Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 28, 2019

President Donald Trump, flanked by National Security Adviser John Bolton, first lady Melania Trump and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Doug Silliman, meets political and military leaders during an unannounced visit to Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Daniel L. Davis, The Hill: Iraq visit reminds us why Trump should withdraw troops from the Middle East

President Trump made an unannounced trip to Iraq to visit the U.S. combat troops there on Christmas Day, his first into a combat zone as commander-in-chief. Some of the initial commentary from the Washington swamp is, unsurprisingly, laced with fear, warning against any announcements by Trump of additional U.S. troop withdrawals from the region. What they should be concerned about, however, is a fear that without changes in American strategy, we’ll remain mired in Middle Eastern chaos indefinitely.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 28, 2019

US withdrawal from Syria will endanger Kurds, Arabs, Christians -- Amy Austin Holmes, The Hill

Trump’s Syria withdrawal – right idea, wrong time -- James Dobbins, Reuters

US troop withdrawal heralds the New Syria -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

What Trump's Syria Withdrawal Means for the Middle East -- Alex Vatanka, National Interest

What would the US withdrawal from Syria mean for the region? -- Marwan Kabalan, Al Jazeera

Syrian surprise: How Trump's phone call changed the war -- Orhan Coskun and Lesley Wroughton, Reuters

US abandonment of Kurds sends bad message to allies in East Asia -- Grant Newsham, Asia Times

The unintended consequences of killing Jamal Khashoggi -- Sam Kiley, CNN

What's next for the United States in Afghanistan? -- Michael Kugelman, Al Jazeera

Germany worried at possible US withdrawal from Afghanistan -- Ben Knight, DW

Trump’s Afghan withdrawal could pave the way for peace -- M.K. Bhadrakumar, Asia Times

2019 – Will there be a breakthrough on the Korean Peninsula? -- Alexander Freund, DW

The U.S. Wants North Korea to Get Rid of Its Nukes. But for Pyongyang, ‘Denuclearization’ Means Something Very Different -- Bill Powell, Newsweek

Huawei and Europe’s 5G Conundrum -- Erik Brattberg and Philippe Le Corre, National Interest

Facebook has an ever-changing secret rulebook for political speech -- Christopher Carbone, NYPost/Fox News

Expect 2019 to test global stability -- John Lloyd, Reuters