A failed Operation Eagle Claw in 1980 was the United States’ first and last attack on Iranian soil. At the time, the US Government planned a supposedly surprise military attack to free American hostages stuck in their embassy in Tehran. They used an aircraft carrier, fighter jets, military cargo…

Perhaps the main headline in 2022 was the Russian forces’ entry to Ukraine. Few had imagined the war would come back knocking on Europe’s doors, several decades after the last bullet of WWII was fired in May 1945. Unless resolved, belligerently or peacefully, the war will be the compass this year,…

China’s modern history was marred by a dark and painful era of extremism like the “Sahwa” (Awakening) movement to which we bore witness. In China, too, it was given a deceitful name: the "Cultural Revolution". The difference lies in that China ridded itself of this ideology before we did. The…

“The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” is a 1966 American film narrating the Cold War tension with the story of a Soviet submarine that got stuck on a sandbar off the coast of New England. “The Chinese are coming”, however, is what a hotel receptionist told me to justify the lack of…

Why were Egypt and Syria at the bottom of the Turkish government’s reconciliation list? Turkey seems to be mending fences: the decade-long (and, in Syria’s case, bloody) conflict between the governments is apparently ending. The last breakthrough was initiated by Turkish President Erdogan,…

On the cusp of winter, a blooming international political spring is in the air. An atmosphere of optimism has prevailed over this year’s G20 summit as the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, saw their deteriorating relations come to a halt. “The world has come to a crossroads. Where to…

Iraq deserves our most genuine wishes for a way out of the dark tunnel and into normalcy. We can only hope that the most recent political transition will be the end of the country’s long journey of sorrow that started with the rise of Saddam Hussein, who dragged his country into futile wars that…

The winds that toppled British Prime Minister Liz Truss are omens of a bigger storm that could drag the next government into a whirlwind of turmoil. With Rishi Sunak as Premier, the political landscape in Britain is bound to change. Born to Indian immigrants who came to the United Kingdom in…

When looking at the recent deal on the Karish gas field and the demarcation of maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, we must look beyond gas to understand why Iran’s allies are circumventing any talk of political concession in the media. The dimensions of the deal go even deeper than the…

Some Americans seem to be more enthusiastic about punishing Riyadh for its participation in voting for the decrease of oil production than they had been eager to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. As disagreements over oil prices have been a constant and recurring problem (since they…