We will most probably continue to have more information about Syria policy in the next few years, and these new accounts will enable a better analysis of the policy of the Obama administration since the beginning of the crisis.

The most critical question about security in the Asia-Pacific region will continue to be the crises between China and its neighbors in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

American administration does not want a serious role in Iraq anymore, at least not under Obama's leadership. The next president should volunteer to make serious political investments and be a sponsor for the political rapprochement in Iraq. Without a rapprochement in Iraq and Syria, the chaos will continue and ISIS will make use of it to last longer.

These new challenges and debates about the U.S.'s role in the world will need to be handled by the next U.S. president, who will have a major debate on his or her hands and the debates to respond.

The Obama administration needs to plan extensive modifications and introduce substantial changes to the way US foreign policy is conducted around the world.

Writing forty years ago in the "Journal of Contemporary History" Andrew Mango, the prominent British historian of modern Turkey, noted Turkey's potential new role in the Middle East as a "middle-power." He observed that "Turkey is socially and technologically the most advanced country of the Muslim Middle East.

We see shocking pictures from Iraq every day. Hundreds of people, old and young, men and women, lose their lives while those who are lucky to survive are destined to live with physical injuries and psychological trauma.Iraq is going through turbulent times despite high expectations from the other side. The removal of Saddam, who was a brutal dictator, was a welcome development for the people of Iraq but unfolding events after the American military invasion brought chaos and carnage. The future of Iraq doesn’t look promising as far as the nature of current events and their costs are concerned. Iraq is located in a volatile region and has strategic significance with enormous oil reserves.

SETA CONFERNCE By  Eduard Soler and Fadela Hilali  The CIDOB Foundation Mediterranean Programme Date: January 22, 2009 Thursday  Time: 10.00 – 12.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

We will continue to witness a U.S. policy striving to adjust to the process in Syria. Nevertheless, this policy is not one that is pregnant with revolutionary turning points!

We will continue to witness a U.S. policy striving to adjust to the process in Syria. Nevertheless, this policy is not one that is pregnant with revolutionary turning points!

The analyses over the US policy in Syria have started to concentrate on the US’ gains if the Syrian crisis drags out rather than on the risks Washington will face.

Croatia has officially become the 28th member state of the European Union on 1 July, 2013. Croatia’s membership to the European Union will probably pave the way for numerous political and economic developments and changes in the Balkans.

If one desires to strengthen meritocracy and quality, it is necessary to revise the entire legislation which was drafted with institutional bigotry by “bureaucrats who were unable to be appointed although they wished for it.”

Forget about the intervention against those who betray the norm, the United States does not even adopt a dissuasive strategy in Egypt; therefore, foundations of a period where the use of chemical weapons by authoritarian regimes would be treated as normal from now on have been laid.

Kılıç Buğra Kanat: A possible U.S. intervention will not end the civil war. However, in a more optimistic look, it is possible to expect that the strike will seriously damage Assad’s conventional forces and give opposition groups serious advantages.