In Japan

I’m in Japan at the moment to meet with some students and faculty and to give a lecture on Obama’s Middle East policy (Now there’s a cheerful subject!). My schedule is quite full all week, so blogging will be sparse. Here’s to hoping the world remains uneventful (No tsunamis in Asia, bank runs in Europe, ...

Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Stephen M. Walt
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.
KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images
KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images
KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images

I'm in Japan at the moment to meet with some students and faculty and to give a lecture on Obama's Middle East policy (Now there's a cheerful subject!). My schedule is quite full all week, so blogging will be sparse. Here's to hoping the world remains uneventful (No tsunamis in Asia, bank runs in Europe, or loose talk in Washington, D.C.). Of those options, however, I'd be happiest with the first two, because no self-respecting realist would ever expect the third.  

I’m in Japan at the moment to meet with some students and faculty and to give a lecture on Obama’s Middle East policy (Now there’s a cheerful subject!). My schedule is quite full all week, so blogging will be sparse. Here’s to hoping the world remains uneventful (No tsunamis in Asia, bank runs in Europe, or loose talk in Washington, D.C.). Of those options, however, I’d be happiest with the first two, because no self-respecting realist would ever expect the third.  

Stephen M. Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. Twitter: @stephenwalt

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.