Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 24, 2017



Liz Sly and Suzan Haidamous, Washington Post: Syria deal draws Iran into alliance with Russia and Turkey

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed Tuesday to the outlines of a plan to reinforce a cease-fire in Syria, establishing the three most significant allies of the protagonists in the conflict as guarantors to a peace process.

The deal concluded two days of talks in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, that drew Iran into a burgeoning alliance with Russia and Turkey over ways to secure a settlement. It set broad but vague parameters for a cease-fire enforcement mechanism and committed the three countries to jointly fight the Islamic State and Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate. It will also provide a test of Russia’s new role as the lead power broker in efforts to secure a sustainable, long-term solution to the war.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- January 24, 2017

The Russian-Turkish-Iranian axis: Strange bedfellows -- Ofra Bengio, Jerusalem Post

Russia leaves Syria talks with tentative plan. Up next: get US involved. -- Fred Weir, CSM

Trump Team Aims to Test Russia's Alliance With Iran -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg

What the Saudi Monarchy Wants From the U.S. -- Gerald Feierstein, RCW

North Korea nuclear threat means South must not delay anti-missile system -- Jack Kim and Christine Kim, Reuters

The real stakes involved in N. Korea's missile threat -- Hugh White, Straits Times

The Art of a Deal With North Korea: President Trump has a chance to succeed where many others failed. -- Joel Wit and Richard Sokolsky, Politico

Xi Jinping portrays China as a rock of stability -- The Economist

Beijing Is No Champion of Globalization -- Elizabeth C. Economy, Foreign Affairs

Europe’s priority now is to keep the union of 27 together -- Almut Möller, The Guardian

Russia: Life After Trust -- Michael Idov, New York Magazine

Democrats urged Obama to cease Yemen war role before Trump took over -- Julian Pecquet, Al-Monitor

Trump TPP move seen as win for China, but Beijing isn’t celebrating -- Emily Rauhala and Anna Fifield, Washington Post

The Trump-Putin Parallels Pile Up -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

'American Carnage' Is Real -- Justin Fox, Bloomberg

In 2009, media drooled over Obama. To Trump they bare their teeth. -- Kayleigh Mcenany, The Hill

2 comments:

jimbrown said...

Let's see. This three way marriage will be a divorce before end of 2017. Let them do it. Let them try. It's more fun to watch an unholy alliance than to be in one.

James said...

JB,
You're right. There are just too many internal contradictions for any medium to long term workability. The truth probably is all three parties see this only as a step towards their long term goals, which are also too different. It's hard too believe that all three parties are not aware of this.