Erdogan’s charm offensive: a limited success
On June 1 Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, broke off the talks he had initiated with Greece back in January 2021, and canceled the High-Level Strategic Council that they had…
Recognising Israel: Any Asian volunteers?
The question for Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is not whether either country will recognise Israel but when and who will go first. For the past two years, Saudi Arabia was…
The precarious Yemen truce
The deck of Yemen’s ‘FSO Safer’, which has not been maintained for years The two-month truce between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, brokered by the UN, ended on June…
The India-Gulf Spat: Protagonists in glass houses
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baqr, a man known for his pithy retorts, pretended to quiver in his pants. Hindu nationalists had called for a boycott of the Gulf airline after…
Double standards haunt US and Europe in NATO dispute with Turkey
US and European acquiescence in Turkey’s long-standing refusal to honour Kurdish ethnic, cultural, and political rights has come home to roost with Turkish opposition to Finnish and Swedish NATO membership.…
Wahhabism and the World
Peter Mandaville, Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia’s Global Influence on Islam, Oxford University Press, 2022 Saudi global export of an ultra-conservative strand of Islam and its impact on…
Conflict in Ukraine: How long can the Middle East walk a tightrope?
For now, Ukraine is the far from my bed show for most Middle Eastern nations. The question is not if but when Ukraine will arrive on their doorstep. Two centrifugal…
Playing games in NATO, Turkey eyes its role in a new world order
By James M. Dorsey Launched 12 years ago, my column, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, offers, to borrow a phrase from an early proprietor of The Observer, ‘the…
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s heady days
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. These…
Confronting the Taliban
by Neville Teller The Taliban regime, which swept away Afghanistan’s government on August 15, 2021, is far from secure. It is facing determined resistance from two main sources: contingents of…