The Looming Crisis in U.S.-Japan Relations
As U.S. President Barack Obama visits Tokyo on the first stop of his inaugural trip to Asia, he may unknowingly step into a looming crisis in the alliance with Japan. But it is not the alliance crisis he may be led to expect. Much of the punditry in the media would have us believe that Japan and the United States were on the verge of a breakup over where to relocate 60 Marine helicopters. Yet durable alliances are based on common interests, not simply disagreements over means. As difficult an issue as the relocation of Futenma Marine Air Station has been, however, the salient question is whether next year’s half-centenary celebration of the 1960 Mutual Security Treaty will mark the end of the alliance as we know it or the beginning of the alliance we both need for the 21st century.

The U.S. Needs a New Af-Pak Strategy
A strategy for the so-called Af-Pak region must start with a definition of the Taliban today. No longer the Islamist group that aided the al Qaeda attackers of 9/11, the Taliban now is more of a peasant revolt – a group of well-armed mercenaries, drug traffickers, and disenchanted youth without prospects – making a bold challenge to the government authorities who have not been able to deliver social services in remote rural areas. Comprised largely of Pashtuns, the Taliban also projects ethnic nationalism, and like the Kurds, there are tens of millions of them on both sides of a frontier, but without their own country. Preventing the Taliban from overrunning Pakistan is an objective that should resonate with the American people – although a pro-Taliban coup from within is another alarming contingency.

Ambani vs. Ambani
Once again, the Ambani brothers in India are at loggerheads. They are caught in a complicated business dispute that raises questions about the way contracts are honored in India, the role the state plays in such disputes, and the way India prices its assets. None of this augurs well for India’s investment climate.