Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 8, 2015

Jill Dougherty, CNN: Analysis: Putin's Syria operation is a bid to regain status as major global player

(CNN)On Russian TV -- breathtaking video of missiles launched from Russian ships in the Caspian Sea, streaking into the night sky, racing almost a thousand miles to their targets in Syria, exploding, the reporter boasts, no more than nine feet from their targets.

Russia's surprise strategy in Syria, a ruthless triad of military attack, diplomatic maneuvering and verbal broadsides against the West, has shocked the United States and its allies.

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 8, 2015

Why Russian Jets Are Buzzing Turkey -- Marc Champion, Bloomberg

What Vladimir Putin Can, and Can’t, Accomplish in Syria -- Aaron Miller, WSJ

Putin's campaign to derail the west over Syria is working – for now -- Julian Borger, The Guardian

How to Roll Back Russia -- Max Boot, Commentary

Why ISIS Wants to Destroy Syria’s Cultural Heritage -- Amr Al-Azm, Time

Ready or Not, the Third Intifada May Be Here -- Adam Chandler, The Atlantic

Israel and a Third Intifada -- Daniel Gordis, Bloomberg

Welcome to the New Middle East -- Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera

In Afghanistan, Taliban and Kunduz Present Harsh Truths for Obama -- Paul D. Shinkman, US News and World Report

General: U.S. Troops Will Still Be in Afghanistan When Obama Leaves Office -- Martin Matishak, Fiscal Times

America and Afghanistan: The unending war -- The Economist

A Possible China-Vietnam Military Clash -- Joshua Kurlantzick, ISN

Why is Singapore covered in smoke, and what can be done about it? -- Lonnie Shekhtman, CSM

No limits? Rwandan ruling shows how African leaders can stay in power -- Paula Rogo, CSM

How Unrest in Moldova Is Different This Time -- Stratfor

'Czar Putin': as secure as he seems? -- Guy Faulconbridge and Stephen Grey, Reuters