Monday, May 22, 2017

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 22, 2017

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud walks with U.S. President Donald Trump during a reception ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 20, 2017.Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS

Michael Leiter, The Atlantic: Trump Changed His Tone on Islam—Will He Change Strategy?

The president’s speech in Riyadh represented a welcome shift from his former rhetoric. The question is what actions will follow.

To say that candidate Donald Trump adopted a sharply critical and un-nuanced tone on Islam would be the grossest of understatements. Campaigner-in-Chief Trump proclaimed the need to adopt specific language (“radical Islamic terrorism”), proposed banning all Muslims from entering the United States, and bemoaned that “Islam hates us.” The president’s remarkable reversal in tone (and potentially substance) in Riyadh—combined with the region’s clear optimism for a post-Obama American approach to the region—offers opportunities for progress even if they’re unlikely to produce significant improvement in the root causes of the region’s broader economic, demographic, and political challenges.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- May 22, 2017

What Trump gets wrong about the Middle East -- Mohamad Bazzi, Reuters

Trump’s Statesmanlike Speech in Riyadh -- Elliot Abrams, NRO

Trump Turns Politically Correct in Saudi Arabia -- Peter Beinart, The Atlantic

Syria: Why Trump Must Learn the Art of Stalemate Diplomacy -- Raymond Tanter & Edward Stafford, National Interest

Yemen Foreign Minister: 'Our Enemies Want to Starve Us' (An Interview) -- Spiegel Online

The real test for an Arab Nato will come the day after Raqqa falls -- Faisal Al Yafai, The National

North Korea says world looks beautiful from a ballistic missile -- Asia Times/Reuters

The Birth of a Multipolar Asia? -- Chietigj Bajpaee, Lowy Institute

China's Belt and Road to Nowhere -- Christopher Whalen, National Interest

Asean powers continue to arm-wrestle over China’s nine-dash line and its potential abundance of resources, including the seaweed -- David Dodwell, South China Morning Post

Peace process in pieces in Myanmar -- Bertil Lintner, Asia Times

The Eruption of Moscow’s Housing Estates -- Nina L. Khrushcheva, Project Syndicate

Why Poland doesn’t want refugees -- Jan Cienski, Politico

Legendary U.S. General Edward L. Rowny looks forward and back at the Korean conflict -- Lima Charlie News

Why Center-Left Parties Choose to Go Radical -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

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