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THE LATEST OPINIONS FROM BLOOMBERG VIEW

MARCH 10, 2015 bloombergview.com

MIDDLE EAST The Editors: "As the U.S. stands aside while Iran-backed militiamen lead the fight to recapture the Iraqi town of Tikrit, it's hard to know if it would be worse for them to win this battle against Islamic State or to lose. What is clear is that the U.S. and its allies should be playing a stronger role in the war against Islamic State to keep Iraq from polarizing." Read more... Daniel Gordis: "For all the vitriol in the U.S. surrounding Benjamin Netanyahu's speech last week to Congress, it was nothing compared with what the Israeli prime minister faced upon his homecoming." Read more... DECLASSIFIED Josh Rogin: "The rise of Islamic State has distracted many from the murderous assaults by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on his own citizens. Now advocates for those victims are attempting to shock world leaders into action with a novel approach: Gruesome photos of civilians tortured and murdered while in the custody of the Syrian regime are going on display Tuesday in the halls of the United Nations." Read more... U.S. ECONOMY Justin Fox: "The U.S. economy has been adding a lot of jobs lately. But what kind of jobs? I've been digging around in the payroll employment numbers again, and the first thing I noticed is that most of the sectors that saw big gains in February's payroll report aren't exactly high-end." Read more... REGULATION The Editors: "Three of the most powerful forces in the U.S. economy have just agreed to be more careful. They go by the names Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and they collect billions of bits of data about U.S. consumers."Read more... TECH Mark Gilbert: "Apple, if the gold bugs are to be believed, will hoover up a third of the world's gold every year to bling its timepieces. But that incredible claim relies on some very sketchy assumptions at almost every step." Read more... Katie Benner: "A biotechnology bubble appears to be upon us. ... The biotech boom isn't an isolated phenomenon. Equities have lifted off everywhere." Read more... RUSSIA Leonid Bershidsky: "The Kremlin's version of the murder of President Vladimir Putin's longtime opponent Boris Nemtsov has now coalesced. ... If anything, the official narrative about the assassination makes the involvement of the Kremlin and its allies in Chechnya seem more, not less, likely." Read more... 2016 ELECTIONS Jonathan Bernstein: "Here's even more evidence for why Ted Cruz is going nowhere as a presidential candidate. This time, we see it in the aftermath of the Homeland Security shutdown showdown, which was hard to regard as anything but a complete loss for Republicans." Read more... LAW Noah Feldman: "The U.S. Supreme Court likes to remind the D.C. Circuit who's the boss by reversing one of its administrative law principles. That happened Monday, in a 9-0 decision in which the court repudiated a perfectly serviceable doctrine the D.C. Circuit invented and has used sensibly since 1997. The decision won't make headlines -- but it's wrong anyway." Read more... EUROPE Bershidsky: "The latest developments in the sad story of a small Austrian lender that an ultranationalist politician allowed to swell out of proportion are a preview of what may happen to more European banks, and their creditors, in the years ahead. Above all, the case of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International warns investors not to be naive about financial guarantees from governments." Read more... SPORTS Kavitha A. Davidson: "A demoralizing investigation on performance-enhancing substances in cycling has found that the sport's international governing bodies have largely ignored anti-doping efforts and shielded athletes from testing positive." Read more... Davidson: "The Major League Soccer season has begun, and while the league has struggled to establish itself among North America's sports elite, it has at least one thing in common with the continent's most popular leagues: questionable concussion protocol." Read more... TRANSPORTATION Adam Minter: "Asia's aviation market is booming, but the supply of pilots isn't nearly keeping pace with the demand for flights. Airlines are already struggling with shortages in staff." Read more...