By Eng. Saleem Al-Batayneh The words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the reception of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last February were far more than a ceremonial speech. They constituted a dense ideological statement, revealing the contours of a hardline nationalist alliance built on the intersection …
Read More »When the Reeds Stirred
By Lama Al-Rakad On a strange day in the calendar of history, the ancient civilizations of the East convened an urgent session.Not because of a great war, nor the darkening of the sun, but because of a small piece of news, repeated over and over in the bulletins …
Read More »Finish the Job, Mr. President
Fourteen days into Operation Epic Fury, the most consequential American military campaign in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq, the Trump administration has yet to say what victory will actually look like. The president has variously toggled between declaring Iran has “practically nothing left,” indicating that …
Read More »Partisanship on Iran Is Dangerous for America
Trump is doing the right thing for the U.S., and we Democrats should judge the war on the merits. WSJ Opinion: Trump’s War in Iran. Is It Justified? And Is It Wise? An Editor at Large: Gerard Baker looks at previous Republican incursions in the Middle East before …
Read More »This Is the Worst-Case Scenario for Oil Prices
Greg Priddy Oil markets are losing an estimated 15 million barrels per day from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a loss that spells disaster for the global economy. Among most people in the financial world, the idea of a near-total halt in flows of oil through the …
Read More »Preparing for the Pacific by Watching the Gulf: How China Is Turning the Iran Conflict into a Military Laboratory
While the world’s eyes are fixed on the Strait of Hormuz and the simmering U.S.-Israeli-Iran standoff, a subtler, far-reaching geopolitical play is unfolding: China is quietly treating Iran as a testing ground for the next generation of multi-platform warfare. The Chinese “Missile Saturation Theory,” long theorized in Beijing’s …
Read More »With barrage of missiles, Pyongyang responds to US-South Korea military drills
North Korea launched over 10 ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday while U. S. and South Korean forces conducted military drills. Japan’s coast guard indicated that a missile might have fallen into the sea, but outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The missiles were fired from near Pyongyang …
Read More »Trump Signals Escalation in the Strait of Hormuz – But Who Will Join Him?
In a statement that underscores both America’s resolve and the uncertainty surrounding its allies, President Donald Trump declared that many nations would send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Yet, in a move that has left analysts scrambling, he did not specify which countries would participate. …
Read More »When Elasticity Fails: The New Fragility of the Global Energy System
Yannis Bassias The confrontation in the Persian Gulf has not created new vulnerabilities. It has revealed the architecture of a global energy system that has been losing resilience for more than a decade. Markets long assumed that disruptions would remain isolated, that shocks would arrive one at a …
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