Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 17, 2021

President Joe Biden, Reuters  Willis L Krumholz, National Interest: Biden’s ‘America Is Back’ Speech Misunderstands How Overstretched America Is Abroad  Diplomacy is good, but America cannot do everything at once and is still stuck in multiple wars. President Joe Biden recently delivered a speech at the State Department, laying out the major foreign policy goals of his new administration.  The speech centered on the theme that “America is back.” Biden’s speech included his plans to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal and renew U.S. membership in the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization.  In Europe, Biden implied he would return to the pre-Trump status quo on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), promising to rebuild “the muscle of democratic alliances that have atrophied over the past few years of neglect and, I would argue, abuse.”  On a related note, Biden promised to stop “any planned troop withdrawals from Germany.”  Read more ....   Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 17, 2021  Biden eyes change in style, not substance, with China policy -- Christian Le Miere, Asia Times  After rocket attack, Biden faces first real test on Iran -- Martin Chulov, The Guardian  Why Are Al Qaeda Leaders in Iran? What a Prisoner Exchange Reveals About an Unlikely Relationship -- Cole Bunzel, Foreign Affairs  Afghans—Not American Troops—Must Fix Afghanistan’s Problems -- Ethan Kessler, National Interest  Myanmar's young 'Generation Z' protesters take on the military -- Rodion Ebbighausen, DW  China moves for more control over Belt and Road in Pakistan -- Adnan Aamir, Nikkei Asia  Africa’s reliance on Chinese loans has experts concerned about more debt defaults -- Elliot Smith, CNBC  Why China banned the BBC, and why it matters -- Sam Shead, CNBC  Why is Ukraine still not in NATO? -- Dmytro Kuleba, The Atlantic  Austin Starts With New ‘Tone’ For NATO; Hard Stuff Comes Next -- Paul Mcleary, Breakind Defense  Catalonia's Grievance Culture -- Jim Lawley, Spectator  Defend America's Arctic from China and Russia -- Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Washington Examiner  EXPLAINER: How will we know we’ve reached herd immunity? -- Candice Choi and Aniruddha Ghosal, AP  Why does Bitcoin need more energy than whole countries? -- Timothy Rooks, DW

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