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النسخة العربية
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  • Middle East

The early five BRICS states - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - are expanding the group to include Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Ethiopia, and possibly Saudi Arabia. Nash Weerasekera

BRICS group expands in the Middle East with the dollar in its sights

An important grouping has grown considerably, recently adding states like Egypt, the UAE, and Iran, while Saudi Arabia has been invited. The group's true nature will determine its course.

Nazareth Seferian 25 July 2024
Speaking to Al Majalla, former CENTCOM commander Joseph Votel reflects on the region’s most recent turbulence, including the first-ever direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran. Axel Rangel Garcia

Joseph Votel: A US-Saudi defence pact is mutually vital

The former commander of the US Central Command tells Al Majalla about the changing nature of war, terrorists' use of technology, and the role of the US in the Middle East

Ibrahim Hamidi 13 June 2024
Israeli soldiers with their Merkava tanks near Gaza. A range of regional powers all willing and able to intervene increases the risk of conflict in the Middle East. Getty Images

Is a shifting balance of power causing Middle Eastern conflict?

Far from the solidity of a unipolar or bipolar world, the region is awash with medium and large powers all vying for their interests, with several unstable states in which to do so. Is there hope?

Christopher Phillips 03 April 2024
Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries advance in a desert area near the village of Tall Abtah, southwest of Mosul, on November 28, 2016. AFP

The proliferation of militias requires a pan-regional strategy

Non-state actors have risen to political prominence at an alarming rate since the Arab Spring. Combatting these groups is vital to achieving regional security and stability. Our future depends on it.

Zaidoun Al-Zoubi 06 March 2024
Obstacles persist in the region amid conflicts, corruption, and uncertainty, but bright spots show how to attract foreign direct investment, including in Morocco and Egypt. Ewan White

Gulf investment in MENA: Obstacles and opportunities

Obstacles persist in the region amid conflicts, corruption, and uncertainty, but bright spots show how to attract foreign direct investment, including in Morocco and Egypt.

Amer Ziab Al-Tamimi 13 January 2024
President of China Xi Jinping attends the plenary session as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his remarks virtually during the 2023 BRICS Summit Reuters

Can China become a mediation superpower?

Mediation is not always an easy win and can carry downsides.

Christopher Phillips 01 December 2023
The US Air Force shows the "Thunderbirds" and the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, debut the Super Delta formation consisting of six F-16  Fighting Falcons and six F/A-18 Super Hornets. AFP

Effectiveness, not size, key to US involvement in Middle East

The United States doesn't need more troops or hardware to rebuild trust with its regional partners. It just needs to be more effective, innovative, and consistent with what it already has.

Bilal Saab 29 July 2023
Peruvian writer and Nobel literature prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa poses for a photograph during a ceremony of his induction into the Academie Francaise (French Academy), in Paris, February 9, 2023. AFP

Why Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa is interested in thinking, not trending

Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa writes a regular column in Asharq Al-Awsat. Peru's great man of letters is more interested in shedding light on the human condition than trending on social media.

Ibrahim Haj Abdi 17 July 2023
Visitors stand in front of a giant screen displaying Chinese President Xi Jinping next to a flag of the Communist Party of China, at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing, China October 8, 2022. Reuters

Should the US be wary of Chinese military power in the Middle East?

China has neither the willingness nor the ability anytime soon to substantially project military power into the Middle East. To continue to meet its ends in the Middle East, Beijing may not need to.

Bilal Y. Saab and Melissa Horvath 14 June 2023
General view during the European Foreign ministers council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 20 February 2023. Foreign ministers will mainly discuss one year conflict in Ukraine and fifth package of sanctions against Iran. EPA

Is Britain a spent force in the Middle East?

The fall out of Brexit at home, a lessening of western power and the diminishing importance of the Middle East to London and its western allies has seen the UK step back from the region

Christopher Phillips 24 February 2023
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Lina Jaradat
Politics

Israel's Olive War aims to uproot more than just trees

09 November 2025

The olive tree is no longer just a source of sustenance for West Bank Palestinians, but a silent witness to their profound struggle between permanence and erasure

Mohammed Najib
This handout photograph released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on 10 November 2025, shows US President Donald Trump (L) shaking hands with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House in Washington DC. SANA / AFP
Politics

Syria-US rapprochement sees cooperation surge

13 November 2025

Since Trump began lifting sanctions in May, no time has been wasted. US investment delegations have been flocking to Damascus, and security cooperation has already started.

Charles Lister
Al Majalla
Politics

Can Trump make peace or just ceasefires?

12 November 2025

The US president hasn't invested enough political capital in the painstaking details of peacemaking. Instead, he has focused on short-term truces he can boast about in his quest for a Nobel prize.

Christopher Phillips
Sara Padovan
Politics

Is support for Israel becoming toxic at the ballot box? 

11 November 2025

As Americans rethink the moral—and strategic—calculus of US support for Israel, politicians are scrambling to keep pace

Alfred J. Naddaff
Ewan White
Politics

How Trump reshaped the world

03 November 2025

Al Majalla examines key developments in the US and across the globe less than a year into Trump's second presidential term

Al Majalla - London

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OPINIONS

The BBC scrambles to 'get its house in order'

Con Coughlin
Con Coughlin

Do we still need the IEA outlook?

Faisal Faeq
Faisal Faeq

Israel's Olive War aims to uproot more than just trees

Mohammed Najib
Mohammed Najib

Syria-US rapprochement sees cooperation surge

Charles Lister
Charles Lister
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