USA

EU Reporter recently drew attention to the possibility of a new political and economic pact rising in the east, as Japan, China, and South Korea seek to bury their differences and come together to challenge the west. Japan, we pointed out, seems to be an the verge of realligning itself.

The USA and NATO appear to have given up on Ukraine. The Obama administration has decided to abandon the controversial missile-defense system that the Bush administration had planned to build in the Czech Republic and Poland. The infamous air-defense system always rattled Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev; now they can sleep well. No defense system in Eastern Europe, no threat to Russia. But can Ukraine sleep so easily now? No.