Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 19, 2017

Alex Ward, VOX: The US just waded deeper into the Syrian civil war

Trump’s Syria strategy is moving from fighting ISIS to fighting Assad.

The United States says it is in Syria to defeat ISIS. But over the weekend, the US took an action that once again saw it getting into a fight with Bashar al-Assad’s military — and it was the Trump administration’s most direct intervention yet into the Syrian civil war.

That’s the takeaway from the US military’s downing of a Syrian warplane Sunday, the first time an American plane has shot down a Syrian one since the conflict there erupted more than six years ago. The Pentagon said Assad’s forces had been attacking US-backed anti-ISIS fighters near the city of Tabqah, in northern Syria. When the Syrian plane ignored calls to disengage, a US F/A-18E Super Hornet shot it down, killing the lone pilot.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- June 19, 2017

Iran's Missile Launch and U.S. Downing a Syrian Jet - Explained -- Amos Harel, Haaretz

U.S. Making Policy on the Run in Syria -- Rodger Shanahan, Lowy Institute

Who's who in the Syrian conflict -- AFP

To end the crisis, Qatar knows it must back down -- Hussein Ibish, The National

The Qatar Crisis Is Pushing Hamas Back to Iran -- Gregg Carlston, The Atlantic

Trump's Afghanistan Policy Is Clever and Unwise -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

Negotiating With North Korea -- George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures

Will the siege of Marawi spread? -- John McBeth, Asia Times

Low Turnout and Macron’s Partial Victory -- American Interest

Cold War Deja Vu Deepens as New Russia Sanctions Anger Europe -- Marc Champion, Bloomberg

U.K. Walks Into Brexit Talks Naked -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Ireland - Theresa May's latest Brexit blunder -- Anthony Lester, Reuters

Donald Trump's Real Danger Is Political, Not Legal -- Daniel McCarthy, National Interest

Amazon Eats Up Whole Foods as the New Masters of the Universe Plunder America -- Joel Kotkin, Daily Beast

The Volatile Oil Market Is Bigger than Just the Middle East -- Gregory Brew, National Interest