Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Although France quickly achieved its goals in Mali, the Islamist and Tuareg militants it fought are still at large, having swiftly retreated into the northeastern part of the country. The most likely outcome of the French operation, therefore, is not an end to West Africa's problems but their spread into neighboring Niger.

In a recent article, Bilal Saab and Andrew Tabler argued that negotiations between the Assad regime and the rebels would only prolong the war in Syria. In fact, conflicts end in mediation much more often than they end in decisive military defeat -- and those conflicts are less likely to revert to war. The choice in Syria is whether to start talks now, or wait until even more of the country is in ruins.

During the run up to the recent election, Israelis were less focused than usual on the Palestinian issue. But the current stalemate is untenable, and the next government will have to consider feasible ways to move forward, with an eye toward the lessons from similar conflicts such as those in Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Kashmir.

Iraqi Kurdistan is reveling in its newfound oil wealth and growing more estranged from the violent and dysfunctional central government in Baghdad. Yet statehood -- the ultimate dream of Iraqi Kurds -- will likely be deferred once again, as Kurdistan shifts from Iraq’s suffocating embrace to a more congenial dependence on Turkey.