World News Insights: Opinion Articles

It is difficult for an analyst to come away with an accurate picture of the deliberations of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland). With such events, it is very useful to understand the atmosphere, body language, implicit messages, and positional “test signals.” The stances expressed in…

Don't say that you have a solution. You are not a decision-maker and have no right to steal the spotlight or praise. Your fate is to remain in the shadows and for others to take credit for your work. The solution comes from the source. Your participation in devising it does not give you any right…

Iraq's initiative to accept a number of the most dangerous ISIS members detained in northeastern Syria cannot be separated from the deeper transformations taking place in the counter-terrorism file in the region. This step is not merely a technical procedure or a temporary solution, but a…

When US President's son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke about a new "Riviera" project in Gaza, people thought the man was joking. But last February, the president himself spoke about the project. While Gaza was being crushed time after time, Donald Trump held a press conference in which he explained the…

The recent shifts in the Yemeni scene have led us to a revealing moment that cannot be read as a fleeting divergence in tactics among those involved, especially those that do not share a border with Yemen. Indeed, it must be read transparently: as a structural clash between two conceptions of…

It is a sign of the times that the word “revolution” now refers to something different from what it once did. The term does not, in this brief column, imply any prior value judgment, be it negative or positive, nor does it carry any of the connotations that various ideologies have assigned to it. …

“Tell me what is your nightmare and I will tell you who you are!” The quip attributed to Freud may be apocryphal, but I think it contains a grain of truth. I don’t know what your nightmare is, but I have known mine since I bought my first newspaper in Ahvaz as a child. It goes like this: I am up…

Those who believe that sparking or fanning wars in their neighbors’ homes can be done at no cost are mistaken. Once the fire is stoked, it recognizes no borders and does not distinguish between those who sparked it and those who merely live nearby. The events unfolding in Sudan today offer a stark…

A year into US President Donald Trump’s second term, it has become clear his victory was a fleeting anomaly, but a stark reflection of extreme grievances against traditional institutions. With a solid majority in Congress, President Trump has a mandate that few of his predecessors had enjoyed,…

After most had expected an imminent US/Israeli strike on Iran, it never materialized. Matters have calmed somewhat for now, but questions around the scale and timing of such a strike remain. Would it send a deterrent message to Iran intended to compel a shift in its regional policy? Or, as others…

Former minister and international financial expert Adel Afiouni says that “changing the system and reform from within, working with elements of the ruling class and to make gradual progress in the hope of saving the country, is a theory that has failed a thousand times.” This assessment by a…

The statement by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on the involvement of 21 individuals and entities in financing the Houthi militia was shocking. The statement said the targeted individuals form the financial and logistical infrastructure that enables the Houthis to…