Al Majalla’s cover story last week tracked the recent developments in cancer treatment and how inroads in immunity could be a game-changer. In Mohammed Mansour’s piece, Fighting cancer with cancer, he looks at the new approaches tackling one of the world’s deadliest diseases. For her part, Rana Freifer’s piece Hope sells: inroads in cancer treatment excite markets looks at how companies are making billions off the prospect of finding a cure.

And Christopher Phillips looks at how the Iran war has deepened cracks in America’s alliances. “The sense that the US may be less committed to its allies' security is prompting a rethink of long-held assumptions, much to the delight of China and Russia,” he writes. For her part, Shirley Ze Yu’s piece A Eurasia that no longer seeks US permission dissects last week’s SCO summit in Bishkek, where the loose gathering of nations inched closer to a functioning post-dollar regional economic bloc amid US pressure to sanction Iran.

An Hala Al-Naji reviews Eyal Weizman’s new book Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide. In it, the British-Israeli academic details the methodical tactics Israel has used to uproot Palestinians from their homeland since 1948. For her part, Assal Rad explains how Israel’s war on Gaza turned US public opinion against Israel. “Supporting Israel used to help politicians get elected, but with Americans far more critical of Tel Aviv's influence on US policy, it has now become a liability at the ballot box,” she writes. Meanwhile, Stefanie Butendieck Hijerra looks at Trump’s effect on Latin America’s right-wing politics.

And Amgad Faried Eltayeb explains Why a blanket US arms embargo on Sudan is not the answer, while Marcelle Nasr zooms in on Egypt's Sahel region on its northern Mediterranean coast, where massive Gulf investment is turning it from a tourist hub to a major economic centre. And last but not least, Yasmin Abdallah explains how Orientalism stuck its nose into the history of scent.