- English Newsletter 22 July 2024
Weekly Newsletter
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As the dust settled after Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, talk once again turned to Joe Biden's age and possible health conditions. As Sami Moubayed says, the Arab world is no stranger to senior statesmen in the 80s and even 90s, who can sometimes appear to have lost one or two marbles, and who never seem keen to leave office.
While Israel's strike against the Houthis in Yemen has made the headlines of later, Tel Aviv's fractious conflict against Hezbollah continues to simmer. With pinpoint attacks successfully targeting senior Hezbollah commanders, Bilal Saab looks at how Israeli intelligence is having success after success, and asks: will it make a difference?
In the UK, there is a new Labour government, after 14 years of Conservative rule. Christopher Phillips examines their options and priorities, and finds that the new inhabitant of No.10 Downing Street will have to pick his foreign policy battles.
In the Middle East, the Turkish and Syrian governments have not been on talking terms since 2011, when Syria's Bashar al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown against his own people using Russian jets and Hezbollah fighters. Omer Onhon asks whether enough time has passed to heal the wounds. Could there be a thaw in the offing?
Looking stateside in our always-active Opinion section, Con Coughlin focuses on Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance. If the polls are right, this 30-something senator from humble roots will be the next US Vice President. Who is he?
Casting his eye over the same US presidential election, Ibrahim Hamidi takes the country's temperature, and returns a verdict of fever. No wonder there was someone trying to kill one of the candidates, given the rhetoric and hatred.
In Lebanon, Alia Mansour considers the country's uneasy relationship with so many Syrian refugees who fled Assad's onslaught. In their new home, they seek all the usual services, including education. Some Lebanese politicians, standing sentry at classroom doors, want to limit their access.
In our Business section, Nazareth Seferian looks at how India is set to run a huge and important deep water port in Iran. With competing powers pushing competing trade routes, the repercussions of the deal will register far and wide.
It is well known that the Lebanese economy is a self-inflicted financial car-crash that has reduced millions to poverty. Salwa Baalbaki asks how banks may be able to get depositors their money back.
In our Culture section, Osama Esber reads Loretta Napoleoni's book on 'technocapitalism' and asks if it is really healthy that a very small handful of men control almost every aspect of our digital lives. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't think it is.
Elsewhere, Abeer Younis speaks to Saudi poet Fawziyya Abu Khalid on her creative writing journey, the obstacles she has encountered, and her latest work, which takes water as its major theme.
Finally, although Libya has been torn in two for a decade, with rival governments and rival armed forces, one man has stood above the feuding and quietly got on with running the central bank very successfully, building up a sizeable surplus, including one of Africa's biggest gold reserves. Take a bow, Sadiq Al-Kabir.
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Senior statesmen: the Arab world’s octogenarian presidents
Joe Biden's travails in the United States are familiar in the Middle East, a region that has had its fair share of elderly rulers. Here, Al Majalla looks at some who make the Democrat look young.
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Israel is winning the intelligence war with Hezbollah. Will it matter?
Commanders and elites are being killed almost every week, but the group is proving to be resilient. Can Israel's spying do real damage?
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Pick your fights: Labour’s foreign policy priorities and challenges
The UK in 2024 must focus on its key objectives abroad. For the new prime minister, that means America and Europe. If Donald Trump wins in November, however, a new script may be needed.
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First signs of a thaw? Russia nudges Erdoğan and Assad closer
The Turkish and Syrian presidents have not cared for one another in recent years. With Turkish soldiers on Syrian land, one has the upper hand. If pre-conditions can be ditched, will the leaders meet?
Omer Onhon‘Hillbilly’ Vance could give Trump the Rust Belt… and the White House
Con CoughlinThe United States has rarely felt less united. Cue the lone wolves
Ibrahim HamidiThe politics of education in Lebanon
Alia Mansour![img](https://static.majalla.com/styles/248x179/public/2024-07/174363.jpeg?h=50a8826f)
How India’s deal to run Iran’s Chabahar port may help the Middle East navigate to a new future
The jewel in the crown of the International North-South Transport Corridor which, links Russia with the Middle East, shows new forms of co-operation bringing trade breakthroughs. It may lead to more.
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How Lebanon’s banks can get money back to depositors
One of the biggest names in the stricken financial sector calls for 'hope' amid the crisis that has reduced millions to poverty and ruined the country's reputation. There is now a detailed plan.
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A few tech titans controlling our digital world? Double-click for disaster
A new book on 'technocapitalism' by Loretta Napoleoni argues that with such a concentration of online power, worries are more than science fiction.
![img](https://static.majalla.com/styles/248x179/public/2024-07/174461.jpeg?h=58ab94e5)
Fawziyya Abu Khalid on navigating through life using poetry
The Saudi pioneer of the prose poem reveals why her recent collections were linked by the theme of water and how the artform means she has lived many lives.
![img](https://static.majalla.com/styles/556x444/public/2024-07/174271.jpeg?h=d8d90ae1)
Sadiq Al-Kabir: Libya’s increasingly dominant central banker
No stranger to rivalries, the governor of the Central Bank of Libya is technocrat who has had to develop his political wiles, most recently clashing with the prime minister. Is this the next Gaddafi?