Eyad Abu Shakra

There is hardly a journalist or political analyst, or even an amateur posing as either, in the Arab world who hasn’t, at some point over the past decades, written or spoken at length about the “New Middle East.” And yet, the Middle East we see today is something altogether different from what we…

Let us forget, for a moment, that the president of the United States is the most powerful political leader in the world, and that he can annihilate humanity at the press of a button or obliterate the global economy with an “executive order.” For a moment, let us put that to one side and focus,…

Whenever I am feeling nostalgic, I listen to the remarkable late Iraqi poet Lamia Abbas Amara’s poem about Beirut... a city she came to adore after residing there for a time. Beirut loved her back, even more. The poem begins with this beautiful verse: "I focus my eyes in doubt to ask them: …

I have been following the rapidly developing events in my beloved Syria over the past four days with a heavy heart, especially concerned by the events unfolding in the south, where my family’s branches stretch across no fewer than ten villages and towns. In my academic journey, I have studied the…

It would be reckless, very reckless... to speculate that developments in the Arab region between now and the Arab League summit scheduled for May 17 will follow a logical trajectory! Anything could happen, as there are no guardrails or constraints between us and the abyss. The most prominent of…

While many Lebanese, along with their brothers and neighbors, are focused on major national and regional threats, a considerable segment of the Lebanese population is currently obsessing over a more trivial side story... An issue that may seem insignificant in comparison to the existential threats…

It is an absurdity of Middle Eastern politics that many politicians and analysts are still betting on the complete elimination of Iran’s role in the region. Even more absurd is the expectation that Israel will drag Washington into this "war of elimination." True, this is the most right-wing US…

Yesterday, in Jeddah, Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers Murhaf Abu Qusra and Michel Menassa signed a promising agreement to end lingering border issues between Lebanon and Syria. In truth, neither the new Syrian government nor the current Lebanese authorities contributed to these issues, which…

A witty Arab artist, when asked: "What message would you like to send to future Arab generations?" ironically replied: "I’d tell them not to come!" This statement has an unsettling implication that reflects the state of the Arab world, which mostly passively receives. The power to influence and…

The new chapter in Syria, which began after it turned the page on 54 years of Assadist rule, could be undermined by the painful developments earlier this month. The new leadership in Damascus, as far as I can tell, was aware that former regime remnants had been present in the region, and of the…