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Ben Ascione

@benasci1.bsky.social
349 followers 299 following 43 posts

International Relations in the Asia-Pacific, Japanese foreign and security policy. Lecturer at GSAPS, Waseda University. Editorial board at East Asia Forum.

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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
My latest EAF editorial. US unpredictability has strengthened arguments on both sides of Japan’s Article 9 peace clause debate, reinforcing its role as a constraint on strategic independence as well as its role as a diplomatic shield against entanglement in US wars. eastasiaforum.org/2026/08/03/u...
eastasiaforum.org
US unpredictability cuts both ways in Japan’s Article 9 debate
As the United States acts with increasing unpredictability, the debate over Article 9 of the Japanese constitution is taking surprising turns
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
My analysis of how PM Takaichi won Japan’s election: a nationalist narrative, personal popularity and digital savvy. But lofty promises of strategic investment and national strength now face the constraints of fiscal reality and intensifying great power competition eastasiaforum.org/2026/02/15/h...
eastasiaforum.org
How Sana-mania swept Japan
Sanae Takaichi’s sweeping victory, powered by personal popularity and digital savvy, now faces the hard test of governing
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
As Trump 2.0 hollows out US state capacity, the Asia Pacific must prepare for a world without US leadership
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Our latest East Asia Forum editorial Japan's political house of cards: PM Ishiba clings to power despite losing majorities in both houses. A fragile equilibrium emerges #JapanPolitics 🧵 eastasiaforum.org/2025/09/01/j...
eastasiaforum.org
Japan’s political house of cards
Japanese politics is locked in a stalemate, with the ruling party not strong enough to govern effectively and the opposition too weak to change the status quo
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Trump is part of the problem rather than the reflexive solution to Australia's strategic and economic challenges. Australia should develop closer ties with regional neighbours and hedge between great powers rather than remain hostage to erratic US foreign policy eastasiaforum.org/2025/07/09/t...
eastasiaforum.org
Trump’s America First leaves Australia behind
Australia has to face the possibility that the United States under Trump is part of the problem rather than the solution to Australia’s imagined strategic problems and economic future
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Dan Sneider @dcsneider.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
a little late in getting out, but my latest, on the Korean election, for East Asia Forum. eastasiaforum.org/2025/06/08/s...
eastasiaforum.org
South Koreans vote for democracy
While his victory in the presidential election is an immediate win for South Korean democracy, Lee Jae-myung must now confront both domestic and international political challenges
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
The Constitutional Court’s verdict to impeach ROK President Yoon strengthens democratic stability and curbs overt political instability, but internal political struggles are far from over, writes Hannah Kim. eastasiaforum.org/2025/04/11/y...
eastasiaforum.org
Yoon’s impeachment is just the start of stabilising South Korea’s democracy
Despite the Constitutional Court’s verdict strengthening democratic stability and curbing overt political instability, internal political struggles are far from over.
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
With the US making clear its desire to economically disengage from the world, the Asia-Pacific region needs to develop a collective response to a new wave of protectionism eastasiaforum.org/2025/04/07/t...
eastasiaforum.org
The US spins out of control, into an economic world of its own
With the US making clear its desire to economically disengage from the world, the Asia-Pacific region needs to develop a collective response to a new wave of protectionism.
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
You might as well divide the numbers of apples in your kitchen by the number of bagels and use it to calculate your mortgage rate. To criticise [Trump's tariff calculations] on political or economic grounds is too generous. It operates below the level of rational thought. inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...
inews.co.uk
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
"Almost everything Mr Trump said this week—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded. His reading of history is upside down"
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
It is depressing how apt this is...
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Michelle Ye Hee Lee @myhlee.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Incredible exclusive interview by South Korea's Chosun Ilbo (from Kyiv) of the two North Koreans captured in Kursk. www.chosun.com/english/nort...
chosun.com
Exclusive: Captured North Korean soldiers speak out on deployment to Russia
Exclusive: Captured North Korean soldiers speak out on deployment to Russia
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
New, from me: as the Trump administration begins, I try to make sense of what, exactly, DOGE is. Journalists and policymakers should be skeptical of its claim to be a govt reform commission, and more willing to see it as a form of oligarchic state capture. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/doge-dange...
donmoynihan.substack.com
DOGE: Dangerous Oligarchs Grab Everything
What Marc Andreessen revealed about the tech-industrial complex
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Raphael Rashid @koryodynasty.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
YOON ARRESTED. LATEST. AND MORE COMING SOON www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
theguardian.com
South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol arrested, investigators say, after hours-long standoff at residence
Impeached president detained over failed December martial law bid a month after a first attempt ended in stalemate
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Benjamin A. Engel @benjaminaengel.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Good quick over view of South Korea’s “imperial presidency,” what causes it, and why it must be reformed. www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/s...
project-syndicate.org
South Korea’s Constitution Needs Fixing | by Yoon Young-kwan - Project Syndicate
Yoon Young-kwan argues that breaking the cycle of political crises will require some fundamental reforms.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 15/12/2024
How South Korea’s president sealed his own downfall
theguardian.com
How South Korea’s president sealed his own downfall
