Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 12, 2016

Bloomberg Editorial: Keeping Calm in the South China Sea

China was widely expected to reject a ruling against its maritime claims in the South China Sea, and it didn’t disappoint. Declaring Tuesday’s 479-page decision “null and void,” China said it “neither accepts nor recognizes it.”

More important than what China says, however -- and Tuesday’s statement is more measured than last week’s, when Chinese leaders denounced the opinion in advance as “a piece of waste paper” -- is what China does. Its neighbors and the U.S. should make clear how dangerous and damaging a more aggressive response would be, even as they prepare for that possibility.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 12, 2016

Hezbollah-Israel conflict: Two young fighters assess it from opposite sides -- Nicholas Blanford and Elhanan Miller, CSM

How the IRGC is trying to tighten its grip on Rouhani -- Zahra Alipour, Al-Monitor

What Turkey fails to understand about IS -- Mustafa Akyol, Al-Monitor

The returning Jihad: ISIL in Southeast Asia -- Crispian Cuss, Al Jazeera

What the Nuclear Deal's Backers Owe to Iran's Victims -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg

Zimbabwe's Dying Dictatorship -- Michael Bratton and Eldred Masunungure, Foreign Affairs

Why Ethiopia Blocked Social Media -- Matt Vasilogambros, The Atlantic

What a Trumpist Republican party will mean for the US in Asia -- Robert Kelly, Interpreter

Europe in their hands: May and Merkel draw battle lines for Brexit clash -- Paul Carrel and Alastair MacDonald, Reuters

The West escalates with Russia: Make no mistake, a second Cold War is now official NATO policy -- Patrick Lawrence, Salon

Did NATO Break Its Promises to Yeltsin? -- James Goldgeier, War on the Rocks

NATO is having an existential crisis -- Lucian Kim, VICE

Nicaragua’s Politics Are About More Than Just Ortega, Despite His Hold on Power -- Christine Wade, WPR

Multiculturalism IN the U.S.. Have we reached a point of no return? -- Victor Hanson, NRO

Some National Security Lessons from the Past -- Walter Pincus, Cipher Brief

A World Awash in Change -- George Shultz, RCW