NEWS

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 …

Dr. Bassam Rubein Jordan today cannot afford the luxury of pleasantries, nor can it bear the continued deferral of crises or the persistent practice of rotating figures who have already proven, through experience, their inadequacy in managing certain national and economic files. The challenges facing the national economy …

Dr. Sanaa Al-Husseini Foreign policy is not usually the main factor determining how Americans vote in midterm elections. But the 2026 cycle looks different, with the fallout of foreign crises now intersecting with domestic concerns. The issues raised by candidates in both parties, the results of the primaries, …

Dr. Rula Al-Hroub The Associated Press, citing an unnamed regional official, reported that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with several countries — including Israel — to determine the motive behind the stabbing of a pilot by a co-pilot aboard a Flydubai flight that has become the talk of the …