First based on Edo’s post:
They will likely review several scenarios including one under which Japanese and U.S. armed forces conduct joint operations in case China invades the islands, Kyodo said.
Any fighting with Japan would escalate far more quickly than people think, too many first world nations depend on trade to stomach a war that might interrupt trade (and somewhat want China knocked down a notch, or more). Socially, most western nations will side with Japan automatically over China.
Also realize the position of Hawaii for the other talks, that’s a strategic ace for Japan; effectively protected by both Japan’s position and the US navy, it represents a nearly unbreakable road to supplies.
China can’t strike Japan’s home ports for fear of hitting the US fleet in the process, and they can’t count on the US staying out even so; talk about bad math.
And 2: Cyprus politicians decided their deal wasn’t so good…but…
State TV have reported that the plan could include a levy on bank deposits over €100,000, after MPs dramatically rejected the original plan to tax smaller deposits on Tuesday night.
Mmmm… And nationalizing pensions, sheer… “genius”… not in a good way mind you.
And really, when you’re getting lectured by a Russian on protecting bank depositors, you need help.
“I cannot compare it to anything but some decisions made at a certain period of time by the Soviet authorities that did not care much about people’s savings.”
By the way, chickens and eggs aren’t always hard to figure out the order of:
A deal on banks appeared less likely, he said, particularly considering Russian clients were now seeking to move funds out of Cyprus and its banks were looking less than healthy.
I can’t imagine why they’d be moving that money! And the potentially negative consequences of bank runs! UNTHINKABLE! (You better be getting sarcasm out of that.)
Reality calling Euro: You need to unwind and restructure, you’re only making it worse!
World's Only Rational Man 
In regards to the EU, you never know who they’ll side with. Especially Germany might go for China. Germany, since 3-11, is utterly crazy when it comes to Japan.
In the wake of the December 16 election in Japan German journalists whined and moaned how the Japanese dared to vote for the right wing instead of the left greenists.
The really dangerous thing here is that the Germans, as a whole, believe this stuff. It was obvious in the wake of 3-11 and even today, 2 years later, the Germans still bitch and moan about Fukushima.
I’m not going to rewrite it all, so I’ll just copy & paste.
“Was just thinking what if the nuclearphobics, who screamed so much against nuclear power in Japan last year, would have spent just half of their energy in the Tohoku region with helping…
Oh my…
But you see, those who scream loudest were, of course, those who knew littlest. As usual.
Also, did you notice how there were no thousands of Germans protesting against the North Korean nuke test? In fact, I haven’t heard of any protests anywhere against that.
Funny, 2011 they were quick to come in the hundreds of thousands to protest against nuclear power, while left wing and green politicians claimed Fukushima could happen in Germany tomorrow and the German media compared Fukushima with Hitler’s bunker. They did so while 80,000 people were still missing and up to 400,000 were displaced. But once the Northies pop a nuke they’re all silent.
At the same time the German S&R team from the Technische Hilfswerk abandoned their mission in Japan. They were on three deployments but didn’t accomplish any mission goal. The first was canceled due to a tsunami warning, inevitable. The second was canceled because of nightfall (Germans can’t read watches apparently.) And the third was canceled due to an imaginary nuclear death cloud after which the Japanese removed the Germans from the front line.
When the German S&R team finally left after a few days (a day before the Turkish team arrived) they abandoned all their equipment in Japan. A second German team wasn’t even deployed but turned around at the airport.
When they arrived back home they were quick to bash Japan’s civil protection, calling the mission chaotic and badly planned (please ignore that the same civil protection had to deal with unprecedented devastation, tens of thousands of people missing and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons.) What was more important to the Technische Hilfswerk was noting that the team “narrowly escaped irradiation”, which was also the #1 topic for Germany.
The German Lufthansa canceled all flights into Japan. The French, Dutch and Swiss continued to fly.
Some German journalists asked a left wing expatriate Japanese intellectual, who’s known to not be patriotic at all, why the Japanese don’t just give up and leave? He was PISSED. The German media was full of anti-Japanese racism. Not only did they compare Fukushima with Hitler’s bunker, as I mentioned above, they also claimed that TEPCO and the government were forcing foreigners, minors and homeless people to clean up Fukushima (which eventually they had to retract, which took quite some time, but by then the damage was done.)
No, the Fukushima Fifty (among which were also several women) were not heroes in the German media. They were victims of a feudal society, slaves of the “Yellow Peril”.
Though, it gets worse than that.
Today I read a German paper from a few months ago (waiting rooms, bah!), where a German reporterette was commenting about the elections in Japan in December. She practically wrote a huge rant about how those Japanese dare to vote for the LDP and the NInK instead of for anti-nuclear parties (which were slaughtered in that election.) “Nationalism and militarism” were winning so that retard believed. “The Japanese could have become world champions in energy saving” but that “nationalism” was more important for them, so she wrote.
Never mind that North Korea was toying with nukes and China was more and more aggressive and people were actually worried about that. Not to mention that the DPJ had complete botched the re-construction in the Tohoku area and epically failed to deliver all of their “hope & change” that had brought them into power in the first place.
