Barak Ravid, Zachary Basu Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (KBS) said in a private briefing on Friday in Washington that if President Trump doesn’t follow through…
Browsing: Middle East
The panic did not announce itself with sirens. It crept in quietly, through WhatsApp messages, television panels, and hastily arranged opinion pieces, after the Banque du…
Taking military action is risky. Falsely encouraging freedom fighters would be shameful. The fate of a 2,500-year-old nation and its 93 million inhabitants rests, for now,…
Western realism masks a deeper cynicism: deference to gas flows has prolonged Iran’s illegitimate theocracy. When Zbigniew Brzezinski addressed Moscow’s Diplomatic Academy…
The most destabilizing threats to security alliances rarely come from outside assault alone. More often, they emerge from internal contradictions, asymmetries of power, and the erosion…
By The Editorial Board The Iranians demonstrating against their government are displaying awe-inspiring bravery. In the past quarter-century, protest movements in Iran have sprung up every…
Cyprus politics has always excelled at a particular acrobatic trick: governing provisionally while speaking permanently. The corruption scandal now enveloping President Nikos Christodoulides…
Shaffaf had published the Arabic version of this article, by Yemeni writer Hussein Al-Wadi‘i, on November 22, 2025. Today, we had the nice surprise…
As Arctic ice retreats and new maritime routes open, Europe risks repeating one of its most damaging strategic errors: confusing diplomacy with deterrence, and autonomy with…
METRANSPARENT EXCLUSIVE The demonstrations that started late December 2025 in the Bazaar in Tehran have grown to a full blown uprising. Initially the demonstrations that started…
The forcible seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States did not merely shock Latin America. It exposed, with unusual clarity, a defining feature…
During the Israeli preparations for the renewed round of talks with the new Syrian regime of AlSharaa, Israeli intelligence has come to find out numerous activities…
The U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him to New York did more than topple a man. It stress-tested the thin membrane…
From Somaliland to the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel’s new diplomatic assertiveness and Türkiye’s deepening concerns Israel’s decision on 26 December 2025 to recognize Somaliland as…
I am sitting at the breakfast table. Beyond the window, a man-made lake is partially frozen, carrying the quiet dignity of an early winter morning. Cormorants…
Over time, the rotating presidency in the Cyprus negotiations has gradually shifted from being discussed as a tool of political equality to being treated almost as…
In an interview, Ibrahim Jalal discusses the Southern Transitional Council’s recent takeover of Hadhramawt and Mahra. Ibrahim Jalal was previously a nonresident scholar at the…
I woke up to one of those rare mornings in Weesp: No clouds, no haze, no rain. The sun had just risen, leaving a clear reflection…
As Hanukkah lights flicker against the winter darkness of December 2025—illuminating menorahs from New York synagogues to Paris apartments—Walter Benjamin’s Grand Hôtel Abysse remains fully operational.…
A potent new fusion of old-style human spycraft with cutting-edge technology is having a big impact on high-stakes conflicts. By Daniel Michaels When Israel…
As the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar prepares to test the waters on December 11 at what will be the first trilateral meeting…
Argentinian president Javier Milei ordered the declassification of a series of 1850 documents about Nazis and their activities in Argentina, revealing Mengele’s life in Buenos Aires.…
1895 illustration depicts the public degradation ceremony of French army officer Alfred Dreyfus at the height of the Dreyfus Affair in Paris * French army…
After eight long years without a single formal leader-level meeting, Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides finally sat down together on…
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, I would like to start by expressing a word of congratulation and gratitude to Minister Amer Bsat for having conceived and…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, marking the 23rd anniversary of the AK Party’s 2002 victory, once again declared that his governments have been “the most successful in…
The European Commission’s 2025 Enlargement Package arrived this week with the predictability of an unchanging calendar — polite encouragement for the Balkans, optimism for Ukraine…
In a September 30, 2025 interview with the Iranian Tabnak website, reformist Sadeq Zibakalam, professor emeritus of political science at Tehran University, expressed criticism unusual for…
When Türkiye was expelled from the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program in 2019, it was more than a procurement dispute — it was a geopolitical…
CTP leader’s election victory could give new momentum to the stalled peace process in Cyprus. However, this time the equation in Nicosia is called “conditional dialogue”:…
For the first time in nearly four decades, Iran is on the cusp of a change of leadership—and maybe even of regime.As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali…
The presidential election of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has never been merely about personalities. It is a referendum without a referendum — a…
On the surface, they looked like demonstrations from the Arab Spring more than a decade ago. Since late September 2025, thousands of young Moroccans have been…
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has positioned himself as one of the most visible leaders on the international stage. In recent weeks he addressed the United Nations…
In an interview, Haddon Barth discusses his doubts about the Syrian regime’s approach to national reconstruction. Haddon Barth is a freelance writer and history student at…
Hamas has agreed to some elements of the proposal by President Trump to end the war in Gaza, but it’s not clear if its conditions ultimately…
Andrew England in London, Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv and Abigail Hauslohner in Washington A month ago, US envoy Steve Witkoff sparked intrigue by saying the Trump administration was cooking…
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will go to the polls on October 19. These elections will determine not only who will be the new president,…
“The agreement stipulates that a foreign aggression on one is an attack on both,” Faisal Al Hamad, a retired Saudi Air Force Brigadier General and defense…
The Republican People’s Party (CHP), Türkiye’s oldest political party and the country’s main opposition, is once again trapped in a leadership crisis. What appears on the…
Since January, Donald Trump has used tactics reminiscent of the 1950s to stifle critical voices. Over the last week, the threats have intensified By Christopher…
A courtroom drama over the annulment of the CHP’s landmark 38th Congress has left Türkiye’s oldest political party in suspense. With rival camps mobilized, judges hesitant,…
As the UN turns 80, it looks silent in Gaza, selective in Ukraine, fractured under Trump, and sidelined in the Pacific; trapped in the mold of…
https://youtu.be/g-_0EEjyNo0 Is the U.S. poised for a civil war? New York Times bestselling author and UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy’s…
New Islamist rulers are trying to destroy the drug empire that financed the former regime in Damascus. Can they succeed? Raya Jalabi in Damascus, Sweida and Deir…
The acts of slaughter in Syria and all the ensuing horrors instigated by the jihadi militias and the tribal rabble from among the supporters of the…
Israel is not only killing journalists in Gaza—it is targeting them wherever it can reach. From the deadly August 10 strike that killed six journalists…
New York Post I woke to voice notes from Mazen, his Suwayda Druze dialect thick with tears. “Jolani’s ISIS are massacring us,” he said, referring to…
While Türkiye resists ethnic fragmentation across its borders, a subtle shift in rhetoric and policy at home suggests a quiet reimagining of its own nationhood. This…
(Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash in exile in Saudi Arabia) Exactly a century ago, what began as a dispute about local power in the Druze majority region…