World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Boosting the slim odds of a "two-state solution" is not an easy task. At the very least, we must consider the heavy encumbrance created by the presence of armed settlers in the occupied territories, as well as the Palestinians’ lack of a popular and dynamic political instrument. Of course, we also…

The Gaza War - or Israel's genocidal war on Gaza - has been raging for three months now. The intensity of this war and the range of ways it could develop have brought the Palestinian question back to the forefront of pressing regional issues, and has thus had ramifications for the region and the…

The attacks on crucial shipping traffic in the Red Sea straits by a determined band of militants in Yemen — a spillover from the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza — are injecting a new dose of instability into a world economy already struggling with mounting geopolitical tensions. The risk of escalating…

In London’s Imperial War Museum, there stands a mural of the late Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein towering over a model of the Dome of the Rock and holding a rifle in one hand. It is among his most recognizable images - one that played a significant role in crafting his image in the Iraqi and Arab…

If I were to summarize the political achievements of Saudi Arabia in 2023, a very tough ask, I would sum it up in two words: “transcendence” and “sovereignty.” These two qualities were instrumental in the exceptional rise of Saudi Arabia in a year that was extremely difficult globally, in terms of…

The thing that has surprised me most since I began my job leading foreign assistance for global health at the US Agency for International Development is how much emergencies have defined my work. The bureau I oversee focuses on reducing the global burden of mortality and disease and on protecting…

Only one bullet remains in the gun. There can be no escaping the final shot. The farewell better be fitting. It must be as hopeful and joyful as possible. You are not a businessman, whose notes you can rummage through in search of a lost opportunity or wasted deal. You are not a politician,…

People have connected over food and used meals for political ends for centuries. There are good reasons for this. Historically, the dining table has been considered a neutral space where weapons are put aside, frank conversations held, consensus built and agreements brokered. Egyptian…

In politics, preferring intentions over outcomes, and action - any kind of action - over thinking, and choosing the noisy and tumultuous over the calm or measured, are among the defining characteristics of a romantic mindset. We thus see, for instance, that the call for establishing a …

Israel’s escalating attacks on Syrian territory are not an extension of its consistent attacks, rather, they are part of the Israelis’ preparations for a new war on Lebanon, which could either be launched during its war on Gaza or immediately afterward. The name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard…

Tehran's retaliation for the assassination of its senior “military advisor” in Syria, Quds Force Brigadier General Razi Mousavi, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike near Damascus, will probably not be any more forceful than its retaliation for the assassination of the former Quds Force Commander…

If there is a pendulum that regulates world affairs it is important to know which way it may be swinging in the year that is about to start. Seen from one angle, the pendulum looks like swinging towards uncertainty. In 2024, many countries with major roles in international affairs are facing…