Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 5, 2016

Global Times editorial: Powerful force is behind Panama Papers

A huge leak of confidential documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm alleged to have been a facilitator of money laundering for its clients has shocked international public opinion. Over 11 million documents were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous source. These documents have been reportedly investigated by some 300 global journalists for a year.

The Western media soon collected the most eye-catching information from the documents and leaders of non-Western countries have been scrutinized. Most media led with the allegations that a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin had laundered $1 billion. The Western media has opaquely described it as "Putin's money laundering."

Some high-profile Western public figures were named, for example Iceland's prime minister was disclosed as having a huge offshore account. But this is just small potatoes compared with the alleged scandal against Putin.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 5, 2016

Panama Papers: remarkable global media operation holds rich and powerful to account -- Paul Lashmar, The Conversation

Saudi Arabia's bitter Lebanese divorce -- Dominic Evans and Angus McDowall, Reuters

Suffocating Terrorism: How the U.S. and Saudi Arabia Can Work Together -- Nail Al-Jubeir, Politico

Erdoğan’s Not Mad, He’s Ruthless -- George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures

So what if Iranian drones did strike Syria? We are not entering a dark age of robotic warfare. -- Andrea Gilli and Mauro Gilli, Washington Post

Crackdown in China: Worse and Worse -- Orville Schell, New York Review Of Books

Missile Defense in the Korean Peninsula -- Will Edwards, The Cipher Brief

North Korea Needs 3 Things to Hit the U.S. With a Nuclear Weapon -- Mathew Katz, Time

ISIL with nukes a bigger threat than North Korea -- USA Today

10 Signs That Should Tell You Visiting North Korea Is a Terrible Idea -- Cindy Drukier, Epoch Times

Libya: Can unity government restore stability? -- Rana Jawad, BBC

Everyone says the Libya intervention was a failure. They’re wrong. -- Shadi Hamid, VOX

Global Powers Scramble to Contain Neglected Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict -- Laurence Broers, Chatham House

In Nagorno-Karabakh, a Bloody New War With Putin on Both Sides -- Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast

Why Multinationals Are Doubling Down on Russia -- Martina Bozadzhieva, Harvard Business Review

Scandal, protests, and impeachment threats: How bad is Brazil's crisis? -- Whitney Eulich, CSM

Canadians are right to be angry over the Panama Papers leak -- Jonathon Gatehouse, Macleans