ع
Sections
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
Regions
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
More
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • Newsletter

LATEST ISSUE

Latest Issue
Magazine Archive
النسخة العربية
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Tag
  • 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
  •  Load More
  • Popular
  • Editor's Pick
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
AFP-Reuters-Eduardo Ramon
Politics

Zohran Mamdani becomes first Muslim mayor of New York

04 November 2025

The 34-year-old socialist's win is a seismic development, proving that tax rises for the rich to fund social programmes, and unwavering advocacy for Palestinian rights, are politically viable stances

Tarek Rashed
Details of the remains of Palestinians released by Israel are shown on a screen in order to help family members to identify their relatives, at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 18 October 2025. OMAR AL-QATTAA / AFP
Politics

Closure denied: the agonising search for Gaza's vanished

05 November 2025

Those who are able to bury their dead are among the lucky. For others, not knowing the fate of their missing loved ones or receiving mutilated corpses impossible to identify adds insult to injury.

Salem Al Rayyes
Syrian novelist Khalil al-Neimi Supplied
Culture & Social Affairs

Khalil al-Neimi: All I can do is expose what I see

02 November 2025

After 54 years in exile, a prominent Syrian novelist returns to a Damascus he no longer recognises 

Khalil Sweileh

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter

Get the best of Al Majalla, straight to your inbox.

Your newsletter subscriptions are subject to Al Majalla privacy policy and terms and conditions.

OPINIONS

Trump's push for Gaza 'stabilisation force' irks Israel

Con Coughlin
Con Coughlin

What Arthur Balfour's grandnephew gets wrong

Hussein al-Sharaa
Hussein al-Sharaa

With few cards left, Hamas faces tough choices ahead

Majed Kayali
Majed Kayali

Revaluing US gold reserves comes with pros and cons

Toufic Chanbour
Toufic Chanbour
MORE FROM OPINIONS
logo
  • Politics
  • Culture & Social Affairs
  • Business & Economy
  • Science & Technology
  • Documents & Memoirs
  • Gulf
  • MENA
  • Europe
  • USA
  • Asia
  • World
  • Videos
  • Cartoons
  • World in photos
  • Infographics
  • Profiles
  • About Al Majalla
  • Al Majalla Team
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact us
logo

© Al Majalla Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

0:00:00
0:00:00