REGIONS

Qatar, Türkiye, Pakistan, and Indonesia signed a “multilateral” military memorandum ofunderstandingyesterday, Wednesday, named “Badr,” according to a statement by the QatarNews Agency. The statementsaid that the four countries “complement one another” andthat the memorandum would enable themto “leverage each country’s capabilities in the fieldof defense manufacturing.” It also …

Hadi Elis The United States entered its war with Iran possessing something few militaries in history have had at comparable scale: extraordinary technological superiority, an enormous intelligence architecture and increasingly sophisticated artificial-intelligence systems capable of processing information at speeds no human organization could match. Artificial intelligence has become …

By Dan Steinbock Thanks to some AI executives, the Trump administration had an opportunity to foster global AI cooperation. By contrast, it gave green light to existential risks. On September 29, 2026, President Trump convened the chief executives of several of the world’s most powerful technology companies at …

Tamara Berro When Chinese President Xi Jinping met Donald Trump in May, Taiwan was at the centre of the most difficult question in the relationship between the world’s two largest powers. Xi described the island as the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-American relations. He also warned …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh George Orwell’s 1984 is often read as a warning about dictatorship. It is also a study of something subtler: how institutions and ordinary people can gradually adapt themselves to a political system they once regarded as unacceptable. The machinery of Orwell’s Oceania does not depend …

Contrary to the Israeli narrative, Palestinians are pragmatic, willing to make concessions, and supportive of a two-state solution — and this includes Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This is the central finding of a new Arab Barometer survey published in Foreign Affairs, conducted …

In just five months, Syria’s Banyas port has been transformed into a new outlet for Iraqi energy. In April 2026, Baghdad began moving fuel oil through Syria for export from the Mediterranean. By September, it was using the same route in reverse — importing gasoline through Baniyas and …

By Asia Al-Atrous Two developments surrounding last week’s summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping passed with relatively little attention amid the spectacle of the state visit. The first was the decision by Washington and Beijing to extend their fragile trade truce for another …

 Dr. Mohammad Hassan Kahat When the last American soldier leaves Iraqi territory, the complex questions that made the US military presence both a security necessity and a political taboo do not leave with him. Washington’s announcement on September 30 that its withdrawal is complete ends a long military …