Following a meeting Tuesday, senior diplomatic officials from the United States, Japan, and South Korea said that "a path is open" for Pyongyang to rejoin the suspended Six-Party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program. But CFR Senior Fellow Scott A. Snyder says the talks are unlikely to resume soon. Snyder says North Korea, in the aftermath of Kim Jong-il's death, is waiting to see if a more favorable government will be elected in South Korea this year and is unwilling to improve inter-Korean relations, a U.S. requirement for resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang. "The North Koreans, by taking differing positions toward the United States and South Korea, appear to be trying to divide the United States and South Korea," says Snyder, "and the significance of the meeting in Washington Tuesday was to signal that that would not be acceptable from the U.S., South Korean, and Japanese points of view."

The conventional wisdom in Washington and beyond is that Bashar al-Assad will fall on his own and that an intervention would be counterproductive, but with thousands dying we need to reconsider those assumptions

In an exclusive interview with TIME's Fareed Zakaria, President Obama opens up on Iran, Afghanistan, China and the challenges the U.S. faces in navigating a rapidly changing world. A full transcript of their conversation follows

LONDON – Free, fair, and transparent democratic elections are no longer strangers to Africa. Indeed, they have become a regular occurrence. But the presidential and parliamentary elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the end of November will likely be Africa’s most daunting electoral challenge so far. If the vote comes off successfully, democrats and democratic norms will receive a boost in every corner of the continent.

As I sat on the curb in front of central Havana’s Capitolio, the impressive domed hall that resembles the U.S. Capitol building, and watched the 1950s-era Plymouths and Soviet-made Ladas go belching by, I was sure I had entered a surreal time warp a mere one-hour flight from Miami. And yet, after a week of meetings with Cuban and foreign diplomats, journalists, academics and artists, I became convinced that Cuba, indeed, is changing in many ways.

Despite an outward show of unity in the wake of Kim Jong-il's death, there is much unknown about North Korea's succession process, says Scott A. Snyder, CFR's top expert on Korea.

Russia's December 4 parliamentary vote has prompted mass demonstrations over allegations of electoral fraud and, in part, due to public frustration with former president and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's decision to run again for president in March.

A Conversation with Janet Napolitano