Driving the Week: Libya, Japan, Middle East

Mark Halperin on Morning Joe previews what's next.

1.Libya
It doesn’t take American boots on the ground in Libya to create a quagmire. Speaker Boehner, for one, is already asking how this action will end.

2. Japan
The air war in northern Africa has distracted the world, but Japan’s continuing struggle to avoid a nuclear catastrophe could end up the much bigger story, this week and beyond. The Japanese government is straining against a reality that faces all political leaders during crises: when to tell its citizens hard truths.

3. Bahrain
Another hot spot overshadowed by the military activity in Libya, but nowhere is the demand for freedom more resonant and provocative: issues of Sunni versus Shi’ite, stability versus democracy, and Saudi Arabia versus Iran, all have come to a head. Meanwhile, America’s implicit support for the current regime contrasts starkly with its Libyan intervention.

4. Yemen
Increased bloodshed, with more protesters killed by government forces, has brought the demand for new leadership to a boil. The situation remains suspended somewhere between Egypt’s nearly violence-free revolution and Libya’s harsh civil war.

5. Brazil, Chile, El Salvador
Obama is hoping to use his South American tour to tout international trade and hemispheric cooperation. But it will be difficult to send those messages home through the American media amid the swirl and chaos of major events in Asia and the Middle East.