Much leftist analysis of Syrian events is trapped by a dogmatic outlook that combines a warped view of geopolitics with inattention to local realities, says Vicken Cheterian.
The conflict in Syria leaves western powers with no good choices, and their agony is intensified by Islamist advances in west Africa. The search for intelligent security responses goes on.
Pyongyang looks and feels different under Kim Jong Un's leadership, but how much do new buildings, markets and facades reveal about the direction of policy? Charles K Armstrong, who recently visited North Korea, reflects.
When the United States led the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, it planned to extend its power from Afghanistan to the wider region. Today, the actions of leading states - Russia, Pakistan, and China among them - are contributing to a very different outcome.
The successive presidencies of the Kirchner couple, Néstor and now his widow Cristina, have led Argentina since the country survived near-collapse in the early 2000s. Now, Mrs Kirchner's ideological ambition and uncertain grasp of reality are taking her political experiment in worrying directions,
A significant change of thinking inside Britain's military services raises the prospect that the long-term ambition of nuclear disarmament could become reality.
An interplay of domestic politics, military pressures and regional tensions means there is an acute danger of war before the United States presidential election.
There are striking connections across decades and enmities in the evolving methods of armed warfare. In particular, non-state actors will soon be deploying versions of the armed-drones now wielded by western powers.
A pressure-cooker mix of electoral, technical and diplomatic factors is shaping the potential for conflict over Iran.
What are the prospects of war over Iran? The hi-tech arms and intelligence trade between Washington and its regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, is a guide.
The destructive potential of Syria's conflict is creating alarm in Washington and a bare margin of hope for diplomatic progress.
The understanding of global climate change has deepened since the 1970s, in parallel with voluminous research into and clear scientific evidence of its reality. The obstacles to recognition remain powerful. But this, the 2010s, really is the crucial decade.
