2012-09-13 By Richard Weitz Japan’s support for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom stimulated further efforts to restructure both the legal and organizational dimensions of the country’s national security policies. This was driven by the clear need to enhance Tokyo’s ability to respond to internal and external security threats…
2012-09-11 By Richard Weitz Unlike in Europe, where the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact ushered as a new era, the Asia Pacific region did not experience an abrupt phase transition during the late 1980s and 1990s. From Japan’s perspective, the demise of the…
2012-09-04 By Richard Weitz The United States should make a greater effort to help Japan and Russia reduce their territorial tensions. Whatever its causes, the dispute prevents these two countries from aligning together to advance their common security and economic interests, which are also shared by the United States. When Boris…
2012-09-02 By Richard Weitz Japan and Russia are on a collision course and can be resolved only if both sides have the wil to do so. History has a long reach in the Pacific and managing history is a constant of any Pacific strategy. Japanese and Russian historians can cite competing…
2012-08-30 By Richard Weitz Relations between Russia and Japan have remained strained throughout the post-Soviet period. Despite the end of the Cold War, Moscow and Tokyo have been unable to resolve their territorial dispute over what the Russians call the Southern Kurils and the Japanese label their Northern Territories. The 1875…
2012-08-28 By Richard Weitz In explaining their government’s December 2003 decision to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, Japanese officials cited the imperative of supporting their country’s bilateral military alliance with the United States. They considered the deployment of ground troops to the Iraqi theater as especially important in demonstrating Japan’s reliability to…
2012-08-26 By Richard Weitz The 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States provided the Japanese government with an opportunity to reaffirm fidelity to the Japanese-U.S. alliance and Japan’s emerging role as an important international security actor. Immediately following the September 11, 2011 al-Qaeda suicide strikes, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s administration initiated…
2012-08-16 by Robbin Laird The Japanese government released its latest Defense White Paper late last month. This is the first white paper released since they announced their decision to acquire the F-35, and provides a further elucidation upon the new defense policy announced in 2010. The Japanese announced in that…
