Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this month took a step to revive diplomatic efforts – fruitless so far – to find a political solution to the crisis by announcing an international conference with Russia, now scheduled for early June in Geneva. At the same time, recent reports about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria’s conflict sparked a renewed debate about whether the United States should directly intervene militarily there. The Obama administration has resisted calls to direct U.S. military action based on these reports, saying that it needed more evidence and that it was evaluating a wide range of policy options.

This cautious approach on U.S. military options for Syria is easy to criticize, but it is the best path in a range of bad options. The Obama administration wants to avoid actions that could inadvertently ignite and accelerate a wider regional conflict and produce greater threats for the United States and key partners in the region like Israel, Turkey, and Jordan. It also wants to keep the door open for diplomacy and a possible political deal to end the conflict.

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Inside Syria, the regime’s forces have started an ethnic cleansing campaign in the west intended to clear Sunnis from areas its Alawite supporters want to secure for themselves. The regime has also successfully pushed south toward the Jordanian border. In much of the rest of the country, there is lots of fighting but only marginal changes in the confrontation lines, which run through many urban areas, or between the urban centers and the countryside. Almost 7 million Syrians are now thought to need humanitarian assistance. The number could rise dramatically during the rest of the year.

Secretary Kerry’s visit to Moscow this week revived, once again, hopes for a negotiated settlement. He and the Russians agreed to try to convene a conference, even before the end of the month, that would include both the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime. The prospect of this conference will relieve President Obama of any need for a quick decision on unilateral action in Syria, since it would hardly be appropriate to preempt the conference. That is likely what both the Russians and the Americans wanted: more time.

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Syria isn’t Barack Obama’s Vietnam by a long shot. And I seriously doubt that Obama feels the same way Johnson did. But Johnson’s conundrum is in many ways Obama’s, too. In Syria, there are no good options, American credibility is at stake, and the pressures to act are considerable in the face of great uncertainties.

Doing nothing is unacceptable in the face of almost 80,000 dead and millions of Syrians displaced internally and abroad. Limited involvement – even on the military side -- will likely be ineffective, and getting stuck with the check through undertaking a massive military intervention is out of the question.

So what’s a guy to do? Sure, there are risks of acting; but there are consequences of not acting, too.

Indeed, in this regard, Syria is a moral tragedy and humanitarian disaster. It’s hemorrhaging refugees and radicalized jihadists. It’s a threat to regional stability and to Turkey, Jordan and Israel. It’s a potential proliferator of chemical weapons, a way to weaken Iran if only the Americans would recognize the opportunities; and it’s a threat to America’s credibility if Obama doesn’t act boldly in the face of self-declared “red lines.”

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From the New York Times:

The messages cited in the indictment were Mr. Say’s personal remarks referring to a poem by a famous 11th-century Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, which poked fun at an Islamic vision of the afterlife.

The poem was sent to Mr. Say from another user before he forwarded it.

In another personal Twitter post, he joked about the rapid call to prayer at a nearby mosque, questioning whether the muezzin who makes the call was running late for a drink.

In recent years, several intellectuals, journalists and artists who have voiced criticism about the Islamic government have faced persecution, but the Times notes that social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter "have rarely figured in previous trials."

Say maintains that he has “committed no crime" and has previously said that the accusations go “against universal human rights and laws.”

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the breakthrough after a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The 20-minute phone call was brokered by visiting President Barack Obama shortly before he left Israel.

The announcement was an unexpected reversal by Netanyahu, who has repeatedly rejected calls to apologize. But the two countries' joint interests, including fears that the Syrian civil war could spill over their respective borders, made the time ripe to mend relations.

"The two men agreed to restore normalization between Israel and Turkey, including the dispatch of ambassadors and the cancellation of legal steps against Israeli soldiers," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Netanyahu "expressed regret over the deterioration in bilateral relations and noted his commitment to working out the disagreements in order to advance peace and regional stability," it said.

