Middle East & Africa
Africa and the World Bank: Why it’s Not Too Late
African countries are in a developmental conundrum; they have seen economic reversals in the wake (and arguably because) of the World Bank and yet...
Playing with Fire: Trump’s Iran policy risks cloning North Korea
As US President Donald J. Trump gropes with a set of bad options for responding to North Korea’s rapidly expanding nuclear and ballistic missiles...
Playing both sides against the middle: Saudi engages with Iraqi Shiites
Saudi Arabia, with the Islamic State on the ropes in Iraq, is forging ties to Iraqi Shiite leaders and offering to help fund reconstruction...
Strife in Jerusalem: Fears of popular revolts bring Israel and Arabs together
A web of formal and informal Israeli-Arab relations and common fears of renewed popular uprisings that could threaten regimes and benefit Islamist groups like...
The Gulf crisis: A lesson in reputation management
Lurking below the surface of the Gulf crisis, are rival, yet troubled, attempts by Qatar and its detractors to use sports to boost soft...
The Gulf crisis: Small states battle it out
Buried in the Gulf crisis is a major development likely to reshape international relations as well as power dynamics in the Middle East: the...
New Sanctions on Iran and Options for Regional Cooperation in Middle East
United States has imposed new economic sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile program. United States accuses Iran of providing support and funds to...
Qatar scores, at least on the soccer pitch
Qatar won more than a symbolic victory with a decision by European soccer body UEFA to award controversial television network Al Jazeera’s sport franchise,...
US moves against Iran raise spectre of wider regional conflict
US President Donald J. Trump. in a step that could embolden Saudi Arabia to move ahead with plans to destabilize Iran, has instructed White...
How to interpret the crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s allies
The crisis between Qatar and much of the new "Sunni" NATO - as some US media already call it today - consists in a...