Once part of the elite, the fortunes of the country's 'third nationality' have fallen. Politically sidelined for supporting Turkey, Iraq's Turkmen have had enough and are now starting to leave.
The Iraqi PM and Joe Biden stuck to the script, emphasising economic opportunities. No one mentioned US troop withdrawal, but Baghdad's tense relations with Iraqi Kurds did come up.
Does the declaration recently signed in Riyadh indicate a gradual transition towards a regional security architecture that will assume responsibilities long borne by external naval powers?
Come November, the Egyptian-American epidemiologist could become the first Muslim senator in US history, despite $70mn spent to defeat him in the Democratic primary