Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 7, 2016

Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

Peter Van Buren, Reuters: Time for a new Sykes-Picot Agreement to fix the Middle East

It’s time to renegotiate the contract that put the Middle East together.

The “contract” is the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided up most of the Arab lands that had been under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The world that document created exists now only on yellowed maps, and the issues left unsettled — primarily the need for separate Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish territories — have come home begging. War is not fixing this; diplomacy might.

In November 2014, I wrote the only solution to Islamic State was to use American peacekeepers to create a stable, tri-state solution to the Sunni-Shi’ite-Kurd divide inside Iraq.

However, in the intervening 15 months, Turkey and Russia entered the fight, and the Saudis may soon join the fray. Meanwhile, the United States and its allies — as well as Iraq, Islamic State and Iran — never left. Only a massive diplomatic effort, involving all parties now on the playing field, including Islamic State, has any potential of ending the bloodshed. That means a redivision of the region along current ethnic, tribal, religious and political lines.

A new Sykes-Picot Agreement, if you will.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 7, 2016

From the Levant to Libya, This Is How You Beat ISIS -- Rep. Adam Schiff, Daily Beast

Turkey initiates reset in Iran ties -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

Saudi Arabia and Iran squabble over Lebanon. The little guy gets hurt -- Economist

Analysis: Don't dismiss, or panic over, N. Korea threats -- AP

Wishful Thinking Has Prevented Effective Threat Reduction in North Korea -- Nicholas Eberstadt, NRO

China’s growth fixation will scupper other goals -- Rachel Morarjee, Reuters

5 takeaways from Slovakia’s election -- Benjamin Cunningham, Politico

What’s Europe’s next move? The world is watching what some hope is our collapse -- Rachida Dati, The Guardian

The End of the Lula Era in Brazil -- Andrea Murta, Atlantic Council

Here’s How Easily a Wanted War Criminal Can Travel the Globe -- Nuba Reports, Defense One/Quartz

The Case For Closing — And Keeping Open — Guantanamo -- NPR

Allies and The Unraveling of the World Order -- Hoffman, War on the Rocks

What China Thinks of Trump -- Adam Minter, Bloomberg

The Risk I Will Not Take -- Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg

Nancy Reagan was her husband's indispensable force -- Peter Grier, CSM