Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 22, 2015

United States President Barack Obama chairs a United Nations Security Council meeting at U.N. Headquarters in New York, N.Y., Sept. 24, 2009. Wikipedia

Ian Bremmer, Time: The Absence of Global Leadership Will Shape a Tumultuous 2016

What to expect in the year ahead

During the annual Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit in Manila in November, President Obama sought out two people for a pressing conversation. Not Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces were busy changing facts on the ground in Syria, nor Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose global economic strategy is paying off for China. Instead, he turned to a pair of entrepreneurs: Jack Ma, the CEO of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and Aisa Mijeno, an ecological innovator from the Philippines. Obama gave a short speech and then spent nearly half an hour moderating a panel discussion with two businesspeople.

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 22, 2015

Dividing Iraq into three regions may be best path to peace -- Howard Altman, Tampa Tribune

Moscow Playing Kurdish Card Against Ankara? -- Dorian Jones, VOA

Did Israel Just Start Another War With Hezbollah? -- Creede Newton, Daily Beast

Turkey set to restore diplomatic ties with Israel. Why now? -- Lucy Kafanov, CSM

Deadly attack on U.S. forces shows the Afghan war is far from over -- Missy Ryan & Pamela Constable, Washington Post

Why a fractured Taliban is endangering the U.S. mission in Afghanistan -- Washington Post

China to open its first naval base in Africa -- Geoffrey Aronson, Al Jazeera

Arm Taiwan, America. But Don’t Defend It. -- Doug Bandow, National Interest

North Korea’s Collapse Is Just the Beginning -- Scott A. Snyder & Sungtae Park, National Interest

Only mediation can stop the violence in Burundi -- Solomon Ayele Dersso, Al Jazeera

The Year When Syria's Problems Came to Europe -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

WTF Is Wrong With Poland: The Raid on NATO Was Just a Symptom of Deeper Troubles -- Michal Kobosko, Daily Beast

Germany Is Right to Flout Russia Sanctions -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

The Kremlin’s Dangerous New Threat in Ukraine -- Ihor Kozak, Atlantic Council

Spanish voters kicked the bums out -- The Economist

Secret Service agent's gun, badge stolen. Agency 'in crisis'? -- Peter Grier, CSM