World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The administration of the Beirut theater “Masrah Al-Madina” has announced that it will hold a gathering under the title “Reviving Hamra Street: Memory and Life.” The fact is that there is a need and demand for such an effort, especially since Hamra Street is unlike any other street in Beirut, nor…

The first week of the month was supposed to be a good one for the BBC. On Thursday, Nov. 6, the finale of its smash hit “The Celebrity Traitors” was airing, and millions of Britons were expected to tune in to watch a host of stars scheme and connive in the elegant surrounds of a Scottish castle…

In a televised interview, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam sought to outline a vision for bringing the state back into the sovereignty equation and breaking the link between the logic of the state and the logic of force. He insisted that decisions of war and peace must be made by the government…

It has become well known that US President Donald Trump enjoys a distinctive relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two leaders are now meeting again in Washington. Between Trump’s two trips to Riyadh, the first in 2017 and the second just six months ago, the world has…

An Arab politician once told me he feels “provoked” whenever he reads about artificial intelligence and the incredible changes it will introduce in the world. The feeling of being provoked does not stem from the shock that will be created due to the unavoidable changes that will affect the economy,…

Albania is the first country to take a real step toward “algocracy”: government by algorithm. In September its prime minister announced that all decisions concerning which private suppliers will provide goods and services to Albania’s government — over $1 billion annually — will be made by an A.I…

Are the various crises in the Arab world- from Sudan to Iraq to Libya to Lebanon and others- linked to another? Some argue that they are not. However, if we choose to take a deeper look, we find that there is an undeniable underlying connection. This connection has two parts: the first is the…

Every now and then, a public figure gets up to reconsider his previous positions on the Lebanese Civil War that erupted in 1975 and did not end until 1989. In saying that his generation had burdened Lebanon with more than it could bear, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam became the newest member of this…

The Iranian citizen Ahmad al-Baldi and Tunisia’s Mohamed Bouazizi share many commonalities that neither the vast distance, nor the complex differences of the two countries’ political dynamics, nor borders, nor their ideological, ethnic, or linguistic differences can erase. The two young men,…

The latest controversy over the BBC’s editing of a news clip to accuse US President Donald Trump of ordering an attack on the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January 2021 reminded me of folkloric narrations of historic or mythological events in my childhood in Iran. The show consisted of a screen…

Under the patronage of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Saudi Arabia recently held its inaugural Cultural Investment Conference. The event reflected the remarkable growth of the cultural sector in recent years: Eighty-nine agreements worth a total…

Recent political developments have affirmed that the country is at a dangerous and unprecedented turning point, perhaps even more delicate and critical than the civil war period (1975–1990), when barricades were raised and the Lebanese were split as a result of local schisms and foreign influence…