Breaking
... for openness and credibility....
- MENU
... for openness and credibility....
There may be a silver but risky lining for Kurdish nationalists in their devastating loss of Kirkuk and other cities on the periphery of their semi-au
Read More »The current efforts to reconcile between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas will be doomed to fail just like several previous attempts. Unless b
Read More »With Egypt qualifying for World Cup finals for the first time in 28 years and a crackdown on militant soccer fans that has put hundreds behind bars, p
Read More »The concern that Iran will pursue the development of nuclear weapons once the current Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal expires in ten y
Read More »A cornerstone of the Trump administration’s approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace, involving a restructuring of relations between erstwhile Midd
Read More »Dear President, I have been in your country scores of times and developed close and friendly relations with many Turks from all walks of life, who al
Read More »Saudi Arabia’s lifting of a ban on women’s driving raises a host of questions that transcend the issue of women’s rights and go to t
Read More »The Iraqi Kurdish referendum vote for independence, scheduled for 25 September, is more than likely to pass by an overwhelming majority of the Kurdish
Read More »Optimists see hopeful signs that the Middle East may be exiting from a dark tunnel of violence, civil war, sectarian strife, and debilitating regional
Read More »Owing to the air, sea and land blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt which is now reaching its fourth
Read More »The below article is a response to a public letter written by Ibrahim Kurtulus, criticizing my previous article about the plight of the Kurds in Turke
Read More »It has now been almost eight months since Donald trump took office as the 45th President of the United States, and by now (11 September 2017), Trump&r
Read More »The hacked email account of Yousef al-Otaiba, the influential United Arab Emirates ambassador in Washington, has provided unprecedented insight into t
Read More »Iraq, once the cradle of civilization, has and continues to experience one of the most horrific violent conflicts in modern history that defies any se
Read More »Recent moves by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates suggest that the two Gulf States may be looking for ways to reduce tensions with Iran that p
Read More »Much has been written about Syria’s civil war which has engulfed the country for the past six years, but sadly the mounting death and destructio
Read More »Vulnerable Asian states are bracing for possible pressure to back a Saudi-UAE boycott of Qatar as efforts to mediate an end to the almost month-old Gu
Read More »Dear President Abbas, Last week I sent an open letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, criticizing him in the strongest terms for pursuing policies that
Read More »Saudi Arabia, in a first move to pressure mostly Muslim states to join its campaign against Qatar, has persuaded six sub-Saharan African nations with
Read More »Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu, Since you celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the victory of the Six Day War, did you ponder what this triumph has
Read More »Oman has been a key pillar of India's West Asia Policy. Both states celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2015. Ministerial
Read More »The growing tension between Turkey and its Western allies, which was further heightened during the Obama administration, is narrowing the space for co
Read More »The news that Saudi Arabia along with UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar over the latter’s alleged support for Islam
Read More »The razor-thin victory (51.3 per cent to 48.7 per cent) of Turkey’s President Erdogan in the referendum held on April 16 in fact denies Erdogan
Read More »Israel is increasingly looking for partnerships in economic, political, cultural, and military sectors with countries in Southeast Asia, and relations
Read More »On the sad occasion of the fiftieth year of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, I will be writing a series of articles that will propose a number
Read More »The four-day (May 14-17, 2017) visit to New Delhi of President Mahmoud Abbas comes at a crucial time. This is his fifth visit to India but the first s
Read More »As we approach the sixth year of Syria’s civil war, the whole international community remains completely inept and has failed to join together i
Read More »Saudi Arabia’s powerful deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has put sports, culture and entertainment, at the cutting edge of his effort t
Read More »The result of the April 16 referendum in Turkey on the constitutional amendment bill proposing to change the current parliamentary form of government
Read More »Israel and Palestine are gearing up for a crucial battle in world soccer body FIFA about the status of Israeli-occupied territory that is likely to fo
Read More »Anyone who follows Turkish President Erdogan’s political career cannot escape the conclusion that he has carefully and systematically crafted po
Read More »President Trump has certainly made good on his promise to shake things up in Washington – and around the world. I assume most readers of t
Read More »US President Donald J. Trump’s vow to defeat what he terms radical Islamic terrorism forces the United States to manoeuvre the Middle East and N
Read More »President Trump should not be swayed by Netanyahu’s duplicitous argument, however convincing it might sound, that he is committed to a two-state
Read More »Late on April 6, the United States carried out missile attacks on the Shayrat airbase outside Homs in Syria targeting “aircraft, hardened aircra
Read More »The Trump administration risks fuelling sectarianism across the Muslim world and exacerbating multiple conflicts that are ripping the Middle East and
Read More »The Islamic State’s New Year’s Eve bombing of an upscale nightclub in Istanbul has fuelled culture wars in Turkey and Israel and laid bare
Read More »During the past few months I interviewed scores of Turkish citizens who escaped from Turkey following the unsuccessful military coup, fearing for thei
Read More »Should President Trump fulfil his campaign promise to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it would have major regional and inter
Read More »US President Donald Trump appeared to fulfil one of his many campaign promises last week. A draft of his executive order on immigration appeared on Ja
Read More »Achieving a general ceasefire in Syria has been central to every diplomatic initiative to end the conflict since the United Nations Security Council i
Read More »US president Donald J. Trump’s fuelling of Islamophobia with his newly imposed travel ban as well as his war on the mainstream media feed an inc
Read More »President-elect Trump’s appointment of David Friedman (known for his support of the settlements) to be the US ambassador to Israel, his appointm
Read More »If the ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey holds, it will be welcomed by most people in Syria - but the odds seem stacked against it. Several prev
Read More »There have been mixed responses to the 7th general conference of Fatah, the nationalist movement that has dominated Palestinian politics for decades,
Read More »The Islamic State’s New Year’s Eve bombing of an upscale nightclub in Istanbul has fuelled culture wars in Turkey and Israel and laid bare
Read More »The Syrian regime has several military options as it advances after the Aleppo victory. Seemingly unthinkable just a few months ago, the fall of Alep
Read More »Although Christians have lived in the Middle East – the birthplace of Christianity – for nearly two thousand years, as a result of years o
Read More »A recent news item on the BBC's English website neatly captured the sharp contrast in how, five years later, various Arab rulers, citizens and non-Ara
Read More »It is not a `good news’ that the United States and Russia have cut off negotiations on Syria accusing each other for break-down of the short-liv
Read More »Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused world soccer body FIFA of allowing FIFA-sanctioned matches to be played on occupied land in the West Bank in viol
Read More »Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, an Islamist with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently convened some of Islam’s most promin
Read More »Much has been written about the unfolding tragedy in Syria, but how many of these unimaginable atrocities have been etched in the consciousness of the
Read More »The death of President Shimon Peres highlights the stark difference in leadership between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu—the difference betwee
Read More »Turkey’s President Erdogan has claimed that military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will continue until &
Read More »Who won the just concluded parliamentary election in Jordan? The answer depends on how one frames ‘victory'? The outcome of the 18th parlia
