Middle Orient

MBS is playing hardball with the United States, and the White House is just letting him win. Why? Last night, the New York Times broke the news that President Biden plans to travel this Summer to Saudi Arabia, effectively signaling the administration’s intent to end its paltry efforts to correct …

The Lebanese government invited on Monday a U.S. envoy mediating between Lebanon and Israel over their disputed maritime border to return to Beirut as soon as possible to work out an agreement amid rising tensions along the border. The invitation for Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at …

Ra’am’s Ghanaim and Rinawie Zoabi of Meretz vote against measure renewing application of Israeli law to settlers, joining opposition MKs who are shooting down all gov’t legislation Two coalition MKs voted on Monday night against a critical piece of legislation to renew the application of Israeli criminal and some civil …

The White House pushed back against criticism that President Joe Biden could meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a yet unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia, saying that it is “very important to engage Saudi Arabia and that such a visit is in the national interest. “The president …

Sidelining the Palestinians Is a Recipe for Violence, Not Peace On September 15, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump stood on the White House balcony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain to unveil one of his administration’s signature foreign …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to visit Turkey June 8 as Ankara looks for a Russian or US nod to press ahead with a new military intervention against Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria. Though Lavrov’s talks in Ankara are expected to focus on the Ukraine war and its …

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson should dismiss Defence Minister Peter Hullqvist, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the newspaper Expressen reported on Saturday. Erdogan’s demand is based on a speech Hulqvist gave at a party 10 years ago where he celebrated the Kurdistan Workers’ People, PKK, and its imprisoned leader …

Turkey’s move to pressure Sweden and Finland into extraditing alleged “terrorists” they harbour is a method Ankara used for several years against countries in the Western Balkans, including EU candidate countries, under the idle gaze of Brussels. While Turkey wields investment and aid as a sword of Damocles over the …

Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amirabdollahian will pay a visit to Turkey on Monday, June 6. The upcoming trip will mark the top Iranian diplomat’s first visit to neighboring Turkey after taking office in August 2021. Istanbul is also going to host a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of …

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran took oil from two Greek tankers last month in the Arabian Gulf. Helicopter raids were launched in retaliation for Greece’s part in the US taking crude from an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Mediterranean Sea because of sanctions on the Islamic …