tensions between China and Japan to the rivalry between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War I.

However, his analogy is false, as before the war erupted the major capitalist powers had already entered the era of imperialism. Germany, as an emerging force, wanted to be a naval power and sought colonial expansion, and this clashed with the established interests of Britain, the most powerful maritime nation of the time.