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| Feb 7, 2021 | In 2020, Lebanon was spiraling. 6 months after the Beirut blast, half of the country lives below the poverty line and the health sector is crumbling. | Lebanon’s main grain silo, pictured days after the August 4 blast. Located near the facility storing the ammonium nitrate which caused the blast, the facility key to Lebanon’s economy was completely destroyed. August 20, 2020 Ammar Abd Rabb... |
| Jul 21, 2020 | A Lebanese Consensus on Debt Can’t Wait Any Longer
A Lebanese Consensus on Debt Can’t Wait Any Longer | (Bloomberg Opinion) -- While Lebanon’s ruling elites continue to wrangle with the International Monetary Fund over a $10 billion bailout, the country’s economic crisis is spiraling out of control. Economy Minister Raoul Nehme, who admits Le... |
| 2020 | The Law and Consequences of the Recent Airstrikes in Iraq | This past Sunday, Dec. 29, U.S. military forces conducted airstrikes against five facilities in Iraq and Syria controlled by Kata’ib Hezbollah, an influential Iraqi militia with close ties to Iran and an official status as part of Iraq’s se... |
| Nov 20, 2019 | A Country on Fire: Lebanon’s October Revolution in Context | For the past month, the country of Lebanon has witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented political movement driven forward by widespread popular protests. The protests began with massive nationwide demonstrations that focused on blocking ... |
| Nov 14, 2018 | U.S. Shifts Support for Saudi Intervention in Yemen, Gaza Clashes Spark Political Crisis in Israel, Trump Administration Eases Pressure over Khashoggi Murder | Fighting in Hodeidah Closes in on Strategic Port
Deadly clashes between Saudi- and Emirati-backed pro-government forces and Houthi militants continued over the weekend in the strategic port city of Hodeidah, Yemen. Medics in the city report... |
| Nov 6, 2018 | U.S. Reimposes Sanctions on Iran, New Wave of Islamic State Attacks, Calls for Yemen Ceasefire Fail to Halt Fighting in Hodeidah | U.S. Hits Iran with Second Wave of Sanctions
The United States imposed a second tranche of sanctions against Iran on Monday, November 5, as part of its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The sanctions target Iran’s oil ... |
| Sep 18, 2018 | A DMZ Deal for Idlib, U.S. Tones Down Plans for Confrontation with Iran at the United Nations, Saudi-Emirati Offensive in Yemen Resumes | Russia and Turkey Reach Agreement to Establish Demilitarized Zone in Idlib
This time last week, a regime assault on Idlib, one of the last rebel enclaves in Syria, seemed imminent. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President H... |
| Jun 5, 2018 | Jordan Appoints New Prime Minister in Effort to Quell Economic Protests | Jordan’s King Sacks Prime Minister amid Economic Protests
Thousands of protesters have flooded the streets of Amman, Jordan, in recent days to oppose rising prices and structural adjustment reforms. The protests started last Wednesday with ... |
| May 24, 2018 | Three Observations after Observing the Lebanese Elections | Editor's Note: Last week, Tamara Cofman Wittes co-chaired an international election observation mission in Lebanon for the National Democratic Institute (she serves on NDI’s board, but the views laid out below are her own, not NDI’s).
Inter... |
| May 15, 2018 | Iraq’s Controversial Cleric Poised to Win Election | As U.S. Opens Embassy in Jerusalem, Israeli Forces Kill 60 Demonstrators in Gaza
More than a month of protests in Gaza culminated yesterday in a deadly day of rallies. Approximately 40,000 Gazans participated; some burned tires and hurled s... |
| May 5, 2018 | Lebanon’s Elections: Beyond the Iranian-Saudi Rivalry | Tomorrow’s parliamentary election in Lebanon is the next inflection point in the Iranian-Saudi contest to dominate the Middle East. Currently, Lebanese Members of Parliament are roughly divided between pro-Saudi and pro-Iran blocs. Ongoing ... |
| May 4, 2018 | Lebanese Elections: Good for the Country, Warts and All | Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Order from Chaos.
