Egypt’s search for a fig leaf: It’s not the Handball World Championship
Hosting major sports tournaments can confer prestige on a country, but in the case of Egypt, the 2021 Handball World Championship will do little...
Looming Large: The Middle East Braces for Fallout of US–China Divide
China would like the world to believe that the Middle East and North Africa region does not rank high on its totem pole despite...
Gulf state religious moderation falls by the wayside in Pakistan
Silent about rising sectarian violence in Pakistan, Gulf states vying for religious soft power risk exposing the limitations of their concepts of an undefined...
Erdogan positions powerful Turkish military as backbone of regional strategy
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ushered in the new year, pledging to employ his country’s military to secure Turkey’s place in a rebalanced new world...
Turkey gambles in bid to rival China as a key supply chain node
A projected sharp reduction in trade between the United States and China in the next two years coupled with moves to diversify supply chains...
Turkish shadow boxing reflects growing rivalry with Iran
Turkey is leveraging its successful backing of Azerbaijan’s recent war against Armenia to counter Iran in the Caucasus and gradually challenge Russia in Central...
The Caspian Sea as Battleground
Populated at the time by fluent Hebrew speakers, the Israel desk of Armenia’s foreign ministry waited back in 1991— in the immediate wake of...
Saudi Arabia sends Joe Biden mixed messages
Saudi Arabia appears to be drawing lines in the sand as the kingdom prepares for a new era in relations with the United States...
France, Belgium and Austria Move into the Frontline of a Battle for the Soul of Islam
Punching above its weight, the United Arab Emirates is wielding a combination of religious soft power, commercial and economic sway, and hard power in...
The Muslim world’s changing dynamics: Pakistan struggles to retain its footing
Increasing strains between Pakistan and its traditional Arab allies, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, is about more than Gulf states opportunistically targeting...