ISIS Women – The New Danger
“Remaining and expanding” (baqiya wa’tatamaddad) became the official slogan of Islamic State back in 2015, when its first territorial losses began to register. It was quoted defiantly on Monday October…
Lebanon’s Biggest Problem – Hezbollah
Lebanon is in chaos. For more than a week mass protests have been blocking city streets and town squares across the country. The crowds are demanding the resignation of the…
Popular Protest: How Effective Is It?
A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. If there is one theme, beyond corruption…
The Kurds, Assad and the Shape of a Future Syria
Media commentators are in a spin over recent developments along the Turkish-Syrian border. For example, several are scratching their heads over the game plan that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has…
UNRWA Under Scrutiny
At around the time the State of Israel came into being, something over half the non-Jewish population of what used to be called “Palestine”, some 750,000 people, left their homes…
Is ISIS Regrouping at al-Hol?
During its heyday in 2014-2015 Islamic State (ISIS) conquered, and ruled over, great tracts of Iraq and Syria. It took four years, but the US coalition, relying heavily on the…
Jordan’s Problems – Can Trump’s Peace Deal Help?
Jordan presents itself to the world as a constitutional monarchy – a state supporting a multi-party political system, an elected parliament, and a prime minister who is the head of…
Saudi Policy Shift: A Rare Trump Foreign Policy Success
A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Patreon, Podbean and Castbox. By the law of unintended consequences, US President…
What Do You Make of Qatar?
Qatar – dubbed “the wild card of the Middle East” – makes for an intriguing case study. Not much is generally known about this stand-alone Gulf state except perhaps that…
Saudi Oil Attacks Put US Commitments to the Test
A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Patreon, Podbean and Castbox. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the United States is…