Maj. Gen. Ram Rothberg is in the middle of his command of the Israel Navy. Previously a commander of the elite naval commando unit Shayetet 13, Rothberg concerns himself mainly with building up naval forces in the event of a war. However, he is also responsible for the naval commandos, submarines and missile boats for dozens of undercover operations each year – more than one per week.

A hot topic these days in D.C. is the quest for what is quickly becoming the foreign policy holy grail — a U.S. foreign policy strategy towards the People’s Republic of China. The quest in many respects makes sense. After the declaration of a “pivot” to Asia, many in America’s foreign policy community expected a major push by the Obama Administration to clearly define some sort of strategy towards Beijing incorporating a number of broad areas of importance — defense, economic, and cultural interactions.

The U.S. Navy will provide military benefits to gay couples stationed in Japan after previously denying dependent status to same-sex spouses there, according to defense officials. The change came after U.S. and Japanese officials agreed to an interpretation of the status of forces agreement between the two nations, concluding that the term “spouses” applied to all individuals who are legally married to Department of Defense personnel.

Japan's approval of new national defense guidelines and its first-ever national security strategy are raising questions whether, after a year of focusing on the economy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is finally baring his nationalist teeth. The announcement this week of a significant increase in military spending over the next five years to counter China’s growing military influence in the region was not unexpected.

On November 8 Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) struck the central Philippines with devastating effect. The U.S. offered immediate assistance in disaster relief and the next day U.S. Marines began deploying to the Philippines. At a press conference on November 25, Philippines Secretary for Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario stated that the U.S. response demonstrated the need for the early conclusion of a new agreement covering the U.S. military presence in the Philippines.

Niger's president is pushing for the creation of multinational African brigades — notably with Libya — to boost border security in lawless zones where jihadist fighters roam. Mahamadou Issoufou says Niger is "no sanctuary for terrorists" but believes many jihadist fighters have taken refuge in the south of neighboring Libya after French forces ousted al-Qaida-linked militants from a teetering Mali earlier this year.

France launched its second major African intervention in a year on Friday as its troops rushed to the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, to stem violence that already claimed over 100 lives this week. France, which capital Bamako earlier this year, began assembling a new 1,200-strong force for CAR just hours after winning U.N. backing to go ahead on Thursday.

China seemed to take the air out of the Geneva Accord on Iran with its simultaneous announcement last week that it is creating an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. The ADIZ will be implemented by the Chinese Ministry of Defence and obliges all aircraft flying in the zone to accommodate a number of rules including: the identification of flight plans, the presence of any transponders and two-way radio communication with Chinese authorities.