The energy and food crises are not direct outcomes of just the war in Ukraine. The energy and food crises are connected to many other unaddressed critical issues. Thereforre, they must be addressed holistically. The conflict between Russia and the West that was exacerbated by Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine must not be understood as Read more
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When four Arab states, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and Egypt issued an ultimatum in the form of 13 clear demands to Qatar, they did not even wait for it to study and respond. Instead, they imposed land, sea, and air embargo that choked the small nation state. Only two countries came to its aid: Iran Read more
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When direct military intervention is not a feasible option, US administrations and Western allies always used economic and financial tools to achieve their foreign policy goals. Imposing sanctions has become a reflexive, automatic reaction against any government that resists the current world order—the one dominated by Western liberalism. Such Western addiction to sanctions and embargoes Read more
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Hosni Mahalli* Some Western commentators are now talking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to revive the legacy of the Soviet Union, who previously said “its collapse caused the disintegration of historical Russia”. Others have pointed to Putin’s religious and sectarian calculations in his military intervention in Ukraine. The roots of these accounts go back Read more
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The world is facing a pivotal conflict that will separate history between the stage that preceded the Ukrainian crisis and the Russian military operation and its aftermath, due to the change created by this conflict in the global system and its repercussions on Europe and the Southwest Asia and North Africa. First: Effects on the Read more
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According to many sources, an agreement on re-instating the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 is likely, and the terms of its provisions have begun to take shape. Here are some of the sticky points that Iran is insisting on and that are likely to be part of the agreement: What the IRI Read more
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During the Iraqi-Turkish Business Forum for Investment and Contracting, which took place in Istanbul on November 19, Iraq, represented by its Ministry of Trade, Muhammad Hanoun, called for building an economic bloc that includes Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. A very intriguing proposal, but does it make sense? First, let’s consider some of divisive and integrative Read more
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The wars in Syria, Libya, and Yemen reshaped relations between regional powers in Southwest Asian and North Africa. The rise of the erratic prince to power in Saudi Arabia created even more uncertainty, instability, and violence. None of that seem to be enduring, though. Just months ago, Turkey and Egypt were at odds over Read more
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The rulers of Saudi Arabia are a good example of the manifestation of an old Arabic proverb that says an ignorant person could do to themselves what their enemy could not do to them. In yet another uncalculated move, the rulers of Saudi Arabia, who previously kidnapped the sitting prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, Read more
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