Read More »Senator Bernie Sanders’ call during the primaries for a new approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was on-point and necessary. H
Read More »An Egyptian businessman with close ties to general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, has submitted a bid for the broadcasting rights of the Confe
Read More »Israel’s continued settlement activity—whether retroactively approving ‘unauthorized’ outposts or advancing plans for new unit
Read More »Reputational risk associated with autocratic investment in high profile soccer clubs threatened to catch up with the UAE as a powerful coalition of po
Read More »Synopsis: The Turkish government’s sweeping crackdown across the public services in the wake of a failed military coup in July has highlighted a
Read More »The on-going horror in Aleppo should awaken every global leader with an ounce of courage to step up and do whatever it takes to end the slaughter and
Read More »Reputational risk associated with autocratic investment in high profile soccer clubs threatened to catch up with the UAE as a powerful coalition of po
Read More »The week-long visit of Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar to Lebanon (17-18 August), Syria (19-20 August) and Iraq (21-23 August) has
Read More »Saudi Arabia is projecting miniscule steps to reverse decades of denial of women’s sporting rights as evidence of significant changes in the kin
Read More »I’m sure many of my readers enjoy the eclectic and erudite essays of Michael Koplow, disseminated as “Ottomans and Zionists” and als
Read More »Unless distrust, insecurity, and illusions are first addressed, no incentives—however sweeping and compelling—will motivate Israel and the
Read More »Kamal Salibi, one of the Arab world’s foremost contemporary historians, kicked up a storm when he concluded in a 1985 linguistic exegesis that J
Read More »If the Islamic State (IS) was serious about attacking Euro 2016, its plans clearly never materialized. Leaked transcripts of the interrogation of one
Read More »In late May the World Bank ran a feature story on “The Importance of Planning Syria’s Eventual Reconstruction,” which advocated inno
Read More »The report that was recently released by the Middle East Quartet – comprised of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Na
Read More »An international volleyball tournament in the Iranian capital has thrown into sharp relief a debate in international sporting associations on how to d
Read More »The forced resignation of Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu suggests only one thing—President Erdogan, who is totally absorbed by hi
Read More »The 22 July visit of a Saudi delegation led by retired Major General Anwar Eshki, head of the Jeddah-based Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal
Read More »One of the more interesting aspects of the Russian military intervention into Syria has been the creation of a new diplomatic alignment in the Middle
Read More »Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah appear increasingly confident that the U.S. is coming round to treating the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as
Read More »Present-day Israeli foreign policy is giving considerable attention to the Southeast Asian countries, namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Singa
Read More »The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has rarely been so far from finding a resolution. Since the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas during
Read More »With Saudi Arabia announcing plans for a major restructuring of the kingdom’s economy and Iran gearing up to become a regional hegemon, women&rs
Read More »The influx of millions of Syrian refugees to Europe is more than likely to become another source of radicalization that could increase the number of v
Read More »The opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faces mounting challenges. Most immediate is the threat of further human costs and lo
Read More »The past year has not been good to Osama Bin Laden’s brothers, owners of the Saudi Binladen Group, one of the kingdom’s leading constructi
Read More »A question often raised is: are leaders a reflection of their time, or are they individuals who rise to answer the call of the hour? History has shown
Read More »Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun his third year with yet another visit to the Middle East when he met with the Qatari leadership in Doha o
Read More »Last month’s opening of storied Istanbul soccer club Besiktas JK’s renovated Vodafone Arena stadium was laden with political symbols rangi
Read More »The partial Russian military pull-out from Syria announced by President Vladimir Putin on 14 March continues to generate considerable commentary. Thre
Read More »Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s brutal regime in rare gestures towards his opponents has twice this year recognized the potential stre
Read More »Social media is ever so creative these days, and it is increasingly important for messaging during conflicts in the Middle East. As we witness t
Read More »The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which was once at the front and centre of the Arab world and a significant player on the global stage due to its oil rich
Read More »The fifth anniversary of the uprisings that challenged autocratic rulers in six Arab states in 2011 has generated many retrospective reflections. Som
Read More »In the wake of the unimaginable horror of World War II the international community committed itself to never allow such atrocities to take place again
Read More »Only a few months after Turkey’s President Erdogan raided the offices of the Koza Ipek Media Group, the Turkish police assaulted the offices of
Read More »One of the main prerequisites to defeating ISIS in Iraq and stabilizing the country is the establishment of an independent Sunni Iraqi state alongside
Read More »The cessation of hostilities that went into effect in Syria after midnight on 26 February has proved more successful than might have been expected. Vi
Read More »A failed election campaign for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA by Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa that has further tarnished the image o
Read More »Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu, I write this letter to you with a heavy heart as it pains me deeply to see the beautiful dream of a strong and proud I
Read More »The spread of protests in Tunisia since mid-January reveals the depth of its unresolved and festering socio-economic crisis. It also exposes just how
Read More »The demagoguery of Prime Minster Netanyahu seems to have no limit—demagoguery in a sense that he says and acts on anything to buttress Israel&rs
Read More »Sports and air transport are likely to serve as indicators of whether Iran has the flexibility to become a major node in an increasingly globalized wo
Read More »It may seem counterintuitive, or even downright strange, but Israel’s geopolitical position is probably stronger now than at any time in the cou
Read More »Saudi Arabia has raised the ante in its battle with Iran by publicly committing to send ground troops to Syria. This latest move by the Saudis is aime
Read More »An extraordinary summit of the European Union and Turkey is scheduled to take place in early March, to coordinate responses to the continuing flow of
Read More »Fleeting hopes that Egypt’s militant, street battled-hardened soccer fans may have breached general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’
Read More »The timely implementation of the Iran deal and Tehran’s full compliance with its various provisions to date should not be viewed as just an acco
Read More »The first milestone in implementing the Iran nuclear deal has come and gone. As the agreement’s proponents expected and opponents denied would h
Read More »A regular reader of my weekly column recently shared with me a commentary about the brutal murder of Dafna Meir, an Israeli Jew who was stabbed to dea
Read More »A little-noticed decree issued by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the end of November 2015 empowered the agency responsible for manag
Read More »The use of violence to end the occupation has not served the Palestinian cause well, instead making matters worse as it hardened the resolve of succes
Read More »Subtle changes in the way Qatar projects itself on the international stage symbolized by a recent government reshuffle, economic reform as a result of
Read More »The US government announced that a wide range of economic, fiscal and trade sanctions imposed on Iran for its decade-long nuclear transgressions had b
Read More »Saudi Arabia is using soccer and its influence in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to expand its campaign to isolate Iran, complicate Iran&rsquo
Read More »The Saudi decision to execute Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr at this particular juncture was a strategic act of defiance meant to challenge Iran an
Read More »Disputes in Kuwait’s ruling Al Sabah family that sparked international sports sanctions against the Gulf state went again on public display this
Read More »The escalating Turkish-Russian crisis following Turkey’s downing in November of a Russian war plane promises to spill onto European soccer pitch
