American Diplomacy links--October 2015.

• Author: Clack, George

American Diplomacy Links 10.21.15

"I Got Syria So Wrong"

An ex-State Department official expresses regrets and ponders why he did not foresaw the brutality of the developing civil war in Syria.

By Frederic Hof, Politico Magazine. Hof is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and a former special advisor for transition in Syria at the U.S. Department of State.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/syria-civil-war-213242

"Will Iran Cooperate on Syria?"

Now that the nuclear deal is done, officials in Washington and Tehran are thinking strategically. The top priority for both is Syria, and the USA and Iran have stumbled into an awkward common cause.

By Robin Wright, the New Yorker. Wright, a contributing writer for the New Yorker, is the author of eight books on the Middle East.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/will-iran-cooperate-on- syria?mbid=nl_100115_Daily&CNDID=26744763&spMailingID=8118903&spUserID =OTQ0Mjk1Nzc1NjMS1&spJobID=780086692&spReportId=NzgwMDg2NjkyS0

"Putin, Obama, and the Middle East"

President Obama may not have a coherent strategy. But maybe it's too soon to judge how the end result of his contradictory, floundering policies might play out--in the Middle East and the world at large.

By Adam Garfinkle, the American Interest. Garfinkle is editor of the American Interest.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/10/03/putin-obama-and-the-middle-east/

"The Middle East in 2015 Is a Lot Like Europe in 1914"

A tinderbox, with plenty of kindling supplied by the combination of weak regimes, millenarian militias, and freelance rebels of various persuasion, each faction backed by larger powers, some engaged in proxy wars, others drawn in for converging motives while trying to resist the centripetal pull of deeper involvement. It doesn't require a wild imagination to envision the lighting of a match--some contemporary counterpart to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

By Fred Kaplan, Slate. Kaplan is the author of The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2015/10/syria_conf lict_we_don_t_know_what_russia_is_up_to.html

"ISIS De-Demonized: A Review Article"

In his new book, The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State, Brookings scholar William McCants provides a thorough introduction to the Islamic State and explains why he believes its...