Countries Issuing Middle East Travel Advisories as Iran Tensions Risehttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5244845-countries-issuing-middle-east-travel-advisories-iran-tensions-rise
Countries Issuing Middle East Travel Advisories as Iran Tensions Rise
Vehicles pass a billboard depicting a US aircraft carrier with damaged fighter jets on its deck and a sign in Farsi and English reading, "If you sow the wind, you'll reap the whirlwind," at Enqelab-e-Eslami Square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP)
TT
TT
Countries Issuing Middle East Travel Advisories as Iran Tensions Rise
Vehicles pass a billboard depicting a US aircraft carrier with damaged fighter jets on its deck and a sign in Farsi and English reading, "If you sow the wind, you'll reap the whirlwind," at Enqelab-e-Eslami Square in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. (AP)
Several countries have begun withdrawing dependents of diplomatic personnel and non-essential staff from some locations in the Middle East, or advising citizens to defer travel to Iran, amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Here are some of the moves:
AUSTRALIA: The government has told dependents of Australian diplomats in Israel and Lebanon to leave the two countries, citing a deteriorating security situation in the region. It also offered voluntary departures to Australian diplomats' dependents in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar. It continues to advise citizens in Israel and Lebanon to consider leaving while commercial options remain available. (Foreign Ministry X account)
SERBIA: Serbia has told its nationals in Iran to leave as soon as possible due to increased tensions and the risk of a deterioration of the security situation. (Foreign Ministry)
POLAND: Polish citizens should leave Iran immediately. (Prime Minister Donald Tusk)
UNITED STATES: The US is pulling non-essential staff and eligible family members from its embassy in Lebanon amid Iran tensions. (Senior State Department official)
SWEDEN: The Foreign Ministry advised its citizens to avoid all travel to Iran and leave the country immediately on January 12. The foreign minister said in February that people who decided to stay should not expect help from the government to be evacuated. (Foreign Ministry website)
INDIA: The Indian embassy in Iran advised citizens currently in Iran to leave by available means of transport, including commercial flights. (Post on X by Indian embassy in Iran, on February 23)
CYPRUS: Cyprus advised its citizens to avoid all travel to Iran and leave the country immediately on January 13. (Foreign Ministry)
SINGAPORE: Singapore advised citizens to continue to defer all travel to Iran. (Singapore Foreign Ministry)
GERMANY: Germany has urged its citizens to leave Iran, noting commercial flights out are still operating and departure by land is also possible (Foreign Ministry, January 20)
BRAZIL: Brazil recommended last week that its citizens leave Iran, following a similar alert to citizens in Lebanon in January. The government last year recommended that Brazilians not travel to the two countries.
Where Does Eisenkot Stand Among Israel's Generals-Turned-Politicians?https://english.aawsat.com/features/5340507-where-does-eisenkot-stand-among-israels-generals-turned-politicians
A tank mounted on a military truck passes an election campaign poster featuring Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar ("Straight") party, ahead of Israel's general election in Kiryat Shmona, near the border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Where Does Eisenkot Stand Among Israel's Generals-Turned-Politicians?
A tank mounted on a military truck passes an election campaign poster featuring Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar ("Straight") party, ahead of Israel's general election in Kiryat Shmona, near the border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Of the 14 people who have served as Israel's prime minister since the country's establishment in 1948, five have been generals. Two of them, Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak, were former military chiefs of staff. If Gadi Eisenkot succeeds in forming a government, he will become the third former chief of staff to lead the Israeli government.
As he prepares for his potential new role, people close to Eisenkot, 66, say he has closely studied the history of Israel's generals who entered politics and decided that the figure whose legacy he most hopes to emulate is Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995).
But can he truly follow in Rabin's footsteps while navigating the hornet's nest of Israeli politics? Or will he become a prisoner of the constraints that bind political leaders and prevent them from seizing the historic opportunities now presenting themselves?
Israel's history has produced leaders who rose to power through profoundly contradictory ideologies and doctrines. They sought to establish a Jewish state in the Middle East and persuaded the West that it would become an "oasis of democracy," a "beacon of science and progress," and a "model of economic prosperity and technological superiority," or, in the Jewish expression, "a light unto the nations."