Read More »During several meetings I recently had with EU officials in Brussels, they argued that it is time to revive the Middle East Quartet, which consists of
Read More »On 12 September 2001, I took a flight to Geneva to attend the annual conference of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. As head of its M
Read More »A US$ 400 million sale by a senior member of the UAE ruling family of a 13 percent stake in Manchester City FC to China Media Capital (CMC), a subsidi
Read More »The deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process appears to be illogical and unsettling as a majority of Israelis and Palestinians realize that c
Read More »Turkish fans twice in two months disrupted moments of silence for victims of Islamic State attacks in Ankara and Paris in a demonstration of the kind
Read More »The dramatic spread of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from Syria to Iraq in 2013 and its proclamation of the caliphate a year later generate
Read More »Bahraini soccer players have sought in recent statements to absolve Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president and world soccer body FIFA presidenti
Read More »No new format for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians can succeed unless it carefully considers the reasons behind the failure of p
Read More »Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been around for generations, it still has the capacity to surprise. Even the experts are confused by the
Read More »Zouhair, a security guard of immigrant background, was one of several security officers, who prevented three of the Paris suicide bombers from enterin
Read More »The upheaval sweeping the Middle East suggests that it will be extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to resume the Israeli-Palestinian negotiati
Read More »A panel in Doha of religious scholars, officials of Qatar’s government-sponsored human rights committee, and international labour activists has
Read More »The Israel Football Association (IFA) acting on orders of the police has suspended what it calls ‘sensitive’ matches, a reference to profe
Read More »Regardless of what Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas stated in their speeches at the United Nations General Assembly,
Read More »As Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi struggled to get Egyptians to cast their vote in parliamentary elections, militant soccer fa
Read More »What started as a civil war in Syria nearly five years ago has now evolved into an international crisis unmatched by any other since World War II. The
Read More »Palestinian lawyer Mohammed Allan, who went on hunger strike for 65 days to protest his indefinite detention in Israeli custody, was subsequently move
Read More »Contention about the pros and cons of the Oslo Accords, which were signed by Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime M
Read More »Never missing an opportunity to shoot itself in the foot, 2022 World Cup-host Qatar has adopted a new law that is more likely to convince critics that
Read More »Anyone who has followed Iran’s behaviour since the 1979 Revolution cannot escape the fact that Iran is bent on restoring some, if not much, of i
Read More »Israel’s most notorious soccer fan group, La Familia, known for its militant racism against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, has put itself in t
Read More »The Russian military intervention in Syria has generated considerable confusion among foreign governments opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad&
Read More »It was always a question of when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would violently erupt once again, which only proves that, contrary to the prevailing
Read More »The Egyptian interior ministry, in a potential signal that the country’s military-backed regime recognizes that its choking of all public space
Read More »Israel’s multiple fault lines – secular vs. religious, Jewish vs. Palestine and controversial calls for a boycott of the Jewish state &nda
Read More »For some of us the period since 14 July, when the nuclear agreement with Iran was announced, has been immensely hectic. I and many of my friends have
Read More »A series of recent mass protests in several Arab countries have called into question suggestions that civil wars, brutal crackdowns and military coups
Read More »The enduring impasse between Israel and the Palestinians in the peace negotiations and their changing internal political dynamics has made it impossib
Read More »The Turkish Football Federation (TFF), in a demonstration of the inseparable ties between sports and politics, has effectively declared its support fo
Read More »A condemned Turkish stadium harbours a dark warning of the long-term consequences of ethnic cleansing or what Turks euphemistically call the populatio
Read More »A shadowy group of militant soccer fans that has largely lied low since it participated in mass anti-government protests in 2013 that led to the milit
Read More »Israel and Hamas are reportedly discussing a long-term truce. Although Israeli officials claim it is merely a rumour and that there are no direct or i
Read More »The flurry of contacts and visits among key external powers involved in the Syrian conflict over the past few weeks has sparked speculation that a rar
Read More »Israel and Palestine are playing political soccer with Palestinian football as the ball. It is a match which Israel is unlikely to win and that could
Read More »The word tragic has often been used to describe the civil war in Syria, but it is a pale description of the raging madness on the ground. The bloodlet
Read More »As an active member of the Washington, D.C. Jewish community since 1988 (except for six years when I lived in Israel), I want to express my indignatio
Read More »Israel is struggling with how to deal with groups some of which are underground that are linked to a banned nationalist political party that has emerg
Read More »One of the main prerequisites to defeating ISIS in Iraq is to determine the political future of Sunni Iraqis. As long as they do not know what the fut
Read More »The phrase “No good crisis should be wasted” is by now a cliché, but it is very much applicable to the current situation, following
Read More »Press reports that the U.S. and Turkey are at last agreed on creating a “de facto” safe zone in Syria, in which internally displaced Syria
Read More »A promise by Qatari labour and social affairs minister Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi to reform the Gulf state’s controversial kafala or lab
Read More »There is a consensus that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is on the strategic defensive, and many anticipate that the rebels opposing h
Read More »A violent display of racism by extreme nationalist supporters of storied Israeli football club Beitar Jerusalem coupled with recent Ethiopian Israeli
Read More »The premier league final between Cairo’s two storied clubs, Al-Ahly SC and Al Zamalek SC, once the world’s most violent derby, was more th
Read More »Against a backdrop of the violent redrawing of the map of the Middle East as minorities assert their rights, rebels challenge the existing order, and
Read More »One of the most troubling developments resulting from the escalation of violent extremism in the Middle East is the rise in the number of Muslims from
Read More »An Egyptian court has banned militant soccer fan groups or ultras as terrorist organizations in a bid to break the backbone of anti-government protest
Read More »Horrific outbursts against the Jews are on the rise all over Europe – exclamations like “gas the Jews” and “Jews burn best&rdq
Read More »Recent battlefield gains by rebel forces opposed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have again prompted predictions that his fall is im
Read More »Widely viewed as a shrewd financial investor, Qatar’s return on investment in soft power designed to position it as a progressive ally of world
Read More »The fall of Idlib city and nearby Jisr al-Shughur to Syria’s rebels in the northwest of the country and their gains around Daraa in the south in
Read More »The deal with Iran has been generally characterized as either good or bad, and many pronounced it as historic with far-reaching regional and even glob
Read More »Egyptian-general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al Sisi’s iron grip on dissident is likely to be put to the test with the sentencing to death of
Read More »Every Arab state, regardless of the extent to which it is involved in combating violent extremism, must recognize that there is no shortcut to defeati
Read More »Israel’s Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) has demanded that notoriously racist club Beitar Jerusalem, the bad boy of Israeli soc
Read More »The Iran “framework agreement” reached a couple of weeks ago has preoccupied this country, and especially American Jews. I’m somewha
Read More »A soccer pitch in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, home to Iran’s Arab minority, has emerged as a flashpoint of anti-government protest at a time of r
Read More »Whereas the international focus today is on how to counter violent extremism, which is behind many of the violent conflicts sweeping the Middle East,
