What is the condition of and what are the prospects for al-Qaida? The movement has commissioned a new report from the near-legendary management consultancy, whose offices are now dispersed following collateral damage to its Waziristan HQ from an armed-drone strike.
The difficult choice faced by the United States and its allies in Syria is rooted in the strategic errors of the early post-9/11 years.
The major powers involved in Syria's war are adjusting their positions to prevent an Islamist victory. This will not end but prolong the suffering.
A surge of widespread Islamist attacks provokes western alarm about al-Qaida's revival. But it is Syria above all where the future of paramiltarism is being forged.
The United States and its allies are pioneering the use of armed-drones. But other states, including their strategic rivals, are catching up.
The unexpected Washington-Moscow diplomacy - made possible by London's parliament - creates space for progress in ending Syria's "double proxy war".
James O'Connell, who has died at the age of 87, was through testing years head of Bradford University's department of peace studies. His successor pays tribute to a remarkable figure whose experiences in Ireland and Nigeria were crucial to his outlook.
The United States's military preparations, and Israel's growing involvement, reveal the momentum to a dangerous escalation in the middle east.
The momentum in the United States is shifting towards a larger-scale attack on the Assad regime. But even a limited one will transform the nature of the war, with region-wide consequences.
The probability that the United States will make a single military reponse to the chemical-weapons assault near Damascus is very high.
Al-Qaida has twice returned from presumed defeat. Now, the fate of the Arab awakening provides it with a third opportunity.
Syria's internal stalemate and the wider regional standoff make a political settlement ever more remote. But the military trends are going the jihadist paramilitaries' way.
