Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 15, 2015

Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian: Afghanistan decision seals Obama's legacy as the 'twilight war' president

Revision follows pattern established throughout Obama’s presidency: to tell the American public that the ‘tide of war is receding’, while not actually stopping it

Barack Obama was elected to end the grueling ground wars of his predecessor, but he will leave office entrenching a military era defined by an inability to achieve either victory or extrication.

Obama’s decision to scrap his long-deferred ambition to end the US military commitment to Afghanistan reflects a twilight period in US warfare: after more than a decade, military commanders are unable to defeat an insurgency or field an indigenous proxy force and political leaders are unwilling to accept the blame of losing a war or openly committing the US to indefinite combat.

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 15, 2015

An About-Face on Afghanistan -- Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic

America’s Longest War Just Got Longer: Obama Extends Afghanistan Mission -- Molly O'Toole, Defense One

Analysis: U.S. prolongs stay in risky Afghan war -- Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

Why Obama decided to break campaign pledge on Afghanistan -- Howard LaFranchi, CSM

How Afghanistan and the Mideast Weigh on Obama’s Legacy -- Aaron David Miller, WSJ

Putin might be right on Syria: The actual strategy behind his Middle East push — and why the New York Times keeps obscuring it -- Patrick Smith, Salon

Are Russia and the US escalating the war in Syria? -- Insider Story/Al Jazeera

Yes, Putin Does Have a Strategy in Syria -- Dov S. Zakheim, National Interest

Syria Air Campaign on, Putin May Already Seek Exit Strategy -- Vladimir Isachenkov, AP

Putin’s War on Terror Backfires? -- Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast

Does Iran even want Russia in Syria? -- Abbas Qaidaari, Al-Monitor

Isis Inc: how oil fuels the jihadi terrorists -- Financial Times

U.S. 'excessive force' comment touches nerve in Israel -- Jeffrey Heller, Reuters

Q&A: Can South Korea's Park persuade China to act on North Korea? -- Robert Marquand, CSM

Little Vanuatu is embroiled in one of the world's oddest political scandals -- Zack Beauchamp, VOX

Here’s What Americans Are Most Afraid Of -- Alexandra Sifferlin, Time

Guess who owns half the world's assets -- Aimee Picchi, CBS