Prince Khalid bin Salman may not have planned it that way but the timing of his visit to Moscow last week and message to Washington resounded loud and clear. 

The Saudi deputy defence minister was signalling by not postponing the visit that he was trying to hedge the kingdom’s bets by signing a defence cooperation agreement with Russia as the United States fumbled to evacuate thousands from Afghanistan after Kabul was captured by the Taliban.

Hedging Saudi bet-Iran looms Israel beckons and Taliban cause goose-bumps

At first glance, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could not have a better friend in the White House.
In his first two months in office, President Donald J. Trump authorised US$11 billion in arms sales, signed a swath of executive orders to crack down on criticism of Israel, put universities and student protesters in his crosshairs, and legitimised ethnic cleansing.
Even so, Mr. Trump’s four years in office may not be honeymoon years for US-Israeli relations.


Netanyahu gambles on Trump

It’s ok to be anti-Jewish as long as you support Israel. That is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s bottom line.
Mr. Netanyahu is willing to risk losing European officialdom and prominent mainstream intellectuals and activists in the fight against anti-Semitism to garner the support of the global far-right, despite its anti-Jewish roots and sustained links to racism and neo-Nazism.
Mr. Netanyahu and his de facto envoy to the global far-right, Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism Minister Amichai Chikli, intend to broadcast that message at an international conference on combatting anti-Semitism scheduled to open in Jerusalem later this month.


Want to join the fight against anti-Semitism Check your anti-Semitic antecedents at the door.

This event was the launch of Dr Anne Kirstine Rønn's latest paper as part of the LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series on 'The Struggles of Labour Mobilisation in Lebanon and Iraq'. 

Despite facing significant challenges, including elite control and repression, labour movements in both Lebanon and Iraq have sought to assert their independence and challenge the status quo. This paper explores the main types of labour organisations in both countries – trade unions and professional syndicates – and the distinct structural and strategic obstacles they face. 

The paper discusses the internal debates within these organisations, where the tension between idealism and pragmatic goals often influences their strategies. By drawing on interviews with labour activists and secondary sources, the paper reflects on the potential for strengthening these movements and explores the trade-offs between formal and informal labour organising. It concludes by calling for further research to identify the conditions under which labour mobilisation can be effective in similar political contexts. 

Read the paper here: https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/127301/3/Struggles_of_Labour_Mobilisation.pdf

Meet our speakers and chair 

Anne Kirstine Rønn is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her research explores opposition movements in ethno-religiously divided societies with a particular focus on Lebanon and Iraq. 

Fuad Musallam is an Assistant Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Birmingham. He focuses on activism, labour, the imagination, and how people come together to form community. 

Razaw Salihy is the Iraq Researcher at Amnesty International. Since 2014, she has investigated and reported human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. 



The Struggles of Labour Mobilisation in Lebanon and Iraq (Paper Launch)

Like much else in the Middle East, Gaza’s fault lines are less linear than meets the eye.

Gaza’s fault lines are less linear than meets the eye

A stickler for language, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu twice this month remained conspicuously silent when senior Trump administration officials chose words that signalled potential changes in US policy towards Gaza, the Palestinians, and Hamas.

Reading tea leaves-Is the US signalling potential differences with Israel

This event disseminated the findings of a series of papers produced for the LSE Middle East Centre by Ahmed Tabaqchali exploring the economic and financial interactions of the Iraqi economy with the outside world, particularly the use of the dollar in relation to Iran and the US. 

While the US’ Iraq policy is still fluid, there have been signs that America’s ‘maximum pressure campaign’ towards Iran will have spillover effects in Iraq, with the Trump administration viewing policy towards Iraq solely through the lens of a perceived threat of Iranian dominance in the country. Iran’s economic footprint in Iraq, both perceived and real, will be an issue for Iraq and its relationship with the US and the West. 

Meet the speaker:

Ahmed Tabaqchali is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Ahmed is a capital markets professional with over 25 years’ experience in US and MENA markets. He is the Chief Strategist of the AFC Iraq Fund. Ahmed is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS), and non-resident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council - Iraq Initiative. He is a board member of the Iraq Fund for Higher Education (IFHE)/Baghdad Business School (BBS). 

Access the papers here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/publications/paper-series

Iraq’s Economy between the US and Iran: Perceptions and Realities

The United Arab Emirates is betting that recent anti-Hamas protests in Gazan towns, supported by influential tribes and clans, will strengthen Abu Dhabi-based Mohammed Dahlan’s chances of playing a prominent role in the territory’s post-war administration.

Gaza’s anti-Hamas protests mean different things to different players

Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli pinpointed the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as he reflected on a post-interview conversation with Yasser Arafat, the late chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), more than two decades ago.
A one-time secular security official who became a religious West Bank settler and called on air for the slaying of 100,000 Gazans in the wake of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Mr. Yehezkeli said it took him years to understand what he believed the Palestinian leader was telling him once the camera stopped rolling.
“I don't recognize your right to the land, and your logic is completely different from mine. The end of the conflict is your invention... I never agreed to it," Mr. Yehezkeli quoted Mr. Arafat as saying.
In a recent email inviting recipients to subscribe to his monthly broadcasts, Mr. Yehezkeli offered an interpretation of Mr. Arafat’s remark that ensures the perpetuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than acceptance of a reality that potentially holds out the promise of an eventual healing of the wounds on both sides of the divide if adequately managed. 


The Israeli-Palestinian battle of the narratives

This week, US President Donald J. Trump put Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on a pedal stool for the second time since he returned to the Oval Office two months ago.
Mr. Trump is not known for handing out goodies without extracting a price. The question is whether that is what Mr. Trump’s last-minute surprise invitation to the White House is about, and if so, what the cost will be.


Mr. Netanyahu goes to Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s multi-pronged strategy to crush the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation by destroying Hamas is doomed to failure with or without the potential expulsion or departure of Gazans.
Eighteen months into the Gaza war, Israel has failed to dislodge Hamas, militarily free hostages held by the group, stop it from firing rockets at Israeli towns and cities, and halt Hamas’ smuggling of arms into the territory.
“Hamas still maintains sovereignty in the Strip,” said reserve Major General Tamir Hayman, the executive director of Israel’s prestigious Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and a former head of the Israeli military’s Intelligence Directorate.


Israel’s Gaza strategy is doomed to fail

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.

Hedging Saudi bet-Iran looms Israel beckons and Taliban cause goose-bumps

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