Monday, September 30, 2013

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- September 30, 2013



Reaching Out: Obama's Ambitious Mideast Diplomatic Offensive -- Dieter Bednarz, Matthias Gebauer and Holger Stark, Spiegel Online

Barack Obama is moving his foreign policy course toward diplomacy and away from military intervention. Suddenly the Iranian nuclear issue and Israeli-Palestinian conflict are back on the table -- but is the Middle East ready for a breakthrough?

The historic moment was carefully choreographed. The foreign ministers of the five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council, Russia, China, Great Britain, France and the United States, along with Germany, met at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. After 15 minutes the host, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif into the recently renovated Security Council Chamber. The Iranians shouldn't feel excluded -- but they shouldn't feel too much a part of the global community either.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Iran´s sanctions-busting tells the true story of Rouhani´s overtures to the West -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph

Charmed by Rouhani, but only to a point -- Doyle McManus, L.A. Times

The Test We're Giving Iran Is Rigged -- James Traub, Foreign Policy

Worries about the Rouhani phone call -- Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post

The Alawites, Ethnic Cleansing, and Syria's Future -- Franck Salameh, The National Interest

The state of al-Qaeda: The unquenchable fire -- The Economist

India and the Rise of the Indo-Pacific -- Vivek Mishra, The Diplomat

When Is it OK to Criminalize a Political Party? -- Joshua Keating, Slate

Russia pressures former Soviet republics to join his economic union. -- Washington Post editorial

What Really Scares Vladimir Putin the Most -- Julia Ioffe, New Republic

Italy: on the brink, once again -- Guardian editorial

Many Saudis don't want women to drive – but it has nothing to do with their ovaries -- Christa Case Bryant, Christian Science Monitor

The Eurozone’s Calm Before the Storm -- Nouriel Roubini, Project Syndicate

Newly Declassified Documents Show How the Surveillance State was Born -- Jeffrey Rosen, New Republic

A World Where No One Listens to America -- Dilip Hiro, Real Clear World

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