In Depth

06 Jul 2020 This story first appeared as an MEI Insight A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox. Resolving the tug of war in the Middle East will require a backing away from approaches that treat conflicts as zero-sum games, and engagement by all regional and external players. …

Israel’s annexation of the West Bank could push it down a path that challenges its Jewish and democratic character. The agreement establishing the current Israeli coalition government has set July 1 as the target date to begin consideration of the annexation in the West Bank. As this self-imposed deadline approaches, there …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD I have written an article a long time ago about a horror-SF movie I watched largely against my will, Dark Skies (2013), which fits into my longstanding research on sexual anxieties and alien abduction scenarios. I’d been thinking of writing a follow-up for some time …

By : Siba El-Samra   The shortage of public spaces, as well as walking and biking infrastructure in Lebanon, is not a new problem. During a pandemic, this shortage becomes time-critical and even more life-threatening, especially in dense Beirut. As cities around the world look to find ways to live with …

By James M. Dorsey   China was quick to aid coronavirus-stricken Sri Lanka. Chinese magnanimity and speed in responding to the Indian Ocean island’s request contrasted starkly with Beijing’s more measured response to Africa’s needs, widely expected to be the pandemic’s next hotspot. Geography was but one reason why China …

By James M. Dorsey     Europe is progressively being sucked into the Middle East and North Africa’s myriad conflicts. As if wars on its doorstep in Libya and Syria were not enough, UAE support for an Eastern Mediterranean pipeline that could hurt Qatar economically — combined with Greek, Cypriot …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     “It is very true that one cannot always go by the principles of Marxism in deciding whether to reject or to accept a work of art. A work of art should, in the first place, be judged by its own law, that is, …

BY LYU JINGHUA   Neither side wants to appear weak, but recent actions and rhetoric by both sides has put all of us in greater danger of U.S.-China military tensions sliding into armed conflict. The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the U.S.-China relationship — but in the opposite of the way …

A regular survey of experts on matters relating to Middle Eastern and North African politics and security (By MICHAEL YOUNG) Assaad al-Achi | Executive director of Baytna Syria, Syrian civil society activist Although leadership tensions, at least public ones, are extremely rare in Syria, they have always existed since Hafez …

The Covid-19 pandemic has been dominating the global news for months now. Almost half of the world’s population is under social or economic corona lockdown. People are afraid. In the background, an unprecedented global crisis that could lead to a dramatic international systematic transition from a Pax Americana to a …

The Covid-19 pandemic captivates us all with unprecedented social and economic repercussions. Roughly half of the world remains under corona lockdown eagerly awaiting some positive news on the crisis. All eyes are pointed towards the World Health Organization (WHO), the institute created to handle global crisis situations. Instead of helping …

In times of crisis and panic, going against the flow is seen by many as inconvenient. This is precisely the case in the current Covid-19 pandemic where people who dare to oppose the official information coming from institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and other local health institutions …

Although the crisis precipitated by the new coronavirus pandemic is still in its very early stages, it is clear that it has vastly accelerated the ongoing processes around the world. The most consequential is the intensification of Sino-American rivalry and the emergence of new global bipolarity. By Dmitri Trenin It is …

The outbreak of COVID-19 has given the entire world a reality check with regards to over consumption especially when it leads to greater pollution. Global Warming has never been more relevant an issue than it at this given time. By Lara Issa The fact that pollution levels have drastically decreased …

In his book Plagues and Peoples historian William Hardy McNeill uses two concepts to describe the impact of diseases on humankind. One are the micro-parasites: the bacteria, viruses and other invisible lifeforms that cause disease. The other are the macro-parasites: the rulers, states and conquerors that impose taxes on subjects, …

By Oula Kadhum | Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham, teaching fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she specializes in diaspora and Middle Eastern politics The Iraq protests are not a flash in the pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for …

The social and economic corona lockdowns all over the world are not due to end anytime soon. The measures taken kill off businesses critical to the livelihoods of millions of people. They have precipitated the unemployment of tens of millions of people – and continue to cause an unprecedented global …

If the Covid-19 pandemic has made one thing evident in the past months, it is the fact that the media should restrain itself and act more responsibly. It should stop feeding the coronavirus hysteria with daily infection and death statistic updates of which most are carelessly presented and often misinterpreted. …

Now that Hezbollah realizes its efforts to hide virus cases won’t work anymore, Washington should urge Beirut to put LAF medical and border-control personnel to work without resorting to a full state of emergency. By Hanin Ghaddar Hezbollah has been under serious scrutiny by the Lebanese people in the past …

The Coronavirus-hysteria has gone viral. Global media outlets report on nothing else but the consequences of what the World Health Organisation (WHO) stamped a pandemic weeks ago. In unprecedented moves people are told (forced) to stay home under lockdowns. Economies are being shut down, while the future consequences are largely …

Dubai – Despite the global panic surrounding the spread of coronavirus as cases and deaths continue to jump in the European Union (EU) and the United States, there is some positive news on potential vaccines, promising recovery rates and people coming closer together. By Arthur Blok | More than 470,000 …

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem   On March 12, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic after more than three months of its spread in China and many countries all over the world. The coronavirus is affecting 167 countries and territories around the world, with 199,339 cases …

It’s no secret that tax law in the United States is extremely confusing. Even the length of the official tax code is subject to wild speculation; people estimate it to be somewhere between 2,500 pages and four times the length of the complete written works of Shakespeare. As a result …

