World News Insights: Opinion Articles

There is no doubt that the appointment of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, while he continues to serve as Minister of Energy, marks an important turning point and a new chapter in Saudi Arabia's development philosophy. It reflects a reality in which the…

As we know, Yemen has long been, and continues to be, a prime target of Iran's strategic ambitions. Today, it is particularly enticing to Tehran as it seeks to transform the country into a forward operating base for aggression across the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. The…

The funerals of politicians and leaders grow out of their immediate occasion to become political spectacle — a platform for staking out public positions, issuing pledges, and shoring up particular states of affairs. Some funerals, deny any attachment to continuity and genuinely build the…

President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree setting a date for presidential and legislative elections, reversing a course he himself had previously charted toward elections for the Palestinian National Council, an alternative widely viewed as a substitute for long-overdue national elections. …

However which way one reads the visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to Beirut, it restored Lebanese-Syrian relations to their normal course and remains a step of great importance- provided the relationship rests on cooperation and coordination between two independent states. This was…

If the American-Iranian memorandum of understanding is worthy of the name it was given, why is this happening? Why does the US continue its punitive strikes on targets in Iran in response to the latter's attacks on ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz? Why does Iran continue its assaults…

It is a paradox of the highest order that real politics is now far more evident on playing fields and running tracks than in the world of official politics itself. Any form of competition inevitably creates winners, losers, and competing loyalties, which in many cases can give way to conspiracy and…

Today, we highlight Ibn Battuta's and the Italian Marco Polo's descriptions of the Strait of Hormuz. Marco Polo notes that the inhabitants of Hormuz were Muslims, commenting on their ethnic background and beliefs, which he describes as differing from those of Christians. He then turns to the…

Since February 28, the Iranian regime has attempted to send contradictory messages to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states: at times, conciliatory political messages, and at other times, military messages involving direct bombardment of civilian targets. There were two discourses: the…

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a writer who approaches Gulf affairs with balance and clear judgment. Writing about this issue differs from writing about almost any other as relations among the Gulf states are governed not by slogans, but by precise calculations that combine politics with the bonds of…

“Landed in Jeddah. Canada is building a new partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — one that harnesses the ambition of our nations to build greater prosperity and opportunity for our people.” Those were the words of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney upon his arrival in Jeddah to…

Let us admit that we are at a civilizational and global moment in which sources of happiness are strikingly scarce. Yet against this heavy feeling, sport (and football above all) remains capable of generating happiness and strengthening people’s sense of belonging, even if only fleetingly. It…