Philip K. Verleger Jr., an energy policy expert, says meetings of natural gas exporting countries in Qatar are not likely to be very significant in short term, but in time “could be very significant.”

Military forces have degraded the Pakistani Taliban’s insurgency, but the Peshawar school attack demonstrates the limits of government control and lethality of rebel forces, says CFR’s Daniel Markey.

Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, says the West should be flexible enought to preserve political engagement with the Palestinian Authority.

Counterterrorism expert Daniel L. Byman says Hezbollah is "the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon" and remains a potent guerrilla force.

Shanghai’s new free trade zone promises to be a testing ground for China’s economic reform, but its innovations should be assessed over time, explains expert Daniel Rosen.