Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 11, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting during the NATO summit in Brussels, July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Gregory Feifer, Reuters: Europe’s fears about Trump-Putin summit

As if the war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of other NATO member countries this week weren’t bad enough for transatlantic relations, European leaders are bracing for his expected follow-up performance at a July 16 summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The timing alone has already cast a dark symbolic shadow at a moment when a clear display of consensus is critical for Western unity.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 11, 2018

Here Is What Trump Can Gain from Meeting with Putin -- Lawrence J. Korb, National Interest

Steady drum of Trump’s anti-Germany remarks raises questions -- David Rising, AP

NATO in the Age of Trump: What It Can and Can’t Accomplish Absent U.S. Leadership -- Julianne Smith and Jim Townsend, Foreign

Affairs

Does Trump have a point about NATO? -- Max Hofmann, DW

NATO Doesn’t Need More Defense Spending: America needs less. -- Peter Beinart, The Atlantic

Israel prepares for Assad’s return to the border -- Ben Caspit, Al-Monitor

Why Putin won’t throw Iran under the bus in Syria -- Hamidreza Azizi, Al-Monitor

How could Iran disrupt Gulf oil flows? -- Parisa Hafezi, Jonathan Saul, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Reuters

Why the end of US sanctions hasn't helped Sudan -- BBC

Can China Mediate Between Pakistan and India? -- Samuel Ramani, The Diplomat

It’s clear China is behind North Korea’s latest flip -- Benny Av, NYPost

Speed bumps ahead as smart cars and clean energy fuel China’s rise -- Gordon Watts, Asia Times

After Trump's new tariff threat, China may either have to blink or widen the trade war -- Don Lee and Jim Puzzanghera, L.A. Times

Consumption is America’s Achilles’ heel in a trade war -- David P. Goldman, Asia Times

Election gives Trump a chance to hit the reset button with Mexico -- Earl Anthony Wayne, The Hill