MEZAR MATAR/AFP/Getty Images
The Islamic State
The Raqqa Imperative

The United States and its allies against the Islamic State face a major choice in its next target: the Iraqi city of Mosul, or the IS “capital” of Raqqa.

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images
A New Middle East?
A U.S. Blueprint for Syria

Why does Russia always seem to be a step ahead of the U.S. in Syria? The answer is simple: Moscow knows exactly what it wants, and the U.S. doesn’t.

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The Turkey Shootdown
An Unnecessary Crisis

Some guesses as to what exactly transpired in this week’s high-stakes standoff between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin.

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How to Beat ISIS
From Sinjar to Paris and Back

Successes in the campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria are creating opportunities for the United States to shift the momentum of the conflict.

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images
Erdogan Rising
Turkey’s Elections, the Syrian Crisis, and the US

Fresh off his party’s stunning election victory, will Erdogan get in the way of U.S. plans, or work with Washington toward a grand bargain on Syria and Iraq?

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The Uses of Air Power
No-Fly Zone No Answer for Syria

Humanitarian “safe zones” are a great idea in theory. But they’re a bad, dangerous idea in the context of the Syrian civil war.

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Turkey’s Tumult
Erdogan’s Great Losing Gamble

Turkey is gearing up for two months of intense, no-holds-barred electioneering, in which anything could happen.

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The End of Erdogan
Failure to Re-Launch

Turkish voters just delivered a strong rebuke to Erdogan and the AKP at the polls, but that doesn’t mean he’s given up on his plans.

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images
Farewell to Arms
False Dawn for Turkey’s Kurds?

Turkey’s push for peace with the Kurds is laudable, but politics and bad timing may doom the whole effort to collapse.

FRANCK FIFE,BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Policy Review
Making the Best of Our Bad Options in Syria

President Obama has reportedly ordered a review of his administration’s Syria strategy. Here’s what his advisers will probably tell him.

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