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

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson enter a hall during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, April 12, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times: Straws in the wind for a reset in US-Russian relations

The receding specters of a war involving North Korea and a US-Russia confrontation in Syria. The sound of cracking ice in the frozen conflict in Ukraine. Russia and the United States bidding farewell to “tits-for-tat.” Is this the dawn of a brave new world?

You might be skeptical, but it’s possible to draw positive conclusions from the two meetings, on successive days, between US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. These meetings, in fact, bode well for another meeting ahead, between presidents Valdimir Putin and Donald Trump, this time in Danang, Vietnam, on the sidelines of the November 11-12 APEC summit.

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

Does NKorean H-bomb threat push US closer to war? -- Robert Burns and Matthew Pennington, AP

Analysis: Kim Jong Un, taking on Trump, makes it personal -- Foster Klug, AP

Analyst: North Korea earned revenue from bitcoin mining -- Elizabeth Shim, UPI

Saudi Arabia to test Tehran’s influence in Iraq -- Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Erika Solomon, Financial Times

How can Iran educate a million Afghan refugees? -- Shirin Shakib, DW

India-Japan Relations: Strong and Getting Stronger -- Shashank Joshi, War on the Rocks

The Worsening Rohingya Crisis Is Creating a Dangerous New Reality in Myanmar -- Laignee Barron & Eli Meixler, WPR

No way back for Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees -- Bertil Lintner, Asia Times

The Promises and Perils of Syrian Kurdistan -- Fritz Lodge, The Cipher Brief

Gulf Crisis Still Smolders As Washington Searches for Options -- Bennett Seftel, The Cipher Brief

How Sweden is Balancing its Security in the Baltics -- Anna Wieslander, Atlantic Council

What you need to know about the German electorate -- Mara Bierbach, DW

A Guide to the New Zealand election and the MMP electoral system -- ABC News Online

Catalonia independence bid - what you need to know -- Chase Winter, DW

The Last Hurdle for Ukraine’s Recovery -- Anders Åslund, Project Syndicate