Japan Inc is charging into Myanmar. The rush began one night last October, when Myanmar's new president rolled out a map after dinner to show an aging Japanese power broker a prize that could be Tokyo's to develop - a swathe of land nearly as big as Macau.

The two men are practising a brand of public diplomacy uniquely appropriate to two young, athletic leaders, said Heather Conley, senior fellow of the Europe program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a DC-based think tank.

...the United States is an economic and military powerhouse in a way that Britain is not...Britain has some strong historical relationships with a number of countries that the United States does not. And Britain...has so-called “soft power” that the United States might have been lacking in recent years.

In his telephone call to new British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday night, President Obama underscored his commitment to the "special relationship" between the two countries. That was a diplomatic necessity given the long alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom, but the reality might be that the concept has outlived its usefulness.

The country is at something of a crossroads: A strategic defense review after the election could decide whether it continues to act as a close partner of the United States in military operations abroad or retreats to a lesser role.