Mark Katz, LobeLog
Despite their numerous anti-Western interests, Russia and Iran are not allies. Neither is willing to give up much of anything for the sake of good relations with the other. Washington, then, cannot expect that Tehran will consider binding any agreement reached with Moscow regarding the settlement of the conflict in Syria. To reach such a settlement, Washington must also negotiate with Tehran (as well as Riyadh).
Stefan Kuzmany, Der Spiegel
Every mainstream political party in Germany threw its support behind Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policies -- forcing doubters into the open arms of the right-wing populists. It's time for German politicians to be clearer about where they stand.
Josh Rogin, Bloomberg View
Before he was a presidential candidate, Trump's hunger to be popular in Russia was less troubling. Now it is a conflict of interest. At minimum, there is the appearance of wrongdoing: The candidate's foreign-policy positions are conveniently aligned with his long-standing business agenda. But whats good for the Trump Organization isnt necessarily good for America.
Liz Cookman, The Guardian
While the circumstances of the various attacks in the two cities were very different Ankara has been subjected to three suicide bomb attacks while Pariss attacks in January and November last year were largely carried out by gunmen its hard to say that this alone could cause such widely different shows of support. If Sundays bomb had instead been in Piccadilly Circus, the closest London equivalent to Kizilay in Ankara, the world would be talking of nothing else. Читать дальше...
Evelyn Farkas, Defense One
It should now be clear to those hanging on to a shred of hope that Putin was never going to join the Western coalition against ISIS in Syria. The Kremlin’s objective was always to achieve a negotiated settlement through the Geneva Talks that allows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remain in power for some time and for Russia to retain its key influence over his government. It was not to fight terrorism in Syria.
Cienski, Schatz & Oreskes, Politico
The escalating conflict between Poland’s right-wing government and the country’s top constitutional court is starting to taint its crucial security relationship with the United States.
Ivo Daalder, FT
Russia leaves Syria as deeply divided, politically and territorially, as it found the country when it intervened in September. Russia’s military gains on Mr Assad’s behalf leave the Syrian strongman in a better position, but the opposition remains as adamant as before that there is no political solution with Mr Assad in power. The resulting political deadlock will most likely result in a resumption of violence — perhaps sooner now that Mr Assad’s military backing is being withdrawn.
Andrew Cooper, NYT
All the evidence suggests that Saudi officials never expected oil prices to fall below a barrel. But then they never expected to lose their sway as the swing producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Despite wishful statements from Saudi ministers, the kingdom’s efforts last month to make a deal with Russia, Venezuela and Qatar to restrict supply and push up prices collapsed.
Margaret Wente, Globe & Mail
Justin Trudeau should savour the moment while it lasts. A year from now, Mr. Obama will be working on his library and someone else will be in the White House – God only knows who. The reality is that the progressive movement is in crisis around the world. Things aren’t looking all that sunny back home, either.
Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
The German chancellor has lost support at home and control in Europe.
Ben Judah, Independent
This is Britain’s immigration referendum. When it comes to the ballot boxes, it will not be overregulation by Brussels, “the Swiss model” or the sovereignty of British courts deciding Leave of Remain. It will be the great unmentionable: are you comfortable with immigration and ethnic change?
Hugo Dixon, Telegraph
The US President shouldn't tell Britons how to vote, but here's what he should say instead.
Max Fisher, Vox
Germany held regional elections on Sunday in three states, and the results were shocking. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which ran on a xenophobic, anti-immigrant platform, won 12.5 percent in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, 15 percent in Baden-Wrttemberg, and 24 percent in Saxony-Anhalt. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democratic Party, by contrast, lost considerable vote shares.
Noah Rothman, Commentary
For advocates of the diplomatic process, which is for many an end in itself, unambiguous victories are few and far between. As such, some of these process advocates are embracing a surprise announcement from the Kremlin on Monday that the bulk of the Russian forces deployed to Syria would soon be recalled back to Russia as an unqualified triumph.
Richard Whitman, Chatham House
If the UK votes to leave the EU, then 2016 becomes year zero for the UK’s relationship with its neighbours in Europe. And an exit from the EU also calls into question Britain’s broader role and position within international affairs and the global economy.
Preston Manning, G&M
In many respects he epitomizes the “it’s all about me” generation and its self-expression and promotion via social media. So let’s like him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter – and while we’re at it, why not a selfie? By catering for a day or two to Mr. Trudeau’s desire for personal attention and aggrandizement, we can safely ignore conceding anything of substance on Canada-U.S. issues and more easily and cheaply advance our own interests in those areas.
John Ivison, National Post
Reading between the lines, Obama wants Trudeau to say something unequivocally positive about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. “That will be very, very high (on the agenda) – at the top – it’s very important for President Obama,” said Feierstein. “We are respectful of the [consultation] process Canada is undergoing and we defer to (Trudeau) on what he might say during the visit.”
Lucian Kim, Reuters
The 1 million asylum seekers who reached Germany in 2015 — and the prospect of a similar number arriving this year — turned these elections into a referendum on Merkel’s refugee policy.
N. Pakhomov, Nat'l Interest
Moscow is beginning to withdraw forces from the war-torn country.
N. Ferguson, Bos. Globe
There is a powerful symbolism in the impending collapse of Iraq’s Mosul dam. Built on the cheap by Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, it holds back up to 2.9 trillion gallons, roughly twice as much as Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. We all know what happened when Hurricane Katrina breached the levees around Pontchartrain’s south shore in 2005.
P. McLeary & J. Hudson, Foreign Policy
Putin’s troops helped Damascus beat back Syria’s rebels. Now that Russia is on its way out, will Assad follow?
Michael Weiss, Daily Beast
Only suckers take the Russian president’s word at face value, but it’s hard to deny his intervention likely saved Bashar al-Assad—and that was always the goal.
Roger Cohen, New York Times
In the mid-1980s, when I was covering Italy for The Wall Street Journal, I profiled a brash, bruising, billionaire businessman named Silvio Berlusconi who had made a fortune in real estate and parlayed that into control of an almost unrivaled private television empire.
Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View
Putin used a similar signaling method in June 2014, as talks were beginning to hammer out what became the first Minsk cease-fire for eastern Ukraine. Late that month, Putin asked his rubber-stamp upper house of parliament to withdraw permission for him to conduct military actions in Ukrainian territory. Russia never officially conducted any, though Russian troops, instructors and weapons were even then being sent to aid pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine. Nonetheless... Читать дальше...
