Middle East

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was quite right when he said that the talks with Iran on its nuclear program are at “a decisive moment.” At it looked for a time as if Washington was ready to accept full responsibility for the deteriorating situation both in the Islamic Republic and in the Middle East as a whole. But instead, Mr. Blinken stuck to the aggressive policy line adopted by the current US administration…

On August 29, 2021 when the US launched an air strike in Kabul supposedly on an ISIS hideout, it killed 10 innocent civilians. Victims included Zemari Ahmadi, who worked for a US-based aid organisation, and nine members of his family, including seven children. While the US officials back then were quick to affirm that the strike followed “solid intelligence…

Turkey has lately shown signs of a clearly growing socio-political crisis in the country. Its economy is going through a difficult, if not disastrous, phase: the lira is plummeting, foreign exchange reserves are shrinking, external debt and unemployment are skyrocketing. Against this background, the approval rate for Recep Tayyip Erdogan as head of state has fallen below…

If Yemen remains an indecipherable puzzle for even the most astute of analysts, the Houthis’ decision of late to bring fire and brimstones to the UAE – a player who so far averted the ire of the movement by limiting its meddling to the southern part of the country, a region the Houthis have long decided to abandon to better consolidate their hold…

In the final days of 2021 Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority visited Benny Gantz, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense at his home in Rosh Ha’ayin. The previous meeting between the two men had taken place in August, in Ramallah, following which Israel announced a series of “confidence…

Even though the Biden administration did not invite Erdogan to the “democracy summit”, changing geo-political circumstances – in particular, the West (EU and the US) vs. Russia tensions around the former’s bid to expand NATO to Ukraine – seem to have changed, at least in Turkey’s eyes, Ankara’s importance for the West. From being a NATO pariah…

After nearly seven years of conflict, the bloody war in Yemen, waged by Saudi Arabia at the instigation of the United States, now is threatening security and stability in important areas of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. For the first time, Abu Dhabi airport and the Adnoc oil refinery were the targets of a Houthi missile and drone attack that killed three foreign workers…

Ever since the opening of Dubai Expo 2020 in Dubai, the UAE appears to have become the centre of tourism in the region, adding to its overall standing as a modern, peaceful state. The UAE’s image-politics also involves its legal reforms – in particular, those targeted at attracting foreign (non-Muslim) investors and residents…

Turkey has lately shown signs of a clearly growing socio-political crisis in the country. Its economy is going through a difficult, if not disastrous, phase: the lira is plummeting, foreign exchange reserves are shrinking, external debt and unemployment are skyrocketing. All this raises doubts about the republic’s financial and economic prospects and…

On January 20, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi completed a two-day official visit to Moscow. The Iranian leader arrived in Moscow for the first time since taking office. His visit included talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a visit and address to members of the Russian State Duma, and personal…

For most of the past decade, the Arab world has been facing many complicated, although at times overlapping problems, as it struggled to overcome political turmoil and historical transition that followed the 2011 Arab spring and its ramifications. It seems that the dramatic events that changed the region mark an important milestone in the modern history…

There has been a marked shift in the balance of power in the world as the US has recently intensified its attempts to regain world domination, including through sanctions against countries trying to demonstrate their independence from Washington. And in this respect, Beijing’s attempt to create a multipolar world based on an alliance with countries…