The Crisis of the Israeli Model
Yet the Israeli model, despite its considerable technological, industrial and scientific achievements, embraced an uncompromising and arrogant security doctrine that kept the country in a perpetual state of crisis and war, exhausting its resources and threatening the lives of its people.
Israel's leaders have all benefited from generous Western military, political and economic support, aligning themselves with Western interests under the banner of "shared civilizational values."
They convinced themselves and their people that this was the only way to ensure the survival of the state as "the world's only national home for the Jewish people," making military force a fundamental pillar of its existence.
But Israelis have repeatedly confronted a different reality, one demonstrating that even overwhelming military power has its limits. This became evident during the 1973 war, the First Lebanon War in 1982 and the first Palestinian intifada in 1987.
With some notable exceptions, certain Israeli leaders began searching for what might be described as a path toward peace. They were quickly confronted by extremist leaders who spread fear, warned of an "existential war" and insisted that the Arabs sought Israel's destruction.
Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 for his efforts to reach a settlement with representatives of the Palestinian people. Ehud Olmert was forced from office and later imprisoned on corruption charges.
Even when all Arab states proposed a peace initiative in 2002 that took into account the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of a peaceful, demilitarized state while guaranteeing Israel's security, Israeli leaders appeared alarmed by the proposal and sought to evade the obligations that accepting it would entail.
Nearly a quarter of a century later, Israel still refuses to engage with that initiative.
Egyptian soldiers raise the flag on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal during the October 1973 War (File photo, AP)
The Generals Who Entered Politics Before Eisenkot
At the forefront of Israel's generals-turned-politicians stands Yigal Allon, who commanded the Zionist paramilitary organization Palmach before Israel's establishment.
When the organization was dissolved, Allon and its fighters joined the Israeli army. He eventually left military service with the rank of major general.
Allon served as acting prime minister for just 19 days following the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, until Golda Meir was chosen to succeed him.
Despite his brief tenure, Allon was an enormously influential figure in Israeli politics.
He devised the Allon Plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which sought to impose Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the area extending from Hebron to Jerusalem. He also proposed establishing a small Druze state in the Syrian Golan Heights.
Yitzhak Rabin, who first became prime minister in 1974, can be credited with helping Israel regain its bearings after the setback it suffered in the October 1973 war.
He was nevertheless forced to resign after it emerged that his wife had failed to declare the full amount held in a US dollar bank account the couple maintained in the United States.
His resignation entered Israeli political history as an honorable act reflecting personal integrity and honesty.
Rabin sought to uphold that reputation during his second term as prime minister, from 1992 to 1995, and even his opponents acknowledged his integrity.
He did not shy away from pursuing peace with the Palestinians. Instead, he committed himself fully to the effort, even as Benjamin Netanyahu led the opposition with fierce rhetoric that went as far as accusing him of treason.
Rabin was a tough negotiator with the Palestinians and occasionally appeared to retreat from his positions. Nevertheless, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat praised him, saying that had Rabin not been assassinated, they could have reached a historic peace agreement.
Ehud Barak is regarded as one of Israel's most decorated military figures, having received more military honors than any other Israeli soldier.
It was Rabin who brought him into politics. Yet Barak was marked by an extraordinary degree of arrogance and became known for his impulsiveness.
When the Camp David negotiations between Barak and Arafat failed, Barak made his famous declaration that Israel had "no Palestinian partner for peace."
That assertion became a convenient argument for Israeli leaders seeking to undermine subsequent peace initiatives.
Although Barak has attempted to change course in recent years, he remains a discredited figure in the eyes of many Israelis.
Ariel Sharon, a general known for his thuggish approach, helped lead a campaign of pressure against Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to launch a war against Arab countries in 1967.
During the October 1973 war, Sharon defied orders when he crossed the Suez Canal. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir later regarded him as a dangerous rebel.
Yet when Sharon became prime minister, he withdrew Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and dismantled the settlements there.
In his final years in politics, he even began speaking about a two-state solution.
Whose Example Will Eisenkot Follow?
Eisenkot is weighing the experiences of these four figures because he understands that Israeli public opinion is divided over its military leaders.
