Saudi Arabia drags geopolitical baggage on to the World Cup pitch
Saudi Arabia has much at stake when its national soccer team enters the pitch for the opening match of the 2018 World Cup in...
Whither the Kurds?
Palestinians have long been known for a history of missing opportunities. By contrast, Kurds spread across several Middle Eastern nations appeared to have a...
Parallels between Turkish soccer and general elections could prove uncanny
With electoral upsets having become the norm, the latest upheaval that last week swept aside the long-standing president of Fenerbahce SC, the political crown...
Saudi effort to isolate Iran internationally produces results
Saudi efforts to isolate Iran internationally are producing results in North Africa and Central Asia. Authorities and religious leaders in Tajikistan and Algeria have...
Israel scores painful own goal in run-up to the World Cup
Argentina’s cancellation of a friendly against Israel because of Israeli attempts to exploit the match politically is likely to reverberate far beyond the world...
Jordanian protests: Revisiting the Arab Spring and setting a benchmark
Protests that forced Jordan’s prime minister to resign and laid bare the country’s systemic economic and political crisis shed a new light on the...
King Abdullah of Jordan: Balancing on an ever-tighter tightrope
A look at a decade of failed social, economic and political reform in Jordan goes a far way to explain recent mass anti-government protests...
2018 World Cup potentially set to become latest Middle Eastern battlefield
A possible Saudi-Iranian clash on the soccer pitch promises to be a highlight of this month’s World Cup in Russia.
It would add significant drama...
Politicizing Education: Israel and Myanmar set worrisome precedent
Israel and Myanmar, two countries with troubled human rights records and disputed histories of dealing with ethnic and national rights, have set a worrisome...
Mahathir’s reforms could put Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the spot
Newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Mahathir is adopting policies that could reshape the Southeast nation’s relations with powerful Gulf states.
A series of anti-corruption...