Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- October 1, 2013

Sorry, We're Closed: America's Government Shutdown -- The Economist

AMERICA’S government has shut down for the first time since 1996. This is not quite as dramatic as it first sounds: essential services will be maintained and pensioners will still get their Social Security checks as the freeze applies only to discretionary spending. But it is astonishing nevertheless. For months the working assumption among politicos has been that a last-minute deal, even an anticlimactic one which merely delayed the reckoning, would be done. This turns out to have been wrong.

Until Congress can pass a continuing resolution to fund the government some 800,000 federal workers will go unpaid, all national parks, monuments and museums will close. To get a sense of where the line between essential and non-essential services falls consider NASA. The agency will close but mission control, which supports astronauts on the International Space Station, will remain open. The economic impact of all this depends entirely on how long the shutdown lasts, which, given that few people expected it to occur, is hard to gauge.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

Exceptional or not, in the Middle East, the US is indispensable -- Paul Gross, Jerusalem Post

Russia: chemical weapons deal a good start, but Syria peace is still far off -- Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor

U.S. credibility still on the line in ridding Syria of chemical weapons -- Washington Post editorial

Gaza suffers as Hamas fights for survival on several fronts -- Jonathan Cook, The National

Obama has made a difference on Syria, but critics won’t give him credit -- Walter Pincus, Washington Post

Who Is Behind Rouhani's Would-Be Revolution? -- Shirin Khodaparast, World Crunch

Russia seeks to fill vacuum in the Middle East -- Liz Sly, Washington Post

Does Al Shabab Pose a Threat on American Soil? -- New York Times (Collection of Commentaries)

Sudan is finally building up to its own Arab spring -- Nesrine Malik, The Guardian

Is barbaric Boko Haram winning in Nigeria's north country? -- Gillian Parker, Christian Science Monitor

Tunisia’s Government Falls, Arab Democracy Is Born -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

Is Russia Losing Control of Its Far East? -- Andrew S. Bowen and Luke Rodeheffer, The Diplomat

Containing the Conventional Arms Trade -- New York Times editorial