Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 28, 2018



Nadana Fridrikhson, National Interest: Will the Syria Conflict Continue to Escalate?

Moscow, Washington, Tehran and Ankara are all jockeying for power.

In early February, western media reported that the United States had led a strike on the Russian mercenaries of Wagner PMC. The number of casualties was constantly changing; Bloomberg News reported hundreds, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced a smaller number and noted that “Russian citizens” were injured.

Clearly, the battle was for oil and gas resources in the Deir-ez Zor region, which were not supposed to fall into the hands of the opposition and the Kurds in particular; this flows from the logic of restoring Syria under President Assad. Iran and Russia specifically are holding this position. This reasoning is understandable—the leadership of whoever controls these resources will set the tone for negotiations.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 28, 2018

‘Ambassador Samantha Power Lied to My Face About Syria,’ by Kassem Eid -- Tony Badran, Tablet

Xi Sets China on a Collision Course With History -- Max Fisher, New York Times

What keeping Xi in power means for China – and the world -- Peter Marino, Reuters

7 things you need to know about lifting term limits for Xi Jinping -- Jeffrey A. Bader, Brookings

Philippine Troops to China? -- Malcolm Cook, The Interpreter

How China Plans to Leverage Its Relationship with Japan -- Stephen Nagy, National Interest

China-South Korea Relations: A Delicate Détente -- Kristian McGuire, The Diplomat

Don't Let the Olympic Truce End -- Fu Ying, Bloomberg

The Brexit Talks Are Going in Circles -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

The real reason to worry about Italy’s election -- Paul Wallace, Reuters

Showdown over drilling vessel off Cyprus could spur more talks -- Jonathan Gorvett, Asia Times

4 Years After the Revolution, Ukraine Still Battles Corruption and Russian Aggression -- Nolan Peterson, Daily Signal

Facebook Could Do a Lot More on Trump-Russia -- Cathy O'Neil, Bloomberg

Jared Kushner, Easy Mark -- Timothy L. O'Brien, Bloomberg

AI Experts List the Real Dangers of Artificial Intelligence -- Dave Gershgorn, Defense One/NextGov

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