The Council on Foreign Relations' fifth annual Preventive Priorities Survey ranks conflict prevention priorities based on their potential impact on U.S. interests and their likelihood of occurring in the coming year.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars taught the United States painful lessons about the need to limit harm to civilians and compensate victims for their suffering.

CFR's Paul Stares highlights three of the top conflict prevention priorities for 2013.

CFR's Daniel Markey examines the prospects for new talks with the Afghan Taliban, especially given improving relations between the United States and Pakistan.

Salman Shaikh proposes a path forward for addressing the quickly escalating crisis in Syria.

Reza Aslan says, "It has always been extremely easy to inject God into political conflicts... But if we are to find an equitable end to such intractable conflicts as the one between Israel and Palestine, we must learn to actively strip them of their religious connotations. Otherwise, we will never stop fighting them."

Thanks to the rift between Turkey and Israel, Ankara's days as a power broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict are over, says Steven A. Cook.

Israel must accept that negotiating with Hamas is the only way forward, says Ed Husain.

The Gaza conflict has been brewing for a while, and although Egypt and others are working to deescalate it, there are no guarantees, says CFR's Steven Cook.

Steven A. Cook says Gaza's radiating instability proves once again that Palestine is at the center of the region's problems.

Leslie H. Gelb says all parties involved share some responsibility for the crisis in Gaza. But Hamas is by far the biggest villain.

CFR's Ed Husain discusses the significance of a newly formed coalition of Syrian opposition groups and whether a real political settlement can be achieved anytime soon.

While they acknowledge the importance of building and maintaining positive relations with China, South Koreans feel apprehensive about China's growing influence.

Every aspiring beauty-pageant queen knows what to say when asked what she wants most: "World peace." World peace is at least nominally what we all want most. But evidently, we are not very good at making it.

International efforts to ease Syria's crisis have been limited by divisions in the UN Security Council and wariness about a military response, explains this Backgrounder.

Scott Snyder speaks to Balbina Hwang and Terry Roehrig on South Korea's contributions to international security.

Despite an ongoing threat from North Korea, South Korea has emerged as a producer rather than a consumer of international security goods. As a newly elected member of the UN Security Council, South Korea has the opportunity to use these investments as a "middle power" and responsible leader in the international community, says Scott A. Snyder.

South Korea has emerged as a major contributor to international security, participating in a wide range of activities far from the Korean peninsula. CFR scholars outline several steps that will ensure that South Korea can sustain this broadened role.

In the case of Iran, Richard N. Haass says, "Diplomacy needs to be move faster if is not to be overtaken by Iran's march to a nuclear weapon—and, with it, by the West's march to conflict."

An intensifying anti-Assad stance has disrupted Turkey's pragmatic regional policy and aroused concerns at home that it is on a war footing, says expert Steven Heydemann.