Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- September 12, 2018

China's President Xi Jinping, second left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, making bliny [Russian pancakes] as they visit the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the 2018 Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Sept 11, 2018. Photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office handout / Anadolu Agency

Pepe Escobar, Asia Times: Greater Eurasia coming together in the Russian Far East

The Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok has become a crucial part of strategic integration between China, Russia and other countries in northeast Asia, a graduation assimilation set to transform the current world system

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were involved in a joint cooking venture. Pancakes with caviar (blin, in Russian), chased down with a shot of vodka. It just happened at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. Talk about a graphic (and edible) metaphor sealing the ever-evolving ‘Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership’.

For a few years now the Vladivostok forum has been offering an unequaled roadmap tracking progress on Eurasia integration.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- September 12, 2018

Russia and China’s Joint Military Exercises Should Worry The West -- The Economist

Why Russia and Japan never declared peace after World War II -- Jake Sturmer, ABC News Online

Japan Is Back in the Bay of Bengal -- David Brewster, Interpreter

‘Small and fast defense assets may be best’ to protect Taiwan -- Emanuele Scimia, Asia Times

Asia's growing wealth gap is a problem that can no longer be ignored -- Manuela Kasper-Claridge, DW

Can Peace Be Won in Afghanistan? -- Omar Samad, Atlantic Council

Turkish-Russian 'strategic ties' fail stress test on Syria's Idlib -- Semih Idiz, Al-Monitor

Why Idlib Matters -- George Friedman, Geopolitical Futures

Twenty-five years on, Oslo Accords peace hopes a fading memory -- Stephen Farrell and Jeffrey Heller, Reuters

Hope, scepticism as warring South Sudan leaders sign peace deal -- AFP

Brazil’s da Silva names successor, but will voters follow? -- Mauricio Savarese and Peter Prengaman, AP

Canada May Soon Outpace the U.S. in Refugee Admissions -- Priscilla Alvarez, The Atlantic

Lehman Brothers collapse: The so-called 'Lehman moment' was more symptom than cause -- Stephen Kirchner, ABC News Online

Surviving the Lehman collapse 10 years on -- Jo Harper, DW

Why Cyber Arms Control Is Not a Lost Cause -- John Maurer, National Interest