South Sudanese rebels have seized the oil producing sections of the country which puts the government in a very difficult position. Without the oil revenues, the government will have a difficult time maintaining its control over the country. China, which has significant interests in South Sudanese oil, has joined a large number of countries trying to defuse the two-week crisis. Although the violence in the country can be mapped out along ethnic lines (Nuer vs. Dinka), the real issue is control over the country and the oil wealth.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a sacred site dedicated to the memorial of all the war dead of Japanese soldiers (and, indeed, of all soldiers who have died defending their countries). But the shrine also contains the remains of several Japanese soldiers who were convicted of Class A war criminals from World War II. The atrocities committed by those soldiers include many committed against Chinese and Korean civilians. Thus, the visit has raised outrage in those countries, who worry that the visit signals a return to Japanese militarism. The controversy over the shrine is long-standing so Abe knew that his visit would create a foreign outcry; his calculation is that the damage to foreign relations is outweighed by the domestic benefits of the visit. That calculation does raise some concern over the return of Japanese nationalism.
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