​ A Wonderful Birthday Gift Walid Jumblatt was born to Kemal Jumblatt and Mai Shkeeb Arslan on August 7, 1949, in the Chouf district of Lebanon. Walid turned out to be a wonderful…

Recep Tayyip Erdoganis the most baffling politician to emerge in the 96-year history ofTurkey. He is polarizing and popular, autocratic and fatherly, calculating and listless. Erdogan’s ideology…

In the spring of 2011, watching the groundswell of dissent that eventually came to be known as the Arab Spring. Iranhad experienced a similar moment two years earlier, when millions of citizens…

The Middle East has the highest concentration of international military installations in the world. There are at least 41 known facilities in the region housing American, Russian, French, British and…

Gibraltar has released an Iranian oil tanker detained over a month ago, prompting American officials to issue a stern warning to Greece and others against allowing it to berth in their ports lest…

Turkish news outlets have recently reported that Turkey is in the midst of establishing a new military base in Qatar, which is allegedly set to begin operations next autumn. Thus far, neither Turkish…

On August 7, the U.S. embassy in Beirut released a statement calling for “fair and transparent judicial review” in Lebanon, noting that “any attempt to use the tragic June 30 event in …

The Russians took and held Kramatorsk, a small city in easternUkraine, for about three months in 2014. Since then, the only battles this town has seen have taken place in the kitchen. Or several…

Since late last year, a conflict has been steadily building between two of the United States’ closest Asian allies. Last fall, theSouth Korean Supreme Courtruled in favor of a dozen plaintiffs…

Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom’s scruffy, grandiloquent, and often bumbling new prime minister, has worked hard to fashion himself afterWinston Churchill. In his speeches, Johnson often channels…