Why China Isn’t Scared of Trump | An Israeli Order in the Middle East | Argentina Is Responding to Shock Therapy | Is the Age of American Air Superiority Coming to an End?, and more

Mass Graves Shed a Light on Assad’s “Killing Machine”  (Loveday Morris and Suzan Haidamous, Washington Post)
The International Commission on Missing Persons estimates there could be as many as 66 mass grave sites across Syria.

Israel Is Demolishing Northern Gaza and Fortifying Military Positions, Imagery Shows  (Miriam Berger, Imogen Piper, Hazem Balousha and Evan Hill, Washington Post)
Visual analysis and interviews show how Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the north as the Israeli military cuts a new corridor through Gaza.

Trump Will Confront a More Vulnerable but Determined Iran  (David E. Sanger, New York Times)
“Coercive diplomacy” could leave Tehran to choose either a negotiated disassembly of its nuclear capability, or a forced one.

How Google Maps Makes It Harder for Palestinians to Navigate the West Bank  (Paresh Dave, Wired)
One user told WIRED that Google Maps directed them to “drive right into a wall that’s been up since 2003.”

The Cost of Lawlessness on the West Bank  (Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic)
Settler violence against Palestinians is rising, and Israel seems unwilling to stop it.

Assad’s Fall  (Tom Stevenson, London Review of Books)
Assad’s legacy is the death of hundreds of thousands of Syrians. It is difficult to imagine how a working Syrian state might be reconstructed, given the damage that has been done. The greatest risk could be a majoritarian correction to Assad’s sectarian system: that would be to rediscover the underlying forces that produced the Assad state in the first place.

An Israeli Order in the Middle East  (Amos Yadlin and Avner Golov, Foreign Affairs)
A chance to defeat the Iranian vision for the region—and improve on the American vision.

One of Assad’s Mass Graves Is Found, with as Many as 100,000 Bodies  (Economist)
But justice for the victims of the Assad regime will be slow.

RIP, the Axis of Resistance  (Arash Azizi, The Atlantic)
Iran’s revolutionary project for the Middle East sowed misery and won’t be missed.

THE LONG VIEW

Trump’s Wish to Control Greenland and Panama Canal: Not a Joke This Time  (David E. Sanger and Lisa Friedman, New York Times)
In recent days the president-elect has called for asserting U.S. control over the Panama Canal and Greenland, showing that his “America First” philosophy has an expansionist dimension.

Repression of Climate and Environmental Protest Is Intensifying Across the World  (Oscar Berglund and Tie Franco Brotto, The Conversation)
Climate and environmental protest is being criminalized and repressed around the world. The criminalization of such protest has received a lot of attention in certain countries, including the UK and Australia. But there have not been any attempts to capture the global trend –until now.

Europe’s Microstates: The Medieval Monarchies That Survive in Our Midst  (Elisa Bertolini, The Conversation)
Continental Europe is home to four microstates with populations of between 30,000 and 80,000 people: Andorra, on the border between France and Spain; Liechtenstein, nestled between Switzerland and Austria; Monaco, which sits on the French Riviera; and San Marino, which is surrounded by northern Italy.
These states have existed since the medieval period and their tiny size has enabled them to develop and maintain singular constitutional arrangements. They have all developed original solutions to the problems of state architecture, many of which survive today.

The Elitist Truth About Far-Right Populism  (Caroline de Gruyter, Foreign Policy)
A small Swiss canton offers hard truths about the far right.

Is the Age of American Air Superiority Coming to an End?  (Economist)
The growing effectiveness of air-defense systems could blunt the West’s most powerful weapons.

MORE PICKS

NATO to Boost Military Presence in Baltic After Cables “Sabotage”  (APF / VOA News)
NATO will bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week, the Western military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte said on Friday.
On Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 submarine cable that carries electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic.

How Finnish Youth Learn to Spot Disinformation  (Anna Korkman, AFP / Techexplore)
Finland is consistently ranked as Europe’s most media-literate country and the skills needed to spot online hoaxes are on the school curriculum, amidst a boom of mis- and disinformation campaigns.

The Tsunami Detection Buoys Safeguarding Lives in Thailand (Watsamon Tri-Yaskada and Nattakorn Ploddee, AFP / Techexplore)
Almost 1,000 kilometers off the Thai coast devastated by a tsunami 20 years ago, engineers lower a detection buoy into the waves—a key link in a warning system intended to ensure no disaster is as deadly again.

The Invisible Russia-Ukraine Battlefield (Justin Ling, Wired)
In Russia’s war against Ukraine, electronic warfare, including signal-jamming, anti-drone weapons, and innovative protections for critical military systems, has become a key piece of the conflict.

Prince Andrew and the British Establishment’s “Target-Rich Environment” for Spies (Philip Murphy, The Conversation)
Prince Andrew’s behavior is part of a wider picture and speaks to the general need for higher standards in British public life. Stricter rules on political donations to prevent foreign interference in British politics are long overdue. And people of political influence, including members of both houses of parliament, should be far more closely scrutinized over their relationships with foreign officials and business people. National security, as the term implies, very much begins at home.

Argentina Is Responding to Shock Therapy  (Quico Toro, Persuasion)
He comes across like a madman, but Javier Milei is fast becoming the man of the moment.

South Korea Military Faces Scrutiny Amid Officer Arrests  (Julian Ryall, DW)
Despite fears that the nation’s armed forces are rudderless after President Yoon’s martial law declaration was swiftly reversed, observers tell DW that the rule of law has shown resilience and the military remains ready.

Dexit? Far-Right AfD Wants Germany to Leave the EU  (Ben Knight, DW)
Germany’s far-right AfD has stated in its draft election manifesto that it wants to leave the EU and the euro. Are they serious —and what consequences would this have for Germany and the EU?

Ukraine Is Winning the Economic War Against Russia  (Economist)
Whether that lasts depends on its ability to overcome acute shortages of power, men and money.