US military exercise brings Libya’s rival factions together

The initiative runs alongside an agreed budget and political discussions on power-sharing facilitated by an American envoy, but Washington is concerned about the presence of foreign fighters

Rifaat Balkhair

The Twilight of German Conservatism

Much ink has been spilled on the collapse of European social democracy, and Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) provides a perfect case study. Once a proud political heavyweight that raked in…

Georg Diaz

A Blow to China’s Soft Power

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an enormous international investment project touted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was supposed to establish Chinese soft power. Since late 2013, Beijing has…

Christopher Balding 

Full Steam Ahead on Iran Sanctions

New American sanctions were leveled against Iran this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Tehran’s “Basic Resistance Force” — an affiliate of the IRGC — together with 22…

Joseph Braude

Ashmawy Awaits his Fate

A national security source in Cairo has revealed to Majalla that the Egyptian terrorist Hesham Ashmawy is a graduate of a special unit force within the Muslim Brotherhood, a group he joined in 2012…

Abdelsattar Heteita