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Global Affairs Session 24 28 April 2026 THE PLAZA ACCORD: HOW JAPAN WAS DESTROYED What China (and Iran) are doing This session traces U.S.-Japan relations from war and occupation to alliance and trade imbalance, then argues that the 1985 Plaza Accord’s yen appreciation weakened Japan’s export engine, encouraged monetary expansion, inflated an asset bubble and contributed to long-term stagnation. It then presents the lessons China - and states watching the Iran war of 2026 - may draw about currency control, strategic autonomy, sanctions-proof finance and vulnerable chokepoints.

Global Affairs Session 21 23 April 2026 IRAN WAR 2026 – THE FULL STORY From the Shah-era alliance to the fragile April 2026 standoff The Iran War of 2026 emerged from decades of accumulated hostility: the fall of the Shah, the hostage crisis, the Iran–Iraq War, Hezbollah’s rise, the nuclear dispute, the collapse of the JCPOA and increasingly direct conflict between Iran and Israel. This session follows that full chain from the early 1970s to the unresolved standoff of 22 April 2026.