Op-ed

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 …

James Fanelli,  Joshua Chaffin, Eliza Collins and Kevin T. Dugan Megan Romer likes to spend her free time sewing costumes for school plays, picking blackberries in her backyard in rural Cayuga County, N.Y., and watching her partner play the fiddle in folk bands. In her day job, she …

By Hadi Elis History often creates illusions. At times, events appear to repeat themselves, giving the impression that societies are trapped in endless cycles of conflict, revolution, and repression. Yet history rarely repeats itself in an identical manner. Instead, it evolves through changing circumstances, new actors, and altered …

The word “sovereignty” has become one of the most frequently used concepts in political discourse, yet it remains one of the most contested in terms of its actual meaning. For many, sovereignty is presented as a political slogan: a declaration of independence, a rejection of foreign influence, or …