Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- June 13, 2014

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The Ancient Muslim Hatreds Tearing Apart The Middle East: How 1,400-Year-Old Feud Between Shia And Sunni Sects Flared Into Life With The Fall Of Dictators Like Gaddafi And Saddam... And Now Threatens To Swallow All Of Iraq -- Michael Burleigh, Daily Mail

* Sunni and Shia factions have been warring since 632AD disagreement over successor to prophet Muhammad
* ISIS militants - who are Sunni - have been stampeding through majority-Shia Iraq
* But the militants have stuck to Sunni heartlands, where residents are glad to be rid of Shia government forces
* Religious tensions are flaring again now that dictators such as Colonel Gadaffi and Saddam Hussein have fallen
* Rest of the world - and especially other Middle Eastern states - are watching nervously as the conflict intensifies

At the heart of the terrifying meltdown in Iraq is the centuries-old hatred between two Muslim ideologies: Sunni and Shia.

The deadly power struggle between these two rival versions of the same faith has flared into life as Sunnis in the extremist terror group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) advance on Baghdad, where flailing prime minister Nouri al-Maliki - who is Shia - begged his parliament to declare a state of emergency.

It is a battle being watched with trepidation throughout the Middle East, where the escalation of the traditional Sunni/Shia conflict threatens governments and national borders.

Already, ISIS has effectively established its own nation state - or Islamic caliphate - which spreads across the north of Syria and Iraq, taking no heed of the border between the countries.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- June 13, 2014

Welcome to the New Iraq War -- John Allen Gay, National Interest

Iraq Is Vietnam 2.0 And U.S. Drones Won’t Solve The Problem -- Leslie H. Gelb, Daily Beast

Iraq: Teetering on the edge -- Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, The Hindu

Maliki’s Iraq disaster -- David Ignatius, Washington Post

Iraq's implosion could redraw Middle East boundaries -- Samia Nakhoul, Reuters

Iran, US scramble to respond as prospect of Iraq breakup looms -- Dan Murphy, CSM

Are Asia's crude oil buyers too relaxed over Iraq? -- Clyde Russell, Reuters

China and Japan’s Game of Chicken in the East China Sea -- Harry Kazianis, The Diplomat

China Housing Slump Sparks Fears for Economy -- Joe McDonald, AP

Colombia’s Election Hinges On How To End War -- John Otis, Time

War And Peace Riding On Colombia Elections -- World Crunch

Why Elon Musk Just Opened Tesla's Patents to His Biggest Rivals -- Ashlee Vance, Bloomberg Businessweek

The last democratic World Cup? -- Anne Applebaum, Washington Post