Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 23, 2016

Nancy Youssef, Daily Beast: Even Obama’s New Plan to Close Gitmo Can’t Say How It Will Happen

While the president could use an executive order to close the notorious prison, there is still proposal on where to send the detainees given Congress banned them from coming to the U.S.

The Obama administration on Tuesday released its plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but effectively acknowledged that the controversial facility likely will be open at the end of Obama’s presidency.

The report was notably short on specifics and effectively spelled out the various reasons why it would be difficult for Obama to bypass Congress, which banned detainees from being relocated to the United States, and issue an executive order to close the facility’s closure.

The report states that detainees could be transferred to one of 13 U.S. other prisons, but it doesn’t say which ones. It also doesn’t explain how the administration calculated the $475 million price tag for building a new facility in the U.S. to hold detainees. Nor did it explain why moving detainees to U.S. soil reduce criticism across the world that the U.S. should stop holding such prisoners all together.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 23, 2016

Obama Makes Guantanamo Tribunals More Difficult -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg

Can Ankara's plans keep up with Syria's escalation? -- Metin Gurcan, Al-Monitor

Will Saudi Arabia be sucked into Syria? -- Faisal Al Yafai, CNN

Analysis: Despite skepticism, Syrian truce may have a chance -- AP

Getting serious about Syria: What to do when containment doesn't work -- Michael E. O'Hanlon, Brookings

How the Syrian Conflict Could Lead to a Clash Between Russia and NATO -- Lord David Owen, Huffington Post

The Middle East’s alphabet soup of Kurds, explained -- Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post

Blurred Lines — China’s competition with US resembles low-level warfare -- Bill Gertz, Asia Times

Obama Administration's Secret Overture to North Korea -- Gordon G. Chang, World Affairs

South Korea’s Rude Awakening -- Christopher Hill, Project Syndicate

Should Free-Fall in Oil Prices Worry Exporters to Gulf? -- David Handley and Alan Berman, Defense News

Who Will Be Left Standing At The End Of The Oil War -- Charles kennedy, OilPrice

Trump is Wrong, ISIS Doesn’t Want Rome -- Graeme Wood, The Atlantic

The Disgraceful Obama Trip to Cuba -- Elliott Abrams, CFR

FBI Sinks Teeth Into Apple Over San Bernardino -- Shane Harris, Daily Beast