A Maritime Balkans

Former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd either writes astonishingly well or has astonishingly capable writers working for him. (Link)

A good read, once one get past the unfortunate "tinderbox on water" metaphor ("A tinderbox? On water? What's the problem then?").

The Japan-China-U.S.Triangularity

The new situation in East Asia, or at least one graphical illustration of it.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The top curve, with the white triangles, is the proportion of Japan's total trade that is trade with the United States. The bottom curve, with the black squares, is the proportion of Japan's total trade that is trade with China. The gray bars are Japan's total trade volume in dollars.

Image by Shibota Atsuo. Image copied from from here.