Politics

A view of the skyline in Doha, Qatar's capital.
Pyrrhic Manoeuvres Among the Gulf States

They thought they could break tiny Qatar with bluster and pressure. But now as the Gulf crisis stretches on, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates may be doing more damage to themselves than to Qatar.

The female inpatient department at MSF cholera treatment center in Khamer, north of Sana'a in west Yemen.
The Humanitarian Cost of the War in Yemen

Damaged infrastructure and shortage of medicines in Yemen have created a perfect storm for the spread of cholera.

A video still from a speech given by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL, on July 5, 2014, in his first public appearance as the leader of the militant group, at a mosque in Mosul, Iraq.
Assessing Russian Claims About Al-Baghdadi's Death

Despite claims by the Russian military, there are a number of good reasons to believe the leader of ISIL is not dead, writes Amir Musawy

A Russian Su-25 crew at the Hmeymim airbase in the Latakia governorate in western Syria.
Russia's Involvement in the Syrian Conflict

Once perceived as a mere spoiler, Russia has become an agenda-setting power in the Middle East. Now that the US have pulled out politically, expectations are even higher. Can the Russians handle them?

A pro-regime protest in Damascus in 2012.
Polarisation in the Syrian War

Why is it that both regime supporters and armed Islamist rebels can play so successfully on Syria's sectarian problems? On takfir and takhwin, two concepts of domestication that look flagrantly alike.

Kawa and Majeda
The Kurdish Peshmerga from Karlsruhe

A young Kurdish-German takes up arms against Daesh and for the liberation of Kurdistan. His mother, who also happens to be a war hero, goes with him. And that’s where the trouble begins.

An Israeli gun boat passes through the Straits of Tiran near Sharm El Sheikh
Helmut Mejcher Interview

Despite Israeli commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, what was a strategic victory from a military standpoint created many of the political problems that contemporary Israel still grapples with, argues historian Helmut Mejcher.

Olga Georges-Picot was the great-niece of François Georges-Picot, the diplomat who was a driving force in the signing of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
101 Years on From the Sykes-Picot Agreement

It’s time to look beyond the “original sins” of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and European interventions in the Middle East. Europeans should calmly make plans for the region’s future, but explain their intentions clearly.