Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 17, 2015

Dan Murphy, CSM: Most senior Baathist general to evade US in Iraq reported killed. Does it matter?

Douri was the King of Clubs in the playing cards that the US distributed as its most-wanted list after invading Iraq and had linked up with the Islamic State.

Gen. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most senior member of the Baath Party leadership to escape following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, was killed today north of Baghdad, according to the governor of Salahuddin Province.

Douri's name was one to conjure with before the US invasion - he was one of the organizers of the massacres in the Shiite south and the Kurdish north that followed Iraq's defeat in Kuwait in 1991 - and since. The former Iraqi vice president and head of Saddam Hussein's Revolutionary Command Council was a key figure in bringing former Iraqi army officers and soldiers into the burgeoning Sunni Arab insurgency in the early years of the US occupation.

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 17, 2015

He Served Saddam. He Served ISIS. Now Al Douri May Be Dead. -- Jamie Dettmer, Daily Beast

It’s had some military success, but the Islamic State is no existential threat -- Rosa Brooks, Washington Post

How ISIS Plans to Destroy Israel -- Bridget Johnson, PJ Media

‘Isis’ Removed From UN List of Hurricane Names -- Tessa Berenson, Time

Empty out Boston; starve Moscow, and you may understand some of Syria's hell -- CNN

Is Iran Overstretched in Syria? -- Randa Slim, Foreign Policy

Iran-U.S. differences over nuclear deal widen -- Oren Dorell, USA TODAY

In Israel’s army, more officers are now religious. What that means. - Christa Case Bryant, CSM

Slowing economy won’t alter Xi’s ‘China Dream’ -- John Lloyd, Reuters

Whatever happened to Obama’s pivot to Asia? -- Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post

America's China Consensus Unravels -- Hugh White, Real Clear World/Lowy Institute

Violence Monitor: Xenophobic Attacks Stem From Frustration -- Emilie Iob, VOA

Sudan's Pointless Election -- Justin Willis, Real Clear World

Russia's Economy Steps Back from the Brink -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

In a New Bipolar Energy Order, America Must Assert Itself in the Arctic -- Vicente López-Ibor Mayor, Atlantic Council

Hacker challenge helps NSA develop future cyberwarriors -- Sara Sorcher, CSM

Global Economy Loses Its (Ball) Bearings -- Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg