The Pentagon's 'strategic guidance', released on January 5th, makes three key changes: it establishes Asia as the focus of US military efforts, with the Middle East a close second. It foresees fewer 'nation-building' missions such as the one in Afghanistan, and more strikes from afar and from the air, sometimes in cyberspace.
After the secession of South Sudan the Sudanese ruling National Congress Party seeks to strengthen ties with the United States and the west. Any attempt to reform the NCP will fail for now so Washington has no choice but to re-engage with the regime in Khartoum. 
Syrian state-controlled media blames most of the deaths on armed groups (which it calls terrorists). These allegations have awakened Russia’s dormant–but not forgotten–memory of the Saudi-American alliance that created the Mujahidin networks in Afghanistan, which in turn defeated the Soviet Union. 
The Munich Security Conference took place last week. International security leaders met at Munich’s Bayerische Hof hotel in order to discuss current and forthcoming international security issues. The conference organised a series of panels that fostered debate and fruitful discussion among senior experts around the world. The discussions were as follows: 
The prognosis of a thirty-year war looked outlandish as Saddam's regime toppled, persuasive as Iraq's insurgency erupted - and now less plausible amid American forces' retreat. But two core issues continue to give it life. 
Since December 2010, there has been a big exclamation mark hanging upon the Republic of Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko has been re-elected President which raised many people to protest against him as well as his old regime which was then going to be prolonged. 
The tensions between Washington and Tehran are being further fuelled by naval exercises and discussion of strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. This makes the absence of a direct communications channel all the more worrying.