In the past, generals were regarded with something approaching reverence. Today, however, Israelis have concrete examples of military commanders who entered politics, and they subject their records to scrutiny, categorizing them as right-wing or left-wing.
The divide was also reflected in Netanyahu's election slogan, "Right or Palestine," which he adopted in the final stages of his campaign and which is said to have attracted hundreds of thousands of voters.
The first quality Eisenkot hopes to emulate from Rabin is personal integrity, a trait that even his political opponents acknowledge he possesses.
The second is perseverance: the ability to pursue a goal with patience and determination.
The third is boldness and courage in making decisions.
The time has not yet come to assess whether Eisenkot possesses that quality, although his associates claim he surpasses even Rabin in this respect.
Eisenkot also emphasizes that he places the interests of the state above all other considerations.
Yet the challenges ahead present him with a fundamental task: bringing Israel back to its senses after what he sees as the reckless policies pursued by Benjamin Netanyahu, which have seriously endangered Israeli interests.
This places him on a collision course with the far right, which has become a formidable force in Israel.
The far right's ideas now dominate much of Israeli society, while armed, unruly militias exert control over the streets, openly displaying racism and thuggish behavior.
These forces seek perpetual war. They imagine they can establish Israel as the region's dominant power and impose peace through force.
They seek to punish the entire Arab world for Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack by occupying territory not only in Palestine but also in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere whenever possible.
They show little concern for Israel's international standing or for humanitarian principles, international law and international conventions.
How Does Eisenkot Differ From the Right?
The reality is that Eisenkot himself is not far removed from some of the Israeli right's positions.
He simply expresses them differently, speaking of "ensuring superiority over the countries of the region" and maintaining that "force is an essential element in achieving peace."
Nor is he prepared to abandon the pursuit of decisive military victories on the various fronts, particularly against Iran and its armed proxies.
However, Eisenkot also wants everything to be pursued in a spirit of partnership with the United States and "national unity."
His approach to regional and international relations differs from that of the far right, and he seeks to end wars through political agreements, particularly with Syria and Lebanon.
Although he has reservations about President Donald Trump's 20-point plan, which was subsequently adopted in a UN Security Council resolution, Eisenkot says he will abide by it because the Netanyahu-led government approved it and because he respects international agreements and treaties.
The legacy Eisenkot hopes to establish is that of a leader who halted the deterioration of Israel's regional and international standing, restored hope for progress and prosperity, and revived the political prestige of the country's generals.
His associates say he has carefully studied the experiences of generals who became prime ministers and understands which examples he should follow and which mistakes he must avoid.
But will he succeed in charting a course that makes him a bold, historic leader, or will he end up repeating their mistakes?
Signage for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) China 2026 summit is seen in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province on November 3, 2026. Hector RETAMAL / AFP/File
Signage for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) China 2026 summit is seen in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province on November 3, 2026. Hector RETAMAL / AFP/File
A possible China-US-Russia summit has prompted alarm of a modern-day Yalta Conference, with three powerful men carving up the world -- with little regard for Ukraine, Europe and Taiwan or anyone else.
But apart from an historic photo opportunity, the meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the November 18-19 APEC summit in Shenzhen will likely achieve little, analysts say.
- Spheres of influence -
When then US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Britain's Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met in Yalta in February 1945, they laid out the post-WWII settlement and new territorial boundaries in Europe.
That meeting in Yalta, then in the Soviet Union and now in a part of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014, laid out the foundations for the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and the Cold War, AFP said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised alarm that Shenzhen could be a Yalta-like "redistribution of spheres of influence" for the 21st century.
At talks in Abu Dhabi this week -- the first since February -- Russian negotiators rattled Ukraine and its European supporters by pushing a review of the continent's security architecture as part of any peace deal, with the US also floating a new framework.
Russia's delegation chief in Abu Dhabi, Vladimir Medinsky, fanned such fears by questioning the inclusion of Europe in further talks.
The trilateral rankles because it signals "the idea that a few great powers can decide the security and future of other countries over their heads", according to Tsiporah Fried at the Hudson Institute.
