Al Majalla rolled out its March cover story titled US, Russia and the Saudi gateway last week. In it, we look at how Saudi Arabia continues to navigate a delicate balance between economic pragmatism and security imperatives by keeping diplomatic channels open with the three major power centres—the US, Russia, and China.

Abdulaziz Sager traces the evolution of Saudi foreign policy explaining how its “ability to adapt to evolving regional and global dynamics ensures it will remain a relevant and important player on the global stage.” For his part, Samer Elias looks at how Trump and Putin are plotting a course to a new world.

Meanwhile, Con Coughlin profiles Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has landed on Trump’s bad side amid attempts by the US president to end the three-year-long war between Moscow and Kyiv. He says, “the comedian-turned-wartime president became an international celebrity after Russia's invasion when most of the world stood by his side. But things look very different today with Trump in office.”

Switching gears to Syria, Haid Haid warns the Jableh ambush launched by former regime loyalists last week—representing the worst violence since the fall of al-Assad in December 2024—could ignite sectarian tensions and possibly even derail government efforts to restore stability to the war-torn country.

And Matt Zweig, one of the architects of the Caesar Act—a slew of swingeing US sanctions levied on Syria after the Assad regime killed thousands—explains to Ibrahim Hamidi why lifting them is “complicated” even though said regime is no longer.

Onto Gaza and the surrounding talk of what a post-war Strip would look like, Dennis Ross, former American diplomat and current fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says, “any plan must ensure Hamas can't reconstitute”. Meanwhile, Ahmed Daraghme writes from on the ground in the West Bank where Palestinians are experiencing the largest forced displacement in decades after the Israeli army pushed thousands out of the north.

For his part, Samer Abou Hawwach reviews the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which he says, “fails to highlight the root issue.” In his piece, he says, “ The documentary about Israel's crimes in the West Bank deserves praise, yet the discourse around the film remains far removed from the heart of the issue: the illegal and immoral military occupation.”

In Lebanon, Badia Fahs comments on Nawaf Salam’s recent visit to southern Lebanon, which was ravaged by Israeli bombs last year. She says, “The new Lebanese premier's visit to Hezbollah’s heartlands was met with orchestrated protests. But quietly, many support him, knowing the militia is to blame for the destruction that befell them.”

In other news, Trump’s talk of Canada becoming the 51st state has prompted economic analysts to examine what that would even look like. Abdulfattah Khattab explains that the combined North American state would be larger than Russia, richer than China, and produce almost twice as much oil as Saudi Arabia. No wonder the idea excites Trump so.

Onto Saudi Arabia, Sharif Mohammad pens a piece titled Saudi tourism soars as reforms bear fruit. In it, he says, “One reason for the increased visitor numbers is the Kingdom's investment in sports and entertainment, with 4.2 million tourists flying in for this reason in the first half of 2024—a 656% jump compared with the same period in 2019.”

And finally, Samir Qasimi takes us to Algeria where he says some citizens wish to ‘bid adieu’ to the French language. In his piece, he says, “A contentious cultural and political issue can often be oversimplified with crude arguments, but the question of language and identity is much more nuanced.”