The story of how an Afghan dam was planned, prepared, fought over and now abandoned symbolises the epic failure of the "war on terror".
Many evolving disputes in north Africa and the Sahara fuse religious language and political impulse to powerful effect, says Stephen Ellis.
The neglected experience of family members swept up into the vast detention-and-data-collection systems of the post-9/11 decade is illuminated in a valuable new book.
The Afghan model of future war based on armed-drones and special-forces is being refined in Mali. But the western states there risk provoking the reaction that defeated them in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The prospect of a chaotic endgame in Syria and more instability in Egypt is leading Israel further in the direction of a "fortress-state". This military entrenchment reflects not strength but vulnerability.
The transition to "remote-control" militarism by the United States and its allies is accelerating . Behind the reports of withdrawal, Afghanistan is already a template of the intended future.
The multiple fronts of an evolving war - from Yemen to Mali, Syria to Nigeria - have led al-Qaida to commission its chosen management consultants to assess its progress. openDemocracy again has exclusive access to the latest report.
The combination of western advance and rebel retreat in northern Mali echoes the initial phase of the anti-Taliban campaign in Afghanistan. Britain's upgraded military commitment makes the parallel even more acute.
A decade ago, western leaders' excessive reaction and inflated rhetoric served to amplify rather than diminish the power of Islamist groups. The same danger now overhangs Mali, Algeria and beyond.
The seizure of an international gas-plant in Algeria follows closely the escalation of conflict in Mali. The response of western states to both reinforces the worldview of their Islamist adversaries.
The United States's "remote control" campaign against Islamist targets is intensifying. But behind the headlines, the transnational diffusion of al-Qaida's idea is just as potent.
The growing challenge to Bashar al-Assad's regime raises the issue of Syria's chemical weapons, and whether there are any feasible military options in addressing it. Here, the decisions of the United States and Israel will be crucial.
