Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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Wars at arm’s length: How the UAE became a shadowy power and betrayed Sheikh Zayed’s legacy
Until his death on 2 November 2004, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan guided the UAE with a policy of neutrality, cautious diplomacy, and humanitarian aid. Known as an Arab nationalist, he prioritised pan-Arab unity and support for Palestine. After the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, he declared, “Arab oil is not…
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Emirates of chaos: How the UAE fuels war and walks free
To General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto head of state and commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), foreign interference has been the main force prolonging his country’s brutal war. In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly last September, he pointedly stated, “Without this support… the war…
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False witness: How Europe profited from the Iran deal, then watched it burn under Trump
When the Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015, it marked the culmination of years of painstaking negotiations involving the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the European Union, Russia, and China. They all hailed it as a landmark diplomatic achievement, one that served the interests of regional stability…
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Lost impunity: Israel’s waning global support over its genocide in Gaza
“Burning children alive can never be justified. The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza” wrote British popstar Dua Lipa in May 2024. She is one of many global celebrities who have not only distanced themselves from Israel but condemned it without…
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Libya’s troubled GNU is not going just yet, further clashes are likely
Tripoli’s Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, is under immense strain, but it would be premature to consider it finished. Despite mounting unrest, the GNU remains entrenched, deploying every tool at its disposal—from subtle propaganda and financial incentives to leveraging armed militias—to maintain control. The turmoil…
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The set-up that flopped: Trump tried a Zelensky moment with Ramaphosa while targeting South Africa over Israel
When South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in the White House on 21 May to meet President Donald Trump everyone was expecting a confrontational exchange; a kind of Zelensky moment as happened last February which ended in a shouting match between Trump and Zelensky with the latter being asked to…
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Clashes in Tripoli: Causes, key players, and potential repercussions
Monday night’s clashes erupted rather suddenly in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, underscoring the fragile security situation in the country. The violence which involved heavy artillery and armed confrontations between rival factions, has highlighted, once again, concerns over the stability of Libya’s capital and the broader implications for the rest of western…
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Camp David peace treaty is the mother of all evils
The Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, which is expanding into a full-blown military occupation, has focused discussion about Egypt’s role and how much leverage it has over Israel because of the peace treaty between the two countries. Many Arab observers and global Palestinian supporters think the Camp David Accords of…
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Debunking Netanyahu’s barrage of lies
On 27 April, Benjamin Netanyahu, International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Prime Minister of Israel, delivered one of his most comprehensive speeches on internal and regional policies of his government. His audience was, primarily, loyal members and friends of the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). First of all, JNS is a right-wing…
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Echoes of burning flesh: From ‘The Napalm Girl’ to Hind Rajab
What happened to six-year-old Hind Rajab on 29 January, 2024, is a haunting echo of the horror that befell nine-year-old Kim Phuc in the Vietnamese village of Trảng Bàng more than half a century ago. In both cases, the victims were children — those whom international law and basic morality…
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From Vietnam to Gaza: when peaceful opposition to US foreign policy becomes an accusation
The Trump Administration’s crackdown on student communities, focusing on foreign students and higher education institutions is a serious blow to dissent in a country with a long history of conflicting polices and declared principles of free speech and open debates on major foreign policy issues. The United States has always…
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Israel has turned Gaza into a 21st century concentration camp
The basic definition of “concentration camp” is simple: a large place where a large group of people, usually civilians, are imprisoned without due process. There are various reasons as to why they are kept in confinement, including their ethnicity, religion or because they oppose the authorities ordering their imprisonment. Encyclopaedia…
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Bullying, intimidation and threats will not be enough to silence critics in American universities
The United States’ foreign policy has often been the most divisive issue in the US’ domestic political scene and student protests and participation in activism against certain policies have and will always be a clear representation of the highest levels of awareness among young Americans and the society at large.…
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Gaza’s promised paradise and Trump’s orderless world
Donald Trump’s idea of “taking over” the Gaza Strip and turning it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” was stillborn. For some it was buried on arrival and few bothered to ask what would have happened if the Palestinians, or a large number of them, had accepted the idea.…
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The UN has opened up Libya to foreign meddling and foreign fighters
Between February 2011 and January 2025, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted 44 Libya-related resolutions. The first resolution was number 1970, passed on 26 February 2011, reaffirming the UNSC’s “strong” commitment to Libya’s “sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity.” In another paragraph, the resolution refers the situation in the…
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Can Europe break away from the harmful US policy on the Middle East?
The Israeli mass murder and destruction of the Gaza Strip exposed the weaknesses of Europe and its institutions, including the EU itself. First it showed that the EU, as a whole, is unable to collectively act on its own values and principles. Europe could not pull itself together and take…
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What does Trump’s Ukraine policy offer the Middle East?
Donald Trump prides himself on deal making in a way that transcends conventional approaches whereby he has the ultimate say with all other parties accepting his decision. He plays both roles; that of the arbitrator and that of negotiator; inherently conflicting roles particularly in political negotiations. Take his approach to…
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Why 2025 could be the most disastrous for Arabs and Palestinians in particular
From US President Donald Trump’s perspective, the disaster in Gaza is about adequate housing, sanitation and maybe a few schools, a couple of hospitals and a couple of high rise structures to add some flavour to the place and make it a little more “sexy” for the eye! Real estate…
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USAID helped turn Libya into a recipient of donations rather than a donor state
On the first day of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending funds to global programs administrated and managed by the State Department’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In total, $44 billion earmarked for funding thousands of programs, including health programs in dozens of countries in…
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The unbounded humiliation of Libya: how a once proud nation is being mistreated by others
If you are a regular observer of events in Libya, you must have noticed the high pitch of diplomatic activities carried out by the United States Special Envoy, Richard Norland, the US Chargé d’Affaires Jeremy Berndt, or both as they roam the country meeting officials and visiting places. The same…
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Trump take 2: a new Balfour Declaration in a more lethal mixture
No one should be surprised by what Donald Trump does or says while President of the United States. This is a man with a limited understanding of world events and far too superficial knowledge of global geopolitics and its dynamics. He sees the entire world as no more than a…
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Rome ignores ICC arrest warrant for Libyan, sending him home to a hero’s welcome in Tripoli
Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, yesterday, shared a video message on social media saying that she has been placed under investigation for her role in letting a Libyan citizen travel back to Libya despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Ms Meloni said prosecutors are investigating her for…
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Will Iran pick up the pieces of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ while surviving another 4 years of Trump?
With Donald Trump officially in the White House as the 47 President of the United States of America, some countries, like the Islamic Republic of Iran, are already pondering the immediate and long-term impact of this “unconventional” master of the White House. Iran has already survived the flurry of executive…
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What the Trump presidency will not do in Africa
President-elect Donald Trump is not known as an African enthusiast. He never visited the continent during his first term (2017-2021). Not many African leaders are known to be close to him in any capacity. There is no record of him setting foot on the continent even as private citizen but his…