Financial technology (fintech) is expanding across the Middle East and enabling more people to use financial tools. But some cultural barriers remain. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has announced a loan to Morocco aimed at promoting financial inclusivity. OPEC’s Fund for International Development signed a $100 million …

The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas missions expressed admiration for the assailants behind the recent attacks in Israel, which he took as a sign of the Jewish state’s vulnerability. After a chain of deadly attacks inside Israel, commander of Iran’s Quds Force Esmail Ghaani declared that Tehran …

An Islamic State cell operating in Iraq’s largely desert province of Anbar killed two Iraqi soldiers the day after an armed drone allegedly from Iran-linked armed groups was shot down at a major base hosting coalition forces in the same area. Islamic State (IS) fighters took advantage of reduced visibility …

Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, discussed the looming Iranian nuclear accord, chances of a Palestinian political process, the war in Ukraine, Arab-Israeli normalization and more, at a breakfast hosted by Al-Monitor. Israel is concerned it will bear the consequences of a restored nuclear agreement with Iran that …

Americans have been shocked by the death and destruction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, filling our screens with bombed buildings and dead bodies lying in the street. But the United States and its allies have waged war in country after country for decades, carving swathes of destruction through cities, towns …

To the motives for war in human history, capitalism added another: profit. That motive drove technological advancement and created a genuine world economy. It also built new capitalist empires such as the Spanish, Dutch, British, French, Belgian, Russian, German, Japanese, and American empires. Each of these countries built its empire …

Why the Future of Global Order Hinges on Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin has long declared that Ukraine has never existed as an independent country. The former Soviet republic is “not even a state,” he said as early as 2008. In a speech on February 21 of this year, he …

What It Would Take for a Coup by Kremlin Insiders Among the many questions surrounding Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine, one of the most notable concerns the growing tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his own security services and military. The war started with Putin holding a televised security …

Ukraine, the China Challenge, and the Revival of the West Does anyone have a right to be surprised? A gangster regime in the Kremlin has declared that its security is threatened by a much smaller neighbor—which, the regime claims, is not a truly sovereign country but just a plaything of …

Turkish minister Cavusoglu also raised the question of whether the sanctions against Russia will be lifted in the event that the Kremlin withdraws its soldiers from Ukraine. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey will not join the sanctions of the European Union against Russia and will …