If there was a city on planet Earth that was free from all concepts of sins, crimes, and other similar thoughts, it was Lebanon’s Beirut. Back in the 1970s, people from across the globe used to travel here. Free flow of liquor, high intensity of open flirt, and diversity at its peak could easily be witnessed in this city. But not anymore. The civil war of the mid-1970s snatched that status from Beirut particularly, and Lebanon generally. Fifteen exhaustive years of the war crippled the economy of the very state. Then in the 1990s, Lebanon’s business tycoon Rafic Hariri introduced…
The Syrian crisis is the worst humanitarian crisis of the century so far and millions of Syrians have lived a millennium in this decade.
“If you compare the amount of investment to fuel this war compared to the money to alleviate the impact of this war on the Syrians. The people who have bared the brunt of this crisis __ it’s very little,” argues Spokeswoman UNHCR, Rula Amin on the tenth anniversary of the biggest humanitarian crisis of the century. The conflict started just after the well-known Arab Awakening of 2011 and is still on. Though Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's…
“What did I do to you?” was the last question and were the last words the former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi uttered before his death, almost ten years ago when the mob was beating him and dragging him on the road. The very dictator who ruled Libya for over four decades with an iron fist was hunted from his own den. The very groups and tribes that had become united to oust Qaddafi soon started fighting against one another. Every faction demanding control of the state. The promised democracy had gone by now and guns and missiles filled the vacuum…
A numeral glance at the Yemeni conflict.
“I am Yemeni” and “They are from me and I am from them,” said Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as stated in Al Bukhari. Then what has caused the present kingdom of the Al-Saud family to bomb the helpless in Sana? Whereas present Saudi Arabia is the place the prophet of Islam belonged from. The famous Madina Empire was there. And the monarchs of the Al-Saud family claim to be leaders of the Muslim nation as Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) spent his life in Makkah and Madinah. Is it national interest or security reasons that have…
Turning Tides in the Middle East.
‘Kyun ke saas bhi Kabhi bahu thi (Because a mother-in-law was once a daughter-in-law, too)’ has become an old narrative in today’s advanced era, where individualism is paramount. But not in the case of global politics. Iran and Israel both are trying hard to occupy a mainstream position in Biden’s administration’s eyes. Wait__ am I forgetting something? Yes, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Where does she stand in this tussle between Saas (mother-in-law) and bahu (daughter-in-law)? Is there any space left for her or not, as, White House has cleared it like a crystal…
Is America back for the Middle East too?
It was 20th January of the year when Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. And his recent speech, defining his foreign policy, makes it crystal clear that so far he is a man of his words. He told during his campaign that he will be a pro-democracy leader and so, he has given a fine signal of it. He made it clear for an American ally, Saudi Arabia that the US is ending her support for the ongoing war in Yemen. Though it is widely…
New World Order does not seem working for a better Middle East
The decade of the 1990s gifted the world unipolarity. United States of America emerged as the sole cultural, political, and economic influencer. Many theorists joined the race of predicting the future of the New World Order. Where two of them emerged as the most prominent ones; Samuel P. Huntington and Francis Fukuyama. Fukuyama claimed this Liberal World Order with the inclusion of Capitalism as the ‘End of History’. He picked the opinion that this is the right order for Slave mentalities and as well as for those who…
‘Normalizing ties’ is an absurd phrase of today’s global politics.
Sovereignty, self-determination, and recognition are some of the most absurd terms when one considers the realities of world politics. And now ‘normalizing ties’ joins the row. It is quite clear that the qualification of statehood is, “a fixed territory, population, a government, and sovereignty”. But it is obvious that sovereignty or in other words ‘self-determination’ does not have any fixed definition in today’s global politics. For instance, the United States of America has dominating influence over world politics, IMF and the World Bank, almost hijacking the United Nations Organization, and…
The Gulf Crisis might meet its end with the humiliation of Saudi Arabia and victory of Qatar.
Decolonization brought independence for many nations around the globe including the Arab nations. Though the question is still on its place whether the shackles were really broken or are they tied up in an imperialist coating. Because decolonization with such pace can be either a result of a miracle or a mega-strategy. But this is not our topic today. With decolonization, Middle Eastern nations started tug of war among themselves as freedom was new and no nation was in the position to restore…
Why recognizing Israel matter and what is making the Arab mighty tower, Saudi Arabia influence her allies to recognize Israel?
A loud sound in the crowd is that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Muhammad bin Salman and the Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu in the presence of a few other high officials have met in Saudi Arabia recently. This call has strengthened the chances of Saudi Arabia’s normalizing ties with the only Jewish state in the region and the world. Pakistan’s premier Imran Khan and few other high officials have also denied the chances of recognizing Israel, but who does not know…
Middle East Writer