Economic reform is key to the future of a region which needs to diversify away from dependency on oil, or a reliance on international funding. There has been both resistance and progress so far.
Bahrain's oil sector is relatively small for the Gulf. So, the kingdom has been an early adopter of economic diversification and has harnessed the advantage of a well-developed education sector.
The US could be secretly negotiating with elements in the government to take charge. The alternative is state and popular resistance, which sets the stage for more military action and insurgency.
Venezuela's vice president is known for having a diplomatic style that is confrontational in tone but cautious in substance, and pursuing a strategy that marries public defiance with quiet pragmatism
In an interview with Al Majalla, the senior US diplomat says that while the US may no longer play the role of world policeman, it is not isolationist either
If anywhere encapsulates the Syrian capital in recent decades, it is this enigmatic and iconic public space, which has seen more than its fair share of changes