Read More »Egypt has moved closer to banning as terrorist organizations militant soccer groups that form the backbone of opposition to autocratic rule with the a
Read More »Legal and diplomatic battles in United Nations organizations and international sport associations involving charges of war crimes and efforts to suspe
Read More »Those of us who regularly observe and try to make sense of the madness sweeping the Middle East often find ourselves, perhaps out of desperation, enga
Read More »Long-simmering discontent in Ahwaz, the soccer-crazy, predominantly ethnic Arab capital of Iran’s Khuzestan province that Iraqi president Saddam
Read More »The emergence of the Joint List, a coalition of four Arab parties, as the third largest parliamentary party in Israel’s recent elections attract
Read More »An Egyptian prosecutor has set the stage for the banning of a group of hard-core, militant soccer fans by charging them with accepting money and explo
Read More »Campaigning for re-election, world soccer body FIFA president Sepp Blatter seems never to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In an article in
Read More »A warning by world soccer body FIFA president Sepp Blatter following talks with Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani that Qatar nee
Read More »Following Prime Minster Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress, the question being asked is whether the speech will adversely or posi
Read More »One thing the biographies of Jihadi John, the Islamic State’s executioner of foreign hostages, and several of his European associates have in co
Read More »Much is being made of signs of a reinvigorated Egyptian foreign policy. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s trips to Moscow in 2014 and Ru
Read More »The killing of a security guard at a synagogue in Copenhagen over two weeks ago has renewed Netanyahu’s call for mass immigration of European Je
Read More »An Egyptian Cabinet decision to end the suspension of professional soccer in late March but reinstitute the ban on spectators attending matches could
Read More »The Israeli general election, scheduled for 17 March, can be fateful for the Israeli Arabs as their voting en masse could change the political map and
Read More »The United Arab Emirates has embarked on an all-out effort to broaden its regional influence and achieve global acceptance of its autocratic definitio
Read More »It is hard to imagine how a devious, delusionary and destructive individual like Naftali Bennett, the leader of the Jewish Home party, can rise to pro
Read More »A stampede at a Cairo stadium earlier this month, much like a politically-loaded soccer brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said three years ago, is
Read More »International sporting associations have hardened their stance towards wannabe hosts of mega-events, who violate basic rights, including those of wome
Read More »There is no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s acceptance of House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address a joint session of Cong
Read More »Qatari sports executives, in a bid to refute calls for depriving Qatar of its 2022 World Cup hosting rights, have asked their human rights and trade u
Read More »Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “doing politics.” He authorized official participation in talks with an unrepresentative sample of opp
Read More »When Sarah Samir stepped this week on to an Egyptian soccer pitch to referee a men’s match, she joined a small band of Arab women referees staki
Read More »The Arab Peace Initiative (API) presents an unprecedented and vital opportunity to change the course of events in the Middle East by realizing an Isra
Read More »Israel has been busy of late, strengthening its ties with East Asia, and Japan is no exception. The flurry of diplomatic initiatives by both countries
Read More »A Saudi-led proxy war against Iran playing out in Syria and Iraq has expanded onto the soccer pitch with a last minute decision by the Palestini
Read More »A Turkish Football Federation (TFF) decision to penalize a third tier soccer club in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir for adopting a Kurdi
Read More »Palestine has set a new benchmark for nations like the Kurds and the Kosovars who see soccer as a key part of their toolbox to achieve statehood with
Read More »I am no longer surprised by what Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu says or does. No leader with any pride and sensitivity would have tried to ex
Read More »Kuwait may have scored the first goal against Australia in the opening match of the Asian Cup but when the match ended 4:1 in favour of the Australian
Read More »2015 has started with three new proposals to resolve the Syrian conflict. UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura continues to put flesh on his “Ale
Read More »The Assad regime has repeatedly exuded its confidence over the improvement of its strategic situation during the past twelve months. Territorial gains
Read More »Mounting anger among Saudi soccer clubs at their subjugation to quotas designed to encourage employment of Saudi nationals and reduce dependence on fo
Read More »Militant, street battle-hardened soccer fans stormed a Cairo stadium in advance of the second leg of crowned Cairo Al Ahli SC’s African Confeder
Read More »The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has warned Iran that it would be stripped of its right to host the 2015 Under-19 men’s world voll
Read More »President Erdogan has recently come under intense criticism for his unwillingness to come to the aid of the beleaguered Syrian Kurds in the city of Ko
Read More »A refusal by Morocco to host next month’s 2014 African Cup of Nations soccer tournament for fear that it could import the Ebola virus from West
Read More »When Jabhat al-Nusra recently expelled several moderate rebel groups from their strongholds in northwest Syria, this triggered rumours that the Al-Qae
Read More »Wealthy Gulf states have invited Jordan and Morocco to compete in future Gulf Cups as part of a bid to strengthen their fragile six-nation Gulf Cooper
Read More »Mounting tension between Israel and Palestinians on the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem have spilt on to Israeli Palestinian soccer pitches i
Read More »Soccer fans exploiting stadia as contested public space emerged more than three years ago as a key force in anti-government protests that toppled Egyp
Read More »Lurking in the background of world soccer body FIFA’s talks with Qatar Airways to replace its Dubai rival Emirates as a sponsor is the escalatin
Read More »During the donor conference held in Cairo a few days ago, the US, EU, and other countries pledged US$ 2.7 billion for reconstruction in Gaza. It is un
Read More »A successful soccer player near the peak of his career, 22-year Nidhal Selmi died last week a foreign fighter for the Islamic State, the jihadist grou
Read More »The struggle for women’s rights to engage in sports and attend sporting events has commanded increased attention with the hunger strike of a Bri
Read More »A failed effort by a public relations company representing Bahrain and a UK law firm acting on behalf of Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the comma
Read More »The gruesome and tragic beheadings of innocent US and UK citizens is excruciatingly painful, especially for the families of the victims. Other than ma
Read More »A possible police investigation into allegations that Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the commander of Bahrain's armed forces and head of its Nati
Read More »Speaking at the international pledging conference for the reconstruction of Gaza on 12 October, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the need
Read More »The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are locked into a propaganda war with public relations agencies and front organizations as proxies that is backfiri
Read More »In what could be considered a major breakthrough for Indo-Israeli defence ties, under the newly installed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led
Read More »As someone who has consistently advocated a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution, I was appalled to hear
Read More »At face value, a recent one minute video clip on You Tube leaves little doubt about support for the Islamic State, the jihadist group that controls a
Read More »One group has been conspicuously absent in the battle for greater transparency of global soccer governance symbolized by multiple corruption scandals
Read More »A British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Tehran for attempting to watch a men’s volleyball match is at the centre of Iran’s cultural wars tha
Read More »As a core coalition led by the United States gears up to confront the militant Islamic State with action in Iraq, there is a rare opportunity to engin
Read More »An expected decision by Egyptian soccer authorities to ban as terrorist organizations groups of militant soccer fans builds on the definition by Arab
Read More »Much has been said about President Obama’s strategy to degrade and eventually “destroy” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Read More »An unprecedented number of Arab countries are in the midst of one kind or another of large-scale armed conflict. War has reached the capitals of Iraq,
