Middle East & Africa
The unfolding humanitarian crisis around Lake Chad: UN report falls short of naming environmental dimensions
It is encouraging to see that the United Nations Security Council is beginning to acknowledge the transboundary dimensions of fragility and conflict, as demonstrated...
Trump’s chaos produces results: Gulf states upgrade ties to Israel
A cornerstone of the Trump administration’s approach to Israeli-Palestinian peace, involving a restructuring of relations between erstwhile Middle Eastern foes appears to be taking...
Is Bell Pottinger the Turning Point for South Africa’s Anticorruption Fighters?
At the crumbling Bell Pottinger, shock must still be setting in. Less than two years ago after the British PR firm agreed to a...
Signs of hope in the Middle East? Don’t hold your breath
Optimists see hopeful signs that the Middle East may be exiting from a dark tunnel of violence, civil war, sectarian strife, and debilitating regional...
Iranian-Syrian World Cup qualifier ripples far beyond the pitch
A nail-biting Iranian-Syrian World Cup qualifier has sent political ripples far beyond the Azadi Stadium’s soccer pitch in Tehran. In a boost for the...
Kurdish Referendum: More Military Threats to Independent Kurdistan
Despite the opposition of the central government in Baghdad, Kurdish political parties agreed to hold a referendum in the region on September 25th, 2017....
The Gulf crisis: Fighting it out down and dirty
In the three-month old Gulf crisis, nothing is too expensive or too down and dirty when it comes to buying influence, garnering soft power,...
Netanyahu Needs to Officially Condemn Discrimination For His Own Legacy, and Israel’s
Benjamin Netanyahu needs to publicly and officially establish Israel's policies on state-sanctioned discrimination or he will not only destroy his own legacy, but he...
Variations on a theme: The Gulf crisis settles into a family squabble
A three-month old crisis in the Gulf that has pitted Qatar against an alliance led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia has settled into...
Food for thought: UAE ambassador’s hacked mails feed crucial policy debates
The hacked email account of Yousef al-Otaiba, the influential United Arab Emirates ambassador in Washington, has provided unprecedented insight into the length to which...