Samir Atallah

The first informal straw poll to select the next Secretary-General of the United Nations officially began on Thursday, with candidates competing to succeed Portugal's António Guterres, who has completed two five year terms in office. The occasion coincided with the election of Egypt's former…

Thinkers tend to view the international crisis we are living through as, above all, a moral catastrophe. Not a political, economic, or military one, but a moral one. So instead of delving into causes, consequences, and strategic calculations, some echo Ahmad Shawqi's famous verse: "Nations endure…

The car rental business took off in the United States during the 1960s. One year, the market leader, reaping enormous profits, launched a nationwide advertising campaign with the slogan: "Guess who's No. 1." Its rival responded: "Don't guess. We're No. 2." There is nothing insignificant about…

Talk of the New World Order has dominated almost every other topic in recent years. But what was the old order - the system that ruled the world after the end of World War II – that we are saying goodbye to? Historians agree that it was built on five myths: the imminent end of the world, the idea…

Today, we highlight Ibn Battuta's and the Italian Marco Polo's descriptions of the Strait of Hormuz. Marco Polo notes that the inhabitants of Hormuz were Muslims, commenting on their ethnic background and beliefs, which he describes as differing from those of Christians. He then turns to the…

Fouad Boutros was among the most brilliant foreign ministers Lebanon ever knew. Yet President Suleiman Frangieh would constantly mock his gloomy demeanor and perennial pessimism, calling him an owl that never stopped hooting bad omens. The difference between the two men was that the first was…

Some wars are known by a number, not a name, because people hoped for their swift end. Such as the Thirty Years' War and the Hundred Years' War. The war we are in has now exceeded a hundred days, and it is no longer appropriate to call it by the common number. Donald Trump had announced some time…

The simplified mind tends to attribute more power to the United States than it actually possesses. What is striking about this global phenomenon is that it sees only the negative side of American power. In this view, the United States fails to find solutions, yet somehow always succeeds in plotting…

The war and the ceasefire in South Lebanon are different. The former is less violent: less combat, less occupation of villages, less destruction of cities, fewer massacres, less displacement of children and women. The war is less deceitful and less vile than the ceasefire; it leaves fewer victims…

Nations usually commemorate moments of triumph and honor. That is why every country celebrates its Independence Day or National Day. Russians commemorate the heroism of Leningrad and Stalingrad and victory over Nazi Germany. Italians celebrate unification. Americans celebrate independence from…