World News Insights: Opinion Articles

On October 28, 2023, in the early days of the Gaza war, also known as Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, I published an analytic piece in this newspaper that sought to go beyond the immediate event and anticipate not the limited confrontation but possible trajectories that it could precipitate. At the time…

It is natural, in times of major crises like the current moment, for new ideas to emerge, or for old ones to be revived. The most prominent proposal we are now seeing is the call to establish an Arab national security force. The best thing promoters of this idea can do, however, is to stop…

Between two Lebanese right-wing camps, each with its own narrative, its sacred values, its certainties, its salvation and its story about the other, stands Nawaf Salam. They do not merely disagree; they tear up geography and erase history, even as they share the same country, political system, and…

Despite numerous claims and counter claims by Iran, Israel and the United States about the possible outcome of their current war one thing is clear: None of the trio have achieved the goals they set for themselves when they lit its fire. On the Iranian side the late Ali Khamenei had hoped that…

I heard, from several phone calls with Sudanese individuals in Egypt over the past few days, they expect the return to Sudan to accelerate. After having left due to the conditions of war, the Sudanese are expected to return in large numbers with the launch of a new round of the voluntary return…

Seeing an unfamiliar face, we sometimes tend to liken it to someone familiar and think to ourselves: “like father, like son” or “he clearly got that from his uncle”... The same happens with politicians we like or dislike: if someone admires an emerging politician, they could, depending on the…

In a hypothetical world where United States and Israel are not part of the global political landscape, would it be reasonable to think the Iranian regime, with its nuclear ambitions, ballistic missiles, and networks of militias, could become a genuine partner for the Gulf states, given that nearly…

French voters made their voices heard in the municipal elections of mid-March, whose insights into the trajectory of the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen and her protege Jordan Bardella, were followed closely. The party first rose to prominence in the early 1970s as the…

"State weakness" or "complex domestic balances" can no longer encompass the current situation in Lebanon. We are facing something far more dangerous: a gradual, comprehensive collapse, as well as gaping vacuums in political and religious leadership. This vacuum is the result of a long series of…

Trump’s approach differs than that of his predecessors. He has different friendships, rivalries and ways in running wars. He is a general who runs the battle in person through screens, social media and the telephone. His statements have nothing to do with traditional diplomacy. His threats to NATO…

Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz was a predictable possibility, present in every potential war scenario with it. There was a precedent for its closure in the 1980s when Iran planted mines, targeted ships, and threatened maritime traffic. Known as the "Tanker War," Iran used missiles and speedboats…

This phase must be understood as temporary. It is bound to end, whether through more use of force or the other party coming to accept the need to negotiate. As for narratives of unrest and crisis, they are amplified by hostile actors that support this immoral, and indeed brutal, assault. The…