The format alone "would already send a message about who counts, and whose interests can be negotiated by others", she told AFP.
- Divergent interests -
Beyond the symbolism, however, divergent interests make the creation of a new world order in Shenzhen unlikely.
Even the agenda reportedly remains contentious: Russia has suggested the meeting focus on Ukraine, Trump has pushed for talks on nuclear weapons and the Iran war, and China has remained tight-lipped on both.
"The three parties have vastly different demands, making the management of expectations difficult. There is a high probability that talks could end without a breakthrough," according to Wang Wen, dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing.
There are also few issues where input from all three leaders could bring progress.
The main points of contention between Beijing and Washington are trade and the AI technology race, for instance.
Beijing -- which presents itself as a champion of multilateralism -- has repeatedly said that Europe should be part of peace negotiations over Ukraine.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that in a recent meeting, Xi showed "irritation" when the idea of the trilateral talks covering Ukraine came up.
"He explicitly pointed out that this is a European conflict, in which the Europeans must also be at the table," Steinmeier told ARD.
On nuclear disarmament, China has long insisted that the US and Russia reduce their own giant nuclear arsenals before it agrees to talks on its own stockpile.
The summit therefore is more likely to produce minor outcomes such as crisis hotlines or some cooperation on counter-terrorism, public health, or climate change, Wang told AFP.
"There is no single enemy to unite all three great powers the way that the fight against Nazi Germany united Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin," said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at Australian National University.
"It follows that piecemeal horse-trading is in; a grand bargain is out."
However, Taiwan -- which China claims -- will still be watching the meeting closely, Sung said.
"If the Trump administration is open to abandoning one partner (Ukraine) out of convenience, then it can abandon another," he said.
- A post-Shenzhen world -
The Trump administration has sought to reassert US dominance over the "Western hemisphere" -- including by capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January -- but splitting the world among great powers like it's 1945 may not guarantee security.
China has opposed the logic of Yalta -- the clandestine division of spheres of influence and major powers determining the fate of other nations -- "from the very beginning", according to Renmin University's Wang.
China could allay fears of a second Yalta by using the summit to "emphasize the defense of sovereignty and support for multilateral organizations", Wang said.
If Beijing uses the meeting to insist on European inclusion in talks regarding the continent's security, it "could, in fact, open a new window for communication between China and Europe", he said.
"The original Yalta opened the path to the Korean War and Indochina Wars in addition to various conflicts and insurgencies across Asia, Africa, and Latin America," said Chong Ja Ian at the National University of Singapore.
Any Yalta 2.0 agreement "will almost certainly run into the same kinds of issues", Chong said.
Alice Huang, Who Reportedly Had an Affair with Nvidia CEO, Is a Chinese Banker Turned Tech Exechttps://english.aawsat.com/features/5340229-alice-huang-who-reportedly-had-affair-nvidia-ceo-chinese-banker-turned-tech-exec
This screengrab from video footage by CTI obtained via AFPTV on November 9, 2026 shows Alice Huang (2nd R in pink), a Chinese executive linked to the data center company called Megaspeed, attending a dinner hosted by Nvidia's chief executive and co-founder Jensen Huang (2nd L in black back facing camera) at a restaurant in Taipei on May 22, 2025, during Computex, the island's top tech expo. (AFP photo / CTI via AFPTV)
TT
TT
Alice Huang, Who Reportedly Had an Affair with Nvidia CEO, Is a Chinese Banker Turned Tech Exec
This screengrab from video footage by CTI obtained via AFPTV on November 9, 2026 shows Alice Huang (2nd R in pink), a Chinese executive linked to the data center company called Megaspeed, attending a dinner hosted by Nvidia's chief executive and co-founder Jensen Huang (2nd L in black back facing camera) at a restaurant in Taipei on May 22, 2025, during Computex, the island's top tech expo. (AFP photo / CTI via AFPTV)
She was building a career in Chinese finance before turning to tech with a leadership role at a data center company in Singapore. He is the high-profile CEO of Nvidia, the California-based company that makes computer chips relied upon by advanced artificial intelligence systems.
An affair between Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, who reportedly was suspected of working as a spy for Beijing, has rocked the tech and political worlds.