With much of the Middle East either in violent conflict or undemocratic, one Arab country is holding genuine elections this week: Lebanon.
Barring some last-minute black s... |
| Feb 26, 2018 | Huawei calls U.S. security concerns groundless, touts 45 5G contracts | Did you miss a session from GamesBeat Summit 2022? All sessions are available to stream now. Learn more.
Following two months of public lobbying by U.S. legislators and security agencies, Chinese networking giant Huawei today confronted esp... |
| Feb 26, 2018 | Huawei calls U.S. security concerns groundless, touts 45 5G contracts | Following two months of public lobbying by U.S. legislators and security agencies, Chinese networking giant Huawei today confronted espionage accusations, dismissing them as “not fair” and “only based on groundless suspicion” while touting ... |
| Feb 21, 2018 | Lebanon’s Election: Potential Departures from the Status Quo | Lebanon, for once, looks relatively secure. To the south, a brewing corruption scandal threatens to upend Israel’s political establishment; to the north, the abattoir of Syria’s hijacked revolution grinds on. Despite a tense few weeks last ... |
| Oct 3, 2017 | Saudi Women Granted New Rights, Kurdistan Under Pressure after Referendum, Egypt Targets Dissidents and Minorities | Saudi Women Granted Right to Drive
Saudi Arabia’s notorious restrictions on women’s rights will get a bit less onerous. The government announced last Tuesday that, starting in June, it would begin allowing women to drive. The decision will ... |
| Sep 3, 2017 | The New Rules of Monarchy in the Gulf | Editor’s Note: Political and policy change in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states used to proceed at a glacial pace. No more. Gulf states are quarreling with each other and intervening right and left in the Arab world. Kristin Diwan of the A... |
| Jun 13, 2017 | Qatar Braces for a Long Fight, Islamic State Loses Ground in Raqqa, and Terrorists Attack on Iranian Soil | Qatar Prepares to Draw out Feud with Saudi Arabia
Qatar is working through intermediaries in Kuwait to try to resolve the current diplomatic crisis in the Gulf, in which Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates, and their allies have moved agg... |
| Jun 6, 2017 | Qatar Cut Off by Diplomatic Rift, Syrian Forces Begin Attack on Raqqa, Germany Withdraws Troops from Turkish Airbase | Saudi Arabia and Others Sever Diplomatic Ties with Qatar
The renewed spat between Saudi Arabia and Qatar escalated significantly on Monday when Saudi Arabia moved to break off diplomatic relations with Qatar. The United Arab Emirates, Bahra... |
| May 30, 2017 | U.S. and Iran Compete in Eastern Syria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia Renew Old Feud, and More Fighting in Libya after Attacks in Manchester and Minya | Is the United States Trying to Hold a Sliver of Syria?
