The 10 Best Articles on International Security Concerns this week

Each week we provide a collection of 10 must reads from around the web on issues pertaining to international security. Simply click the article title to open a new tab.

This week’s top 10 (in alphabetical order) are:

Groundhog Day and Putin the Predator by Mikeil Saakashvili

Foreign Policy

The former president of Georgia maintains that Vladimir Putin’s playbook for destabilizing Ukraine is known, and that only a decisive military victory against Moscow’s forces would prove successful in order to stop Russians’ plans in the region.

Iran Looks East, China Pivots West by Lauren Dickey and Helia Ighani

The Diplomat

Speculation that the current interim nuclear deal will allow Tehran to be more assertive with Beijing should not encourage excessive optimism, as both sides have too much to lose if future talks collapse.

Kazakhstan’s Model Is the Best Bet for Ukraine by Nicklas Norling

The Moscow Times

Other possibilities than the more popular “Finlandisation” are available to the Ukranian Government. Looking eastward is one of them.

Modi Visit to Japan: Changing Equations in Indo Pacific? by Sridhar Krishnaswami

South Asia Monitor

It is one of those visits that has been long expected since Narendra Modi assumed office in May this year. When the Indian prime minister lands in Japan both sides would be looking at a changing environment in East Asia and the larger Asia Pacific that is of deep interest and concern to the two countries.

The New Middle East Realpolitik  by Neville Teller

Eurasiareview

The chart illustrating the complex network of friendships and enmities that make up the political pattern of the Middle East has been shaken by last months’ events. New players are now on the scene.

Notes From the Underground by Arthur Herman

Foreign Affairs

The dark, low-tech tunnels running underneath Gaza offered a stark juxtaposition to the modern artillery Israel deployed on the surface. But if the tunnels hint at an older kind of warfare, that doesn’t mean they should be dismissed as a military curiosity.

Place your bets: Doubt as Israel, Hamas secure ceasefire by Brooklyn Middleton

Al Arabiya  

The success or failure of the truce hinges on what happens in the immediate term, given the fragility of the current cease-fire.

Time to do a deal with Assad? by Gerard M. Gallucci

TransConflict

The military options for the West vis-a-vis Iraq and the ISIS are limited without some ability to operate permissively in Syria. This would require movement toward a political settlement to the Syrian civil war and an arrangement with Assad.

The Women of ISIS by Nimmi Gowrinathan

Foreign Affairs

Living in deeply conservative social spaces, Middle-Eastern women face constant threats to their ethnic, religious, or political identities. Typically those threats, rather than any grievances rooted in gender, persuade them to take up arms.

You Can’t Go Home Again by Paul Brian

Foreign Policy

Georgians from the would-be state of Abkhazia have spent decades trying to rebuild their lives after war forced them from their homes. Such a conflict is still unsolved.

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