Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 4, 2016

An Indian Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile on a road-mobile launcher. Wikimedia Commons/Antônio Milena

Rajan Menon, National Interest: How to Stop Kashmir from Spiraling into All-Out War

India and Pakistan shouldn’t gamble with nuclear war.

Kashmir has again become the venue for a confrontation between India and Pakistan. On September 11, militants attacked an Indian military post in Poonch, and on September 18, another in Uri—both towns in Indian Kashmir. They infiltrated the so-called Line of Control (LOC), which separates the India- and Pakistan-administered portions of Kashmir and has served as the de facto boundary since the armistice that ended the 1947–48 war between India and Pakistan.

An Indian policeman was killed in the Poonch attack. In Uri, eighteen soldiers were killed (another died later while being treated for injuries) before the assault was repelled and the intruders shot dead. India insisted that in both instances the perpetrators were armed and trained by Pakistan, as its Director General for Military Operations added that twenty similar incursions had been thwarted so far this year.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 4, 2016

How Water Scarcity Could Fuel Another Sino-Indian War -- Francis P. Sempa, Diplomat

India-Pakistan: The lines that have been crossed -- Vipin Narang, The Hindu

Pakistan will win any war against India -- Shehzad Ghias, Express Tribune

Why Syria's Bashar al-Assad is still in power -- Zoe Hu, Al Jazeera

Aleppo: The Capital of Western Indifference -- Thanassis Cambanis, The Atlantic

What would make you care about Aleppo? -- AJ Willingham, CNN

What’s at Stake in Syria’s Battle for Aleppo: QuickTake Q&A -- Dana Khraiche, Bloomberg

Obama Admin Secretly Facilitated Iranian Ballistic Missile Program -- Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon

Iran's Oil -- Sam Wilkin, Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia and terrorism today -- Daniel L. Byman, Brookings

Kyrgyzstan: State Fragility and Radicalisation -- Crisis Group

Lesotho: real freedom after 50 years of independence? -- Christine Harjes, DW

Despite Brexit turmoil, British politics is healthy -- Peter Apps, Reuters

What the Hell Just Happened in Colombia? -- Elizabeth Dickinson, Foreign Policy

Why Americans Feel Poor, in One Chart -- Narayana Kocherlakota, Bloomberg