Obama administration

President Barack Obama has nominated former senior Pentagon official Ashton Carter as US Secretary of Defense.

If confirmed by the Senate, Carter will replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who resigned in November.

U.S. Vice President Biden’s trip has clarified at least the thorny issues on the Syrian debacle. Turkey wants safe-zone; the U.S. wants to operate from İncirlik. These differences are not irreconcilable for now. But they will remain frozen at least for a couple of months.

The news about the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel came right after it was announced that the nuclear talks with Iran had been extended to the end of June 2015.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has resigned, U.S. officials said on Nov. 25, ending nearly two years in the Pentagon's top job after a bruising mid-term election that undermined President Barack Obama's Democrats in Congress.
   

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu made some important remarks to senior Turkish reporters and editors accompanying him at the G-20 Summit in Brisbane. He is sticking to a fervently anti-al-Assad policy in Syria and is hopeful of pulling U.S. President Barack Obama to his side.      
  

Senior U.S. officials have denied that the Obama administration is reviewing its Syria policy to include the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the program, reiterating that Iraq remains the current focus.

The midterm Congressional Elections in the U.S. on Nov. 4 marked a setback for the Obama Administration, as Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 2006.

Turkey has agreed to let the US use its military bases in the campaign against Islamic State militants, American defense officials said Sunday.

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said the US welcomed the new agreement, which included use of the Incirlik air base in Turkey's south.

Obama administration officials will hold briefings this week and next for members of the U.S. Congress as the president makes his case for an offensive against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, congressional aides said on Sept. 9.

Both Qatar and the UAE have been in the firing line for human rights violations and eyes to imrove their image in the US with help of football Gulf States seeking to polish images tarnished by allegations of violations of human rights and their critics are employing football in an effort to shape American perceptions.