Lie Down With Dummies...

Japan, Australia, and the U.S. are set to conduct some war games in the East China Sea on 10/17 (SEE STORY HERE). The minuscule scale of the operation begs the question of whether or not it is a purely provocative measure directed towards China and concerning the recent round of talks with Japan concerning gas and oil field development in the region slated to have started Thursday morning (two days after the military exercise was announced[SEE STORY HERE]). If this is indeed the intention I cannot imagine a more sophomoric, self-defeating attempt at foreign policy hardball on the part of Japan. It leads me to believe that there must be some perceived method to this madness which goes beyond geographic interests in the East China Sea. Whatever these may be is anyone's guess but one thing that's certain, if this is indeed the case, is that the move has the Bush administration written all over it; that signature being that whatever the desired outcome, it seems destined to fail miserably.