It was characterized by a nation versus nation, very fragile standoff.

As a result of the standoff, a line in the sand has been drawn between the opposing sides.

A resurgent Taliban in its tribal areas has destabilized Pakistan. The recent carnage in Mumbai has prompted another standoff between nuclear armed India and Pakistan.

NEW YORK Last month s US government shutdown the result of a partisan standoff in congressional budget negotiations epitomizes the polarization that prevails in modern economic policy debates.

Negotiation and diplomacy are the only sure way to resolve the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program. Another conflict in the Middle East is the worst option.

German and European Union policymakers are calling his bluff. As a result, the two sides have become stuck in a passive aggressive standoff that has made serious negotiation impossible.

However, at the time of the preparation of the present report, the situation was a standoff, accompanied by a lot of harsh rhetoric, with a commensurate rise in tensions.

Thus far, a standoff looks likely, as the head of the presidential election commission has stated publicly on Egyptian television that he refuses all citizen monitoring of the election process.

Indeed, this was perhaps the Greek government s main achievement during its agonizing five month standoff with its creditors. After years of extend and pretend, today almost everyone agrees that debt restructuring is essential.

Meanwhile, the political standoff continued, with broadcasters interrupting regular programming for Friday's last minute twist an agreement engineered by Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake for the FBI to conduct a one week investigation of the charges.

Having a virtual monopoly on supply, Russia decided that it could dictate prices. But Ukraine has a virtual monopoly on delivery, so Russia blinked in this standoff as soon as gas supplies to Western Europe dropped.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea and Japan are engaged in a territorial standoff over the islets of Dokdo (called Takeshima in Japanese). In early August, Lee Myung bak became the first South Korean president to visit the islets

The problem is that the standoff has now taken on the tone of a state to state confrontation. China, apparently still reeling from a century of humiliation at the hands of outsiders, will not be pushed around by America.

What happens in Ukraine not the financial standoff with Greece will be the ultimate test of whether European and transatlantic unity endure. The fault lines extending from Ukraine are undermining the fundamental values that have underpinned Europe's postwar peace and prosperity.

Devout after a fashion, they follow their conscience or their convenience their lives a more or less amiable standoff between doctrinal prohibitions and vernacular practice. As the comedian Bob Newhart observed, The pope leaves us alone we leave the pope alone.

First, Francis is helping to end the decades long standoff between the US and Cuba. Not only did Cardinal Parolin, formerly the Vatican s man in Venezuela, play a key role in the restoration of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba

As a result, Pakistan s reliance on China has been strengthened, not weakened. And, instead of reducing the chances of a nuclear standoff in South Asia, the White House plan served only to distract attention from efforts to address tensions between India and Pakistan.

The world community will continue to pay a high price for the nuclear standoff, which will cast a shadow over world oil markets for years to come. Some experts argue that it has already raised oil prices by about 15 per barrel.

The aftermath of the August crisis may be the moment to think seriously about how to balance continued sanctions on North Korea with deeper economic and social ties. Without such an approach, North and South Korea could, before long, be locked in another military standoff.

Moreover, during the political standoff, Calderon has worked behind the scenes to form an administration and to settle on a governing strategy. Aware that he must establish a greater sense of political legitimacy, his cabinet is likely to include representatives of other political parties.

As if the conflict were not already complicated enough, China has adopted an increasingly assertive stance in the area, including several incursions into disputed territory. For example, last year, Chinese troops established a temporary camp in Ladakh s Depsang valley, leading to a high stakes standoff with India.

The standoff came to an end on May 6, as suddenly as it had started. India s foreign minister, having earlier termed the incursion a localized incident, had to change his tune under parliamentary pressure, and cautioned China that India might have to reconsider his projected visit to Beijing.

PARIS After months of wrangling, the showdown between Greece and its European creditors has come down to a standoff over pensions and taxes. Greece is refusing to acquiesce to demands by its creditors that it cut payments to the elderly and raise the value added tax on their medicine and electricity.

The issue then becomes one that has been avoided in Bangladesh for too long whether claiming to act according to the requirements of piety provides an exemption for murder. The outcome of the standoff in Dhaka should provide an answer in Bangladesh, and its implications could reverberate far and wide.

Its standoff with the West over its nuclear program, together with its ties to Syria and its growing influence in Lebanon and Iraq, suggest the emergence of a strong regional power. But, while Western analysts and Iran s neighbors raise the alarm, the regime s authority is in fact built on insecure foundations.

In India, the government s failure to contain rising prices, pursue structural economic reforms vigorously, attract foreign direct investment, advance infrastructure development, manage expenditure, and avoid liquidity crunches underscores the many challenges it faces. Moreover, a continued standoff between the government and the opposition has weakened political effectiveness, further undermining India s growth prospects.