So yeah, since 3-11 I’m anti-German for a very good reason. I used to shake my head at them in the years prior because our big brother was slowly turning into a retard with all the really stupid decisions they’ve made, but since 3-11 I don’t see anything positive in Germany anymore. That country has gone off the deep end.
Though, this isn’t really new either. Germany, back under the Kaiser, wanted a “Platz an der Sonne” (a place in the sun) so they became a colonial power. There was the saying “Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen” (the German spirit shall heal the world). Originally that was spawned from the Napoleonic Wars and and became an idea that supported the unification of Germany as one nation in the 1850s and 1860s, but eventually this became a symbol of German ignorance and arrogance (funnily enough that process started after the unification, after the Prussians were calling the shots in this united Germany.)
And what the Germans then did with an army, they do today with words.
They have no changed at all. This is especially open among German leftists, greenists and intellectuals. They believe that they are the non plus ultra in righteousness, they alone know what’s best and they have the right to judge everyone.”
And that judging is going off even easier when those to be judged by the super Germans aren’t white. Heck, there’s a reason I keep saying that Hitler could only happen in Germany. Germans are inherently racist. It’s in their DNA. The German reaction to 3-11 proves it without the slightest doubt.
So no, you can’t trust the Germans in this. And given the sway they have these days in Europe they might as well root for China. They sure as hell tend to root for the “Palestinians”, just like the rest of the EU. Oh I know, officially they support Israel…
Then how come “Germans don’t buy Jewish” can be used in Germany these days? Think I’m kidding? Nope! http://www.pi-news.org/2011/04/dont-buy-jewish-2011-reloaded/ It’s back. And nobody cares.
How come that mohammedans marching through Europe’s big cities screaming “Hamas! Hamas! Gas the Jews!” is tolerated?
In case the Cold War of the East China Sea would go hot, who’d stand with Japan?
The US? Yes, halfheartedly and confused, until someone like McRaven tells Obama what to do.
India and other Asian countries? Yes, they know China would never stop.
The EU? Don’t bet on it.
I think you’re misinterpreting me. I don’t expect German military aid at all, but in practice, if they don’t provide direct aid to China they are supporting Japan.
The German political scene leans towards Japan in a dispute with China, not out of idealism (but then, idealism in Foreign Policy would be an aberration anyways). I think their protectionism leanings over green companies and projects, along with the west’s general whine about “cheap labor” and manufacturing in “rising” China, makes a conflict an opportunity for their politics. They can’t send ships, they don’t have them for the kind of operation it would be. And they don’t have the troops to send (or the training for those troops to operate there). They’d be non-combat as far as the battle-space, but contributory due to other factors: If US assets were moved, thus lowering our counter piracy support for instance, they’d pick up the slack…which frees our assets cleanly. They get to politically call neutrality, or non-engagement, while allowing others with more capable assets to pick up the in-theatre roles. The effect on the fight is the same, they have thrown in for Japan.
You mentioned the old term “Yellow Peril”, and I’ll say I think that brand racism does play a role in many people’s views of the region and the potential of this potential fight. But it’s important to remember that especially in Europe’s version the Chinese are prioritized over the Japanese as the “threat”, with modern Japan being considered “more civilized” since it seems more western. Considering all that I think, even given that breed of racism as the deciding factor, that Japan benefits before China does.
Britain will side with Japan, France will too, both might commit militarily “to defend civilians”. Europe’s fear of China’s potential, along with its protectionist leanings should not be underestimated in this. If it happens, it is an incredible opportunity for several political stripes in Europe.
The US, like most, doesn’t need to actively fight to control outcomes. The US fleet refusing to leave Japan and doing presence cruises, again “to protect civilians”, limits China’s ability to act against Japanese infrastructure. Without the ability to stop Japan’s industry China will lose; there is no power who can project the same safety to China.
I also think there would be a death by a thousand cuts for China. In an open war with Japan I’d expect their neighbors to poach their shipping, forcing them to escort and convoy, taking ships away from their line. They have so much more to defend compared to Japan and no friends who can contribute to their safety in the process of war.
Na, I was just raving about the Germans. The “Germs” as I tend to call them today.
My use of “Yellow Peril” goes back to Professor Zöllner’s letter about the German reaction to Fukushima (translation is on here, under November 2011 “Apocalypse Now.”) Zöllner is professor for Japanese Studies in Bonn. He openly called that German reaction “the fear of the Yellow Peril” and concluded that, with friends like Germany, you don’t need a nuclear crisis.
Though, in all fairness, not all Germans are like that. Especially those who get out of Germany and move to live and work in a different country seem to get out of this “spell” of typical “Germanism” and gain or even defend their common sense.
Still, I wouldn’t trust the EUSSR. I mean, we can’t trust it on our own soil, why would anyone trust them a few thousand miles away? Alone the fact that Japan has to go to the EUSSR and ask them to continue their weapons embargo against China says a lot. No, the EUSSR would never get the idea to continue with it themselves.
I’ll trust their protectionism to take the opportunity to lock China off for as long as possible. Oh sure, certain companies and industries will get exemptions, as usual, but meh, lot of good it’ll do China.
Really, a conflict revolves around a question I think isn’t that hard: Does Japan (and if Combatant, the US) engage in Doctrine warfare?