The Afghanistan fiasco has already touched off regional rivalries. The small but oil-rich State of Qatar and allied Republic of Turkey were the first off the rank, joining forces to assist the Taliban and their Pakistani backers to consolidate power and attract international recognition. What’s in it for these two distant actors? The camaraderie between…
The reconciliation train between the UAE and Qatar has been rapidly gathering speed. On Thursday, Emirati national security advisor and strongman Sheikh Tahnoun bin-Zayed paid a surprise visit to Doha. On Saturday, the ruler of Dubai and UAE vice-president Sheikh Mohammad bin-Rashed made a point of meeting the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin-Hamad, on…
A recent analysis of Middle Eastern states’ interventionist policies suggests that misguided big power approaches have fueled a vicious cycle of interference and instability over the last decade. Those approaches are abetted, if not encouraged by US and Chinese strategies that are similar, if not essentially the same, just labelled differently. The United States has…
Concern-trolling over the dismal plight of women in Afghanistan is powerfully appealing to liberals who look for reasons for the United States to maintain a military presence there. If and when the Taliban return to power, the warmongers argue, the bad old days of stonings, burqas and girls banned from school will come back. And…
It’s up to the court of law to establish the facts about Al Jazeera’s investigation, but the very publication of the outlet’s series of reports has been enough to provoke an enormous international scandal involving Bangladesh, Qatar, India, Hungary, and “Israel” as the primary players. Al Jazeera published a series of scandalous reports last week…
A senior Israeli official told the London-based Arab news agency Elaph that the Saudis have stopped all behind-the-scenes negotiations with Israel. He claims that Saudi Arabia will not sign any peace agreement with Israel unless there is progress on the Palestinian issue. This and other reports in the world media came about two months after…
