Palestinians and Israelis have been locked for decades in an intractable struggle. Its roots lie in history, religion and national identity. A Jewish man in front the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, 11 November 2009. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) This...
The world is in the midst of the largest immigration crisis since World War Two. How is it being handled? This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that explain crucial background to big issues. For more decoders, click here. Why is this...
By far the loudest cries of alarm about the Iran nuclear agreement are coming from the only country in the region that has a nuclear arsenal — Israel. A view of Israel’s Sorek nuclear reactor center near the central Israeli town of Yavne. 5 July 2004. (AP Photo, file...
By Harvey Morris In a dramatic turnabout, Turkey has launched air strikes against Islamic State (IS) forces that hold territory in neighboring Syria and Iraq. After a year in which Turkey stood aside from a struggle to defeat IS jihadists, the Ankara government’s...
James Clad served as a senior U.S. official in Iraq after Saddam Hussein fell. He draws lessons from the occupation in an interview. A U.S. soldier stands in a convoy as smokes billows from a truck destroyed in Najaf, Iraq, 2 April 2003. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju)...
Street celebrations following a nuclear deal in Tehran, Iran, 14 July 2015. Iran is emerging from its reputation as a Middle East pariah. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) By Jonathan Lyons The geopolitical logic in support of the Iran arms deal is certainly compelling,...
By Jonathan Lyons Instability across the heart of the Muslim world underscores an undeniable fact of modern life: religion matters as much today as it did more than 1,300 years ago during the formative period of Islam. The upheavals introduced by the U.S. invasion of...
As an American in Tehran, I was reminded that most everyone is already in Iran keen to do business, everyone except Americans. (All photos by Dick Simon) As one of the only Americans in the largest international hotel in Tehran, I was reminded that most everyone is...
By Alistair Lyon Yemen’s green terraced mountains, exuberant architecture and proud heritage of music, poetry and Islamic learning, not to mention its inhabitants’ fondness for whiling away the afternoons chewing mildly narcotic leaves, mark it out from its Arab...
By Harvey Morris The golden rule of Israeli politics has always been to avoid any public spat with the Americans. The theory was that the electorate would punish any politician who endangered the country’s relationship with its closest and most powerful ally. Benjamin...