Country Report: South Korea (February 2022)

In January and February, with increasing tension across the border between Russia and Ukraine, the US seemed to move the focus to Europe after its withdrawal from Afghanistan, […]

Stepping Up to the Challenge and Embracing Pragmatism: Two Visions of Foreign Policy in the South Korean Presidential Election of 2022

The South Korean presidential election is only days away and, unlike past elections, the outcome is difficult to predict. There is, however, one thing that we can be […]

Washington Insights (January-February 2022)

The beginning of 2022 saw Russia threaten war in Ukraine, China loom as an undiminished threat to Taiwan, and North Korea launch missile after missile as its threat […]

Country Report: Japan (February 2022)

Two themes have garnered the bulk of attention in Japan’s foreign relations at the beginning of 2022: (1) Japan-Russia relations in the context of the looming war over […]

Postive Scenario I

Russia until recently anticipated a rapprochement with the United States without damage to its close relations with China. Indeed, given anticipated tensions in US-China relations, the result would […]

The Negative Scenario I

Donald Trump’s election to the presidency generated numerous articles expecting or advocating a rapprochement or even a “grand bargain” with Russia. This reaction reflected Trump’s many favorable campaign […]

Recent Views in Japan Concerning Sino-Russian Relations

How Japanese officials, media, and academics interpret the state of the relationship between China and Russia matters for Japan’s diplomacy with both countries and its foreign policy more […]

Washington Insights (Vol. 5, No. 1)

Rarely has there been such a tumultuous period in US foreign policy, reflected in DC discussions of it; many unknown figures were joining a new administration as lines […]

Japan’s Russia Policy: Looking Back on 2016 and Ahead to 2017

Building closer relations with Russia was undoubtedly one of the main priorities of Japanese foreign policy in 2016. This was made clear by Prime Minister Abe in his […]

Russia-China Defense Cooperation: New Developments

Sino-Russian defense cooperation has intensified significantly, especially after the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, making an update of what I wrote in this journal barely a year ago […]