The Arab world prepares to readmit Assad
Assad visiting UAE in March 2023 is greeted by President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan Nothing succeeds like success. Despite every prediction to the…
Anglican schism is not just about theology. It’s about geopolitics too.
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. A schism that could tear the Anglican…
In The Black Hole: James M. Dorsey on the Battle for the Soul of Islam
Pakistan ranks high on the list of Muslim-majority countries in which significant segments of the population are in religious terms militantly ultra-conservative. It’s a country where the impact of decades…
Confronting problematic tenets of religious law: Judaism could follow Islam.
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud,Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and others have been…
How real is the Saudi-Iranian thaw?
by Neville Teller Saudi Arabia and Iran have been rivals for religious and political power ever since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979. Their antagonism is…
Religion inspired the nation-state, but politics made the difference.
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud,Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. Think that the modern nation-state originated with…
Sports are a potential bellwether of how Middle Eastern states manage their differences.
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. Renewed controversy over Saudi ownership of English…
The fallacy of a US withdrawal from the Middle East
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. America is in decline. Eclipsed by China’s…
Putting Hindu nationalists on the spot
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. An Indian Supreme Court ruling coupled with…
A battle for the soul of Islam plays out in a Bahrain courtroom.
By James M. Dorsey To watch a video version of this story on YouTube please click here. A podcast version is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and Podbean. This week, there was more at stake…