Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 1, 2016

In a screen grab from a video released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on May 20, 2015, Osama Bin Laden is seen rehearsing a speech

Ken Bredemeier & Jeff Seldin, Voice of America: Bin Laden Predicted ‘Islamic State’ Would Fail

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden predicted the demise of the Islamic State (IS), warning before his death that any effort by jihadists to declare a caliphate before defeating the West would be doomed to fail.

The insight is one of several emerging from 113 newly declassified documents, part of a trove found by U.S. Navy SEALs during the 2011 raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the al Qaida leader was killed.

Written in Arabic and translated by U.S. intelligence, the notes and letters portray a hands-on administrator who had grown increasingly paranoid while struggling to keep the terror organization he founded from falling apart.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 1, 2016

In the Syrian Ceasefire Shell Game, the Good Guys May Be Bad Guys -- Alexander Decimina, Daily Beast

ISIS Eats Its Own, Torturing and Executing Dutch Jihadists. Or Did It? -- Nadette De Visser, Daily Mail

US and Russia in partnership over Syria -- Mark Urban, BBC

Iran’s elections have given moderates a boost – but not a free hand -- Dina Esfandiary and Ariane Tabatabai, The Guardian

Is it the beginning of a new political era in Iran? -- Inside Story/Al Jazeera

Iran Election Boosts President Rouhani -- New York Times editorial

North Korea Celebrates New Cold War With Commemorative Stamps -- Matt Novak, Gizmodo

Obama and Clinton learned very different lessons from the Libya war -- Zack Beauchamp, VOX

Mali's Long Road To Stability -- Giorgia Nicatore, Ramen IR

What explains the sometimes obsessive anti-Americanism of Russian elites? -- Maria Snegovaya, Brookings

France: Is There a Way Out Of Its Mess? -- Mark Lilla, New York Review Of Books

Omagh analysis: Stalled case suggests end of the line -- Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times

Will the Worst Attack of ‘the Troubles’ Go Unprosecuted? -- Adam Chandler, The Atlantic

Oil slump undermines EU’s green agenda -- Sara Stefanini, Politico

How to Deal With a Bankrupt Government -- Bloomberg editorial