The 7/11 chain of convenience stores is going to drop Citgo as a provider of automobile fuel for its locations that have gas stations. Officials with 7/11 admit the politics vis-a-vis Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (Citgo is wholly owned by the Venezuelan government) and his hatred for the United States of America played into the decision.
Another, unspoken reason, is that 7/11 is wholly owned by a Japanese conglomerate, and, when American troops in Afghanistan captured Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (Ron Jeremy) in 2004, who was himself an uncle to Ramsey Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, Mohammed gave up info to his captors that AQ was planning attacks inside Japan during the time when Japan co-hosted (with South Korea) the 2002 World Cup of Soccer. Mohammed then conceded that AQ gave up the idea b/c Japan’s immigration laws were so strict that it was impossible to get a “ground network” of AQ sleeper cells inside Japan — let that be a lesson to pondering Americans and subway canaries and arch pundits near and far.
However, Tokyo now has a reason to fear Islamic radicalism, and any non-Islamic powers like Chavez of Venezuela that align themselves with radical Islamic countries in the “enemy of my enemy” spirit. Part of 7/11’s decision might have been forced from the other side of the world, as Japanese retribution against the developing anti-Western axis comprised of a curious grab-bag of radical Islamists, Marxists and non-white dictators.
Countenance Blog 