Al Majalla’s cover story last week covered the US-China summit in Beijing. Shirley Ze Yu asserted that President Xi Jinping set the agenda this time, as Beijing grows increasingly confident in its position as a rising global power. For his part, Ibrahim Hamidi asked Will the US and China fall into the Thucydides Trap? “Xi warned of the dangers of falling into said trap, as Washington appears increasingly threatened by Beijing's steady rise as a great world power,” he wrote. And Mohammed Sharki zoomed in on the summit's trade agenda, arguing that “China and the US were poised to clinch some economic win-win deals, provided politics does not get in the way.”

Al Majalla also addressed the Iran angle as tensions with the US simmered in the background. For his part, Yang Xiaotong asked Will China help Trump find an off-ramp over Iran? In his piece, he said:” Beijing can help Washington find a way out of its Gulf quagmire, but it won’t come cheap. And Charbel Barakat penned a piece titled, Amid US-China competition in the Gulf, there is room for cooperation. “The Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a fragile space of competitive geopolitical coexistence between the US and China. But it should be carefully managed,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Christopher Phillips asked Did Trump's war on Iran make nuclear proliferation more likely? “Many US allies across the world are now questioning America's ability and will to protect them, making the prospect of a nuclear deterrent more appealing,” he wrote. And in Economy, Toufic Chabour explained What the new Fed chair could do differently. “Jerome Powell’s successor, Kevin Warsh, takes the reins at a critical fiscal moment, as inflationary pressures caused by the US war on Iran begin to take effect worldwide,” he said. Switching gears, Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra turned our attention to Cuba, asking Why the US clings to a failed siege strategy there. In her piece, she argued, “Crippling US sanctions on Havana were designed to force regime change, but six decades of crippling embargo have only cemented it.”

And moving to the UK, where the Labour Party suffered a crippling defeat in local elections, Con Coughlin asked Is it the end of the two-party system in Britain? Meanwhile, Amr Emam gave Cairo’s take on the ongoing Lebanon-Israel talks, asking if they are a mistake. “Egyptian officials believe US-Israeli pressure to rapidly disarm Hezbollah could backfire and plunge Lebanon into a new civil war,” he wrote.

In Culture, Yasmin Abdallah took readers on a journey through The many faces of Alexandria as Egypt's quaint Mediterranean metropolis marked its inception as an ancient city that wore many hats across civilisations. And last but not least, Firas Al-Madi took note of Cinema's changing face on display at Cannes.”This year, the renowned film festival appears to be addressing a world where films are made and consumed differently, while maintaining its legacy as the world’s foremost arena for art cinema,” he observed.