President Donald Trump’s assurance that he will not use nuclear weapons against Iran should not be treated as restraint; it is the lowest possible bar in a crisis already overloaded with reckless language. His warning that the United States could “blow up” any Iranian weapons accumulated during the …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh For decades, the Middle East operated under a simple—if uneasy—assumption: proximity to the United States meant protection. That assumption has now been shaken. The recent U.S.–Israeli confrontation with Iran did not merely redraw military lines; it exposed a deeper fracture—the erosion of trust between Washington …

The current crisis shows that Europe must transition to renewables to reduce its dependency on volatile fossil fuels. This week’s AccelerateEU plan rightly reaffirms that goal. The global energy crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has demonstrated the vulnerability of relying on fossil fuels. …

Winthrop M. Rodgers The stalemate over government formation is affecting the semi-autonomous region’s ability to deal with the fallout of the Iran war – and eroding its autonomy. More than 18 months have passed since voters in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq went to the polls in …

The latest attacks, following months of JNIM raids on Mali’s vital fuel supplies, show the need for negotiation at a regional, national and local level. Jihadist and Tuareg separatist militants launched a sequence of shocking attacks across Mali on 25-26 April. The unprecedented scale, geographical spread and levels …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh A President Between Two Fears Power, when stripped of clarity, becomes performance. This is the paradox defining the current posture of Donald Trumptoward Iran: a leader who refuses both escalation and withdrawal, yet insists on projecting strength. According to converging assessments—including reporting echoed by The Wall Street Journal and …

By Dov Lieber, Jared Malsin and Summer Said After bearing the brunt of Iran’s counterattack, the financial powerhouse is strengthening security cooperation with Israel and widening a rift with Saudi Arabia The new alignment is redrawing political fault lines between the Arab world and Israel that defined the …

Ryan O’Connell Tributes to Donald Trump’s presumed greatness adorn government buildings and parks in the heart of the U.S. capital. Big Donald is looking at you  Like other autocrats, Trump has had huge banners of himself hung on government buildings. The U.S. Department of Justice on Pennsylvania Avenue …

Ezgi Başaran Many celebrated Hungary’s strongman Vikt Orbán’s fall via electoral defeat at the beginning of April.  What does his fall possibly portend for his fellow autocrat Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s political future in Turkey? Two cases of competitive authoritarianism After all, the authoritarian styles of Orbán and Erdoğan …