The international tensions around Tehran’s nuclear programme have eased as diplomatic talks are agreed. But the intensive planning in Israel for an assault on Iran continues. This makes it vital to understand the scale and probable consequences of a war.
The Palestinians’ inability to claim their right has been reinforced by long-term failures of thinking and strategy in which the eclipse of politics by essentialism plays a major part. But the new aspirations sweeping the Arab world create potential for progress, says Hazem Saghieh.
The toxins of the Israel-Palestine conflict continue to spill into a region that with difficulty and with setbacks is striving to embark on a new future.
An accurate reading of the Syrian crisis must take into account the political interests and motives of leading regional actors, says Rein Müllerson.
The prospect of a military attack on Iran to disable the country's nuclear facilities is being intensively considered in Tehran. But the internal tensions between rival factions - especially supporters of the supreme leader and of the president - are an obstacle to a coherent response, says Omid M
The Syrian regime's violent repression persists, in a context of regional rivalries that fuel the country's conflict. The ensuing impasse also reflects the dominance of state interests over international justice.
Recently, an unofficial security paradigm has emerged in Lebanon between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hezbollah. Cooperation or competition between them is likely to be a part of the security equation in the Near East.
Israel will seek United States endorsement for any decision to confront Iran - but its allies there will more likely to be found in the heartland than in the White House.
In the early and middle decades of the twentieth century it was always Middle Eastern dictators who embarked on policy and legislation which liberated and empowered women in both family and society. The dictators liberated women in the good days, but retreated under pressure, and it was the populi
Is the US a fixer or a troublemaker? Would a less interventionist US make the treatment of international conflicts easier or harder? Ron Paul has been accused of isolationism. But it is worth taking his foreign policy more seriously.
A range of military and political developments, from the very rare planned deployment of three huge United States armadas in the Persian Gulf to Israeli fears of Barack Obama’s re-election, is evidence of rising danger around Iran.
It is necessary for world opinion to progress beyond the crude binary opposition of the enemy image if we want to understand the true nature of the Iranian regime, and if we want to avoid war.