The battlelines for divvying influence in post-Islamic State eastern Syria are becoming clearer by the day now. U.S.-backed Kurdish forces are bearing down on Raqqa from the north and U... |
| May 23, 2017 | Trump’s Big Middle East Trip, U.S. Targets Assad Forces in Syria, and Iran Goes to the Polls | Trump Visits Saudi Arabia and Israel
Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend on his first foreign trip as president. The two-day visit included an eclectic range of events, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle rally and a joint... |
| Apr 4, 2017 | Sisi Gets Warm Welcome at White House, Tillerson Visits Turkey, and a Trump Tie to Russia Runs Through the Emirates | Human Rights Off the Agenda as Sisi Comes to Washington
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi visited the White House on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. While many of Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders have been noteworthy ... |
| Mar 21, 2017 | Israeli Strike in Syria Meets Unusual Opposition, Iraqi Prime Minister Meets with Trump, and Morocco Reshuffles Its Prime Minister | After Four Years of Israeli Airstrikes, Syria Fires Back and Gets Shot Down
Israeli warplanes have periodically carried out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Syria since at least 2013. Despite Syria’s supposedly sophisticated Russian-... |
| Mar 16, 2017 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Two federal judges have issued orders blocking enforcement of President Trump’s executive order banning travel to the United States to citizens of six majority-Muslim countries. The Washington Post reports that on the ruling by Maryland-bas... |
| Mar 7, 2017 | The United States Escalates in Yemen, the U.S.-backed Rebels in Syria Cut Raqqa’s Lifeline, and the Saudis Try a Charm Offensive | The United States is Escalating One of Its Wars in Yemen
The January 29 raid on an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) site in Yakla, Yemen that resulted in the deaths of several civilians and a U.S. Navy SEAL was just the start of an ... |
| Mar 3, 2017 | Water Wars: Mr. Yang Goes to Washington | Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi Visits Washington as the White House Announces Proposal to Increase Military Spending
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with State Councilor Yang Jiechi (Photo: Xinhua)
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi ... |
| Feb 21, 2017 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The New York Times tells us that President Donald Trump announced yesterday that Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, a widely-respected military strategist known for his service in the Iraq war, will serve as his new national security ad... |
| Feb 14, 2017 | Turkish-backed Rebels Enter al-Bab, Trump and Netanyahu Ready for Meeting, Trump and Congress Mull Designating Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organization | Turkey and Assad Regime Agree to Division of Islamic State-Occupied City
After months of operations on the outskirts of al-Bab, Syria, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have finally entered the city and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim sai... |
| Feb 7, 2017 | U.S. Sanctions Iran after Missile Test, U.S. Escalating Fight in Yemen, and Israel Clears One Settlement But Promises More | U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate with Tit-for-Tat Missile Tests and Sanctions
Months of combative rhetoric between the Trump administration and Iranian officials crossed over into more substantive confrontation last week. The escalation began wh... |
| Feb 3, 2017 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The New York Times and the Washington Post report that President Trump has imposed sanctions on 25 Iranian official and entities, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile test. The Treasury D... |
| Jan 31, 2017 | International Fallout from Trump’s Immigration and Refugee Order, U.S. Raid Targets AQAP in Yemen, Greece-Turkey Tensions Escalate over Coup Extradition | Chaos from Trump’s Executive Order on Immigration and Refugees Creates International Fallout
President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees, signed last week, has created a series of crises in its implementation. A par... |
| Jan 30, 2017 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The Chicago Tribune informs us that protests erupted outside the White House and in cities around the United States in response to President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning entry of refugees and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya... |
| Jan 25, 2017 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | President Donald Trump is set to announce a series of executive orders on national security-related issues today including immigration, detention and interrogation, and designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The ... |
| Jan 24, 2017 | New Syrian Peace Talks Conclude, Iraqi Forces Reach Tigris River, Israel Lifts Settlement Restrictions | Russia’s Syria Pivot Continues at Astana Peace Talks
Two days of talks between the Assad regime and Syrian rebels concluded today in Astana, Kazakhstan. The conference was organized by Russia and backed by Turkey and Iran; it concluded with... |
