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 Between a Cold War Ally and an Indo-Pacific Partner: India's U.S.-Russia Balancing Act by Tanvi Madan
What Has Become Clear to You? Reflections on Assessing the National Defense Strategy by Mara Karlin and Christopher Skaluba
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Moscow’s S-300 Double Bluff in Syria
By Roger McDermott, Eurasia Daily Monitor: “Such systems, apart from their role in air defense, form an integral part of the Russian Armed Forces’ stand-off strike capability, feed into a layered air defense, and constitute important elements of Russia’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategies.”  The Two Faces of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by Gregory Johnsen U.S. Policy Options for Maduro’s Venezuela: Benign Engagement, Not Benign Neglect by Fabiana Sofia Perera A New Era For The China-Russia-US Triangle by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness Nearly a half-century ago, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, established a successful U.S. strategy for dealing with America’s two most dangerous rivals. He sought closer ties to both the Soviet Union, with its more than 7,000 nuclear weapons, and Communist China, with the world’s largest population. No Eclipse
by LTC Marcus Ferrara via Analysis An American crisis of confidence, augmented by effective Chinese propaganda, has driven the narrative of the end of the “American Century,” replaced with a Chinese one. An analysis of such metrics as demography, social stability, geography, the environment, economics, military strength and capability, and soft power belies the concept of American decline and shows that China is beset with substantial internal and international challenges that indicate continued United States dominance in world affairs. 
Lee Ohanian: US Should Pressure China On Trade, Intellectual Property Theft
via Hoover Daily Report Rather than wage a trade war against China, the United States should join other countries to pressure China to open its markets and stop its theft of intellectual property, says Lee Ohanian, an economist at the Hoover Institution.
Pence: China should follow Taiwan’s lead to democracy
(Washington Examiner) China should follow Taiwan’s lead in establishing a democratic system of government, Vice President Mike Pence urged Thursday.
Competition with China isn't a strategy
(War On The Rocks) If the Trump administration were to summarize its own China policy in one word, it would be “competition.” From every official at every level, it’s one of the administration’s few glimmers of consistency the past two years. On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a scathingly anti-China speech at the Hudson Institute that gave a sense of moral justification for a long-term competition with China. As one journalist tweeted, Pence stopped just short of labeling the Middle Kingdom “an evil empire.” PASSIVE POSTURE OF US REGARDING VENEZUELA & A REVIEW OF CHINESE REPRESSION IN WESTERN CHINA10/4/2018  The US is watching from the sidelines as Venezuela destabilizes the region Roger F. Noriega | The Washington Post Leadership on US-Venezuela policy will have to come from President Trump's appointees at the State Department and National Security Council staff. This new team should be empowered to craft a decisive Venezuela strategy to splinter the regime and embolden internal opposition. Such initiatives should enjoy strong bipartisan support. The Chinese Approach To Uyghur Separatism(*)
by Jacques Neriah via The Caravan Around 22 million Muslims live in China (PRC) today. The Hui, the majority Muslim group in China, are fully integrated into all echelons of Chinese society, and are allowed to practice their religion with almost no interference from the authorities. The dominant minority group, the Uyghurs (roughly 10 million people), are a Sunni Turkish-related population who speak a Turkish dialect and live in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Other Muslim minority groups are Kazakhs, Dongxiangs, Salar, Tatars, Bonans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Utsul, Kyrgyz, and Tibetans.  Achieving the Trump Administration’s National Biodefense Strategy
By Daniel M. Gerstein, RealClearDefense: “The strategy proclaims that managing the risk of biological threats is in the “vital interest” of the United States, whether such threats are naturally occurring diseases, accidents involving dangerous pathogens, or deliberate attacks using biological agents.”  India approves S-400 buy from Russia, amid expectations for more bilateral deals (Defense News) India has quietly approved a $5.43 billion program to buy five S-400 Triumf air defense systems from Russia, just a week before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Oct. 5 visit to the country.