Read More »Newly elected Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined a host of Middle Eastern and North African leaders seeking to portray protest as terrorism
Read More »The Netanyahu-led government’s announcement of its decision to annex nearly 1,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank between the Etzion
Read More »Palestinian soccer clubs and non-governmental organizations have called on European soccer governor UEFA to shy away from awarding Israel the right to
Read More »The ascendancy of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the presidency places Turkey on a trajectory that could usher in a new era unlike any other s
Read More »Gulf states seeking to polish images tarnished by allegations of violations of human rights and their critics are employing soccer in an effort to sha
Read More »Ahmed Mohammed al Qatar and Udai Jaber’s burgeoning soccer careers came to a screeching halt in early August when the two 19-year olds were shot
Read More »Efforts to professionalize soccer in Saudi Arabia in advance of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are marred by efforts to maintain political control of the
Read More »The new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has immediately raised the same old question: will it last, or is it merely just another pause, providing t
Read More »A series of incidents ranging from the killing of a player to the raising of the flag of the Islamic State, the militant jihadist group that controls
Read More »Exactly one year ago, a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus. For a moment, the Syrian confl
Read More »Qatar is emerging for the second time in a decade as the only Arab state without a peace treaty and diplomatic relations to have invested in Israel. Q
Read More »World soccer body FIFA has dispatched investigators to Egypt to probe allegations of government interference as the country prepares for potentially r
Read More »In announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the areas of Iraq and Syria it controls on 30 June and calling on Muslims everywhere to vow
Read More »There is a growing consensus among Israelis and Arabs that the Israel-Hamas war will end just like the 2009 and 2012 encounters. Hamas will declare vi
Read More »Joint efforts by Israel and Egypt to prevent Hamas from emerging from the Gaza war with a political victory not only threatens to undermine efforts to
Read More »The dramatic seizure of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by a coalition of Sunni Arab militias spearheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (I
Read More »The military campaign launched on 16 May by Libya’s former chief-of-staff Gen. Khalifa Haftar to oust the Islamist factions that dominate the co
Read More »A compromise formula that saved Israel from being sanctioned by world soccer governing body FIFA has bought the Jewish state time but serves as a harb
Read More »A few months after Syria’s uprising began in March 2011, it became common place to portray the country as the battleground for a proxy contest b
Read More »Qatar is employing soccer to put a significant first chip in the Chinese wall that segregates its minority citizenry from its majority foreign labour
Read More »Militant supporters of Istanbul’s top three soccer clubs added muscle to thousands of trade unionists, leftists and government opponents in May
Read More »An Egyptian court has sentenced 12 militant soccer fans to five years in prison in an expansion of the military-backed regime’s crackdown on its
Read More »The 2022 World Cup is emerging as an engine of social and possible political reform in the Gulf, a region that is desperately trying to ring fence a s
Read More »World soccer body FIFA has dispatched investigators to Egypt to probe allegations of government interference as the country prepares for potentially r
Read More »Three years ago, popular uprisings overthrew four Arab presidents-for-life, revealing the degree to which the nepotistic political systems they had co
Read More »A long awaited and much hyped announcement on a reform of 2022 World Cup host Qatar's controversial kafala or labour sponsorship system has sparked mo
Read More »On 23 April, representatives of Fatah and Hamas, the two movements that have dominated Palestinian politics for decades, announced a new attempt to en
Read More »A Saudi debate about the societal role of soccer expanded this week with controversy over a group of female American Congressional staffers being allo
Read More »I am one of those who certainly support J Street’s ongoing efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace, and I applaud their repeated outreach c
Read More »Qatari organizers of the 2022 World Cup—in a bid to fend off criticism in the European parliament, convince world soccer body FIFA of progress m
Read More »Given the strong likelihood that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, why and how to prevent it from achieving its goal must be based on the assumption
Read More »Always murky, Turkish soccer politics have become even murkier as a politics-laden match-fixing scandal meshes with a corruption investigation that ta
Read More »No one can accuse Secretary of State John Kerry of not doing his very best to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. His tenacity, commitment a
Read More »Qatar’s response to a call by international trade unions to freeze its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers injured in a gas lea
Read More »Israel has once again enjoyed a very significant presence during the recently concluded Defexpo, held in New Delhi, and Singapore Airshow. N
Read More »It is hard to imagine that representatives of the 30 countries that assembled in Geneva actually believed that they could find a political solution to
Read More »Defence Minister General Abdul-Fattah Sisi, who was elevated to the supreme military rank of Field Marshal on February 1, 2014, will almost certainly
Read More »Gulf states are lining up as targets for criticism by international trade unions and human rights groups for their treatment of foreign workers. Qatar
Read More »If Israeli soccer pitches are any indication, Israeli attitudes towards Palestinians do not bode well for US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Mid
Read More »With multiple potential flashpoints coinciding, militant, street-battle hardened Egyptian soccer fans threaten to align stadia alongside the country&r
Read More »Widespread resentment of the systematic abuse of human rights and suppression of basic freedoms by the police and internal security agencies was the p
Read More »Bahrain has detained a soccer team as well as scores of other players and athletes since security forces squashed a popular uprising almost three year
Read More »People around the world have passed judgment on the life of Israel’s most controversial leader that runs the gamut from utter and deep admiratio
Read More »Defence relations between India and Israel have come a long way, against all odds. Israel has emerged as India’s second-largest arms supplier, b
Read More »Human rights group again blasted future World Cup host Qatar for its treatment of migrant workers. Yet, amid the criticism was an implicit recogn
Read More »The significantly improved bilateral relation between Turkey and India is of recent phenomenon. Both are the members of G-20 group and they are active
Read More »Qatar is taking a beating in the court of public opinion with almost daily headlines raising questions about the way the Gulf state does business. Yet
Read More »Saudi Arabia has become the latest Gulf country to discover that investment in European soccer to achieve national and corporate branding risks reputa
Read More »Soon after the news flashed over the globe about a thawing of relations between Iran and the United States after the Geneva nuclear accord, several re
Read More »Fears that Lebanon will be dragged into a deepening cycle of violence are palpable. Senior Lebanese security officials regard the country as already a
Read More »A vast majority of Saudis favour women having the right to fully engage in sports in a country that has no official facilities for female athletes or
Read More »The attention of those concerned with the fallout of the Syrian crisis on neighbouring countries has focused recently on Tripoli, the capital of north
Read More »Qatar’s failure to confront with a sense of immediacy and urgency appalling working and living conditions of its foreign workers, who constitute
Read More »In the early 1990’s, most Arab countries, in order to foster growth and create sufficient employment opportunities, looked to transition from ec
Read More »The banning of a prominent Egyptian soccer player for expressing political views on the pitch goes to the core of international sports’ problems
Read More »When Basil Assad, oldest son and heir apparent to the late President Hafez Assad, was killed in a car accident in 1994, the father turned to his in-ex
Read More »The Middle East has fully occupied U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of late. Having visited Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the hope of mending U.S. relat
