Triangular Diplomacy
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My latest at the Diplomat cites some work from International Studies Quarterly…
A recent International Studies Quarterly article by Yasuhiro Izumikawa of Chua University argues that the triangular diplomatic relationship between Tokyo, Moscow, and Washington was more fluid and complex than is commonly understood. The Soviet Union did not take Japanese alignment with the United States as a given. Rather, it tried to drive a wedge between Washington and Tokyo, not an absurd prospect given that a just a few years before Japan and the United States had waged a brutal, ferocious war that had left the greater part of urban Japan in ashes.