Daesh: You Can’t Stop ‘Em All
The cellphones of dead people were still ringing inside the Pulse nightclub on June 12 when Cathy Lanier,…
IN PHOTOS: The Race for Presidency
THE RACE FOR THE PRESIDENCY YOU BETTER WATCH IT: On November 4, 2015, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald…
From Colombia With Love
Years later when his father’s supermarket in Damascus was gone, Almotaz Bellah would remember the delight he once…
No Sacred Space
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing its third round of municipal elections. The first round was held…
Witnessing OPEC’s Demise
With oil prices down by some 70 percent from mid-2014 and touching multi-year lows, economies across the globe…
Muslim, Man Up?
The image of the Muslim man in the popular imagination: conflicted, beset with issues as to his identity,…
Seeds of Growth
At the start of 2016, the Middle East feels battered and bruised. For many of us who take…
Saudi Arabia: The Bold And The Dutiful
Over the past century, three countries have led the Middle East’s political hegemony: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran.…
Dirty Border Games
In mid-April, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first-ever cabinet session atop the mountains of the occupied…
Casus Belli
After five years of continuously worsening conflict in Syria, the chances of any decisive outcome are bleak at…
Palestine: Hungry for Freedom
On February 26, Palestinian journalist Mohammad Al Qeeq ended what has widely been reported as one of the…
From GCC, With Love: A Letter to Donald Trump
“O Captain! My Captain!” is an extended metaphor poem written in 1865 by Walt Whitman about the death…
To Uphold an Oath
Kos, Greece—At its zenith, Kos had once revolutionized the field of medical ethics. Hippocrates and his disciples had…
Egypt’s Own: Repatriation of Antiquities Proves to be a Mammoth Task
In 1815, an Italian strongman-turned-explorer and archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities, Giovanni Belzoni, traveled to Thebes, upper Egypt to…
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam
“I cannot imagine how the war in Syria will end…I believe that the U.S. administration, perhaps, is no…
Iraq: Make or Break
Even by the standards of the ever-dramatic world of Iraqi politics, today’s stakes are at a current high.…
What Lies Beneath
When Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi signaled the launch of the offensive to regain Mosul, the last…
The Problem With Kuwait’s Higher Education
Twelve years ago, Kuwait took a decision to build a new public university known as the Sabah Al…
Chilcot and the Great Game
The story of why Britain invaded Iraq with the U.S. is of a once-powerful empire yearning for its former military stature in the world.…
Crafting Stability
The horrors of Daesh and Al Qaeda have reached such a level of barbarity and violence that we…
Truth and Lies
Ever since the the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began in 1967, successive…
Blurred Future
Earlier this month, under the cover of rain and thick fog, several Hezbollah fighters snuck across the Lebanese…
Minority Report: The Tech Life
Walking around Dubai’s GITEX exhibition this year, nothing from the wide array of “tech” products on display caught…
Ethiopia: Wild South
It’s said that fortune favors the bold; in a region of chancers and missed opportunities there are occasions…
Algeria: What Lies Ahead
For years, Africa’s largest country ––a heavyweight energy producer as well as a key regional player––has been regarded…
Countering Fear
Two words guaranteed global infamy for fake terrorists this month: Allahu Akbar—Arabic for “God is the greatest.” They…
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Kurdish Intel Chief Lahur Talabani
Lahur Talabani’s journey to the forefront of the global war on terror began in the spring of 2002.…
Yemen: Stairwell Lessons
Schools in one of Yemen’s largest cities, Taiz, are not empty. But they are not filled with students,…
El Chapo’s Narco Mafia
A video showing the hideout of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (aka “El Chapo”), filmed October 6 by the Mexican…
MENA’s Private Education Sector: A Burgeoning Market
“Probably the greatest social challenge for all of us is our youth – because they are our future.…