World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The Middle East has been sitting on a powder keg since October 7, 2023. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz's visit to Iran last week was a pivotal step toward regional de-escalation that reaffirms Saudi Arabia’s adept role in putting the region on a path toward appeasing…

This man does not tire of killing. It is his job, and perhaps his calling. He doesn’t believe in talk about peace. The only rival he can trust is a dead one. “Peace” is an odd word in this thorny part of the world. What they call “peace” is at best a form of fragile truce. It is an open arena to…

Before delving into whether or not to participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next November, the kinds of electoral and political alliances that should be formed, or even the results and turnout, we must take a moment to think deeply about the electoral system. That entails deep…

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, leaks about Iran and its nuclear file have not stopped – whether it is what he is saying openly or what is being leaked by his administration or the Israelis or even the Iranian lobby in Washington. The leaks only increased with the second round of…

Some are preempting US President Donald Trump’s expected visit to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf next month by discussing the promised three trillion dollars, suggesting it should be conditional upon achieving political deals – ranging from Gaza to a Palestinian state, to Yemen and Iran. First, these…

Between Aoun's insistence on the state monopolizing arms and Hezbollah reverting back to its position on maintaining its arms, reproducing its previous taboos and reiterating the notorious threat “to cut off the hand that reaches for the weapons,” Lebanon (its state, people, sectarian and political…

A few days ago, on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Lebanese war, the culture of shirking responsibility for this conflict beamed once again. Several writers and observers have pointed to some manifestations of this culture whose prevalence has not been hindered by its corruption. The…

It was barely a month ago when TV watchers across the globe saw a show in which new US president Donald Trump treated visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as one of those voodoo dolls made for pushing needles into thus dodging a curse. After the show TV talking heads speculated that…

The moment Naim Qassem publicly and explicitly approved the ceasefire agreement, before Amos Hochstein even landed in Tel Aviv, he was, in effect, admitting to the collapse of Hezbollah’s project. The party’s insistence on securing a binding ceasefire agreement, even while Israeli forces remained…

Since October 7, 2023, and in the aftermath of war in Gaza and Lebanon, Iranian-Israeli skirmishes, and the much-touted but ultimately hollow talk of "unified fronts", a new dynamic has emerged. One I would call "converging tracks". Anyone observing the region today will detect a new common…

We often read two histories in history books, though one could, for a brief time, eclipse the other. One is the history of wars, which is studded with events like the conquests of Hannibal and Alexander, the Babylonian captivity, the Hundred Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War,…

It is an absurdity of Middle Eastern politics that many politicians and analysts are still betting on the complete elimination of Iran’s role in the region. Even more absurd is the expectation that Israel will drag Washington into this "war of elimination." True, this is the most right-wing US…