[W]hat the Switzerland negotiations ultimately lead to may help determine who the next U.S. president will be, as much as they will define the rules of the game in the Middle East.
The Beijing summit did not produce a major agreement between the great powers on the region, but it firmly established that Middle Eastern crises are now deeply tied to the great-power dialogue.
[W]hen ethics are abandoned for epics, and when political power subverts rational military decision-making, it is not surprising that symptoms of strategic fatigue begin to develop.