Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 20, 2017

CSM Editorial: Why the ground shifts under Venezuela's regime

The country’s political crisis is coming to a head as the poor embrace democratic rights and reject the Maduro regime.

A defining moment in a democratic revolution often comes when a nation’s poor, who mostly focus on daily material needs, join others in demanding basic rights and uncorrupted governance. A fruit vendor in Tunisia, for example, sparked a revolution in 2011 after taking a public stand for equality of law. In recent months, as Venezuela nears a breaking point in a political crisis, its poor have begun to join the peaceful efforts of others in seeking an end to the Maduro regime’s grab for indefinite power.

This widening support among Venezuelans to restore democracy, reflected in months of protests and a large voter turnout for an unofficial July 16 referendum by the opposition, has forced other countries to seek a resolution as the crisis slides toward chaos.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 20, 2017

Iran could make or break the US war in Afghanistan -- Rupert Stone, Middle East Eye

Afghanistan’s Opium Trade: A Free Market of Racketeers -- Franz Marty, The Diplomat

Turkey’s Year of Turmoil -- Carl Bildt, Project Syndicate

Down but Not Out: How the Islamic State Could Rebound -- Scott Stewart, Startfor

How to Win the Online War Against Islamic State -- Bloomberg editorial

A coup in the House of Saud? -- Pepe Escobar, Asia Times

Netanyahu Puts Trump on Notice Over Syria -- Ben Caspit, Al-Monitor

North Korea: The Flaws of Deterrence -- Crispin Rovere, RCD

Trump's Zig-Zag China Policy Is Confusing U.S. Allies -- Dennis P. Halpin, National Interest

India searches for way out of border standoff with China -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

Why Macron Dared to Confront France's Top General -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Ukraine Needs to Address Its Paramilitary Problem -- Michael Sheldon, National Interest

The U.S. Special Relationship With Britain Needs a Rest -- Noah Smith, Bloomberg

Congress Must Preserve the INF Treaty with Russia -- Thomas Graham Jr., National Interest

Should America’s Tech Giants Be Broken Up? -- Paula Dwyer, Bloomberg