World News Insights: Opinion Articles

In an interview with the newspaper, The National, on 8 July 2026, when talking about the Strait of Hormuz situation, Dr Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said that Gulf oil exporters “need to regain their reputation as reliable exporters.” This…

Critics argue that what distinguishes the Surrealist school in art and literature is its rejection of reason and the rules of logic. They explain that the strange images created by Surrealist artists are meant to draw our attention to the existence of another reality beyond our own: the realm of…

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…

Most Lebanese hope to escape their difficult circumstances, and they can hardly be blamed for that. They have every right to build on any glimmer of hope and to wager on any opportunity, however risky. They have lived through harsh conditions since the October 7, 2023 war in the Gaza Strip,…

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…

Gulf diplomacy must intensify after the changes and turning points of recent days. Joint delegations should engage European allies, as well as other countries with which the Gulf maintains strong relations, such as China and Russia, and urge them to help introduce the final chapter of Iran's…

There is much that can be said about the Saudi nuclear agreement with the United States, whether in terms of its strategic value, political implications, potential risks, cost, economic and scientific importance, or military utility. Among the criticisms leveled against President Trump is that he…

It takes insight, a cool head, and a clear vision to penetrate Lebanon's obscurity. The Iranian axis in Lebanon increasingly borrows from the narrative Lebanese national project to describe itself despite the sharp contradiction between their positions, invoking slogans such as "sovereignty…

The road back from Washington is never the same as the road there. Travel between Washington and the capitals of the Middle East is rarely a routine diplomatic event - least of all when the destinations are Baghdad and Beirut, the two capitals separated by geography have been bound by fate since…

Until even a few months ago talking of regime change in Iran would have exposed you to the charge either of utopian fantasies or anachronistic miscalculation. The Islamic Republic founded by Ruhollah Khomeini was supposed to last until the return of the Mahdi at the end of time, that is to say…

Suppose you came across a headline reading, "Gulf Family Assaulted in Istanbul." There is a 70 percent chance that you would read the entire story, along with all the comments beneath it, even if there were a hundred of them. Let us say that this type of story captures the attention of 70 percent…

In recent days, images showing the falling water level of the Nile in Sudan have been causing concern and raising the alarm. Beyond the appearance of sandbars caused by the river's retreat. In some areas, the Nile has come to resemble a shallow seasonal stream that people can cross on foot. The…