Turkish disciplinary action against two Israeli soccer players spotlights one more major casualty of the Gaza war beyond the 24,000 Gazan death toll, the Hamas-held hostages; and the mass Israeli arrests of West Bank Palestinians: freedom of expression.

A Casualty Of War

A recent Lebanese public opinion poll suggests there may be limits to Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah’s restraint in confronting Israel. It also suggests why Iran feels emboldened by escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Hardliners Ride High In The Middle East

If one listens to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders, there is only one conclusion: an end to the Gaza carnage is nowhere in sight. However, there may be more to the maneuvering on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, notwithstanding both sides’ seemingly uncompromising positions.

Looking For Fig Leaves - Israel And Hamas Negotiate Terms Of A Ceasefire

Israel and Hamas are likely to be buoyed in efforts to secure a ceasefire and a new round of prisoner exchanges by an International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s conduct in Gaza risks acts of genocide, even though the court’s decision failed to satisfy either party.

International Court Ruling Likely To Shape Israel - Hamas Prisoner Exchange Talks

The timing of US and Israeli allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff participated in Hamas’ October 7 attack on the Jewish state was hardly coincidental.

UNRWA Pronounced Guilty Until Proven Innocent. Palestinians Pay The Price.

The irony of Middle Eastern geopolitics is that Israel makes it increasingly difficult for US President Joe Biden to support it, while Iran strengthens domestic US anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli hardliners.

Iran Facilitates Biden’s Support For Israel

Qatari mediation in the Gaza war threatens to become a double-edged sword.

Qatar’s Gaza War Mediation May Be A Double - Edged Sword

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has found a hardened political landscape as he tours the Middle East for the fifth time since the Gaza war erupted.

Blinken Finds A Substantially Altered Politics Landscape As He Tours The Middle East

China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang has taken advantage of the international community’s focus on Gaza and US support for Israel, to tighten control of the region’s Turkic Muslim Uighur population, reshape Islam, and engage in social engineering.

Flying Under The Radar China Tightens Grip On Uighurs

The realisation that Saudi Arabia is not Qatar may seem obvious, but it has significant meaning for the lessons rights activists and others draw from the Qatar World Cup as they prepare for a Saudi-hosted tournament in 2034.

First Qatar, Now Saudi Arabia Time For Activists To Rethink

Increasingly, the Biden administration links a Gaza ceasefire and a prisoner exchange to broader regional objectives, including Saudi recognition of Israel and the semblance of a pathway to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Crunch Time May Be Around The Corner As Gaza Ceasefire Talks Stall

With the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks stalled, Israel and its hardline US supporters have stepped up long-standing efforts to discredit Qatar, the main mediator between Hamas and the Israeli government.

Israel Puts Qatar In The Crosshairs As Hamas Reasserts Itself In Gaza

Two recent soccer incidents suggest that beyond optics little has changed in the Saudi-Iranian rivalry since China mediated the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries a year ago.

Soccer Incidents Call Into Question Fundaments Of Saudi - Iranian Detente

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan for Gaza’s future once the guns fall silent is likely to be a non-starter. 
Rather than provide a pathway to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the plan aims to squash Palestinian national aspirations and ensure continued Israeli control.

Netanyahu’s ‘Day After’ Gaza Plan Is A Non - Starter

A proposed temporary Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange appears designed to buy war-battered Gazans relief while enabling Israel and Hamas to claim a success.

Ceasefire Talks Are About More Than A Gaza Truce And Prisoner Exchange

Two recent high-profile Arab events honouring Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest and most moderate Muslim civil society movement, highlight a subtle tug-of-war over who will define ‘moderate Islam’ in the 21st century.

The Battle For The Soul Of Islam A Game Of Seduction

A long-standing Israeli-Palestinian battlefield, food has moved centre stage.
For Gazans, who are on the verge of starvation, the food fight is existential.

Weaponizing Food: Palestinians Lose Lives, Israelis Lose Humanity

The Gaza war has turned Palestine into a lightning rod for mounting frustration and discontent in Arab autocracies such as Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.

