US year-end review programs were preoccupied with Syria and Iran with mention of Afghanistan, leaving little or no time for coverage of East Asia. They painted two leaders—Obama and Putin—as weak and strong, respectively, without reference to four other leaders—Xi Jinping, Abe Shinzo, Park Geun-hye, and Kim Jong-un. Events in East Asia, however, would not pause while pundits pontificated on what was most newsworthy to a public accustomed to deadlines elsewhere that threatened to make the difference between war and peace. Kim Jong-un ended the year by raising the specter of imminent attack. Abe Shinzo defied appeals and warnings by Obama, Xi, and Park not to pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine. Meanwhile, Xi steadily centralized control as he moved against those who over the past decade had loomed as leadership rivals. In early January, as official Washington awakened from its holiday snooze, the scene in East Asia was changing and talk in the corridors and at seminars turned to how to take stock of recent changes and deter growing threats to peace or stability. A month later, after Obama’s State of the Union address, which said little about Asia, concerns were mounting that events in the Asia-Pacific would catch many off guard.

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