Robert Kubinec, Monkey Cage
Unless aid is carefully targeted, it will only prop up the coalition in power.
Nithin Coca, The Diplomat
Do protests against Jakarta's Chinese-Christian governor signal a turn toward Islam's far right?
Dina Smeltz, Chicago Council
Donald Trump has caused controversy for his stated position to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Such a move would counter decades of State Department strategy to determine the status of Jerusalem only through peace negotiations. Moreover, Trump's announced choice for US ambassador to Israel, bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman, has drawn criticism for Friedman's dismissal of a two-state solution and tolerance for Israel's building settlements in the West Bank. Читать дальше...
Mustafa Saadoun, ALM
The Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units have requested to take control of the Iraqi-Syrian border, which raises concerns about Iran's interference in Syria.
Richard Burt, The National Interest
There is perhaps no more effective and efficient way for Washington to project strength than from the platform of a robust and united NATO alliance.
Joe Kogan, New York Times
Whatever the consequences of default, they can only be postponed, not avoided.
Gutman & Weiss, The Daily Beast
The murder that shocked the world is over. The attempts to turn that assassination into a geopolitical weapon have only just begun.
Josef Joffe, The Guardian
The German Christmas market attack, if indeed it was carried out by a refugee, will force the chancellor to appear tough as she faces re-election.
Paul Hockenos, Foreign Policy
After an attack on the German capital, the chancellor'??s moment of reckoning is upon her.
Christopher Blattman & Stefan Dercon, Vox EU
African countries are scrambling to bring industrial firms into the continent, and workers face a choice between industrial jobs and self-employment. This column reports the results of a randomised controlled trial of 1,000 job applicants in Ethiopia, which suggests that industrial workers earned no more in a year than those given training as entrepreneurs, and had higher disability rates. Two-thirds of industrial workers chose to quit, suggesting... Читать дальше...
Rafael Behr, Guardian
The dismal project of leaving the European Union is without art or poetry. It is entirely lacking in the cultural depth on which nation-building depends
Ed West, Spectator
I've learned that it's best not to say anything about a terrorist atrocity on social media.
Jason Brennan, New Statesman
Democracy is the will of the people but what if the people have little clue à as to what they are doing? Ã
Jacob Shapiro, Geopolitical Futures
The concept of nationalism in the modern world remains largely misunderstood.
Severin Weiland & Philipp Wittrock, Spiegel
The attack on Berlin has the potential for shaking up German politics. Angela Merkel said what she needed to say, but her task of reuniting the country ahead of next fall's general election just became more difficult.
CNN
MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY: For Putin, it was very important not so much to demonstrate some direct influence on the American election process--because it's not very possible in reality--but to show that he is capable of such influence. And now with the help of Western press, that actively brings this to light. He will use this card in his relations with his counterparts from democratic countries as a threat to influence democratic processes....Putin perceives Trump as plain, weak, and controllable. Читать дальше...
Tim Arango, NY Times
It is easy to imagine Demre trying to profit from its history -- to transform, perhaps, the city center into an Anatolian Santa's village. But there is surprisingly little commercialization of Christmas, save for a car rental agency called Noel Rent a Car and the Noel Café, each of which uses Santa Claus as its logo.
Doug Bandow, National Interest
Few political leaders in Washington have been as reckless, error-prone and ostentatiously clueless as John McCain.
Robin Niblett, Chatham House
With the liberal international order under threat, democracies will need to find a way to coexist with their ideological foes.
Murad Batal Shishani, BBC
Twelve men from the countries of the former USSR have been assassinated in Turkey, and there's evidence that some of the hitmen were from Russia.
Robert Zaretsky, Houston Chronicle
What Albert Camus knew: Totalitarianism gets words wrong.
