Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 19, 2018

Reuters

Daniel L. Davis, National Interest: Staying in Syria No Longer Makes Sense

The risks of keeping U.S. forces in are too high and outweigh any benefits.

According to senior U.S. officials the United States “is considering a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.” President Trump seemed to corroborate that announcement when he tweeted , “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” If the president does indeed order the withdrawal of the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, his actions would result in a clear reduction of strategic risk to the United States and improve our security.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 19, 2018

Trump Weighs Potential Shock American Withdrawal From Syria -- Curt Mills, National Interest

Trump Wanted Out of Syria. It’s Finally Happening. -- Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic

The Reason Why Iran Won't Become an Energy Superpower -- Omid Shokri Kalehsar, National Interest

Assessing the Widening Russian Presence in Africa -- Harrison Manlove, Divergent Options

How Trump can strengthen his hand with China -- Robert Boxwell, Reuters

More Worrying Than a US-China Trade War Is the Risk of a Hot One -- The Economist

Erdogan sees China as a partner for the future -- Burcu Karakaş, Asia Times

President Xi warns ‘no one will dictate to Chinese people’ -- Gordon Watts, Asia Times

Looking for China’s spies -- Gordon Corera, BBC

Taiwan: The calm before the storm? -- Ryan Hass, Taipei Times

Why Hasn’t Australia Had a Recession in Almost 30 Years? -- Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

Experts say Nigeria must change its strategy to defeat Boko Haram -- Idris Uwaisu, DW

France Doesn’t Have Enough Cops -- Claire Berlinski, American Interest

A Damning Measure of the War on Terror's Failure -- Ivan Eland, RCW

The GPS Wars Are Here -- Elisabeth Braw, Foreign Policy