Sam Heller, VICE News: The Battle for Aleppo Shows That US Strategy in Syria Is in Tatters
The countryside north of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is the latest crucial battlefield in the Syrian civil war — and it could also become the place where the United States' strategy to combat the so-called Islamic State in Syria falls apart.
The US-led coalition had been backing Aleppo rebels who were trying to capture the last stretch of border with Turkey controlled by the Islamic State, but those rebels were left stranded after a new offensive by Syrian regime forces earlier this month cut them off from other rebel areas. Now the Kurdish forces that have been the United States' closest allies in the fight against the Islamic State have seized the opportunity to attack these US-backed rebels, in an attempt to seize what's left of the territory they control in north Aleppo.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 17, 2016
The War of Western Failures: Hopes for Syria Fall with Aleppo -- Spiegel Online
Could a no-fly zone established in Syria protect its threatened civilians? -- Ben Thompson, CSM
RUSSIA: Ruthless and Sober in Syria -- Reva Bhalla, Stratfor
South China Sea Missile Deployment Entrenches U.S., Chinese Positions -- Chun Han Wong, WSJ
Why did China deploy missiles in the South China Sea? -- Christina Beck, CSM
Analysis: China's missile deployment ups the ante for the U.S. and allies -- Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
China's Empty Malls Get Weirder -- Adam Mintner, Bloomberg
Narendra Modi and the fine art of screwing up -- Devjyot Ghoshal, Quartz
The Guardian view on Ukraine’s crisis: take the long view -- Guardian editorial
The new Cold War in the Mediterranean -- John W. Miller and Frederick W. Kagan, FOX News
Paris Survivors: Healing the Scars of Bataclan -- Julia Amalia Heyer and Petra Truckendanner, Spiegel Online
Military Tells Congress It Can't Send Gitmo Detainees to U.S. -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg
Apple phone ruling reignites privacy vs law enforcement debate -- Jim Finkle and Dan Levine, Reuters
The great dumbing-down of US foreign policy -- Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe
Whither the New World Order? -- Ali Wyne, War On The Rocks
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