| Dec 13, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Assad Regime Nears Victory in Aleppo, Coptic Christians Under Attack in Egypt, and What Trump’s Secretary of State Pick Means for the Middle East | Assad Regime Nears Victory in Aleppo, but Retreats from Palmyra
After years of stalemate, the Assad regime’s six-week offensive to retake besieged rebel-held districts of Aleppo has nearly brought the entire city under government control. S... |
| Dec 6, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Assad Regime Corners Rebels in Aleppo, U.S. Reauthorizes Iran Sanctions, and Islamic State Prepares Its Fallback Plan | Assad Regime Captures Large Swaths of Eastern Aleppo
The Assad regime’s advance into rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo has resulted in the capture of as much as 70 percent of the city’s previously besieged territory. The offensive has ... |
| Nov 29, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Thousands Flee Assad Regime Advance in Aleppo, Turkey Defiant as Purge Continues, and the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal Comes Closer to Reality | Thousands Flee as Rebel Defenses Collapse in Eastern Aleppo
After systematically targeting the remaining hospitals in besieged rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo, Assad regime forces seized most of the city’s northeast over the weekend.... |
| Nov 22, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Assad Regime Destroys Last Hospitals in Aleppo, Tunisia Confronts Its Past, and Another Truce in Yemen Fails | Assad Regime Advances in Aleppo, Destroys Remaining Hospitals
The Assad regime is pressing ahead with an offensive against rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo. The new push, which according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOH... |
| Nov 15, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Mosul Fight Marches On, Egypt Protests Fizzle Out, and What Will Trump Mean for the Middle East? | Iraqi Offensive Slows in Mosul as Islamic State Puts Up Fight
Iraqi forces are slowly but surely continuing their advance into the city of Mosul this week. On the outskirts of the city, forces participating in the offensive tightened the si... |
| Nov 8, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Syrian Rebels Announce Raqqa Operation, Turkey’s Anti-Democratic Purge, and Egypt’s Economic Turbulence | The Operation to Retake Raqqa Has Begun, But Don’t Expect Too Much Right Away
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly-Kurdish rebel coalition operating in eastern Syria, announced on Sunday that they were beginning a new offensiv... |
| Oct 11, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Aleppo Under Siege, Turkey and Iraq Spar Over Troop Presence, and Morocco Votes | International Community Struggles to Respond to Destruction of Aleppo
The destruction of Aleppo continued last week with Assad regime forces advancing slowly in contested neighborhoods and continuing the bombardment of rebel-held areas. Air... |
| Sep 21, 2016 | Middle East Ticker: Syria Ceasefire Collapses and New Aid Package for Israel | Syrian Ceasefire Falls Apart
The ceasefire in Syria fell apart over the weekend after less than a week. The Assad regime resumed its bombardment of rebel-held districts in Aleppo on Sunday afternoon and said it would cease its participation... |
| Aug 28, 2016 | Seven Reasons Why Lebanon Survives - And Three Reasons Why It Might Not | Editor's Note: What happened in Syria has not stayed in Syria. In 2014, Islamic State forces swept back into Iraq, and terrorism, sectarian tension, and fear have spread throughout much of the Middle East. One bit of good news is to be foun... |
| May 5, 2016 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Petty Officer First Class Charles Keating IV was identified by a family member as the Navy SEAL who was killed during an Islamic State assault in Iraq. Speaking on Keating's death, the White House reaffirmed that U.S. personnel are not enga... |
| Apr 25, 2016 | What the Failure of the Geneva Talks Means | The Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee’s (HNC) withdrawal from the Geneva talks is fundamentally a reflection of the Obama administration’s failure to reach a clear agreement with Putin regarding transitional arrangements, incl... |
| Mar 30, 2016 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The U.S. government has ordered families of diplomats and military members in Turkey to leave the country amid fears of rising security threats in the region. According to the Wall Street Journal, “the Pentagon and State Department said on ... |
| Nov 24, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | As authorities continue to search for Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, Brussels remains on lockdown and at the highest terror alert level. The New York Times reports that at least 21 suspects have been detained during a series of raids across ... |
| Nov 18, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | More than two weeks after a Russian plane crashed over the Sinai Peninsula, Russian officials have confirmed that a bomb was responsible for bringing down the plane. The head of the FSB, Russia’s security service, stated that they “can uneq... |
| Nov 17, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | A string of attacks across Paris late Friday night left at least 129 dead and 352 wounded. The attacks began late Friday evening into early Saturday morning and occurred in six locations, largely concentrated in the 10th and 11th arrondisse... |
