Big Power Competition in the Eastern Mediterranean: Is Trump Missing the Point?

Big Power Competition in the Eastern Mediterranean: Is Trump Missing the Point?

A Trump administration decision to sanction two key Turkish officials in retaliation for the continued detention of an American cleric coupled with unqualified support for Israel and the adoption of a backseat in Syria threatens to further undermine US influence in the Eastern Mediterranean, a key part of the world in which Russia, Iran, China…

“Greater Israel” and the Balkanization of the Middle East: Oded Yinon’s “Strategy for Israel”

“Greater Israel” and the Balkanization of the Middle East: Oded Yinon’s “Strategy for Israel”

Oded Yinon, whose 1982 paper for Kivunim (Directions) entitled “A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s”, is often used as a reference point for evidence of an Israeli aim to balkanise the surrounding Arab and Muslim world into ethnic and sectarian mini-states, was recently interviewed. He discussed the notoriety of the document which came to…

Talking to Rouhani: Is Trump Shooting from the Hip or Following a Script?

Talking to Rouhani: Is Trump Shooting from the Hip or Following a Script?

Message to Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Tel Aviv: Not to worry, US President Donald J. Trump has no intention of meeting his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, unconditionally. On the contrary, Mr. Trump’s surprise announcement that he is willing to talk to Mr. Rouhani is likely part of a plan formulated almost a year before he…

Adolf and Amin

Adolf and Amin

Benjamin Netanyahu is a perfect diplomat, a clever politician, a talented leader of the army. Lately, another jewel has been added to his crown: he is also a gifted story-teller. He has provided an answer to a question that has perplexed historians for a long time: When and how did Adolf Hitler decide to exterminate…

US Advances ‘Arab Alliance’ Against ‘Iranian Aggression’

US Advances ‘Arab Alliance’ Against ‘Iranian Aggression’

Around the time Trump announced the United States’s withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear non proliferation agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Bolton was pushing this idea of a kind of ‘Arab NATO’ type of alliance, to take America’s place in the Middle East. Trump has been touting the idea of withdrawing American troops…