Asia Pacific

Maya Berri The relationship between the United States and Israel has long been described as exceptional, built on strategic cooperation, military assistance, shared political interests and close personal ties between leaders. Yet beneath that partnership lies a persistent tension: how far should either country go in influencing the …

There are moments when events move faster than politics can understand them. States then become prisoners of the images they built of their rivals, explaining the present with tools from the past, even after the balance of power has shifted and the map has been redrawn. Few relationships …

Dr. Nessrine Mesto-Assaad Imagine you are taking a picture in a small café in Egypt overlooking the Nile River. You keep the picture on your cloud server, and say to yourself, “I will not share it with anyone; I will keep it to myself.” This personal, spontaneous image …

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 …

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 …

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, …

By Dan Steinbock  Following October 7, 2023, the Hamas-led offensive has been portrayed as “Israel’s 9/11,” which came out of the blue. That’s not supported by facts. The Netanyahu cabinet knew about the attack, in advance. In his fiery speech to the UN General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister …

James Lee Palestine is no longer a distant foreign-policy issue in Britain, confined to diplomatic statements or parliamentary debates about the Middle East. Over the past several years—and especially since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023—the Palestinian question has moved into Britain’s streets, universities, trade …