Yoon Suk Yeol’s party offered him the chance of a dignified exit but he chose to double down on his martial law gambit * South Korean parliament votes to impeach president * What happens next after vote to impeach South Korea’s president? For…
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👓 Byunghwan 'Ben' Son @textvulture.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
1/ 🚨 Yoon is now out of office. What happens (or should happen) now? A thread. www.ft.com/content/12c6...
ft.com
South Korean president vows to ‘never give up’ after impeachment vote
Yoon Suk Yeol has been suspended in the wake of his failed attempt to impose martial law
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Sangsin Lee @sslee.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
South Korea currently has a “Schrödinger’s President.” Yoon is either the president or not. Whether he holds presidential power can only be determined through impeachment.
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William Gallo @williamgallo.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
As we begin another day of political uncertainty in Seoul, - It's still unclear who is running what in the country - No details about any power sharing arrangement that allegedly exists - We don't know the legal rationale for any such deal - The presidential office has essentially gone dark
voanews.com
South Korea’s leadership unclear as Yoon struggles to retain power
South Korea’s defense ministry insisted that President Yoon Suk Yeol remained in charge of the country’s armed forces on Monday, even as the justice ministry enforced a travel ban against him followin...
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Seo-young Silvia Kim @sysilviakim.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
573 political scientists in and out of Korea have written and signed a declaration calling for Yoon's immediate impeachment. I've translated it into English with Prof. Jeong Hyun Kim at Yonsei: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
A Declaration of Political Scientists of South Korea
A Declaration by Political Scientists of South Korea Call for an Immediate Reintroduction and the Passage of the Impeachment Bill to Restore the Constitutional Order The emergency martial law declar...
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Daniel A. Pinkston, Ph.D. @dpinkston.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
573 Korean political science scholars have issued a public statement declaring that Yoon's impeachment is the only way to resolve the current situation. They have 4 demands: 1. Resubmit an impeachment motion in the National Assembly ...
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Eun A Jo @eunajo.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Wrong headline, NYT. Should read: Impeachment Vote Foiled by Boycott from Yoon's Allies. Ruling party refused to hold the President accountable for what most South Koreans believe was an act of treason. That's the ruling party's failure -- not the opposition's.
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Dr. Mark P. Barry ☯︎ @drmarkpbarry.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
What is a self-coup? South Korea president’s attempt ended in failure − a notable exception in a growing global trend theconversation.com/what-is-a-se...
theconversation.com
What is a self-coup? South Korea president’s attempt ended in failure − a notable exception in a growing global trend
There have been 46 attempted self-coups since the end of World War II – 80% have succeeded. So what went wrong for South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol?
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
"If the sudden declaration of martial law – the first order of its kind since the 1980s – was intended to restore his grip on power then it was a stunning error in political judgement. The fact that it was blocked within hours is a testament to the robustness of South Korea’s young democracy."
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Nicola Smith @niccijsmith.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Longer analysis of how South Korea’s political firestorm also revealed the strength of its democracy. Insights from Duyeon Kim, Leif-Eric Easley, @dpinkston.bsky.social thenightly.com.au/politics/wor...
thenightly.com.au
‘Political suicide’: South Korean leader seals his demise
President Yoon Suk Yeol conceded defeat before sunrise, but his drastic actions may have already sealed his own political downfall.
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Benjamin A. Engel @benjaminaengel.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Entire South Korean Cabinet has resigned after all of Yoon's senior aides resigned earlier in the day. Yoon is almost completely alone now. Seems increasingly likely the pressure to resign may overcome him. www.chosun.com/politics/pol...
chosun.com
[속보] 국무위원 전원 사의 표명… 총리·여당·대통령실 2시 긴급 회동
속보 국무위원 전원 사의 표명 총리·여당·대통령실 2시 긴급 회동
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
A storm in a teacup
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Paul Poast @profpaulpoast.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
IR Question of the Week: What is the "Second Image Reversed" and what does it have to do with Trump's reelection? A short 🧵
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Trump's re-election victory and its implications for the Asia-Pacific. How the region must respond to US withdrawal from multilateral cooperation and international trade rules, a 🧵 (1/9) eastasiaforum.org/2024/11/11/m...
eastasiaforum.org
Moving beyond the shellshock of Trump’s overwhelming victory to an Asian action plan
In response to Donald Trump's return to the White House, East Asia and the region must band together to resist the perverse incentives of a Trump presidency.
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
🧵 1/10 New Japanese PM Ishiba Shigeru faces critical challenges in managing relations with South Korea, following significant improvements under former PM Kishida. Here's what you need to know... theasanforum.org/managing-rel...
theasanforum.org
Managing Relations with South Korea - The Asan Forum
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru was inaugurated with his new cabinet on October 1. Just a few days later, on October 4, during his inaugural policy speech in the […]
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Ben Ascione @benasci1.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
A good look at the expectations surrounding Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in managing relations with South Korea by Nishino Junya. theasanforum.org/managing-rel...
theasanforum.org
Managing Relations with South Korea - The Asan Forum
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru was inaugurated with his new cabinet on October 1. Just a few days later, on October 4, during his inaugural policy speech in the […]
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