Success in relief and recovery operations will depend in no small part on the strength of the Japanese government, but a very weakened premier must lead Japan through what Naoto Kan rightly calls its greatest crisis since World War II.

Iran's threats to close the vital Strait of Hormuz, its naval exercises in nearby waters, and the ominous increase in tensions over its nuclear weapons program all point to a dangerous year ahead.

Pundits have lately been comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter, suggesting he is a likely loser in 2012. It's always helpful to be reminded that early polls may not be predictive and that opinion can change, as was the case when Truman won in 1948 and when Carter lost in 1980. But we should also keep in mind that today's polls are better and more frequent than they were 63 years ago.

AEI's Director of Japan Studies Michael Auslin is available to comment on Japan's disaster.

Just like President Truman and hisdecision to stay in Berlin, President Bush has hadthe foresight to stay committed in Iraq.

There are echoes of history in the Beijing Olympics and the Russian invasion of Georgia.

Obama, who found time to go on a twenty-four-hour jaunt to Copenhagen on October 2 to seek the 2016 Olympics games for Chicago, apparently cannot find the time for a twenty-four-hour trip to Berlin on November 9 for a celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The senator's Berlin speech was radical and naive.