World News Insights: Opinion Articles

I remember how we learned of Imruu al-Qais’s response to the news that Banu Asad had killed his father, the king of Kindah at school: “Today, wine; tomorrow, serious matters...” In a sense, there is a parallel, though not identical, saying in the Levant: “The drunken stupor is gone, and now the…

On the eve of the launch of Lebanese-Israeli negotiations under full US auspices and, we might add, with US “engineering” of the launching and management of the negotiation track, Lebanon was facing three possible scenarios amid both vertical - in terms of firepower - and horizontal - with the…

The 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2026) concluded on Saturday in the historic Russian city of St. Petersburg. The forum, which has been held since its establishment in 1997, brought together participants from 130 countries and territories, led by China and the United…

Are the artificial intelligence models available to the public really the most advanced versions that exist? The versions available to ordinary users are astonishing in both their capabilities and their rapid development. Yet there are elite versions that the public has not seen. The White House…

In decades of journalism, part of it as reporter covering a dozen or so wars in the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, I have never been as puzzled by media coverage of a conflict as I am today with how the Iran-US-Israel war is depicted in much of the mainstream…

Were you to ask me, “Can a university create a market out of nothing?” I would answer: yes, it can. A university can indeed do that. However, intelligent people understand that this does not mean turning a university from an educational institution into a commercial enterprise. Nor do we mean that…

Looking at the newspapers on display at a newsstand, my eyes fell on a copy of an old issue of the Kuwaiti magazine Al-Arabi that generations have grown up with since its launch in 1958. I remember how it used to be sold in the Egyptian market for one and a quarter pounds, meaning that the…

In a climate of disputes reflected in positions and statements over the past few days, several Sudanese political forces have gathered for consultative meetings in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, from June 3 to 5. Their stated aim is to try to make progress on efforts to end the war and launch…

Wisdom has it that some may try to obscure the truth or diminish its importance, but it remains an undeniable fact. This year’s Hajj season showed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to offer a model in managing Hajj and serving the pilgrims, drawing on the experience it has accumulated and…

When will this story end? And why do its protagonists keep sneaking onto the Lebanese stage? It is a story of love and resentment of the most beautiful Arab country, the country that brought modernity to the Levant. From writing and publishing to dictionaries and encyclopedias, from journalism,…

The impasse of the conflict in Lebanon it will not end with a ceasefire, guarantees that Israeli aggression will not be repeated, and the implementation of the decision to confine arms to the state. It will also require, perhaps primarily, addressing the issues of Hezbollah’s constituency, which…

In his first televised interview after the July 2006 war, Hassan Nasrallah was asked: “If time could be turned back, would you change what happened at Khallat Warda?” “Certainly not. We never thought that our enemy would go to war over two soldiers,” he replied. Shocked by the devastation caused by…