Nearly 150 years after its completion, the Suez Canal continues to inspire awe, living up to every cliché ever written about it. The 120-mile waterway is a vital link between Europe and Asia, a strategic asset, and a man-made wonder. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Both China and Japan are trying to centralize security decision-making. Could this help avoid a clash? Read Here – The Diplomat
For those seeking to understand the perilous politics of the region today, there is no better place to start than the First Sino-Japanese War, which pitted China’s fading Qing Dynasty against an ascendant Meiji Japan in a contest for regional supremacy. Read Here – National Interest
Pakistani authorities have long had ties to domestic militant groups that help advance the country’s core foreign policy interests, namely in connection with Afghanistan and India. Read Here – Council On Foreign Relations
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will try to strike a delicate balance of calming military tensions with China while supporting ally Japan against Beijing on a trip to Asia this week that is being overshadowed by a territorial dispute in the East China Sea. Read Here – Reuters
After a period of distraction, the U.S. reaffirms by word and deed its interest in Asia. Read Here – The Diplomat
The Afghan president‘s push to delay a security pact with the U.S. has undermined confidence in Afghanistan’s future, testing international support for the country at a crucial moment, the U.S.-led coalition’s top commander said. Read Here – WSJ
A new dam proposed by Laos threatens further damage to the troubled Mekong and its inhabitants. Read Here – The Diplomat
To be sure, Russia and Japan are not natural security partners. In the twentieth century, they fought two wars against each other, first in 1904–05, and again in 1945. Japan seized territory from Russia in the first; Russia seized territory from Japan in the second. In the following decades, the two countries largely kept their […]
With our guns and money, we have suspended the feuds of Afghanistan. When we truly pack up our gear, the hard truth of that country will win out. The warlords and the vultures will take what they can and leave the place to darkness and ruin, writes Fouad Ajami Read Here – Bloomberg
looking beyond borders 