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Two entrepreneurs, James Richards, 25, and Michael Smith, 29, take a break. They met in Indonesia, where Richards is from, and now work on their startup called Advisable, an online marketplace for lawyers.

Will it work? It might.

Richards is one of Columbia Law School’s youngest ever graduates. He passed the New York bar exam at age 20. Co-founder Michael Smith is a programming whiz from Belgium. But there’s the snag. While Richards’ legal residency is taken care of, Smith’s visa isn’t certain and it could force him out of the country soon.

“It’s that period in between,” worries Smith. “It’s hard to tell what happens because we work best when we physically work in the same place and because of this visa issue we’re going to be in different parts of the world.”

They know that a wobbly outlook in the startup world is not good.

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Following a circuitous route from here up through Turkey or Jordan and then crossing a lawless border, hundreds of young Saudis are secretly making their way into Syriato join extremist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, GlobalPost has learned.

With the tacit approval from the House of Saud, and financial support from wealthy Saudi elites, the young men take up arms in what Saudi clerics have called a “jihad,” or “holy war” against the Assad regime.

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Much of my investigation for GQ hinged on finding some record of a girl left dead in a dumpster in the summer of 1985. She was a teenage hitchhiker, and I had been there when her body was found. Two days later, a truck driver picked me up hitchhiking and led me to believe that he had killed her. He then pulled over to the side of the road, took out a huge knife and told me to get into the back of the truck—he was going to kill me. I was able, for reasons I still don’t fully understand, to escape into the woods. But I did not go to the police. I did not go for help. These were also some of the questions I was exploring through my essay.

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Friday’s attack killed a Turkish security guard and seriously injured a well-known Turkish journalist. She’s now recovering in the hospital.

Even before American officials would discuss a possible motive, however, Turkish police linked the attack to a domestic leftist militant group called the People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. It took responsibility the following day.

In a statement posted on the internet, the group accused the Turkish ruling AK Party of being a US puppet and condemned Washington for waging war in the Middle East.

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Turkey and the U.S. immediately condemned the attack and U.S. officials urged Americans to stay away from all U.S. diplomatic offices throughout Turkey.

A Turkish woman was also seriously wounded and two other guards sustained lighter wounds in the 1:15 p.m. blast in the Turkish capital, Interior Minister Muammer Guler told reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Guler said "preliminary information" obtained by police indicated that the bomber was likely connected to a domestic left-wing militant group. He did not elaborate.

A police official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that the bomber is most likely a suspected member of the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press.

The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States but had been relatively quiet in recent years.

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The whole world, that is, except two small, seemingly random villages. Since some believe they possess high levels of “positive energy,” Sirince in Turkey and Bugarach in France will be spared the Armageddon.

For Sirince, a town of just 650 people, such beliefs are good for business.

“It’s a big event for Sirince. We could make it a tradition,” said a cheerful Ahmet Kocak, the owner of a boutique hotel here, as he sat on the hotel terrace overlooking the village’s historic Greek cottages.

For the first time ever in the history of his hotel, all of his rooms were booked eight months ahead of time — all by Americans.

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The announcement comes just days after Syria allegedly launched Scud missiles from Damascus at rebels in the north. Syria has denied using Scud rockets.

But U.S. officials claimed one of the missiles came close to the Syrian border with Turkey, reported CNN.

The move to send the reinforcements was approved by U.S Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is currently en route to Turkey.

The plan calls for two Patriot missile batteries that can hit planes and missiles emanating from Syria, and 400 soldiers to operate them.

Panetta was frank about the possible reaction from Damascus: "We can't spend a lot of time worrying about whether that pisses off Syria," he told CNN.

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Pentagon press secretary George Little said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order Friday en route to Turkey from Afghanistan.

The order calls for 400 US soldiers to operate two batteries of Patriots at undisclosed locations in Turkey, Little told reporters flying with Panetta.