Read More »Militant, street battle-hardened soccer fans played a key role in toppling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and resisting the military rulers who succ
Read More »Financially stressed Turkish soccer clubs are becoming pawns in the political struggle between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and militant soccer
Read More »Sectarian divisions fuelling conflict across the Middle East have spilt on to the soccer pitch with Iraq’s decision to boycott the Gulf Cup and
Read More »Militant Egyptian soccer fans, a key player in Egypt’s almost three year-old political rollercoaster, are fighting a battle for their existence
Read More »On the surface, the United States and Israel appear to be on the same page regarding Iran’s nuclear program and how to prevent Iran from acquiri
Read More »Various Syrian rebel groups have announced a spate of mergers and alliances over the past month. In theory, the trend is a welcome sign that the oppos
Read More »State-owned Qatari television network Al Jazeera prides itself on hard hitting, let-the chips-fall-where-they fall reporting. Yet, it has systematical
Read More »The recent terrorist attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, evoked several concerns from almost every corner of the globe. Major Powers such as th
Read More »The last-minute U.S.-Russian agreement on seizing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons defused the threat of another war in the Middle East b
Read More »For many years, it appeared that nothing would threaten the status quo of authoritarian Arab regimes. Then came the Arab Spring. Since 2011, it has be
Read More »Turkish soccer pitches have reasserted themselves as political battlefields following the death of a protester and the emergence of pro-government foo
Read More »In the past month the world seems to have come a full circle. Coming on the heels of a reported chemical weapons strike in the suburbs of Damascus, th
Read More »A pending decision in early October by world soccer body FIFA on whether to move the Qatar 2022 World Cup from summer to winter threatens to open deba
Read More »My previous article entitled “Obama’s Syria Debacle” elicited wide-spread positive feedback and just as much criticism about the rat
Read More »Middle Eastern investors have adopted a new strategy of buying low and selling high with a series of acquisitions of second and third tier European so
Read More »After two years of virtual inaction on Syria, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama appears on the verge of launching a direct military st
Read More »Winning the 2022 World Cup hosting rights has proven to be a mixed blessing for Qatar. The wealthy Gulf emirate, more than two years after world socce
Read More »I am not a war monger; I know the meaning of war, the death toll, the suffering, and the destruction of property along with the spirit of innocent men
Read More »Saudi Arabia’s secretive ruling family is mulling allowing women to attend soccer matches. No Saudi official has suggested that the controversia
Read More »The despairing speech by President Barack Obama in Sweden a day before the G-20 Summit was not only revealing but also interesting. He said that he ha
Read More »Activists have stepped up calls for a boycott of the 2022 World Cup if Qatar fails to bring conditions for its majority foreign work force in line wit
Read More »The statement by Egypt’s de facto ruler, Defence Minister and Egyptian Armed Forces Commander General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, that “there is
Read More »Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has announced a series of measures to prevent soccer stadiums and university campuses f
Read More »The question often raised by many is, does the Obama administration have a cohesive strategy toward the Middle East that addresses the developments of
Read More »A soccer brawl last year in which more than 70 militant soccer fans died galvanized a significant number of Egyptians against the military and securit
Read More »As Lebanon, a country in which almost every facet of life is defined by sectarian fault lines, teeters in the shadow of civil war in next door Syria,
Read More »Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Güler has banned the chanting of political slogans during the country’s next soccer season in a bid to re
Read More »A wide range of credible sources suggest that the election of Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani presents a timely, if not momentous, opportuni
Read More »The United States quest for stability in the Middle East and North Africa that amounted to support for autocratic regimes at the expense of America&rs
Read More »Iran’s President-elect Hassan Rouhani, took office on 4 August 2013, has thrown up a wild card for those wishing to predict the future of Iran&r
Read More »The promise of Egypt’s interim “technocratic” government to restore social peace and political stability and to rescue the economy i
Read More »Israel's rising arms trade is once again making headlines. Israeli and international media are reporting that sales soared to US$7.5 billion last year
Read More »Whereas former President Bush and President Obama are ideologically a world apart, their policies toward Middle Eastern conflicts produced the same da
Read More »The Lebanese army recently defeated a challenge from a militant Salafist group led by radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir near the southern cit
Read More »Secretary of State John Kerry is to be highly commended for his tireless efforts to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace negotiation
Read More »A recent visit by world soccer body FIFA president Sepp Blatter to the Middle East spotlighted the group’s role as a pillar of the existing poli
Read More »The closing statement of the Friends of Syria meeting in Doha on 22 June appeared tougher and more practical than usual. Ministers from nine of the &l
Read More »Notwithstanding the cultural and interpretive differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the God worshiped by Muhammad is the same God that
Read More »Twelve years of blood, sweat, heartache, and grotesque amounts of money and resources have been expended in Afghanistan since 9/11, only now the parti
Read More »The ongoing “Second Revolution” in Egypt around deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected leader since the outbrea
Read More »The recent news about Israel’s alleged export of arms to Pakistan and four other Arab countries (Egypt, Algeria, United Arab Emirates and Morocc
Read More »When the wafts of the euphemistically called Arab Spring first drifted over Damascus, the opponents of the Assad regime, along with their Gulf and Wes
Read More »The Syrian conflict has entered a critical phase with the fall of the town of Qusair to regime troops backed by Hezbollah fighters in the early hours
Read More »In his upcoming visit to Israel and Palestine, US Secretary of State John Kerry will attempt a last-ditch effort to persuade Israel’s Prime Mins
Read More »Prospects for the international peace conference proposed by the US and Russia to resolve the Syrian conflict are exceedingly low – and this ass
Read More »America’s friends and allies in the Middle East depend on the US’ strategic vision, clarity and resolve to deal with the multiple crises t
Read More »Two recent developments illustrate the widening gap between what is needed in Syria and what the Friends of Syria are actually willing to do. On 15 Ap
Read More »The continuing carnage and atrocities sweeping across Syria and the savagery committed against innocent men, women and children defy the most nightmar
Read More »The international conference called for by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the conflict in Syria
Read More »Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington on 16 May 2013 comes at a pivotal time when the Middle East is riddled with ex
Read More »Despite the resignation of the Lebanese government of Najib Mikati on 22 March, the Energy Minister Gibran Bassil of the now caretaker Cabinet announc
Read More »Syrian President Bashar al-Assad argued in an interview aired on the state al-Ikhbariya television station last week that his country faces a choice b
Read More »The ninth edition of Aero India 2013, organized by the Indian Ministry of Defence concluded on a grand successful note. It was held in Yelahanka Air F
Read More »Iran may have not invented Chess, but it has nevertheless demonstrated unsurpassed skills in playing the nuclear chess game against the P5+1 (US, Russ
Read More »Egypt’s political leadership has not paid close enough attention to the economic situation at the street level. Ordinary Egyptians who previousl
Read More »Two years into the uprisings that rocked the Middle East, it has become common to see instability, uncertainty, and strife as the direct outcome of th
Read More »The Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (National Coalition) formally took up Syria’s seat in the Arab League this
Read More »Much has been said about President Obama’s journey to the Middle East but little about the substance and the implications the visit might have.
