The West has placed a lot of faith in the economic sanctions it has placed on Russia as the most effective way to get Russia to change its policies toward Ukraine. There is little question that the sanctions have had a dramatic effect on the Russian economy, but there are reasons to believe that the sanctions will not be effective. At some point the West will have to reassess whether it should apply greater pressure in the form of military aid to Kiev or whether it should simply concede that eastern Ukraine will ultimately become part of Russia.
The emerging war in Yemen is not only politically destabilizing–it could be economically destabilizing as well. A lot of oil flows through the Red Sea and oil prices shot up 6% last week as traders began to fear some sort of blockade on traffic through the crowded chokepoint. There are a number of countries who have a strong vested interest in the control of the Red Sea, and none of them will allow access to be compromised in any way.
Japan has commissioned a new helicopter destroyer, the JS Izumo, which be the largest vessel in the Japanese fleet. Japan is careful to point out that the vessel will be used for the dispatch of helicopters, but the world is well aware of the fact that the vessel could also accommodate fixed-wing aircraft, making the ship the functional equivalent of an aircraft carrier. The Japanese military buildup is largely in response to a similar Chinese military program. The arms race, however, is the classic example of the security dilemma where purely defensive moves are often interpreted by others as offensive and aggressive.
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