Turkey is a founding member of NATO and requested that the alliance provide Patriots. They will be sent by NATO members Germany and the Netherlands as well as the U.S. for an undetermined period.

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Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta followed up the reports Thursday, noting "we are very concerned that as the opposition advances particularly on Damascus that the regime might very well consider the use of chemical weapons."

Chemical weapons have for the U.S. been an expressed "red line" in regards to Syria. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated previously that should Assad deploy chemical weapons against his people, "suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action.”

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The alliance's 28 members decided to limit use of Patriots solely for the defensive purpose of warding off the mortar rounds and shells from Syria that have already killed five Turks. But the announcement also appeared to be a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime at a time when Washington and other governments fear Syria may be readying its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use.

"We stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. "To anyone who would want to attack Turkey, we say, `Don't even think about it!'"

Fogh Rasmussen stressed that the deployment of the Patriot systems - which includes missiles, radar and other elements - wouldn't be a first step toward a no-fly zone over parts of Syria or any offensive operation against the Arab state.

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“Day by day the military operations are getting harder and harder,” said Abu Haider, 40, a member of the Syrian security forces, near Qerdaha, the home village of President Bashar al-Assad.

“The Alawites will fight to the end to defend President Bashar but are paying a big price. Most of our men are serving in the army or security forces,” he told GlobalPost.

Ali, a 28-year-old Alawite living in Lattakia, the regional capital, said Alawite villages he recently visited had been nearly emptied of men after the regime enforced conscription for any member of the Alawite sect aged between 18 and 50.

Alawites are the minority off-shoot of Shiite Islam to which the president’s family belongs. The conflict in Syria has increasingly become a sectarian war between the Alawites and the Sunni majority rebels.

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But turkey contains about the same amount of tryptophan as chicken, beef and other meats.

If Thanksgiving drowsiness is not about the main course, what is responsible? It may have more to do with the side dishes.

To understand, we first need to digest a little food chemistry.

To start, we get tryptophan and other essential amino acids from all the protein in our diet, not just from meat. These amino acids swim through the bloodstream, nourishing our cells.

Brain cells convert tryptophan into a chemical called serotonin. This neurotransmitter helps regulate sleep and appetite and high levels of serotonin are associated with calm and relaxation.

But tryptophan and other amino acids can’t access brain cells on their own—instead, teams of proteins transport amino acids across the blood-brain barrier.

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This year, however, Americans voted on which turkeys would receive the pardon, giving the president the perfect opportunity to crack a joke about Nate Silver, the New York Times polling wizard who accurately predicted the Election Day results.

"Once again, Nate Silver completely nailed it," Obama said. "The guy's amazing. He predicted these guys would win."

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The exodus is a sign of the escalating ferocity of the violence, which has killed more than 36,000 people since March 2011. Despite the bloodshed, embattled President Bashar Assad insisted there was no civil war in Syria, saying in a rare TV appearance that he was protecting Syrians against "terrorism" supported from abroad.

The flood of Syrians into neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon was "the highest that we have had in quite some time," said Panos Moumtzis, the U.N. refugee agency's regional coordinator for the region.

About 2,000 to 3,000 people are fleeing Syria daily, and the recent surge brings the number registered with the agency to more than 408,000, he said.

During the 24-hour period that began Thursday, 9,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey -- including 70 who were wounded and 2 who then died, U.N. officials said. Jordan and Lebanon each absorbed another 1,000 refugees.

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Turkey has carefully calibrated relations with countries in its neighborhood — which include perennial thorns like Iran, Syria, Iraq and Russia — and with the United States, which is so engaged in the region some there feel they should be able to vote in the US presidential election.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to expand trade with its immediate neighbors, irking the West but never alienating it — no easy task.

But with the Arab Spring and the Syrian conflict, things are changing in the region, and it might be the administration of US President Barack Obama that wins out in the end.

Since Obama took office, relations with Turkey are perhaps the best they’ve ever been.

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