Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 22, 2017



Susan B. Glasser, Politico: America Is Out of Ideas in Afghanistan

Only one thing was clear after President Trump’s vague speech: Nobody knows what to do.

President Donald Trump proved one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt in his Afghanistan strategy speech Monday night: After nearly 16 years of fighting America’s longest war, there are no new ideas.

He called his plan “dramatically different.”

It wasn’t. The only thing that seemed a striking change from his two presidential predecessors’ approach to the war launched after the attacks of September 11, 2001, was Trump’s escalatory rhetoric. He repeatedly vowed to “win” a conflict that his Defense Secretary James Mattis told Congress recently “we are not winning” and sharply criticized Afghanistan’s neighbor Pakistan, a troublesome ally Trump excoriated for offering “safe haven” to terrorists.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 22, 2017

Trump's 'Obama-Lite' Afghanistan Strategy -- Jacob Heilbrunn, National Interest

Delaying the Inevitable in Afghanistan -- Kamran Bokhari, Geopoltiical Futures

Afghanistan Is Trump's War Now -- Andrew Bacevich, Los Angeles Times

Trump's Plan to Save the Afghanistan Bush and Obama Built -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg

Don't pin your hopes on military generals saving the world from Trump -- Joe McLean, The Guardian

Xi Jinping Has Assumed the Role of a Dictator -- Robert Fulford, National Post

All Xi’s men: China’s armies get new commanders -- Zi Yang, Asia Times

China’s African Knot -- Felipe Cruvinel, The Diplomat

China's Global Ambitions: Are There Lessons From Tibet? -- Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald

Conflict in Korea? Hard for Japan to sit it out -- Grant Newsham, Asia Times

Why did tribes take up arms in Egypt's Sinai? -- George Mikhail, Al-Monitor

Falling BRICS endanger their citizens’ health, starting with Jacob Zuma -- Patrick Bond, Mail & Guardian

Moscow’s Syrian blues are unremitting -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

Getting America and Russia Back to Normal -- Robert Legvold, National Interest

Why the Russian Navy Is a More Capable Adversary Than It Appears -- Michael Kofman & Jeffrey Edmonds, National Interest

The State of Us: Ireland’s story doesn’t make sense any more -- Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times

EU Calls for Calm After Macedonia, Serbia Diplo Row -- Maja Zivanovic, Balkan Insight

The U.S. Navy's Deadly Collision Course -- Bloomberg editorial

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