Radwan al-Sayyed

Since 2008, the Iranians have taunted us with the claim that they have seized control of four Arab capitals: Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, and Sanaa. Except for Syria, which barely escaped the full grip of their militias, the remaining capitals and countries have remained either occupied or under…

An informed reader may well scoff at the term “world order,” because it appears that there is no longer a global system that everyone recognizes and follows. The situation is somewhat different when we speak of the international order. There is still an organization with a central headquarters,…

On the eve of the annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, I cannot say for certain why everyone has begun recalling the fate of the League of Nations (1920-1946), an organization that was surrounded by great hopes in the aftermath of the First World War. Its charter, adopted in…

The far-right Alternative for Germany party has won in one of the states of what was formerly East Germany. It may take power in that small state for the first time, having defeated the Christian Democratic Union, the country’s governing party, in the local elections. Every German media outlet, and…

When do questions of mentalities and ideas begin — before shifts in reality, after them, or in step with them? Applied to Western cases in particular, we find Spengler, who published The Decline of the West (1913) after several years' work on it: his colleagues rejected the book, pointing to the…

It is only natural to feel indignation and anger toward an enemy like Israel, which in recent years has known nothing but killing, destruction, and blocking any prospects for peace. However, two issues have become highly pressing, even if they appear distinct. The first is the vacillation between…

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's visit to the United States, at the invitation of President Donald Trump, carried every sign of optimism. Aoun laid out his two-point plan: first, demanding Israel’s withdrawal - gradual, even, as agreed across the five rounds of negotiations. The second was US…

Iran does not have many friends, neither in the region nor internationally. Amid American threats of war over the past couple of months, however, Iran’s neighbors have voiced a desire to see conflict averted, as well as fears that it could spread if it were to erupt. They have urged both sides to…

Almost every day, journalists and governments await the outbreak of an American war against Iran. Many have forgotten what the US demands from Tehran actually are — demands whose failure to be met is said to justify war. For years, the focus was on Iran’s nuclear program, until the joint twelve-day…

The opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum was breathtaking. Dozens of delegations arrived from across the Western world to enjoy Western music, Western dancing, and the grand spectacle of the museum’s triangular buildings and the monumental staircase surrounded by artifacts and antiquities…