On the Brink

While there have been plenty of good things happening this week, the stories that have grabbed my attention of late have all led me to suspect that The Glass is Half Empty. While this could certainly be a case of “the only good news is boring news,” I found that the stories that have most caught my eye are the ones which lead to several brewing conflicts around the world, some of which I expect will only be truly appreciated in the long run.

The first of these, obviously, is the end of the Israeli housing freeze in the West Bank. (We have more on the story here.) Aside from the possibly severe blow to the recently restarted mideast peace talks (which hardly needs repeating), this issue exemplifies a disturbing trend in Netanyahu’s inability to contain Israeli populist expansionism. It’s no secret that Israel is assertive (read: agressive) in its national defense, but it seems the current political climate in Israel is almost intentionally trying to prove its critics right. The more Israel expands its territorial claims, the harder it is for its close ally the United States to deny similar intentions in other parts of the Muslim world.

The other conflict is less overtly hostile, but has a greater possibility for long-term trouble. I’m speaking, of course, of the match of the century: China vs. Japan, the Beasts of the Far East. This cultural-turned-territorial-turned-economic dispute between the two commerical giants seems by this point to have develolved into incredibly petty diplomatic feuding, but there are still signs that the nationalistic interests of the Chinese public may be beyond the control of the government.

By now, we all get that China is the world’s growing power, and that its economic growth has come hand-in-hand with a more aggressive stance in foreign policy. However, it’s quite a different game when they start to raise the stakes with an established power like Japan who, until recently, was the world’s second-largest economy.  China, which controls 97% of rare earth metals crucial t0 Japanese industry, has unilaterally decided to stop exporting these resources to the island nation, straining already stretched-thin relations. While Japan will not suffer too greatly from the short-term loss of rare earth metals, this hints at a growing rivalry in which the United States would rather not be forced to choose sides, seeing as how both countries are crucial to American business interests. I can only hope this fizzles out before China starts remembering the Rape of Nanking, finding an excuse for revenge.

Oh, and I guess Hugo Chavez also has some weird stuff going on within Venezuelan politics, but that’s hardly new, is it?