The Chinese businesswoman, also known as Huang Le, had a close relationship with Jensen Huang, according to reports over the past month by the New York Times. The newspaper also reported that top policymakers were informed in a memo that intelligence indicated she was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security, recruited to influence Nvidia to make its most advanced chips more available in China.
In one widely shared photograph of the pair, Jensen Huang and people surrounding him are holding drinks in Taipei, while Alice Huang sits behind him, apparently watching him in conversation. The picture was posted in 2024 by software company NetThunder to its LinkedIn page.
It remains unclear how long the affair lasted, and when exactly the relationship might have ended. The Associated Press was unable to reach Alice Huang for comment.
Who is Alice Huang?
Publicly available information about Alice Huang is scant.
She was a Chinese finance executive before becoming involved in artificial intelligence, data centers and computer chips.
In 2023, she became a director at Singapore-based Megaspeed, which describes itself as an “NVIDIA cloud partner.” Last year, Megaspeed faced scrutiny from the US over its alleged skirting of US export restrictions and routing of a large amount of advanced Nvidia chips for Chinese users.
Megaspeed was incorporated in 2015 in Singapore with the name 7Road International, after being spun off as the overseas arm of a Chinese video game developer, according to corporate registration records.
Filings show that in March 2023, it renamed itself Megaspeed International, with all of the shares transferred to Huang Le Limited, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
That same month, Alice Huang became Megaspeed’s controlling shareholder, according to research by the C4ADS, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on global security.
But by November 2023, she was no longer listed as a director at Megaspeed, and all her shares were transferred to a Singaporean businessman, Tan Yong Pong, who also is known as James Tan.
While public records suggest Alice Huang left Megaspeed, short seller Culper Research issued a report in May this year that cited a Megaspeed employee saying Huang was “actually still our boss” and was still involved in the company’s daily operations.
Before Megaspeed, Alice Huang previously held senior positions at the Chinese firm Shanghai Hexi Investment Co. from around 2015 to 2017, according to social media posts and records from Simuwang, a Chinese private equity database.
Her roles at Hexi included deputy general manager, executive director and member of the investment committee, according to Hexi's social media posts, among possible other roles.
Hexi's founder Kang Wei, who appeared on some records alongside Alice Huang, was fined in 2018 by China's securities regulator 400,000 yuan ($60,000) over financial misconduct behaviors while Hexi was fined 17.7 million yuan ($2.7 million).
Before that, Alice Huang worked at HSBC’s Hong Kong private banking arm and at CITIC Securities, a Chinese investment bank.
HSBC and CITIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on her employment history.
Taiwan’s Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang told lawmakers and reporters this week when asked about Megaspeed and Alice Huang that authorities, including national security officials, are “actively” looking into the matter. She would be blocked from setting foot in Taiwan again, Liu said.
Beijing has rebutted claims that Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. Its Foreign Ministry said this week that the “Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China.”
Why Megaspeed is at the center of the controversy
With the emergence of the latest scandal, Singapore-based AI computing company Megaspeed, where Alice Huang was a senior executive, is once again under the spotlight.
Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer, was originally incorporated in 2015 before changing its name to Megaspeed International in 2023. Nvidia lists Megaspeed as a partner on its website, while Megaspeed says on its website it's “a core business partner of NVIDIA’s computing power cloud business in the Asia-Pacific region.”
It was the overseas gaming arm of Shenzhen-based developer 7Road Holdings Ltd.
Late last year, Megaspeed denied accusations following reports that it was routing Nvidia chips to China, saying in a statement on its website that “there has been no evidence of any violations concerning the illicit transfer of chips or any illegal activities.”
Singapore’s government said in late October, after fresh reports that Alice Huang was accused of being a Chinese intelligence source, that authorities were investigating Megaspeed and that Singapore “does not condone businesses” circumventing or violating other countries’ export controls. However, it said, there were no investigations conducted in respect to Alice Huang.
Megaspeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
لم تشترك بعد
انشئ حساباً خاصاً بك لتحصل على أخبار مخصصة لك ولتتمتع بخاصية حفظ المقالات وتتلقى نشراتنا البريدية المتنوعة
