Asia & the Pacific

"Even though the VX incident in Kuala Lumpur did not result in a mass killing, the use of a toxic chemical agent in a public space could have generated great threats to the public. Furthermore, the use of a weapon of mass destruction, regardless of the magnitude of its effect, is by itself a matter of grave concern. The international community has created various important norms and rules to prevent the use and spread of WMD. For now, the responsibility rests with Malaysia and its ongoing investigation. Depending on the results, the international community may also need to respond."

"Some may argue that the US government bears no moral responsibility, as it did not directly participate in this human experimentation. But the United States declined to hold many of the perpetrators accountable, and benefited materially as well. US government officials were interested in the potential utility of the work of Ishii and other Japanese, however unethical, to the US military. Senior American officials felt that obtaining data from the experiments was more valuable than bringing those involved to justice, because the information could be used to advance the US government’s own weapons development program."

"One of the dramas playing out this month in New York at the 2015 Review Conference for parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) concerns the future of discussions on establishing the weapons of mass destruction free zone in the Middle East..."

"Washington needs to make a decision about its foreign-policy priorities, if tensions in eastern Ukraine are not reduced. Giving the events in Ukraine priority over all other international developments is a hazardous strategy. Negotiations have gotten us nowhere, and way more assertive steps against Russia are not likely to make Putin give in, since he seems to be determined not to lose his influence over eastern Ukraine and eager to demonstrate Russia's power."

"We are coming up on June 28, 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of the outbreak of World War I....As this anniversary approaches, there is a new and vaguely similar feeling of uncertainty occasioned by the recent Russian land grab — as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden put it — of the Crimean Peninsula."