OPINION

US President Donald Trump is facing competing pressure from key regional partners as his administration struggles to find either a military path to victory or a diplomatic exit from the war on Iran. According to CNN, Saudi Arabia is privately urging Washington to de-escalate, while Israeli Prime Minister …

The United States is relinquishing command of the NATO body that has directed the flow of Western weapons and training to Ukraine’s armed forces since 2022, POLITICO reported, citing a US official and three other sources familiar with the matter. Leadership of the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine (SAG-U), headquartered …

A flash estimate from the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, states that the Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 2.9% in July 2026, up .01% from 2.8% in June. Eurostat notes that energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in July, up …

A Tale of Two Navies In the churning waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, a new strategic equation is taking shape—one defined not by the clash of air forces or armies, but by the silent arithmetic of hulls, tonnage, and maritime geography. Recent reports of a close-quarters encounter between …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh The Genesis of a Doctrine In 1978, a 28-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu—then operating under the Americanized appellation “Ben Nitai”—stood before an assembly in Boston and articulated what would become the animating principle of his political existence. “The obstacle to peace,” he declared with crystalline clarity, “is …

A humanitarian gesture, or a geopolitical land grab disguised as mercy? When twin earthquakes—measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale—struck Venezuela on June 24, 2026, they left behind a trail of devastation that would stagger any nation: over 5,300 dead, nearly 17,000 injured, and more than 850 …

The wars that have engulfed the Middle East since October 2023 were widely portrayed as the birth of a new regional order. Israel fought Hamas in Gaza, confronted Hezbollah in Lebanon, and—together with the United States—launched an unprecedented military campaign directly against Iran. Syria witnessed the collapse of …

Dr. Mustafa Al-Tal Introduction: From the Strait of Hormuz to Gaza The previous installments of the Engineering Fear series argued that conflicts in the Middle East are increasingly managed rather than resolved. Ceasefires, economic pressure, strategic corridors, and political legislation have become instruments for containing instability instead of …

Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Rand Paul each have reasons to run in ’28. Chances are good that the Republican nominee for president in 2028 will be named either J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio (as I write, the prediction markets put the odds at around 70 percent). Yet …