Commentaries

On November 24, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Departments of State and Treasury to initiate a process for assessing the designation of “certain branches of the Muslim Brotherhood” as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).”The order states that these branches “fuel terrorism, commit, facilitate, or support violence and destabilization campaigns…

The draft bill recently introduced in the U.S. Congress marks a pivotal moment in the trajectory of Israeli control over Jerusalem. For the first time, this trajectory shifts from the realm of on-the-ground policies and administrative measures to the level of binding U.S. legislation, effectively granting Israel an extraterritorial legal shield to consolidate its religious sovereignty over al-Aqsa Mosque. This…

From the very first moment, it was clear that the American plan to manage Gaza after the recent war was not merely a technical proposal for reconstruction or the administration of specific areas. As documents examined by Western media reveal, it is an American attempt to reproduce a political and security vision for the future in a space where all…

As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Washington today, U.S. President Donald Trump is framing the visit within Washington’s broader push to persuade Saudi Arabia to engage in direct normalization with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. Trump has already laid out what he describes as a “grand bargain,” emphasizing the potential approval of advanced F-35 fighter jet…

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Iraqis will head to the polls to participate in the country’s sixth parliamentary elections since 2003, amid mounting expectations and assessments pointing to the likelihood of the lowest voter turnout since the first elections held in 2005. This comes at a highly sensitive and complex moment for both the country and the wider region, reflecting the magnitude of…

Lebanon today stands at a pivotal and exceptionally sensitive juncture-one whose implications extend far beyond the southern front and reach into the very core of its position within a rapidly shifting regional equation. All political and field indicators coming from Israel, as well as from concerned Western and Arab capitals, suggest that the likelihood of escalation is now higher than…

Today, major cities are undergoing a phase of redefining their political, economic, and cultural roles. They are no longer merely urban spaces for residence and work but have become centers of decision-making and influence on global issues such as climate change, migration, equality, and sustainable development. As the nation-state’s capacity to monopolize representative authority shrinks, the city rises as an…

The Iraqi context has always been “exceptional” by nature, with elections typically held under sensitive and pivotal circumstances in the life of the country and its political system in particular. The upcoming elections, scheduled for November 11, may not differ much from these descriptions; however, they come amid an extremely complex environment in which domestic dynamics intertwine with regional transformations…

The United States is no longer an alliance-based state foreign policy, but one that operates by virtue of a network of transient instruments employed in a bid to achieve its objectives, and jettisoned once obsolete. Washington, as expressed in the political and media discourse from certain corners, does not see its allies as “allies,” but as “means” to construct its…

The visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani to Beirut in October 2025 marked a pivotal political moment in the trajectory of relations between the two countries. It was not a conventional diplomatic visit; rather, it represented the first practical test of the evolving relationship between the “new Syria” and Lebanon after two decades of transformation and discontinuity. The visit…