Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 22, 2017

Curt Mills, National Interest: Does the New York Times Want America In Iraq for One Hundred Years?

And questions abound about why some might want to exaggerate Iranian power.

The headline of the New York Times piece was breathless: “Iran Dominates in Iraq After U.S. Handed the Country Over.” The content was only slightly less so: “But after the United States’ abrupt withdrawal of troops in 2011, American constancy is still in question here—a broad failure of American foreign policy, with responsibility shared across three administrations.”

The statement is curious. “What about U.S. history of involvement there tells you it’s going to end well?” asks Hussein Banai of Indiana University Bloomington. Arango’s reporting, which advocates for “American constancy” in Iraq, “contributes to this mythmaking on all sides that all Iraq might need is a U.S. stablizing force,” says Banai. “And it’s just ridiculous.” (Iran’s foreign minister, the veteran diplomat Javad Zarif, also complained about this piece in comments to the National Interest on Monday).

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 22, 2017

The Guardian view on Mosul: the price of revenge -- Guardian editorial

The Myth of ISIS’s Strategic Brilliance -- Aymenn al-Tamim, Defense One

An Independent Kurdistan Would Begin With a Clash -- Paul Iddon, war Is Boring

Friends With Benefits? Israel’s Costly Deals with Dictators -- Zach Shapiro, National Interest

The Sunni Arab Crisis of Leadership -- Kamran Bokhari, Geopolitical Futures

Radical thinking needed if India is to avoid water collapse -- Seema Sengupta, Asia Times

Beware the Illusion of South China Sea Calm -- Prashanth Parameswaran, The Diplomat

A terrible beauty is born in the geopolitics of Kashmir -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

Putin: Non-Russians Must Learn Russian But Russians Mustn’t be Forced to Learn Republic Languages -- Paul Goble, Window On Eurasia

Is Trump Bad News for Putin? -- Mark Galeotti, The Atlantic

Trump Was Right: NATO Is Obsolete -- Mark Galeotti, Foreign Policy

Europe's Soft Core Is Getting Tougher -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Why Kosovo's Controversial Insurgent Party So Worries The West -- Adian Hehir, RCW/The Conversation

Europe Remains Blind Because It Doesn't Want to See -- Melanie Phillips, Jerusalem Post

Dunkirk: The Larger-than-Life Story on a Larger-than-Life Screen -- Will Edwards, Cipher Brief