Turkey’s role in the Middle East and in the world more generally has changed during the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. It is now more assertive and determined to chart its own course. In the process of change, Erdogan has also walked a delicate line running a secular government with a large Muslim population. In the aftermath of many of the recent changes in the Arab world, many are now looking to Turkey as a possible model for governance.
The Syrian tragedy continues as the fighting reaches deep into the city of Aleppo. Perversely, the spread of violence to the cities makes outside humanitarian intervention less likely. The key military assets of the Security Council members are too powerful to use in dense, heavily populated areas without a high probability of civilian casualties. It seems as if the only option now is for Assad to either be assassinated by one of his inner circle, or for him to get asylum in another state. Neither option appears likely soon.
Kenya has bravely faced the fighters of al-Shahbab who had ruled for many years in the neighboring state of Somalia. It now seems, however, that al-Shahbab is counterattacking in Kenya raising the possibility of a wider war in East Africa.
World Politics News 
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