Read More »Since the beginning of the Arab Spring uprisings, the question of carving out a new way forward for the region’s future has been the key. But in
Read More »The resignation of Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, was the result of intensifying pressure between the pro-Assad and anti-Assad camps in
Read More »In consultation with representatives of labour and business, the Moroccan government is studying alternative options for dealing with the financial im
Read More »Informal economies are difficult to measure, and estimates of the size of these economies in Arab countries vary. In Egypt, for example, experts estim
Read More »One hundred years after the Levant embarked on its journey to build modern political societies, the experiment appears to have failed. The region is b
Read More »Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama early on in his first term was largely based on the premise that he would pursue peace and end exist
Read More »The lower house of the Algerian parliament, the People’s National Assembly, is considering amendments to a 2005 law and 2006 presidential decree
Read More »The geopolitical school of international relations emphasizes discussion of the Realpolitik and makes “realistic” assessments of alternati
Read More »Although repeated polls taken in the West Bank and Gaza consistently show that a majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution, their leadersh
Read More »The Egyptian economy seems stuck in a long, dark tunnel, with little hope of rescue by the country's political and economic actors. The closing weeks
Read More »As citizens across the Arab world call for better living conditions and greater personal freedoms, many countries have witnessed protests and revoluti
Read More »I believe it is about time for the “Arab Spring” to reach the Israeli shores. It is time for the Israelis to rid themselves of the bondage
Read More »Six months into the presidency of Mohammad Morsi, Egypt’s new constitution has granted the Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF) greater autonomy and a mo
Read More »Israel’s political system is dragging the country ever closer to complete paralysis, leaving critical national issues unresolved and threatening
Read More »Up until two weeks ago, fuel commodities in Jordan—including diesel—were sold at prices close to their actual cost. Cooking gas was even p
Read More »The victory of President Obama represents not only a defeat for the Republican Party but an embarrassment for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has made h
Read More »Almost ten years after the fall of Saddam Hussein and one year after the withdrawal of American forces, Iraq is still struggling to build political st
Read More »Listening to Israeli and Hamas officials about the nature of their conflict and what precipitated the current conflagration, one comes to a definite c
Read More »According to a new report by the World Bank, Arab states spend far more on social programs than other developing countries. Whereas states outside the
Read More »Listening to Israeli and Hamas officials about the nature of their conflict and what precipitated the current conflagration, one comes to a definite c
Read More »The conventional wisdom is that American presidents who win a second term are less bound by domestic electoral considerations that may impose constrai
Read More »The victory of President Obama represents not only a defeat for the Republican Party but an embarrassment for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has made h
Read More »Last week, the Iranian Rial continued its historic slide, falling to a record low against the US dollar. Over the course of the week, the price of one
Read More »There are furious discussions and commentaries being made by top officials from the United States, Europe, Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the
Read More »Widely spread rumours circulating within the media in recent days suggest that the United States and Iran have agreed to enter into bilateral talks so
Read More »The rise of Islamist parties to power along much of the southern Mediterranean presents an unfamiliar landscape. Looking for indications of what to ex
Read More »The stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the lack of prospects for their resumption anytime soon has persuaded the Palestinian Authority
Read More »The US is selling weapons and military hardware to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with great fervour, and they are buying them with equa
Read More »Israel’s national security has, and for good reason, continues to be of prime concerns not only to its citizens but to world Jewry and many of i
Read More »While many Arab countries are struggling to adapt to the economic implications of the Arab Spring, another crisis now looms on the horizon: the rising
Read More »The Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be resolved without the direct and active involvement of the United States, using both inducements and coerciv
Read More »Those who draw hasty conclusions that an Egypt led by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) will soon become an Islamic state fashioned after Saudi Arabia or th
Read More »The flurry of reporting and analysis about the tragic death of the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans strongly sug
Read More »Yemen as a nation has gone through dramatic turmoil brought about by internal violent conflicts occurring over the last several decades. The forced re
Read More »The publication of satirical cartoons relating to the Prophet Muhammad by a French magazine (Charles Hebdo) adds to the anger and widespread protests
Read More »I will begin on a personal note. Since the start of the pogroms in Syria a year and a half ago, I have written again and again in my articles that the
Read More »The Islamic Oral Law (Hadith) quotes the Prophet Muhammad who stated: "My nation will be split into seventy two factions, and only one of them wi
Read More »We are all aware of the dismal state of the relationship between Israel and Turkey, which deteriorated as a result of Operation Cast Lead (which began
Read More »Successive Israeli governments have consistently inhibited in the past any public discussion about Iran’s nuclear programme and what Israel migh
Read More »Nine months ago, in November of 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood won almost half of the seats of the Egyptian "Peoples’ Council", thus tra
Read More »Since the outset of the Arab Spring, numerous initiatives have been launched that support and fund Arab governments in the process of economic transit
Read More »There is an ongoing debate in and outside of Israel as to whether or not this is the right time to forge peace with the Palestinians in light of the r
Read More »Thanks to the One Who dwells on High, Israeli Intelligence, Shabak (Israel's General Security Service) and the IDF, Israel was able to foil a massive
Read More »The latest reports from Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, paint a grim picture of unending instability and targeted violence between government forc
Read More »For hundreds of years, members of many religions lived side by side in the Middle East, usually with a spirit of mutual tolerance and acceptance of th
Read More »Since the beginning of July, the Syrian regime has suffered a series of blows underlining its steady loss of territorial and institutional control. Fi
Read More »Although I do not generally do so, I will open with an Arabic joke, because in the Arab world (and perhaps in other places as well) people often use h
Read More »Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Israel on 25 June underlines the fact that three months after being re-elected as Russian President,
Read More »It is common in many countries for budget discussions to enter the public spotlight in a way where a government’s spending and revenue generatin
Read More »The Druze writer, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Salman Masalha, addresses President Assad personally and reproves him for the failure of the hollow
Read More »The new Egyptian president has no time to waste. A number of difficult economic challenges are forcefully imposing themselves on his agenda. One and a
Read More »In 1928, a group of Islamist zealots established the Muslim Brotherhood movement in response to the challenges that were presented by new trends that
Read More »A year and a half after the 2011 revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has reached a new milestone. The first ever democratically elected pre
Read More »The victory of the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohammad Mursi, in the presidential election widens Egypt’s democratic opening by a cru
