Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 10, 2016

Ukrainian servicemen are seen at their positions on the front line near Avdeyevka, Ukraine, August 10, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Michael Weiss and Pierre Vaux, Daily Beast: Is Ukraine Just About To Blow?

Countless omens signal a new war on its way, from troop movements to Russia’s “August Curse.” But this time they may be more smoke than fire.

On Wednesday the FSB, the successor organization to the KGB, declared that it had prevented “terrorist attacks” in Crimea over the weekend.

According to the security service, an FSB agent was killed in a firefight with saboteurs on Saturday night near Russian-occupied Armyansk, a town close to the frontier with mainland Ukraine. Several Russian and Ukrainian citizens were arrested, the report claims, and a cache of explosives and weapons was discovered.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 10, 2016

Syrian rebels' Aleppo success complicates strategies of Assad and Russia -- Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Reuters

Putin, Obama and The Battle for Aleppo -- Layla Saleh, The Conversation

Don’t celebrate ISIS setbacks too soon -- William McCants, Brookings

No end to the militias in Iraq -- Muhannad Al-Ghazi, Al-Monitor

China Backlash Over U.S. Missile Shield Puts North Asia on Edge -- Ting Shi, Bloomberg

What do 'hangars' on disputed islands in the South China Sea tell us? -- BBC

What Putin Wants But Doesn't Get from Erdogan -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Russia's Checkered History of Intelligence Sharing with the U.S. -- Michael Sulik, Cipher Brief

Three paths to European disintegration -- Philippe Legrain, Al Jazeera

Out of sight, out of mind? Europe's migrant crisis still simmers -- Michelle Kambas and Antonio Bronic, Reuters

Middle Class and Hungry in Venezuela -- Carlos Hernandez, New York Times

'People are complaining openly in Cuba and this has never happened before' -- Naomi Larsson, The Guardian

Could Trump Happen in Canada? You’d Be Surprised -- Tony Keller, Globe and Mai

The U.S. ICBM Force: Money Better Spent Elsewhere -- Luke O’Brien, RCD

US Diplomacy: Realism and Reality -- Samantha Power, New York Review Of Books

Is It OK for Spies to Elect a President? -- Shane Harris, Daily Beast

3 comments:

RussInSoCal said...

Putin is moving an awful lot of equipment to the border to just sit in place. Staging armor forward and letting it sit idle is never a good strategy. Moral goes down, equipment doesn't get maintained, soldiers don't train, etc... I think Russia will invade and they'll do it before the seasonal rains come in October. Why wouldn't they? They can go in virtually unopposed. Putin will fabricate some bogus casus belli and proceed with the invasion to "protect Russian citizens" or other such justification. Putin knows for a fact that NATO isn't prepared to do jack squat about it. Putin also knows that the western media are fixated on the daily Trump gaffs and will basically ignore it.

Jay Farquharson said...

Russia's just preparing for a repeat of the Georgian War.

Ukraine will attack, Russia will defend, the DPR and LPR will achieve independence.

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