Last year, China effectively took control of the Scarborough Shoal, an area of the South China Sea that is also claimed by the Philippines and Taiwan, by deploying ships and erecting entry barriers that prohibit Filipino fishermen from accessing their traditional fishing preserve. China and the Philippines have been locked in a standoff ever since.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea and Japan are engaged in a territorial standoff over the islets of Dokdo (called Takeshima in Japanese). In early August, Lee Myung bak became the first South Korean president to visit the islets Japan s government responded by proposing to take the sovereignty issue to the International Court of Justice.

Where does India, which remains dependent on Middle Eastern energy, stand on that region s many crises? How will it address the nuclear issue in Iran a country with which it has close historical, cultural, and economic ties or the civil war in Syria, the rise of Salafism in Egypt, and the Israel Palestine standoff?

China appears to have seen the standoff over the Senkaku Islands as a test of wills a test Kan s government failed abysmally. In retaliation for Japan s refusal to release the trawler captain, China hinted that it might recall its ambassador from Tokyo, suspended bilateral ministerial level exchanges, and canceled a tour to Japan for about 10,000 Chinese.

There is greater concern that cross border capital mobility makes it harder to collect taxes and enforce financial regulations at home and that trade agreements, combined with global supply chains, are exacerbating job losses in developed economies. Likewise, global integration means that eurozone distress threatens the US economy, while the US debt ceiling standoff threatens financial markets everywhere.

When I was growing up in the 1950 s and 1960 s, world peace was based on the nuclear standoff between the US and the Soviet Union. The main strategic assessment on both sides of the Berlin Wall was that if either side made a wrong move, all of us might end up consumed in the flames of a nuclear holocaust.

Whereas Asia played an important role in a US presidential election campaign that was marked by often heated references to China s rise, the Middle East has kept the US bogged down for decades. In addition to the eternal Israel Palestine conflict, Iraq s instability, the Arab Spring, Syria s civil war, and the ongoing nuclear standoff with Iran all demand America s attention.

Now, China is at it again, including near the convergence point of China, India, and Pakistan the same place last year s PLA encroachment triggered a three week military standoff. This pattern suggests that the central objective of Chinese leaders visits to India is not to advance cooperation on a shared agenda, but to reinforce China s own interests, beginning with its territorial claims.

Likewise, a standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea led to protests in Manila. And a long planned step forward in cooperation between South Korea and Japan was torpedoed when the South Korean president visited the barren island that Korea calls Dokdo, Japan calls Takeshima, and the United States calls the Liancourt Rocks.

The US has declared that the Senkaku Islands (administered by the Okinawa Prefecture when it was returned to Japan in 1972) are covered by the US Japan security treaty. Meanwhile, the standoff over the Scarborough Shoal has calmed down, and, while Japan recalled its ambassador from South Korea over the Dokdo incident, it is unlikely the two countries would come to blows.

Such activism has been even more pronounced concerning Iran, with Turkish leaders multiplying diplomatic efforts in recent months to help ease the nuclear standoff with the West. Turkey, more fearful of the regional repercussions of a nuclear Iran than of any direct threat it would pose, went as far as to host a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last August.

They will need quickly to face up to the reality that in order to pursue US interests in the region, including stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, the current standoff with Iran cannot continue, and that a greater degree of cooperation is unavoidable. If they do not want to repeat the failures of past administrations, they will be well advised to do what none of Obama s predecessors have tried.

They will need quickly to face up to the reality that in order to pursue US interests in the region, including stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, the current standoff with Iran cannot continue, and that a greater degree of cooperation is unavoidable. If they do not want to repeat the failures of past administrations, they will be well advised to do what none of Obama s predecessors have tried.

Indeed, in withdrawing from the six party talks, North Korea did not completely abandon the possibility of resolving the nuclear standoff through dialogue. Rather, North Korea s aim was to postpone the six party talks as long as possible in order to force direct bilateral negotiations with the US, in which it would presumably extract energy assistance and other aid while demanding a security guarantee for Dear Leader Kim Jong il.

Some argue that it could become the basis of stable nuclear deterrence in the region, analogous to the nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But statements by Iranian leaders denying the Holocaust and urging the destruction of Israel have not only cost Iran support in Europe, but are unlikely to make Israel willing to gamble its existence on the prospect of stable deterrence.

And the United States role was remarkable, from Secretary of State John Kerry s incessant work, even on crutches, to end the 35 year standoff between his country and Iran, to President Barack Obama s critical push to complete the negotiations. Likewise, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani should be commended for his determination to complete the undertaking he began more than a decade ago, when he served as Secretary of Iran s Supreme National Security Council.