There are many things wrong about Austin's attempts to communicate with Wei. As an initial matter, Wei's rank is far below Austin's.

Our defense secretary should insist, when he talks, to talk to the people in charge.

Americans are big on "dialogue." They believe as an article of faith, that there must be communication to maintain relations. In fact, communication with China has over the course of decades made matters worse.

How so? American attempts at dialogue empower the worst elements in the Chinese political system by showing everyone else that bad conduct works. The cycle is well known in Beijing: China engages in belligerent conduct and America then tries to placate the hostile regime. Desperate attempts to talk make America look like a supplicant.

Austin, if he were to call, should have done so as the craft approached U.S. airspace in late January.

The People's Liberation Army has continued to ignore communication mechanisms.

No agreement can get Chinese officials to engage in dialogue when they consider dialogue to not be in their interests. In short, China will talk only when it wants to.

America should reverse the dynamic and break off communication with China. Severing dialogue could intimidate Chinese leaders and officials. What will Beijing think when normally eager-to-talk Americans do not call and even refuse to answer their phone?

Moreover, the U.S. can up the pressure by ordering Beijing to close its remaining four consulates and to strip down its overly large embassy to just the ambassador. Ordering the closures and expulsions now will, among other things, emphasize that America is no longer willing to tolerate dangerous behavior.

If these steps do not work, Washington can end other ties — trade, investment, technical cooperation — that China needs for its struggling economy, something the U.S. should do anyway.

[T]he riskiest policy of all is to continue with an approach that created this perilous situation in the first place.

Another claimant to victory [for ending the war in Syria] was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who managed to milk the European Union cow to the tune of $5 billion while seizing control of enough Syrian oilfields and mines to ensure a steady revenue stream in what amounts to international robbery.

The idea that war had ended led to a second mistake: the belief that a United Nations mission could bring "all sides" together in Swiss luxury hotels and persuade them to kiss and forget.

The latest blow to Assad's position has come from Tehran.

Faced with a deepening economic crisis of their own, Iran's ruling mullahs have decided to end their "oil on credit" scheme.

Like it or not, the US is still the only power capable of mobilizing international and regional diplomatic, economic and military support to tackle the herculean task of restoring Syria to a semblance of statehood, as the Clinton administration, massively helped by the EU and NATO, did in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Syria may no longer be front-page news. But even relegated to inside pages, its sinking into the status of "ungoverned territory" poses a threat to regional and international stability and peace.