Efforts by Russia and the West to forge a meaningful and productive relationship have been thrown away by the meaningless demonization of Moscow over the Ukraine civil war and the annexation of Crimea.
Russia's image today remains tained by the image of Soviet days, which is why its case over Ukraine, Crimea and flight MH17 still get little attention in the West, even when it is deserved.
Finally U.S. and Australian policymakers are realizing what they should have known all along — that they can take advantage of Hanoi's traditional dislike of China to counter what they see as Beijing's expansionist threat in the East and South China Seas.
If Beijing has been behaving badly in the South China Sea, then so too have others.
Today "theology" has taken over from morality in the efforts to construct a new world. Laws, truth and justice are readily sacrificed so that the West's version of good can prevail.
Remember the "Cry for Argentina" catch-call among rationalists decrying government intervention in the economy. Now it is "Cry for Australia" and the dozens of other nations crucified on the cross of unrestricted free trade.
if you are touted in Roppongi, do not waste your time reporting it to the police. You will be in for a very humiliating experience, as I discovered recently.
Those two favorite targets for Western moralizing about Japanese corporate corruption — Olympus (cameras) and Recruit (information) — are back in the headlines. Both typify the shallowness of much Western reporting in Japan.
The irrational bias for Ukraine in its standoff with pro-Russia rebels suggests there is something sick in the Western mentality that blocks sensible judgement where Russia is concerned.
A Soviet attack on Japan proper leading to the destruction of the Emperor system and the establishment of a communist government frightened Japan's militarists even more than the atomic bombings at the end of World War II.