| Nov 9, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | After hearing an explosion in the last seconds of the cockpit recording, investigators are “90 percent sure” that a bomb brought down the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Sinai and left all 224 passengers on board dead. U.S. intelligenc... |
| Nov 4, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | A joint U.S.-Russia military exercise over Syria? Certainly not, says the Pentagon, disputing Russian claims that the two nations conducted just such an exercise. A Pentagon spokesman declared that the exercise, in which fighter jets from b... |
| Oct 28, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | In a potentially major shift, the Obama administration is weighing deploying U.S. ground troops to intensify efforts against the Islamic State. So writes Foreign Policy, reporting on Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s and Chairman of the Joint ... |
| Oct 23, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The Pentagon has released the name of the American serviceman killed in the recent raid in Iraq that rescued more than 70 hostages scheduled to be executed by ISIS. Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler died after injuries sustained during a firefi... |
| Oct 19, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Violence continues in Israel as tensions rise throughout the region. A Bedouin Arab Israeli gunman attacked a central bus station in Beersheba, killing a soldier and injuring another eleven other Israelis. Following the attack, an Eritrean ... |
| Oct 7, 2015 | Is Syria About to Become Iran's Vietnam? | Iran has invested heavily in Syria's civil war. Having already spilled much blood and spent much treasure to shore up President Bashar al-Assad against opposition forces, Tehran appears to be doubling down with yet more commitments of resou... |
| Oct 6, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The Washington Post reports that President Obama is considering leaving a standing U.S. force of 5,000 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016. If implemented, that decision would represent a dramatic departure from his plan to remove all U.S. tr... |
| Oct 1, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | It may not be a stretch to say that the entire Western strategy in Syria has collapsed in the last 72 hours.
As Russian airstrikes persist, Reuters reports that hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria and will soon join Syrian gove... |
| Sep 30, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Russia has commenced airstrikes in Syria, the New York Times reports. The strikes have largely targeted the rebel-held Homs and Hama provinces. Though Russian officials maintain that Russia aims to provide air support to the regime of Syria... |
| Sep 21, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | As the Kremlin ramps up its involvement in Syria, world leaders are taking a careful look at Russia’s intentions and strategy in the country. Speaking on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoyg... |
| Sep 18, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Following German and Austrian calls for a summit to address the refugee crisis, European Council President Donald Tusk announced plans to hold another emergency meeting to find an acceptable solution to the migrant crisis. As the situation ... |
| Sep 4, 2015 | The lost forests of the Middle East | With thousands of tonnes of rubbish piling up on the streets and no place to go, Beirut has become a place for political confrontation.
The rubbish created a suffocating stink in the summer heat, resulting in a serious health hazard for mil... |
| Sep 3, 2015 | Is Beirut's Garbage Crisis Weakening Hezbollah? | I'm shocked when Karim shakes my hand.
I've known the Hezbollah fighter (whose name has been changed for this story) for some time now. But he's never touched me before, because many religiously observant Muslim men—particularly those in He... |
| Aug 31, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | ISIS fighters have partially destroyed the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel, continuing the group’s path of destruction across the ancient city of Palmyra. Earlier this month, the militant group detonated Palmyra’s Temple of Baalshamin, the Wal... |
| Aug 26, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | A senior Hezbollah operative suspected of involvement in the 1996 bombing of a U.S. military complex in Saudi Arabia has been arrested and is currently in Saudi custody. A U.S. court indicted Ahmad Ibrahim al Mughassil in 2001 for his role ... |
| Aug 20, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | We begin today in Yemen, where U.S. officials have confirmed after months of investigation that Saudi-led coalition forces are using indiscriminate cluster bombs in their fight against the Houthis. According to a US News report, the Pentago... |
| Aug 17, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Yesterday, as many as 100 people were killed by Syrian government airstrikes on a market in a suburb of Damascus, the Washington Post reports. The suburb, Douma, has been under rebel control for much of the Syrian conflict. Reuters tells us... |
