The Obama administration's 2015 military budget cuts may embolden potential adversaries and abet miscalculation.

Western criticisms of Russia's move into Ukraine's Crimea region reek of double standards. Much of what is Ukraine today would not have existed if not for the creation of the Soviet Union.

The neoliberal model has not performed well relative to the previous 30 years in terms of economic growth, financial stability and social justice. If a credible progressive alternative were to take shape, what should be the main outlines of such an alternative?

One danger from Japan's nationalist rhetoric of late is that it may incite extreme nationalist reactions in China and South Korea that further damage Japanese business interests.

With Japanese investors already nervous about the domestic recession, the global economic recovery and competition with China, Thailand's political crisis threatens to spur a dangerous outflow of Japanese capital.

Since most major economies operate under a flexible exchange-rate regime, financial market concerns about capital flight from developing countries as the U.S. Fed exits its quantitative easing policy are largely unwarranted.

We can better appreciate what Tohoku's shoreline villages represented now that they have been washed away and former residents are marooned in soulless temporary housing ghettoes where the greatest risks are isolation and boredom.

It's good that Japan is open to improving its system of education, but it may want to consider the disadvantages of the American approach that practically exempts students of responsibility for their education.

The clear geopolitical winner from the U.S.-Russian face-off over Ukraine will be an increasingly muscular China, which harps on historical grievances — real or imaginary — to justify its claims to territories and fishing areas long held by other Asian states.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sounds precisely like the organization to sort out the Ukraine crisis and underwrite an impartial solution — if U.S. President Barack Obama is willing to accept its mediation.

The downward spiral in relations between Tokyo and Seoul over history issues cannot continue. But both should not expect the U.S. to mediate their dispute.

The international community must balance the need to ensure that Ukraine does not become the site of a proxy battle with the necessity of stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin's destructive ambitions.