Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 21, 2016

Ian Bremmer, Time: Saudi Arabia Will Be the Big Loser from the Plunge In Oil Prices

The country relies on oil for about 80% of budget revenue

Oil prices stand at the intersection of geopolitics and the global economy. When prices fall as far and as fast as they have over the past two years–dropping some $85 a barrel–shock waves are felt around the world.

Vladimir Putin’s outsize personality means that Russia could be highly vulnerable to low oil prices. But while the country’s economy will certainly take a hit, the impact will be greater in the Middle East, especially in an anxious and isolated Saudi Arabia.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 21, 2016

Podcast: Oil’s long goodbye and what comes next -- Jason Fields, Reuters

Iran's hardliners will block economic reform -- Amir Bagherpour, The Guardian

Iran's New and Dangerous Moment -- Dov S. Zakheim, National Interest

Why partitioning Syria isn't an easy solution -- Fran Kelly, ABC News (Australia)

Shi‘ite Militias in Iraq Remain a Dangerously Potent Force -- Jared Malsin, Time

Who Really Lost Iraq? -- Dominic Tierney, The Atlantic

ISIS Fighters Receive Pay Cut, Get to Keep Martyrdom Benefits -- Joshua Keating, Slate

Xi Jinping’s tour of the Middle East shows China’s growing stake there -- The Economist

After The Election Of Tsai Ing-wen, What Next for Taiwan and China? -- Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Forbes

Thousands of Victims of Uganda's Brutal Conflict Are Watching This Trial Very Closely -- Charles Parkinson, VICE News

Troubling truth beneath Litvinenko headlines -- Daniel Gerstein, CNN

Putin's Reputation Turns Radioactive -- Marc Champion, Bloomberg

14 years a fugitive: the hunt for Ratko Mladić, the Butcher of Bosnia -- Julian Borger, The Guardian

Russia's Math Geniuses Work Mainly in the West -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Are we likely to see new nation states emerge this century? -- Sam Dresser, AEON