Latest version of the National Objectives:
(1) New USSR National Objective: If the USSR and Japan are not at war, the USSR receives a bonus of 4 IPCs on the first turn of play, 3 IPCs on the second turn, 2 IPCs on the third turn, and 1 IPC on the fourth turn.
(2) New Japanese National Objective: If the USSR and Japan are not at war, Japan receives a 3 IPC bonus.
My hope is that these national objectives would not prevent a Japanese player from developing and implementing a strategy involving attacking the USSR, but that it would not be something done casually without a carefully thought out plan. In other words, I would like to preserve the option of intensive Siberian warfare while reducing the frequency of such fighting, especially when the Japanese player decides to focus on China, the Pacific, etc. A built in assumption of this plan is that the large number of Siberian infantry from the Global rules are in place. They make the decision to attack Russia harder. If Russia begins to abandon Siberia in turn one, I think the math would favor a Japanese attack, as only seems right.