Saturday, October 15, 2016

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 15, 2016



Patrick Smith, Fiscal Times: Obama Has Just Turned Yemen into Another Middle East Quagmire

When a U.S. vessel off the coast of Yemen fired on Houthi rebels Thursday, it sent another of the Obama administration’s delicate balancing acts in the Middle East off the rails. Is the president who says he’s dedicated to getting the U.S. out of the region’s wars now dragging us into another one before he leaves office?

The U.S. was in an untenable position in the Yemeni conflict even before the U.S.S. Nitze sent cruise missiles into three radar installations controlled by Houthis, who are Shi’a and who ousted the Sunni government in Sanaa early last year. It has since chided the Saudis from time to time – weakly and ineffectively -- while indirectly supporting their savage and apparently indiscriminate bombing campaign against the Houthi who Riyadh casts (inaccurately) as creatures of the Shi’a regime in Tehran.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- October 15, 2016

The US Retaliates in Yemen -- Jacob L. Shapiro, Geopolitical Futures

Why the hell is the US helping Saudi Arabia bomb Yemen? A brief guide. -- Zack Beauchamp, VOX

US Support for the War in Yemen Is Indefensible -- Ray Offenheiser, TIME

Analysis: Reading Tehran’s security establishment on the strike in Sanaa -- Behnam Ben Taleblu, Long War Journal

Boatload of Trouble: The US and Iran Set Course for a Battle at Sea -- Micah Halpern, Observer

Interview: Battle for Mosul likely to lead to power struggle -- Matthias von Hein, DW

The Coming Battle for Mosul -- New York Times editorial

More peace talks over Syria, but can they end the war? -- Inside Story/Al Jazeera

Is Turkey ditching Saudi Arabia for Iran? -- Saeid Jafari, Al-Monitor

Is Another Coup in Turkey In the Cards? -- Michael Rubin, Newsweek

Where does Turkey's Erdogan stand on US presidential race? -- Cengiz Çandar, Al-Monitor

The Quiet Fight for Iran's Future -- Farhad Rezaei, National Interest

Water Wars: A Waiting Game in the South China Sea -- Chris Mirasola, Lawfare

Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte's pivot to China -- Richard Javad Heydarian, Al Jazeera

Does China deserve a reputation as the land of copycats? -- Tania Branigan, The Guardian

The Battle for Burundi: Another Genocide In The Making? -- William Baulch, Foreign Brief

Russia's rhetoric stokes fears at home and abroad -- Fiona Clark, DW

Putin, Syria, and Why Moscow Has Gone War-Crazy -- Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker

DC Is Watching Russia’s Latest Chess Moves Very Carefully -- Ali Watkins, BuzzFeed

The End of Interventionism -- Alex de Waal, Boston Review

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jays Jawas are kicking butt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Li32rVAC84

Jac said...

I don't understand the problem: someone is firing to you and you return the fire...what is wrong with that?

Jay Farquharson said...

If someone fired at the US vessels, the US admits they do not know who fired at them,

But they targetted Revolutionary Commitee sites with the Tomahawk strikes.

It wasn't a case of "returning fire".

Returning fire would have been immediate missile launches or naval shelling of the launch sites, which if the event happened, would have "hit" the people responsible.

That's not what was done.

Probably because if there was an actual missile attack on the USN, returning fire along the missile track would probably have killed al Quida.

Jay Farquharson said...

The Jawa's getting up close and personal on Saudi tanks.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D71UBLrSepo