Over the past five decades or so, Egypt has capitalized on its geostrategic importance in the Middle East to obtain the financial support sorely needed to keep its economy afloat and its political order intact. The North African country has come close to the brink of economic collapse several times …

Friedrich Merz wants to be a foreign-policy chancellor. One might not have known it from Germany’s parochial federal election campaign, or the business-as-usual foreign-policy passages of the coalition deal between his Christian Democratic Union (CDU, along with its Bavarian partner the Christian Social Union, CSU) and the Social Democratic Party …

In the Damascus suburb of Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, the sounds of prayer bells and muezzins used to blend peacefully into the rhythm of daily life. Here, families from Syria’s diverse communities — Sunni, Druze, Christian, and Alawite — shared neighbors’ bread and exchanged Eid and Christmas greetings with equal sincerity. But …