Friends and neighbours

The recent trade deals with both Japan and China and the visit to Australia by the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe which included an address to the Federal Parliament have people concerned that we might be stepping on some rather large toes, notably China.
There are a number of disputes, mostly territorial , in between China and Japan and it is also probable that China has been flexing its muscle in the Northern Pacific and South East Asa.
Too much can't  be read into concerns raised that we are upsetting one or the other of the two countries involved but it does highlight our dependency on trade and international relations.
Who was it who said "Man cannot serve two masters..."?

Crimea river

Peace in our time? Probably not...

Since the annexation of Crimea earlier this year the situation in Ukraine is tense. In 2014 the estimated population in Ukraine was 44 million of which 17% were of Russian ethnicity.It is the largest country in Europe hence its importance politically and geographically ,
Putin denied the claims by Ukraine and the West that Russian special forces were fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine.
In June Gazprom, the Russian oil company, shut of gas supplies to Ukraine , an action which may threaten European supplies .
The stand off continues and while it bis reported  Ukraine has sufficient supplies to last until December of this year it's highly likely that the situation will again reach crisis point before the end of the year. 
With the new Ukrainian government taking a harder line towards the Russian separatists and Russia with its finger very much on the pulse and supporting the separatists if not morally,  the tension continues .