Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- March 20, 2014

Malaysia Airlines: 'This is not a normal investigation' -- Zarina Banu, Al Jazeera

Malaysia's vanishing airplane catastrophe exposes the country's political and social fault lines.

The crisis over Malaysia's missing Flight MH370 would surely test any government. But Malaysia's handling of the search, investigation and communication with the outside world has thrown it into an uncomfortable spotlight and caught it severely off guard.

The catastrophe is exposing the deep fault lines characterising the country's political economy. Since independence from the British in 1957, Malaysia's ruling elite have built and reinforced a political system that has institutionalised their cultural and economic dominance.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

How can a plane vanish in a small world? -- Edward Hadas, Reuters

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is a Titanic for our times -- Lindy McDowell, Belfast Telegraph

What Has Become of Syria's Revolutionaries -- Reuter and Raniah Salloum, Spiegel Online

Scandal and Protests Threaten Turkey's AKP -- Daniel Steinvorth, Spiegel Online

McCarthyism Comes to Turkey -- Mustafa Akyol, New York Times

Egypt's 'shallow state' and Hamas -- Khaled Hroub, Al Jazeera

Sharing Power With China -- Hugh White, NYT

Africa’s Giant Is Stumbling: As presidential election looms, Nigeria mishandles crises -- Peter Dörrie, War is Boring

Russia to NATO: Drop Dead --- XXX Committee

How to Stop Putin in His Tracks -- Fred Kaplan, Slate

Can Ukraine's technocrat-in-chief keep the country from falling apart? -- Mike Eckel, Christian Science Monitor

Scottish independence brawl exposes deep divisions -- Tom Gallagher, The Commentator

Would you want to be president of El Salvador? -- Tim Padgett, Miami Herald

The Reluctant al Qaeda Messenger? -- Phil Hirschkorn, The Atlantic

UN finds Syria, Russia, Afghanistan are top sources for asylum seekers; most head for Europe -- FOX News/AP