Read More »Only three million tourists visited Tunisia in 2011, contrasting with the over seven million visitors to the country in each of the three years preced
Read More »Following the announcement of his victory in the second round of the Egyptian presidential elections, Muhammad al-Mursi’s supporters in Tahrir S
Read More »Last Saturday, the Saudi crown prince, Prince Nayef Bin Abdul-Aziz died at age 78, apparently from complications of diabetes. The official media of th
Read More »The Syrian authorities have recently printed a new batch of Syrian currency in Moscow in order to pump liquidity back into the markets, which have rec
Read More »There are signs that the Assad regime has started down the steep slope of decline and fall. More towns and regions have slipped out of the regime&rsqu
Read More »In an unexpected move, the Moroccan government increased fuel prices late last week by 15 to 20 percent This came after more than half of the budget a
Read More »On May 23, the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul published an article in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida, in which he publicly revealed how the elite o
Read More »Hermes 900 drone UAV Photo: Courtesy Elbit Systems New Delhi successfully conducted its seventh biennial land, naval and internal security systems e
Read More »The Baghdad round of talks held during 23-24 May 2012 between the five permanent United Nations Security Council members plus Germany, and Iran proved
Read More »The clashes that left several people dead and others wounded in Lebanon over the past few weeks have, for the moment, been brought under control; but
Read More »The Syrian opposition is coming to a crossroads. The persistence of the United Nations and Arab League may eventually result in the “comprehensi
Read More »Following the Arab Spring which has so convulsed the Middle East, Islamists have emerged on top in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Understandably, there are
Read More »The Arab Spring has opened up the fault lines amongst the various ethnic, religious and social groups in the Middle East. Every country in the region
Read More »The 13 February 2012, attack on an Israeli Embassy vehicle in a high security zone (near the residence of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) ad
Read More »Researchers and experts on the American Middle East policy, find it quite difficult these days to explain the current policy of President Obama and hi
Read More »The concluding statement of the Friends of Syria meeting in Istanbul on 1 April 2012 was politically significant for three main reasons. First, it dem
Read More »The death of Pope Shenouda could not have come at a worse time for Egypt’s Coptic Christians. For more than forty years, the Pope served a
Read More »After the 4 February 2012 failure of the US-EU sponsored Security Council resolution on Syria it is obvious that the Bashar al-Assad regime has got a
Read More »Alongside the recent deterioration of Israel’s diplomatic relations with countries in the region, it has been making great efforts to upgrade re
Read More »It is incumbent on every Muslim to give a portion of one’s earnings for some charitable purpose (zakat). It is also a religious duty to support
Read More »Syria is today on the verge of a creeping and bloody civil war. Internally, it faces widespread dissent, fuelled by violence between the government an
Read More »The onset of the tidal wave of peaceful demonstrations across the Middle East in early 2011 in favour of the end of autocratic, repressive regimes and
Read More »The Gilad Shalit deal has led to the release of over one thousand Palestinians convicted for terrorist offenses for one Israeli soldier, who had been
Read More »For nearly eight months, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi had been ahead of the game and eluded capture, while directing his loyalists in Libya to fight agains
Read More »The awarding the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to three women, Yemeni human rights activist Tawakul Karman, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Lib
Read More »Hussein Shobokshi, a popular Saudi columnist, was banned from writing after he published an article that looked forward to the day when his daughter w
Read More »Is Syria burning? Most emphatically not. This was the overwhelming impression after a visit there late last month. Nor does it look as if the regime i
Read More »Freedom and liberation achieved without boots on the ground, which was essential to this cause; something Qaddafi most likely hoped would happen in or
Read More »Israel has many reasons to be angry at Turkey. Beyond the wide economic and strategic ties between the two states, for many Israelis, Turkey symbolize
Read More »The Turkish foreign policy decision-making has not been easy even during the Cold War period when the international environment was characterised by r
Read More »The right to education proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed by the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cu
Read More »First and foremost, the Obama doctrine for the Middle East prioritizes the engagement of the public in the Middle East, rather than the engagement of
Read More »Ever since the May 2010 Israeli naval operations aboard the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara and the resultant diplomatic set-back to Israeli-Turkish ties, the
Read More »For months now the news has been inundated about the protest movements in the Middle East and North Africa, and brutal crackdowns by various regimes.
Read More »It was Ken Booth who eloquently noted, “Our work is words, but our words do not work anymore”, when discussing the impact of academic scho
Read More »India’s announcement on 29 January 1992 to establish diplomatic ties with Israel gave a fresh start to the relations between the two countries t
Read More »About a month ago, it was obvious that there would be bloodbaths in Libya and Syria, given the growing protest movements seeking to overthrow their re
Read More »At this stage the Union agreement between the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, is of a declarative nature only. There is no certainty that
Read More »The death of Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaida and the prime accused of the September 11, 2001 attacks, at the hands of the US Navy SEALs in th
Read More »As the Mother’s Day is celebrated world over to honour motherhood, the events and realities undermining and continuously denying women’s r
Read More »Despite the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, his malevolent legacy will continue to plague the twenty-first century as security agencies carr
Read More »Whatever the future trajectory of the Jasmine Revolution for the Arab world and Iran, let us be clear on one point: it has already served to debunk ce
Read More »Counter-terrorism scores a big one, as the snake’s head, Osama bin Laden, has been killed. But, as much as this is cause for a feeling some cl
Read More »I heard this quote from one of the Egyptian protesters on Friday 11 February 2011, the day of liberation for all Egyptians: ‘Pharaoh has let
Read More »It is common knowledge that no dictator or authoritarian regime ever gave up power unless compelled to and in most cases political change has occu
Read More »Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt President Hosni Mubarak to his security forces: ‘Unleash the gangs on horseback and camels to brea
Read More »Egypt is caught in a crossfire between a political protest by its people and its resolute ruler. The people are opposing corruption, nepotism, poo
Read More »What does suicide have to do with the dawning of a new political age in the Arab world? On 18 January a young Egyptian woman, Asma Mahfouz, videoed
Read More »The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia is inspiring mass protests throughout the Arab world. All eyes are currently on Egypt. The crystal clear message t
Read More »Despite some misgivings the Hashemite Kingdom has kept its date with elections. Almost a year after the untimely abolition of the last parliament, e
Read More »It is an election season in the Middle East; Jordan would be going for polls on 9 November and Egypt would hold Parliamentary elections on 28 Novemb
Read More »Nearly five months later, the outcome of Iranian presidential elections is still contested. To-date no one has produced a conclusive proof that the
Read More »Everything seemed to indicate that a breakthrough had been achieved by Egyptian mediation efforts towards reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. Th
Read More »Islam is a comprehensive belief system which embraces the political system. Moreover, Islamic concepts such as freedom (al-hurriya), equality (al-mu
Read More »