Syria was a minor US strategic concern, until it became clear that it was a major concern, and advantage, to all the other players. Those players are taking the game in a new, possibly better, direction.

Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, says he is prepared to mediate in the Syrian conflict. So is the strategic relationship between Damascus and Tehran under threat, and could Iran be preparing to withdraw its support from Bashar al-Assad?

The US municipal debt market is worth almost $4 trillion, and more and more cities and counties are being forced into bankruptcy, further worsening the deteriorating lives of their populations. The urban strategies of the past have been forgotten, and Washington doesn’t care.