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.
The Yemen-related security alert that has led to a western diplomatic shutdown in the middle east and north Africa highlights an enduring feature of the United States's jihadist adversary.
The hope for progress in the core middle-east dispute arises at the very time when a new Iranian president tests Israel's unyielding stance on nuclear security.
Syria's war is producing humanitarian crisis, the growth of radical paramilitaries, violence in Iraq, and intra-state conflict. In the morass there is but one chance of progress.
A combination of extreme weather events and a coming temperature rise may be enough to induce the serious political shift needed over climate change.
