Advancing Stability and Opportunity in the Middle East and North Africa
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Seasons of light: Ramadan through ancient travellers’ eyes
From Mecca and Damascus to Cairo, travellers across the centuries recorded the rhythms of Ramadan, documenting lantern-lit mosques, night prayers,…
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Iran, Mojtaba and the future of the Islamic Republic
Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as Iran’s new Supreme Leader marks the most consequential political transition in the Islamic Republic in more…
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MBS, Guardian of Holy Places, Master of the Unholy Game
How the House of Saud weaponized Islam, at home and abroad, while its elite played by entirely different rules
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Seventy-Eight Billion Dollars Wasted and KSA Needed to Run to Islamabad
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) spent more on defence than every country on earth except four, and when Iranian missiles came,…
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Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, 1945–2026: A President in Exile, a Country Without Peace
Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi died Thursday morning at his residence in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where Mr. Hadi lived…
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China will benefit from the Iran war, regardless of any deal between Trump and Tehran
China will not displace the US as regional security guarantor, but it could play an important role building a new…
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Bin Salman is taking Saudi Arabia back to the days of ignorance
Few Muslims would have wished for Saudi Arabia to “modernise” and reach the condition that it is in today in…
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Battered but Still Standing, Egypt Tries to Weather the Economic Ravages of the Iran War
There is an Egyptian proverb that roughly translates to “he managed to clamber out of a hole, only to trip…
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Syria’s New Investment Law and the Return of State-Mediated Market Access
As Syria moves toward reconstruction, the country’s new authorities have already made a consequential decision about who will control the…
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Syria’s successful foreign policy masks a deeper risk
2025’s National Dialogue failed, its outcomes unpublished. But without a new effort to resolve internal conflicts, the country will remain…
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MENA Energy Recap, Q1-2026: Four Lessons From the Return of Tail Risk
Whether or not the war continues for the entirety of Q2, its impacts will linger for months, if not longer,…
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Healthcare Crisis in Tunisia: The Doctor Exodus in a Failing System
Young doctors have been leaving Tunisia in record numbers, for better work conditions and opportunities, impacting the country’s healthcare system.
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Pariah or Partner?
Instead of deepening its entanglement in the region, the United States should recognize the limited strategic importance of the Middle…