Gaza War Turns Palestine Into A Potential Middle Eastern Lightning Rod

Failed efforts to achieve a Gaza ceasefire on the eve of Ramadan leave innocent Gazans in the lurch, highlight the gap between Israel and Hamas’ demands in negotiations, and raise the stakes for the United States.

Innocent Gazans Pay A Heavy Price For Hamas And Israel’s Disregard For Human Life

This year’s US presidential elections are not the only potential hurdle confronting President Joe Biden’s multi-pronged vision for a Middle East peace once the Gaza war ends. 

So is Israeli intransigence, the prospect of a long-term insurgency in post-war Gaza, and increasing Saudi Chinese technological cooperation.

Biden May Not Have Enough Rope To Push His Vision Of The Middle East

A historian and political scientist at South Carolina's Clemson University, Arash Azizi argues that Iran may be on the cusp of change. It's just that the change may come from within the regime rather than from the street.

Iran May Be On The Cusp Of Change. A Conversation With Arash Azizi.

One just has to switch on the news to realize that mercenaries and private military companies live a life of their own and shape headlines.
Chaos and mayhem dominate the streets of Haiti after Colombian mercenaries killed the president. Russia's Wagner Group played a key role in the invasion of Ukraine and at one point appeared to revolt against President Vladimir Putin. This is just to name a few recent histories shaping events. 
The irony is that the latest phase in the evolution of mercenaries and private military entities first emerged in the Middle East, a region racked by wars and conflict in which states like the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey backed armed to the teeth, non-state actors of different stripes.

The Middle East The World’s Playground For The Privatization Of War

A just-published Palestinian public opinion survey offers pointers for what a successful transition from the devastating Gaza war to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have to entail.

Resolving The Israeli - Palestinian Conflict Palestinians May Be More Accommodating Than Israelis

The besieged Gazan city of Rafah is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s yo-yo.
A brilliant but ruthless politician, Mr. Netanyahu is in campaign mode.
“The man is in the midst of an election campaign, Rafah is a marketing tool and (the Americans) are the whipping boy,” said Israeli columnist Yossi Verter.

Rafah - Netanyahu’s Marketing Tool And Lightning Rod

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s walls are caving in.
Mr. Netanyahu’s multiple battles fall into two categories: keeping his increasingly fragile government in place and fighting a war he has already lost in the court of public opinion and possibly on the ground in Gaza if measured by the prime minister’s war goals.

Netanyahu’s Walls Are Caving In

Gaza’s population of 2.3 million are pawns in a cynical battle for control of post-war Gaza.
Israel’s refusal to lift restrictions on the unfettered entry into Gaza of food, medical supplies, and other desperately needed humanitarian goods, has less to do with a stand-alone starvation policy and more with who controls distribution in the Strip.
Both Israel and Hamas see control of aid distribution as a building block of who comes out on top once the guns fall silent.

Aid Is At The Core Of An Israeli - Palestinian Struggle To Control Post - War Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu clutches at straws as he seeks to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza while attempting to create building blocks for a compliant post-war Palestinian administration of the Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Clutches At Straws

Three recent attacks on Israelis shine a spotlight on the 35,000-member Palestinian security forces that the United States, Gulf countries, and much of the international community want to see in charge of on-the-ground security in post-war Gaza.

Palestinian Security Forces Are Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place

The Greater Middle East is a ticking time bomb.
Generations in war-wracked Palestine, Syria, and Yemen have little, if anything, to look forward to. Moreover, discontent is mounting and could explode anytime in countries like Jordan, Egypt, and Iran.

The Greater Middle East Is A Ticking Time Bomb

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is tying himself up in knots as he grudgingly, and only to a limited degree, bows to US President Joe Biden’s demands.
In doing so, Mr. Netanyahu is puncturing Swiss-cheese size holes into Israel’s Gaza narrative, making it easier for Mr. Biden to take him publicly to task.

Biden And Hamas Tie Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Up In Knots

Despite its devastating human and physical cost, Israel’s effort to destroy Hamas has a whack-a-mole aspect.

Israel And Hamas Play Whack - A-mole

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast. James is the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title as well as Comparative Political Transitions between Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, co-authored with Dr. Teresita Cruz-Del Rosario and  Shifting Sands, Essays on Sports and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.

Mideastsoccer

Popular tracks