GRAVE DANGERS IN US FOREIGN POLICY: PARTS 1/2 & THE CIA RETURNS TO MONITORING NATION STATE RIVALS9/25/2018  U.S. Foreign Policy Faces Grave Danger, Part 2 by Alvin Rabushka via Thoughtful Ideas The intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy lie in the teaching and research of leading American universities. A root cause of recent U.S. foreign policy failures is the marked contrast between political practices and institutions in relatively homogeneous nations with common ethnic/racial identities, values and interests that seek exclusive governance, as against the United States, where the practice of diversity and inclusion that originated in American universities has spread to encompass the media, business, non-profit organizations, government, the armed forces, and every other social institution.
 Hanson: China Is A Greater Threat Than Russia featuring Victor Davis Hanson via The Collegian With all the talk about Russia these days, one might forget that there are other countries that pose a threat to the United States — a far greater threat, perhaps. China’s 'Divide and Conquer’ Charm Offensive
By Jeremy Huai-Che Chiang & Alan Hao Yang, the interpreter: “China’s creeping influence and strategy of polarising Taiwan’s democracy is a prelude of what a possible ‘Chinese Century’ might look like.”  President Trump’s Shift in Syria By Daniel DePetris, RealClearDefense: “ ... an indefinite U.S. military presence in Syria would be an endeavor with zero strategic benefit for America.” The Eastern Mediterranean is getting more dangerous, and it’s not because of Russia, Syria, or Iran Michael Rubin | Washington Examiner A military alliance between Russia and Iran to back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is giving way to an economic rivalry as Syria’s war winds down, a contest Moscow is leading. - Wall Street Journal
Tensions between Russia and Israel reignited Sunday after Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a harsh critique of Israel’s role in the downing of a Russian plane in Syria last week, despite previous efforts to smooth over the rift. - Washington Post As the chief backer of Syria’s embattled opposition, Turkey now faces a perilous task. It must disarm its rebel allies in Syria’s Idlib province, under a new agreement with Russia, and eliminate the hardcore jihadists in their midst. - Washington Post Turkey will take action east of the Euphrates river in Syria and impose secure zones as it has done in the northwest of the country, President Tayyip Erdogan said in comments broadcast on Turkish media on Monday. - Reuters Two insurgent groups rejected a deal reached this month between Russia and Turkey to establish a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region with one saying Sunday that the agreement aims to “bury the revolution.” - Associated Press Assaf Orion, Anna Borshchevskaya, and Matthew Levitt write: In the longer term, the combination of U.S. pressure and Israeli military action could pose a dilemma for Moscow[...]. So long as Iran and its agents—especially foreign fighters—are active in Syria, U.S. policy should be to contain the Assad regime and oppose steps that would strengthen it. - Washington Institute Maxwell B. Markusen writes: The United States and the international community must shape a new approach to Syria that is focused on the trends that will destabilize Syria far beyond the battle for Idlib. Counterterrorism priorities, humanitarian concerns, economic growth (or lack thereof), and the presence of non-state military forces will determine the levels of future instability and conflict in Syria for years to come. - Center for Strategic and International Studies  Arab Gulf states in the Horn of Africa: What role do they play?
(Deutsche Welle) Ethiopia and Eritrea didn't pen their peace agreement in Addis Ababa or Asmara, but in Saudi Arabia with the Emirates alongside. Are economic and military interests increasingly binding Gulf states and the Horn together?
JAPAN:
Why Japan’s First Submarine Visit to Vietnam Matters By Prashanth Parameswaran, The Diplomat “The significance of the visit is unmistakable from the perspective of both countries, their strengthening defense ties, and the wider regional context.”
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that there are more and more symptoms of Xi having domestic political problems. He lived in the US for a while; is not necessarily anti-American but surely is China-first. The century of humiliation: the period from 1850 to 1950, when the Communists came in; was completely mythical. . . . There’s not one guy in the Chinese army who’d take a bullet for Xi. They may not be able to defeat Taiwan, but they sure can defeat Beijing.
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