Opinion

Once head of the opposition, Hezbollah may be the predominant force in the Lebanese government by the time you read this column. Such a government will certainly set Lebanon at …

Prime minister designate Najib Mikati has been called on before to navigate difficult transitions.  In his first posting as prime minister between April and July of 2005, he presided over the …

    Among the Middle East’s authoritarian leaders, there’s a mantra: economic development takes precedence over civil freedoms and human rights. Things such as free speech, assembly, association and competitive …

Over the past decade the Middle East has shaken off its ‘danger zone’ reputation of being a place where only the foolhardy or “conflicted tourists” would plan a holiday. Since …

  Turkey’s fiery, if thin-skinned, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a love-hate relationship with the press. He loves the organizations that show appreciation of his policies and seems to …

  Command Outpost (COP) Spera is located 800 meters from the border with Pakistan in Afghanistan’s Khost province. The platoon section that occupies the COP can only come and go …

Following the suspension of two FIFA executive committeemembers for accepting bribes, the world’s governing football organization onDecember 2 announced that Russia and Qatar will host the World Cup (WC) in …

  The storms that wracked Lebanon in mid-December were among the most severe in several years. While they helped douse the epidemic of late season brush fires and allowed nervous …

  Egypt is still reeling from the recent elections for the People’s Assembly, the lower and primary house of the country’s bicameral parliament. The first round, on November 28, was …

  Jordan is often said to be divided, both demographically andpolitically, between so-called “real” Jordanians and those of Palestiniandescent. Yet that is hardly the only fault line lurking below the …