Mr. Putin Vis-a Vis Mr. Abe

     So, the Black Belt judoka goes to the No. 1 judo studio in japan, a guest pf Prime Minister Abe.  Mr. Putin is on a short state visit, only 2 days, hardly enough time to drink a cup of jasmine tea or sake, as the case may be.  The discussion focused on trade; really?  Maybe it was more about fishing rights; or maybe more about trading with China, the dragon just south of Siberia and a little west of the Home Islands.  Or, as some pundits wrote, the issue of the Northern territories was broached.  (Northern territories is the japanese reference to the southern 4 Kurile Islands which were seixed and occupied by Russyan troops at the very end of WW II, a distinct breech of Allied agreements of the time.   However, Russyan has made it known that they consider the islands part of the Russyan mainline.  Good luck convincing the former KGB officer that these islands should revert to Japanese control.
      Apparently, no formal agreements were achieved during their brief discussions; but the meeting did punctuate a message to China that Russya will be a question no matter how China views the relationship now and in the future.  Interestingly, a Chinese naval vessel, shadowing a US research vessel in international waters, seized a submersible data collector(drone) and refused to return the machine to its rightful owners.  So, here we have a small, but significant effort by the Chinese government to tell the world that they are playing a new position on the global field.  Maybe they are smarting from Obama's imposition of significant tariffs on Chinese-made steel products, or the likely hood of new tariffs on Chinese -made aluminum products(even though they are shipped through Vietnam and Mexico).
      But, it's great to see to world leaders conversing over tea and almond cakes.  Maybe they exchanged gifts: Sony TV for Russyan sable fur coat.  Nice.