| Aug 11, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | We begin today with southeastern Turkey, where after two years of relative calm, violence has returned and “the tension is palpable” as conflict intensifies between the Kurds and the Turkish state. The latest clashes follow a suicide bombin... |
| Aug 5, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | With about a week or so to go until the halfway point of the congressional review period, President Obama is intensifying his campaign to rally support for the nuclear deal with Iran. In a speech at American University today, Obama defended... |
| Jul 31, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Fault lines are already appearing as the Taliban scrambles to explain and restructure after the death (some time back) of Mullah Omar. Yesterday, a group of senior Taliban leaders elected Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour as the successor. Yet... |
| Jul 27, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Turkey has made a dramatic entrance into the war against the Islamic State. Following an agreement late last week about between Turkey and the United States to allow American forces to utilize a Turkish air base, officials in Washington and... |
| Jul 20, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | New details are emerging about 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the Kuwaiti-born man who opened fire on two military sites in Tennessee, shooting seven people and killing five U.S. service members. The Washington Post explains that ... |
| Jul 15, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | And so, with the close of nuclear negotiations with Iran, we begin to slog through the text of the deal itself and consider its implications. The UN Security Council will consider a resolution endorsing the deal next week, the BBC reports, ... |
| Jul 10, 2015 | Bombs and Shells Continue to Fall in Yemen Just Hours Before Truce Takes Hold | Hours before the start of a humanitarian pause in Yemen, Houthi shells and Saudi airstrikes continued to fall across the country, as observers expressed skepticism that a lasting ceasefire could be reached amid what is now among the world's... |
| Jul 9, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Once again and a week past deadline, we learn that nuclear negotiations with Iran may be nearing a conclusion. The AP reports on a series of “vague but seemingly hopeful pronouncements from participants,” including a late-night White House ... |
| May 29, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | As Iraqi forces focus on driving ISIS out of Ramadi, two bombings rocked Baghdad yesterday, killing 15 and wounding 42 more. The Associated Press reports that the two car bombs detonated late Thursday night at two hotels in the capital city... |
| May 15, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | At least 10 people were killed in fighting in war-battered Yemen despite a humanitarian truce that took effect Tuesday night. Reuters reports, however, that outside of the city of Taiz, where Houthi rebels continue to fight local militias, ... |
| May 6, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | In response to ISIS’s claims of responsibility for this weekend’s shooting at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, the White House said yesterday that it was “too early to say” whether there was any link between the attack ... |
| May 5, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Today, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for its first attack on U.S. soil. The militant group says it was behind the shooting in Garland, Texas on Sunday. Via its official radio station, the group announced, “Two of the soldiers of ... |
| May 1, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Saudi-led airstrikes hit the Yemeni capital of Sanaa overnight, targeting a residential district and killing several civilians, according to residents. Reuters notes that the strikes, which also hit a military airbase near the capital, foll... |
| Apr 19, 2015 | The Foreign Policy Essay: AQAP at a Crossroads | The civil war in Yemen and Saudi-led intervention against the Houthi rebels there have undermined efforts to negotiate a political settlement and are making the country’s already-disastrous humanitarian situation even worse. The chaos, howe... |
| Mar 10, 2015 | The Middle East Ticker | Despite a vote to end security cooperation with Israel, PA crackdown on Hamas continues: Last week, the Central Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization voted to end security cooperation with Israel to protest Israel’s withholdi... |
| Jan 30, 2015 | Top Kurdish Commander Killed as Islamic State Launches Surprise Offensive on Kirkuk | Islamic State militants have launched a surprise offensive on Iraq's northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing a top Peshmerga commander and battling Kurdish fighters for control of a central police base.
The assault began at around midnigh... |
| Jan 29, 2015 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Members of the Iranian parliament have introduced a bill that would nullify a 2013 interim nuclear deal if any new sanctions---which have already been proposed in the US Congress---are imposed on the country, the Associated Press reveals. I... |
| Dec 29, 2014 | Weekly Startup Communities Roundup: 12/29/14 | As we round out 2014, there's been a lot of great news from startup communities around the globe. Here's our last roundup of the year, including exciting news from all corners of the globe.
