Japan leadership change, Sudan drone strikes and U.S.-Australia minerals cooperation

Off Leash update 21 October

JAPAN •Japan's parliament elected Sanae Takaichi to be the country's first female prime minister. •The media enjoys pointing out that Takaichi used to be a drummer in a heavy metal band. While that's true - she was, and apparently still drums to blow off steam - it makes her sound like much more of a renegade than she's likely to be in office. •In fact, Takaichi is a conservative nationalist who has styled herself after her late mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and after her political idol, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. •Like Abe, Takaichi is likely to steer Japanese politics to the right and adopt Abenomics-style economic policies favoring fiscal expansion and monetary easing. •But she'll need to adapt Abe's ideas to better fit Japan's current geopolitical and economic realities. In particular, Abenomics - which Abe successfully used to fight deflation back in 2012 - would only worsen modern Japan's opposite problem of inflation.

SUDAN •Khartoum's airport was slated to reopen for domestic flights tomorrow - seven months after the army recaptured the capital from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - but an overnight RSF drone attack looks likely to postpone the reopening. •It was the third recent RSF attack on Khartoum, following two strikes on army bases north-west of the city earlier in the week.

CRITICAL MINERALS •Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albonese met Pres. Trump at the White House yesterday to sign an "action plan" guaranteeing U.S. access to Australia's critical mineral resources - including rare earths - as an alternative to China's tightly-controlled supplies. The allies will also jointly invest in developing new critical mineral projects. •Trump still hopes to appeal to China's Pres. Xi to lift newly-tightened export restrictions on its rare earths when he and Xi meet later this month, but Australia is likely to be a more reliable long-run supply partner.