Recent brazen anti-American militant attacks on supply convoys in Pakistan have succeeded in capturing a number of U.S. military vehicles destined for the Afghan war.  The attacks underscore the importance of Pakistan, as both an ally and supply route, for the American war in Afghanistan. 

The United States has begun signalling a new strategy in the seven-year long Afghanistan War: peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

Syria officially ended 60 years of non-recognition this past week when it recognized Lebanon as a sovereign state and announced plans to exchange embassies with its neighbor.  The diplomatic move comes at the end of decades of often acrimonious, and violent, relations. 

On Monday, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, won the leadership race of the Kadima Party, the ruling party in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, following the resignation of the former leader ex-PM Ehud Olmert.