World News Insights: Opinion Articles

It would be reckless, very reckless... to speculate that developments in the Arab region between now and the Arab League summit scheduled for May 17 will follow a logical trajectory! Anything could happen, as there are no guardrails or constraints between us and the abyss. The most prominent of…

Eyad Abu Shakra

Iranian commentators appear to be relaxed about the prospects of the ongoing negotiations with the United States. Some have implied that a honeymoon period is possible with the “Great Satan” if its intentions are sincere. They speak of a mutual need. Iran needs an agreement that would end the…

Ghassan Charbel

From the moment US President Donald Trump announced his latest tariffs, people across the globe have been speculating about whether his decision would lead to a global economic recession. It seems that some of the world’s leading economic minds worry that, unfortunately, there is a risk of…

Emile Ameen

If wars and disasters shake ideas and convictions, how has no proposal that goes beyond immediate policy been put forward as this war rages on? The Levant is disintegrating, to say nothing about the exceptional suffering the Israelis are inflicting upon the Palestinians, or its humiliation of Syria…

Hazem Saghieh

Confusion in Baghdad comes in many forms—political, economic, electoral, both domestic and foreign. The Shiite political house has splintered into multiple factions; its roof is full of cracks and its walls crumbling, within which contradictions gather—moderates, ideologues, and armed factions…

Mustafa Fahs

In 2013 when a little-known cardinal from Argentina was elected the Pope of the Catholic Church, taking the title of Francis, many wondered in which direction he might walk in Saint Peter’s shoes. The election came as a surprise in the wake of the unprecedented decision of Pope Benedict XVI to…

Amir Taheri

We have been accustomed to Hezbollah’s adventurism and siding with the wrong front. It ignores the authority of the Lebanese state, which has been economically devastated and had once been torn apart, during the civil war sparked in the 1970s. That war ended with the Taif Agreement, which developed…

Dr. Jebril El-Abidi

Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem declared his opposition to disarming the party. “We will not allow anyone to disarm Hezbollah or the resistance. The idea of disarmament must be removed from the dictionary,” adding that these weapons had liberated the country and protected its…

Amr el-Shobaki

Pope Francis, who passed to his reward on the morning after Easter at age 88, was a version of the liberal pope that many Catholics had earnestly desired all through the long reign of John Paul II and the shorter one of Benedict XVI — a man whose worldview was shaped and defined by the Second…

Ross Douthat

To say that our history moves slowly is not a great discovery. We have seen, and continue to see, generation after generation living on "causes" that revert back to square one every time a solution that ends the struggle seems possible. This is particularly true of the Palestinian cause and the …

Hazem Saghieh

The war between Lebanon and Israel has reared its head once again. This comes after the ceasefire announced on November 27 was extended to February 18. While it was in effect, Israel violated the agreement 1,500 times, and Israel's Defense Minister announced that the occupied positions in Lebanon…

Nadim Koteich

While many Lebanese, along with their brothers and neighbors, are focused on major national and regional threats, a considerable segment of the Lebanese population is currently obsessing over a more trivial side story... An issue that may seem insignificant in comparison to the existential threats…

Eyad Abu Shakra