Africa
Lagos (Nigeria): Here are the African statu... |
| Nov 3, 2014 | Audio That Gets You 'High' Is Alarming Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon | Officials in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have launched new campaigns to prevent the use of "digital drugs"—audio files meant to induce drug-like states in listeners — even though the effectiveness of purportedly psychoactive sounds i... |
| Oct 24, 2014 | Look Who Else Has Drones: ISIS and Al Nusra | Since the introduction of drone technology to the battlefield, countless academics, policymakers, and military planners have pondered a disturbing question: what happens when other countries or non-state actors have access to them? In Syria... |
| Oct 14, 2014 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | What a mess. As we write, ISIS is shelling Kurdish defenders inside the town of Kobani; a U.S.-led coalition is bombing ISIS in the areas around Kobani; and the Turkish military (which is nominally a part of the coalition, but which has so ... |
| Sep 4, 2014 | The Middle East's Next Ticking Time Bomb: Lebanon | Something is brewing in Lebanon, and it doesn't look good.
On Wednesday, the country's Daily Star newspaper reported that the Russian ambassador to Lebanon confirmed that the two nations are in the process of negotiating potential military ... |
| Aug 21, 2014 | Israel-Gaza and the Law of Armed Conflict: Recommended Readings | A number of friends and colleagues have asked me recently for recommended readings on the law of armed conflict and Gaza. I’ve decided, therefore, to post some of my suggestions and some explanation as to why I chose them. I hope to update ... |
| Jun 1, 2014 | UN Security Council to Lebanon: Elect A New President Now | The United Nations Security Council scolded Lebanon over its inability to elect a new president before the outgoing head of state departed.
While not necessarily angry, it said it was disappointed and concerned, in a statement released Thur... |
| May 18, 2014 | The Foreign Policy Essay: Proactive Measures—Countering the Returnee Threat | Editor’s Note: The conflict in Syria has attracted an unprecedented number of foreign fighters, with Muslims streaming in from the Arab world and Europe to take up arms against the regime of Bashar al-Asad. Mindful of the Afghanistan experi... |
| Apr 6, 2014 | The Foreign Policy Essay: Saudi Arabia Dumps the Brotherhood | Editor’s Note: The Arab Spring and the subsequent backlash from authoritarian regimes have created new rifts in the Middle East. One of the biggest new divides is between those who support and those who oppose the Muslim Brotherhood, the in... |
| Mar 25, 2014 | The Netherlands Has Been Invaded by US Security Goons | This article originally appeared on VICE Netherlands.
This morning, President Barack Obama landed in the Netherlands, where he has come to spend a lot of time grimacing at and talking to world leaders and foreign ministers about nuclear wea... |
| Mar 24, 2014 | The Netherlands Has Been Invaded by US Security Goons | This morning, Barack Obama landed in the Netherlands, where he has come to spend a lot of time grimacing at and talking to world leaders and foreign ministers about nuclear weapons, but will probably end up getting side tracked in crisis ta... |
| Dec 23, 2013 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | Surveillance first:
At President Obama's end-of-year press conference on Friday, he promised a "pretty definitive statement" on proposed NSA reforms after the holiday.
As we noted Friday, the latest Snowden-leaked documents list o... |
| Aug 21, 2013 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | In breaking news, Bradley Manning, 25, has been dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Here are the Wall Street Journal and New York Times on that.
But let's turn to world affairs first.
Syrian rebels have accused the ... |
| May 15, 2012 | Survey says 73% of investors won't buy Facebook stock | Investors don't see it as a long-term investment; Facebook stock already being called overvalued
Updated to reflect new survey from WhisperNumber
Facebook seems very confident in the final days before its goes public on Friday, and for very... |
| Mar 20, 2012 | In Defense of Luis Suarez, a Racist Little Kid | “I go to the field with the maximum illusion of a little child who enjoys what he does.”
That’s a quote from Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan striker who plays for Liverpool Football Club. On the pitch, Suarez does act like a little child, but so... |
| Jan 24, 2012 | Today's Headlines and Commentary | The Islamic militant group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a string of terrorist attacks that killed more than 150 people in Nigeria. The New York Times, CNN, and BBC have the story.
Daniel Klaidman at Newsweek reports that the Ob... |