Densitas Inc., a leading provider of AI technologies for digital mammography and breast screening recently partnered with RAD-AID International to establish an AI-based decision support program for breast health in medically underserved regions. The aim of the partnership is to provide low-resource institutions with education, clinical support, and hands-on training …

The Heritage Foundation looks at the peace deal for Afghanistan.  They note, “most importantly, talks within Afghanistan between the government and the Taliban will take place March 10.  This is the most crucial stage in the peace process. It does not matter what the U.S. agrees to with the Taliban; …

By Seyed Hossein Mousavian   Once the situation is de-escalated, there could be a chance for a breakthrough in relations, especially after upcoming presidential elections Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, containment has been the default Iran policy of every US administration. Presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have pursued an ill-advised …

Since President Trump was acquitted by the US Senate, he has been firing government officials.  These include the withdrawing of Jessie Liu’s name from a top Treasury position, firing the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood, and pushing about 200 people out of the National Security Council.  And …

Dubai – “Refugee and other vulnerable children have the human right to a good education”, said Rudayna Abdo the founder of Thaki a social impact non-profit association. Abdo and her dedicated team are calling on companies in the UAE to donate their used laptops for reuse “It makes a huge difference to …

Since before Trump was even elected, experts have openly worried that his skepticism of NATO could lead to its dissolution. Russia would take advantage of that weakness, and the security guarantees America has given its European allies for decades would fade away. But Trump in recent days has seemingly become a NATO …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   Was watching an annoying science fiction movie the other day called variously The Holy Relic and The Hunt for the Hidden Relic (2002), and was struck by a number of things, good and bad. First, the bad. The movie is German, adapted from a novel …

The ‘Breathe’ event in Riyadh last week has attracted my attention. This event sought to break the barrier of fear, raise the quality of behaviour, and discover the various capabilities of knowledge and innovation. It also sought to raise the quality of life through exercise, meditation and breathing. By Lina …

Riyadh – The initiative launched in 2017 by the Environmental Green Horizons Society to transform one mosque in Riyadh into a sustainable building surrounded by greenery has become a success story. In a relatively short period five mosques were transformed, a new public park was established outside the city and …

Think Tanks Activity Summary The Heritage Foundation looks at Trump’s State of the Union Speech and his defense and foreign policy comments.  The Middle East was prominently featured in Trump’s State of the Union speech. The president noted that his administration had made a priority of “combating radical Islamic terrorism” and …

An Imposed, Unrealistic Solution Will Not Hold By Martin Indyk*   You’ve got to hand it to the Middle East peace team of U.S. President Donald Trump. It has proposed a comprehensive and creative resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And even though Trump is quick to decry the failed efforts …

By Arthur Blok   Bitcoin was launched in 2009 as a new kind of money: skeptical about traditional financial institutions and instead of a central bank using a complicated programming technology. Since that moment numerous cryptocurrencies were introduced. Are cryptocurrencies a useful tool to become more sustainable? Years later the …

The world is being roiled by the Corona Virus, which appears to have come out of China.  Not only is it worrying health experts, it is affecting financial markets as China has aggressively quarantined infected areas and closed large factories, which threatens to impact their economy.  And, since China’s economy …

BY Stephen Zunes,   Donald Trump’s long-awaited “deal of the century” between Israel and Palestine essentially gives Israel’s far right coalition government everything it wanted. This Middle East “peace” deal allows Israel to annex vast stretches of the Palestinian West Bank (which has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967) …

Instead of acknowledging the political and national aspirations of the Palestinians, negotiators are focusing on material and economic concerns.   By Robert Malley President and CEO of the International Crisis Group & Aaron David Miller Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center |   Recent months have seen a series of …

The president has been mixing money and politics since his early days in New York. By Andrea Bernstein*- Appeared first on The Atlantic |   On a debate stage during the 2016 Republican primary, Donald Trump explained why he’d given money to Democratic politicians: “I give to many people,” he …

The Heritage Foundation says US-Oman relations must improve in 2020 with the new Sultan Haitham.  They note, “The United States and Oman share many geopolitical challenges and have had good relations dating back two centuries. Under the leadership of Sultan Haitham, U.S.–Omani relations will be entering a new chapter. The …

By Nasser Nasser   We are witnessing the “annexation of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley” fever and the left in Israel is running to catch up to Israel. This is the meaning of what one of Israel’s senior investigative journalist, Raviv Drucker, revealed in Haaretz yesterday, January 13th, …

Dubai – Heliatek is the winner of the Online Global Innovation Award 2020. The announcement was made at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) Thursday by H.E. Fahed Al Hammadi, the acting Assistant Undersecretary for Green Development and Climate Change at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. By Arthur …

Iranian foreign policy guru Seyed Hossein Mousavian discusses nuclear weaponization and the need for a multilateral security network in the Middle East By Sean David Hobbs   Leading Iranian diplomat and analyst Seyed Hossein Mousavian, 62, has served in a variety of diplomatic capacities, many of which were connected to …

By James Zogby |   Despite its claims of making America more respected and feared in the world, the Trump Administration’s behaviours have only contributed to accelerating the decline in America’s leadership. President Donald Trump’s demonstrated disdain for international agreements and law, his erratic behaviour and his reckless tweets, have …