YEMEN INCHES TOWARD PEACE; WITH AN EYE ON IRAN, ISRAELI UNVEILS NEW DRONE; U.S. REAFFIRMS CENTRAL ASIA TIES; AKP STEPS UP BATTLE AGAINST MILITARY IN TURKEY

Change is afoot in Pakistan. Evidence was on display in early February, with the capture of the Afghan Taliban’s number two commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in a joint operation by the CIA and Pakistani intelligence. The capture of Baradar, who had been operating with relative impunity in Pakistan for years, was met with elation in Washington, where officials have been fruitlessly pressing the Pakistanis to crack down on the Afghan Taliban since 2001.

One step forward, one step back in Chechnya;
Repopulating the Far East

SORE WINNERS IN SRI LANKA; INDIA WARMS TO TALKS WITH THE TALIBAN; BOMB BLAST IN PUNE BREAKS INDIAN PEACE; INDIAS BM PROGRAM RAISES EYEBROWS IN ASIA

What do al-Qaida's leaders fear most? It's not the more stringent screening requirements imposed by the Transportation Security Administration in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing by Nigerian extremist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Nor is it the long-awaited deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan as part of the Obama administration's AfPak plan. And it certainly isn't the prospect that al-Qaida foot soldiers might end up in U.S. federal court, whether in New York or anywhere else. Rather, what keeps Osama Bin Laden and his followers up at night is the prospect that the Muslim world might get wise to their dirty little secret: that supporting al-Qaida is hazardous to your health.

WAZIRISTAN WON, BUT NO MORE FOR NOW; INDIA TRIPLES ITS ORDER FOR RUSSIAN MIGS...; ... AND URGES DOMESTIC FIRMS TO ENTER ARMS MARKET; PAKISTAN GETS ITS DRONES

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PICKS A NEW LEADER; THE SAUDI STAKE IN YEMEN...; ...AND THE ROLE OF U.S. SPECIAL FORCES THERE; SECULARISTS SCORE A VICTORY IN TURKEY...; AND SUFFER A LOSS IN EGYPT

RUSSIAN NUKE SUB TO INDIA ON 10 YEAR LEASE; A RECORD YEAR FOR VIOLENCE IN PAK; INDIA FEARS CHINA'S CYBER ARMY; ABYSMAL STATE OF PAK PUBLIC EDUCATION

There's an old saying, familiar to historians and foreign policy practitioners, that "geography is destiny." A modern twist to this rule is that demography is no less decisive.

Russia is finding this out the hard way. Over the past several years, under the direction of former President (and current Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin and his handpicked protege, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia may have re-emerged on the international scene with a vengeance. But behind all of the Kremlin's contemporary geopolitical bluster, the successor state of the once-mighty Soviet Union is caught in a demographic and socioeconomic death spiral.

YEMEN HEADED FOR ECONOMIC DISASTER...; WHILE WASHINGTON MOVES AGAINST AQAP; COMMISSION UPENDS IRAQI POLITICS; CENTRAL ASIAN YOUTH SEEK MADRASSAS ABROAD