-Post from earlier in the term-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/us-sending-2-warships-to-japan-to-counter-nkorea/2014/04/06/79e36238-bd4c-11e3-9ee7-02c1e10a03f0_story.html

This article in the Washington Post is a great example of a few things we talked throughout Week One. We had talked about realism and how the strong must take what they want while the weak must accept it. That's not saying that Japan is "weak" so the speak but in their land disputes with the much more powerful China, they are when looking at the two states comparatively. The United States, and specifically Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, are rejecting realism and saying that even though China is a "great power", the lack of disrespect they are showing to ally Japan is unacceptable for any nation in today's world. This disrespect that be linked to how other nations feel about Russia's takeover of the Ukraine and it is wrong for nations to start re-defining boundaries at will. While China needs to respect Japan, North Korea is still flirting with the idea of nuclear tests so the U.S. have sent in two additional warships to help counter the threat as well as come to the aid of one of their strongest allies. Under the two nations' mutual defense treaty, the US has sworn to protect Japan's interests even though they are not taking sides in the island disputes between Japan and China. America is looking to beef up security in Japan "just in case" by deploying surveillance drones later this month.

-Max Kachinske