Newsweek: Why Putin Is Afraid of Ukraine
At its heart, however, the conflicts within Ukraine, and the fight Putin has picked with Ukraine, are about post-Soviet kleptocracy, and where and whether there is a popular will to resist it.
The New York Times: Do Churches Fail the Poor?
Ross Douthat (editorial): A church that pays out to help the poor, but doesn?t pray with them, looks less like a church than what Pope Francis has described, unfavorably, as merely another N.G.O.
The Diplomat: Taiwan and Strategic Security
The U.S. declarative policy on Taiwan of ?strategic ambiguity? needs to change sooner rather than later. From a purely naval and military perspective, control of the island of Taiwan would constitute a huge strategic asset for China and a threat to the region in both Southeast and Northeast Asia as well as to the United States.
Bloomberg: China Absent as Japan Parades Gear at First Defense Show
In his opening remarks, Admiral Tomohisa Takei, head of Japan?s Maritime Self-Defense Force, referred to an Abe essay in 2012. Abe set out plans in the article for a ?democratic security diamond? stretching between Japan, Hawaii, Australia and India, and enlisting help from the U.K. and France to counterbalance China?s growing power.
AFP: India's Modi tells China to 'reconsider' approach
Visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that Beijing needs to "reconsider its approach" to relations between the Asian giants, as the Hindu nationalist leader departed from the usual diplomatic pleasantries.
CNN: 72 killed in fire at footwear factory in Philippines
(CNN)A fire that engulfed a footwear factory in a suburb of the Philippine capital has killed 72 people, authorities said Thursday.The blaze swept through the slipper and shoe factory in Valenzuela City on Wednesday, sending huge clouds of thick black smoke billowing into the sky.