His Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has indicated there might be a review of the decision in 1993 to apologise for direct Japanese coercion of 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other Asian countries into brothels to serve Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. The so-called "comfort women" issue is not completely settled. In particular, it continues to hang over Japan's relations with South Korea.

Many of his areas of focus for security are non-military: He advocates for more language training, greater commitment to trade, thoughtfulness on energy policy, better public diplomacy, and a focus on working through coalitions to share burdens and create sustainable successes.

“It is a big step for the future and building people-to-people relationships between Myanmar and the United States,” said Min San, another player of the 12-member junior Burmese basketball team that is visiting the US on the invitation of the State Department.

This year the Hans Joohs Sister Cities Cultural Exchange program is celebrating its 25th year. Sister Cities is an international, person-to-person diplomacy program that creates friendships and bonds between the US and other nations. New Ulm is a proud participant in the program, which began in the Eisenhower Administration.

Last week, Heritage and The Wall Street Journal released the latest edition of the Index of Economic Freedom. Among its top performers is Poland, up seven spots in the global rankings. Poland’s economy is the only one in Europe that has expanded every year over the past two decades.

With exit polls showing that the country trusted him more to conduct U.S. foreign policy than his rival, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama set off a round of commentary about how the GOP could regain its advantage. His nominee for defense secretary, moderate Republican Chuck Hagel, has re-energized that debate [disclosure: Hagel is chairman of the Atlantic Council, the author's employer].

Bolivia says that it has been re-admitted to the UN's anti-narcotics convention after persuading member states to recognise the right of its indigenous people to chew raw coca leaf, which is used in the making of cocaine. Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, had faced opposition from Washington in his campaign against the classification of coca as an illicit drug. "The coca leaf has accompanied indigenous peoples for 6,000 years," said Dionisio Nunez, Bolivia's deputy minister of coca and integrated development, on Friday. "Coca leaf was never used to hurt people.

Charles Rivkin will be remembered for his attention to neighborhoods traditionally ignored by high-level public officials...The 21st century has seen a shift, with stepped up outreach into minority — especially Muslim — communities. In France, where the policy is carried out by the cinematic Ambassador Rivkin, it has been very well-received in the immigrant suburbs.