 Mexican Grave of Stalin's Friend/Nemesis Leon Trotsky
In the battle for Labour’s direction, Momentum is winning. Seen by critics as a softer successor to the Trotskyist Militant movement, which Labour banned from the party as too extreme in the 1980s, Momentum has flowered into a powerful organizing vehicle for Mr. Corbyn. It has helped him register and mobilize passionate supporters intent on substituting unapologetic socialism for politics as usual. – New York Times  The doctrine of nuclear deterrence that leaves open the possibility of launching a "first strike" before an enemy attacks will remain the basis of U.S. policy even as new generations of nuclear weapons are introduced, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday. – Military.com William Perry writes: In recent years, Russia and the United States have started rebuilding their Cold War nuclear arsenals, putting the world on the threshold of a dangerous new arms race. But we don’t have to repeat the perilous drama of the 20th century. We can maintain our country’s strength and security and still do away with the worst of the Cold War weapons. – New York Times Peter Huessy writes: Arbitrarily reducing the United States’ nuclear deterrence capability to portray an image of restraint is inconsistent with the history of strategic stability and deterrence. Without the full capability, the Nuclear Triad presents in deterrence could lead to further intractable aggression by adversaries the U.S. fears most. – Real Clear Defense
 Editorial: Since Mao’s time, China has treated dissent with brute force and dissenters without mercy. Those who believed that economic modernization might bring China closer to rule of law had reason to hope — but those expectations look increasingly misplaced under Mr. Xi. He is charting an intolerant and illiberal course, forcing the news media to become ever more obedient to the party, straitjacketing independent nongovernmental organizations and preferring rule by the few over rule of law. – Washington Post
 The battered Mexican peso has tumbled to historic new lows in recent days, nearing a psychological barrier of 20 pesos to the U.S. dollar and causing anxiety on the streets, at businesses and in the halls of government. – Los Angeles Times Criminal violence in Mexico is rebounding after a three-year decline, reaching levels not seen since 2011, when the country’s murderous war between drug cartels was at its worst. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) Two years after 43 Mexican college students disappeared during a night of violence committed, in part, by security forces, the mystery of their fate remains unsolved. – New York Times Argentina’s shrinking economy and high unemployment are triggering ever-louder grumbling from its citizens, posing problems for President Mauricio Macri in a country where economic discontent has undone previous leaders. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) Brazil’s Supreme Court late Friday gave the green light to prosecutors to open a probe into corruption allegations that President Michel Temer is linked to a sprawling graft scandal centered on the nation’s state-run oil company. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) The CIA concluded that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet personally ordered the 1976 murder of a top dissident, according to newly released government documents that show U.S. confidence about a key ally’s responsibility for a shocking attack in Washington. – Washington Post’s Checkpoint Interview: On Oct. 2, Colombians will vote on whether to accept a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerillas who have kidnapped, killed, raped and held hostage tens of thousands in a 50-year struggle…Santos, visiting New York for the U.N. General Assembly, talked with The Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth. – Washington Post Mexico’s decade-long, military-led crackdown on drug cartels has swelled the multitudes of desaparecidos — the “disappeared” who vanish without a trace. Their ranks include many with no known link to criminal gangs — kidnapped for ransom, robbery or revenge, or caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. – Los Angeles Times
Nuclear Brinkmanship, The Reality of the Obama Doctrine of Strategic Patience & U.S. Nuclear Triad9/26/2016  
Calling the nuclear mission “the bedrock of our security, and the highest priority mission of the Department of Defense,” Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today offered a full-throated defense of the need to modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad. – Defense News Former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s recently disclosed estimate that Israel owns 200 nuclear weapons has triggered new interest in the Jewish state’s ultimate war plan. But experts believe Mr. Powell’s warhead count is too high. – Washington Times
Michael Elleman writes: Evidence available in the public domain indicates that North Korea has, for several decades, supplied Iran with complete missiles and critical components for larger missiles and SLVs. The transactional relationship very likely results in information exchanges, including the sharing of flight-test data, possibly more. But, the evidence to date is inconsistent with design collaboration or joint-development efforts between the two countries. – 38 North Jerrica Goodson and Valerie Lincy write: Indeed, the evidence is mounting that there is no appetite for robust enforcement of the nuclear agreement and its implementing resolution, less than one year from when they took effect. – Iran Watch [A]s Mr. Obama’s presidency enters its final months, the negotiations with Russia have become a threadbare exercise, leaving a president who has long avoided military entanglement with Syria backing a policy that he himself believes is destined to fail. – New York Times 
Thomas Donnelly writes: The post-JPCOA world again presents a new mix of challenges and a changed threat from Iran. Though it conceivably could come again, the moment for a strike against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has passed. – Hoover Institution’s Strategika
Kori Schake writes: The relationships being fostered among our allies in the Middle East will facilitate any Israeli military action—whether against Iran’s nuclear facilities, or other targets selected to signal that whatever the U.S. won’t do, Israel is not likewise constrained. Only a more assertive U.S. policy changing attitudes in the Middle East about our willingness to stop Iran’s expanding influence will suffice. – Hoover Institution’s Strategika
