Middle Orient

The waiting game: How the US sabotages Lebanon’s energy security

In an exclusive interview with The Cradle, Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad addresses the country’s energy shortage dilemma: Receive Iranian oil and risk US sanctions, or wait indefinitely for a purposely delayed US-backed initiative. “For almost 30 years, Lebanese authorities have failed to properly manage the state-run electricity company, Électricité …

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Why Arabs Do Not Trust the Biden Administration

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states apparently still do not trust the Biden Administration, largely because of its perceived abandonment of its traditional Arab allies in the Middle East and President Joe Biden’s hostility to Saudi Arabia. This view began with then-presidential candidate Biden declaring the kingdom a “pariah” state …

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Palestinians: We Prefer Terrorism to Peace with Israel

The findings of the poll, which was conducted between June 7 and 11, show that the Biden Administration and all those who continue to talk about reviving the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians are living under an illusion. The results of the poll indicate that most Palestinians are …

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Old Game, New Gold: What Is Saudi Arabia Planning With Golf? – OpEd

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and LIV Golf announced this month that they will merge, shocking not only the world of sports but also the broadcast media and corporate worlds. Heretofore, the latter have been the biggest investors and buyers in professional golf’s lucrative market of tournaments, gear, player endorsements …

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Erdogan, Barzani meet in Ankara as Iraqi oil exports via Turkey remain frozen

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara as the deadlock continues over the exportation of Iraqi and KRG crude. Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, became the first foreign leader to pay a …

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Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders visit Iran as West Bank tensions increase

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, has been leading a delegation of the Palestinian movement on a visit to Tehran where they met Iranian officials, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Mr Haniyeh held talks with the Iranian president on Tuesday after arriving in Tehran a day earlier on …

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Few signs of progress at Turkey-Syria normalization talks in Astana

Syrian president sees no need to compromise, while UN representative admits ‘comprehensive solution is not doable.’ The 20th round of the Astana peace talks kicked off in the Kazakh capital Astana today with normalization between Turkey and Syria high on the agenda. However, there were few signs of progress, as …

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Iran’s FM visits Kuwait, then UAE in latest Gulf charm offensive

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Oman on Tuesday to meet with Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi as part of his Gulf tour that began in Doha. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian landed in Kuwait on Wednesday where he met Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The …

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Competition of the main players in the geopolitics of Central Asia

The continuation of the war in Ukraine has caused important changes in the geopolitics of the peripheral regions and the axis of Eurasia, which is one of the most visible and noisy by a little distance in Central Asia, a region that plays an important role in the historical and …

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Turkey Drone Strikes Kill 16 In Syria: Monitor

Turkey has escalated drone attacks on Kurdish-held regions of north and northeast Syria this week, killing 16 people including one civilian in a single day, a war monitor said Thursday. The strikes mostly targeted Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat and Manbij in the country’s north near the Turkish border, areas Ankara has …

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