In response to events since October 2023, Middle East nations have found that they are strong when acting in concert. This has the power to fundamentally change the game.
With nuclear know-how from Russia, weapons from America, infrastructure from China, and money from the Gulf, Egypt is making the most out of a world with many powers.
Moscow has its work cut out in Ukraine, where the ongoing war is a drain on resources. This means that the lofty regional ambitions it set out in 2023 have had to be recalibrated.
Netanyahu's quest for regional domination is now being pursued without thought to the diplomatic costs, including Israel's relationship with the US. Will this threaten its long-term survivability?
The bloc's foreign policy is now led by a Russia hawk who takes a sledgehammer to suggestions of appeasing Moscow. No fan of Putin's EU cronies, what will she make of Donald Trump?
Israel's war on Gaza, rising US-China tensions, the stubborn war between Russia and Ukraine, and the worsening effects of climate change top GCC leaders' concern this year
As Starmer visits Paris today to meet Macron and is being met with considerable goodwill from European capitals, the EU is wary of Starmer's pledge to seek "a much better" Brexit deal.
Americans are more fixated on their own problems and internal divisions, than other global challenges like China and Russia. The Middle East is hardly even a blip on Americans' radar anymore.
Disruption in the Hormuz can have major implications for global trade, but it also creates opportunities for smaller nations like Iran to become global political players
The Iraq war was viewed as disastrous in retrospect, while the Iran war was unpopular from the get-go. Al Majalla highlights the similarities and differences between the two.
Pipelines have a chequered history in the Middle East, but the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led US Tom Barrack to conclude that a new route through Syria could solve some problems.