Frederic Hof writes: The tools employed by John Kerry to date have been those of energy, persistence, and charisma. They are, considering the nature of those for whom civilian slaughter is as natural as breathing in and out, insufficient. Arthur Miller would have described him as “a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.” He deserves a better toolkit from his Oval Office boss. – Defense News
Lee Smith writes: Much of the Obama administration's political success last year is owing to the fact that it relied on various echo chambers in the media to market its policies to the American public, sometimes explaining them and often obscuring them, as it did with the Iran deal. Netanyahu seems to have at last concluded that he can't defend himself or his country in that forum. As he did when he made a speech in Congress criticizing the Iran deal, he is taking his case straight to the American people. – The Weekly Standard
John Lee writes: The tables seem to be turning in Asia—in part due to the inherent political and economic failings of a closed, authoritarian, and corrupt regime; in part due to the bluster and aggressive behavior of a rising power; and in large part because the counties in the region understand that their security, independence, and prosperity is best served by unity of purpose and unity with America in the face of a well-armed and increasingly aggressive neighbor. China’s militarism, on one front, and diplomatic recalcitrance, on others, along with the inevitable flare-ups in nuclear armed North Korea have reaffirmed Washington’s status in Asia as the indispensable nation. – World Affairs Journal
On matters of war and peace, Obama has proven to be a confounding and contradictory figure, one who stands to leave behind both devastating and pressing failures, as well as a set of fresh accomplishments whose impact could resonate for decades. – Associated Press
Josh Rogin reports: President Obama will leave office having failed to use the tools at his disposal to make significant progress on getting child soldiers off the battlefield. That’s the consensus among human rights groups who point to the fact that for six consecutive years, the Obama administration has subverted U.S. law requiring the president to sanction foreign governments that force children to fight. – Washington Post
Sadanand Dhume writes: Over the next few weeks, Mr. Modi will decide whether to choose caution or confrontation with Pakistan. But one thing is certain: If the prime minister emulates his predecessors and picks diplomatic censure over some form of military retaliation, he will dent the strongman image that helped him win power in the first place. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Dr. Ayesha Jalal on "Pakistan's Multiple Ethno-Religious Identity & Its Attendant Difficulties"
 In a nation where violence is the cadence, Sawan is one of its virtuosos. Involved in nearly every conflict that followed Gaddafi’s death, he has helped fuel his country's chaotic trajectory — from the rivalries and dysfunction that emerged after four decades of authoritarian rule to the struggle afterward for power, oil and territory. – Washington Post
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Thursday accused authorities of pressuring a local TV channel to stop the broadcast of an interview with him, saying it was a case of state restrictions on media freedom. - Reuters 
Eli Lake writes: In this sense, North Korea's nukes are the Kim family's insurance policy. Since the Clinton administration, the U.S. and the international community have been willing to extend the life of the regime in exchange for (ultimately broken) promises about its reactors and enrichment facilities. And while the U.S. has also placed sanctions on North Korea at times, in the end the goal of U.S. policy has been regime preservation. – Bloomberg View
 Michael Gerson writes: After the killing of Osama bin Laden in particular, some in the Obama administration seemed to regard the threat of terrorism as diminished, contained and manageable. This viewpoint — while offering important corrections — has become dramatically less credible with the collapse of sovereignty at the heart of the Middle East; with ongoing mass atrocities against civilians in Syria; with a refugee crisis that incubates resentment and now shakes the foundations of the European Union; and with the establishment of a physical place — a quasi-state — that claims to be the Islamic caliphate. –Washington Post Editorial: President Obama’s 11th and final trip to Asia looked rude and ragged from the outside. It began with a botched arrival in China, featuring a missing airline staircase, that some interpreted as a deliberate snub of the president. Then came an unmistakable insult from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who obliged Mr. Obama to cancel their bilateral meeting by calling him the Tagalog equivalent of “son of a whore.” The kerfuffle was particularly troubling because it came as China marshaled ships near a shoal whose defense from Beijing’s incursions has been a focus of recent U.S.-Philippine cooperation. – Washington Post David Feith writes: Barack Obama’s farewell visit to Asia this week was marred by a nasty spat with an important ally: firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who called the U.S. president a “son of a whore” and caused the cancellation of a bilateral meeting. This breaks from the recent Asian diplomatic norm of China provoking crises and the U.S. generally strengthening ties with regional allies. But the alliance headaches caused by Mr. Duterte could preview what’s to come for the next U.S. president, whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Foreign leaders have reciprocated by taking this administration down a notch knowing they pay no price. In May 2013, Vladimir Putin reportedly kept the U.S. secretary of state cooling his heels for three hours outside his office before deigning to receive him. Even as Obama was hailing the nuclear deal with Iran as a great breakthrough, the ayatollah vowed “no change” in his policy, which remained diametrically opposed to “U.S. arrogant system.” The mullahs followed by openly conducting illegal ballistic missile tests — calculating, correctly, that Obama would do nothing. –Washington Post
 FPI Senior Policy Analyst Tzvi Kahn writes: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s recent six-nation tour of Latin America aims to send Washington a message that Iran will continue to challenge U.S. interests in the region despite the nuclear agreement. In particular, Tehran will sponsor terrorism, promote its radical Islamist ideology, pursue illicit money-laundering schemes, strengthen alliances with anti-American regimes, and ultimately threaten the U.S. homeland. – Foreign Policy Initiative
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