Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 18, 2016

Marina Koren, The Atlantic: Brazil's Impeachment Battle

The country's lower house voted Sunday to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, setting the stage for a vote in the Senate.

After months of legal fighting and a weekend of heated debate, the lower house of Brazil’s Congress has voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff over allegations she hid federal budget troubles while campaigning for her second term two years ago.

An hours-long voting process ended Sunday night with 344 of the 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies backing impeachment, two votes beyond the two-thirds majority required to advance the measure, according to The Guardian. The measure now moves to the Federal Senate, the upper house, for another vote. If the Senate votes in favor of impeachment, Rousseff would be suspended and replaced by Vice President Michel Temer, a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, as soon as early May. An impeachment trial that could last six months would follow and end in a final vote.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 18, 2016

What’s Next For Brazil and President Dilma Rousseff -- Anthony W. Pereira, Fortune

To Impeach or Not to Impeach Dilma Rousseff -- Anna Petherick, Foreign Policy

The battle for Brazil’s political soul -- Dom Phillips, Washington Post

Brazil’s impeachment battle isn’t over, but it’s looking grim for President Rousseff -- Dom Phillips and Nick Miroff, Washington Post

Thanks to UK and US intervention, al-Qaeda now has a mini-state in Yemen. It's Iraq and Isis all over again -- Patrick Cockburn, The Independent

Are the US and Russia helping or deceiving the Syrians? -- Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera

Obama's Hollow Peace in the South China Sea -- Daniel Wei Boon Chua, National Interest

India vs. China: The great arms contest -- Richard A. Bitzinger, Asia Times

Rape joke could sway voters in tight Philippine presidential race -- Cliff Venzon and Mikhail Flores, Nikkei

The Guptas: How one family’s name became shorthand for corruption in South Africa -- Lynsey Chutel, Quartz

Why doesn't U.S. provide Ukraine with lethal weapons? -- Ukraine Today

What's Israel's Role in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict? -- Sputnik

Yellow Water, Dirty Air, Power Outages: Venezuela Hits a New Low -- Noris Soto and Fabiola Zerpa, Bloomberg

After 30 years on the frontline, Colombia looks beyond the failed war on drugs -- Sibylla Brodzinsky, The Guardian

Will oil prices drop to $20 a barrel? -- Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall St.