Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- July 15, 2014

Salim al-Juburi (c.), new speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and the two deputy speakers Haidar Abadi (l.), a Shiite member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc, and Aram Sheikh Mohamed (r.), the head of the Kurdish Gorran bloc, address a news conference in Baghdad, July 15, 2014. Iraqi politicians named Juburi, a moderate Sunni Islamist, as speaker of parliament on Tuesday. Ahmed Saad/Reuters

Iraq Is Closer To Forming A Government But Its Military Remains In Tatters -- Dan Murphy, CSM

A new government without a capable military won't mean much. And it doesn't appear that Iraq has one at the moment.

Iraq's parliament approved a new speaker today, a tentative step toward forming a new government. But while Sunni Arab lawmaker Salim al-Juburi was the runaway winner of the vote, and maneuvering is underway to try to deny Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a third successive term in his post, there's no political scenario in Baghdad that could quickly address Iraq's true crisis: The collapse of its military.

In fact, it hardly matters who takes the reins at this point. While it would be hard to find a candidate less popular than Mr. Maliki among the country's Sunni Arabs and its independence-minded Kurdish minority, building an effective military is a project of years, not weeks or months.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- July 15, 2014

The One Thing the U.S. Can’t Train the Iraqi Army To Do -- Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, Defense One

What Would Reagan Do in Iraq? -- Peter Beinart, The Atlantic

Why Israel Is Winning This War -- Elliott Abrams, Weekly Standard

Israel can't win this or any future conflicts by bombing Gaza -- Ibrahim Sharqieh, L.A. Times

Israel’s Bloody Status Quo -- Roger Cohen, NYT

Iran nuclear talks: Who's the real loser? -- Camelia Entekhabifard, Al Jazeera

Iran nuclear talks: If Kerry seeks extension, will Congress go along? -- Howard Lafranchi, CSM

Year Four: The Arab Spring Proved Everyone Wrong -- Michael J. Totten, World Affairs

A Close Call, and a Warning, in Afghanistan -- Max Boot, Commentary

America's big assist for Afghanistan democracy -- Christian Science Monitor editorial

Why has Nigeria failed to contain Boko Haram? -- Al Jazeera

The biggest challenge for BRICS success? Big brother China -- Alonso Soto, Reuters

Germans, New Masters of the World -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Another swing and a miss for Obama’s foreign policy -- Dana Milbank, Washington Post

One California or six? Partition plan has enough signatures to get on ballot. -- Gram Slattery, CSM