Libya’s UN-brokered unity agreement is fragile at best and could fracture in the event of a stepped-up Western intervention against Islamic State forces, says expert Mary Fitzgerald.

Five years after a devastating earthquake, Haiti remains plagued by a weak political system and flawed reconstruction process, says former correspondent Jonathan M. Katz.

Russia’s options for combatting the plunge of the ruble are dwindling, but government intervention is likely to intensify in efforts to avert a full-blown crisis, says CFR’s Robert Kahn.

The situation in Ukraine will continue to unravel unless Russia comes to planned diplomatic talks in Geneva this week with options for defusing the crisis, says expert Steven Pifer.

Al Jazeera America arrives on the U.S. cable TV scene in a bid to win goodwill and market share through an increasingly rare news-heavy format, says expert William Youmans.