The Trump administration’s shift from Europe and the Far East to focus more diplomatic efforts and military resources on the Western Hemisphere has American allies in Asia scrambling to recalibrate their own relationships with the United States. Critics say China and Russia are likely to seize on the developments, offering Moscow a tailor-made justification for its designs on Eastern Europe and Beijing a rationale for flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific.

Washington Times Asia Editor Andrew Salmon examines the situation, reporting that no single alliance unites the Indo-Pacific, where Washington has customarily managed regional security via bilateral mutual defense treaties with capitals including Canberra, Manila, Seoul and Tokyo. Some, such as former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, have floated an “Asian NATO.” The idea has gained no traction. Seoul-based academic and geostrategist Moon Chung-in tells Mr. Salmon “alternative solutions” are needed. “We can create an anti-China alliance, but another alternative is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe model.”

An OSCE-style security organization, rather than a defensive alliance, could build confidence with personnel exchanges, crisis hotlines and joint oversight of drills, says Mr. Moon, who believes it could be strengthened by cross-border economic integration as a hedge against regional conflict. He also argues an Asian multilateral body should welcome China, saying Beijing could, because of economic interests, be talked out of invading Taiwan.

The U.S. and Japan have agreed to increase cooperation on fielding new and more capable missiles and to step up military exercises along the so-called First Island Chain stretching from Japan south across the coast of China.

Japan’s defense ministry said in a statement following a meeting last week with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi that the moves are aimed at confronting an increasingly “severe security environment” — a reference to ever-growing threats posed by China.

Tensions remain high between Japan and China over Tokyo’s control of the Senkaku Islands, which China claims. Beijing is also fuming over recent statements by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting Japanese forces would defend Taiwan in a potential Chinese attack. China recently cut off exports to Japan of dual-use, military-civilian items in response to the prime minister’s November remarks.

Mr. Trump called over the weekend for “new leadership” in Iran just hours after a social media tirade by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who blamed the U.S. president personally for violent protests across Tehran and the deaths of thousands of Iranians.

The rhetorical brinkmanship coincided with speculation that Mr. Trump may still order direct military action against Iran and potentially against the ayatollah himself. The recent U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underscored the administration’s willingness to use military force to remove an adversary head of state.

The Iranian regime’s crackdown on protesters has been bloody. Some estimates put the death toll at well over 10,000. An exact number is difficult to pin down amid an internet and information blackout imposed across much of Iran. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Sunday that it had verified at least 3,766 deaths.

Last week’s annual symposium of the Surface Navy Association brought “more clarity” to Mr. Trump’s Golden Fleet initiative to revitalize U.S. Navy shipbuilding, according to the CEO of Fairbanks Morse Defense, who joined the Threat Status weekly podcast for an exclusive interview from the floor of the symposium.

“The big battleship ‘Trump-Class’ is something certainly Fairbanks Morse is very excited about,” said Mr. Pykett, reflecting on buzz around the initiative at the Wisconsin-based company, a leading U.S. defense industry provider of diesel and electric marine propulsion engines.

“The products we’ve developed and continue to develop will certainly be very closely aligned with the requirements of that battleship, so we’re very engaged in making sure we can be the first there to kind of offer our solutions,” Mr. Pykett told Threat Status. He noted that indications from U.S. officials thus far are that the “Golden Fleet is going to be very UAV heavy” — a reference to the increased focus on integrating drones into future surface-Navy platforms.

U.S. policymakers “need to focus immediately on the New START treaty between the United States and Russia, which is set to expire in February,” write Abigail R. Hall and Patrik S. Ward. referring to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

“The treaty, in effect since 2011, limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems each country may possess,” Ms. Hall and Mr. Ward write in an op-ed for The Times. “It requires biannual exchanges of data regarding the size and location of nuclear forces, as well as on-site inspections. The agreement governs an estimated 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

“The impending expiration has received shockingly little attention, but this silence is dangerous,” they write. “Although the treaty may have fallen off the global radar screen amid the churn of daily chaos, its expiration risks triggering one of the most consequential policy failures of our time: a renewed nuclear arms race between the United States and Russia.”

Ms. Hall is a senior fellow with the Independent Institute in California, associate professor of economics at the University of Tampa and co-author of the book “How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite.” Mr. Ward is an economics student at the University of Tampa and a member of the Adam Smith Society.

• Jan. 20 — The Future of Biosafety: Confronting Gain-of-Function Research, The Heritage Foundation

• Jan. 21 — Artificial General Intelligence: America’s Next National Security Frontier, Institute of World Politics

• Jan. 21 — What Happens in Geostationary Orbit Doesn’t Stay There, Royal United Services Institute

• Jan. 21 — Power, Perception and Priorities: How Americans View U.S. Global Influence, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• Jan. 21 — Discovery Series: Space Force 2040 and the Future Fight, Johns Hopkins University

• Jan. 22 — Assessing the China-Russia Threat Nexus in Technology and Information Warfare, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Jan. 22 — The Arsenal of Freedom Tour and What it Means, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Jan. 27-28 — Qubits26: Quantum Realized, D-Wave

• Jan. 29 — The World, Rewired – A Geopolitical Outlook for 2026 and Beyond, Stimson Center