Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for UPI on events taking place in countries such as Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq:
Iraq is in chaos. Afghanistan could follow suit. The Syrian civil war rages. From Libya in the west to Pakistan and India in the east, these regions are filled with ticking time bombs that could easily explode into major conflict.
Suppose for example the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) believe that another Mumbai-like attack against India could provoke another war in which the two combatants possessed nuclear weapons. Pakistan almost certainly would lose. That loss could catapult the TTP into power overthrowing the fragile and less than competent government of Nawaz Sharif much as appears to be happening in Iraq.