The Strait of Hormuz—a narrow waterway linking the Arabian Gulf to the wider world—is proving a critical link in the global economic order, and especially crucial to global energy security, with around 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passing through this maritime choke point.

With the Strait being effectively closed “to its enemies” by Tehran amid a war launched on Iran by the US and Israel, Al Majalla chose, Strait of Hormuz: the waterway critical to global trade as the topic for this week’s cover story. The latest war has reminded the world of the fragility of its few maritime passageways.

There Is No Alternative

[caption id="attachment_55253058" align="aligncenter" width="5379"] KOBLENZ AM RHEIN, GERMANY - JANUARY 21: Geert Wilders (Dutch PVV), Frauke Petry (AfD) and Marine Le Pen (French Front National)…

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A World Without Borders

[caption id="attachment_55253062" align="aligncenter" width="4000"] A woman and three children walk on railway tracks connecting Greece with western Europe at the Greek-Macedonian border near the…

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The Russia-Iran Conundrum

[caption id="attachment_55252978" align="aligncenter" width="3071"] ASTRAKHAN, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) meet during the 4th…

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The Dignity Deficit

[caption id="attachment_55252965" align="aligncenter" width="3268"] Lyndon B. Johnson visiting with youth at a Philadelphia job opportunity center. As part of his "War on Poverty," Johnson created…

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The Economics of Dependency

[caption id="attachment_55252963" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] A doctor walks past a poster at Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori's clinic in Rome, June 2005. (REUTERS)[/caption] How…

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'Speed Sisters' of the West Bank

[caption id="attachment_55252928" align="aligncenter" width="3500"] DOHA, QATAR - Mona Ennab, Maysoon Jayyusi, director Amber Fares, Noor Daoud, Betty Saadeh and Marah Zahalka attend the Opening…

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